The first slot machine in history was called Liberty Bell. The slot was developed at the end of the 19th century by a German-American inventor with the name Charles August Fey. This game was a huge success and allowed the creation of a whole new industry. At that time, all the slot machines were mechanical. They had three reels that were activated through a system of gears after you pulled a lever.

Today, all slot machines use electronic elements, yet we continue to call some of them mechanical slot machines, even when you are in the lobby of an online casino. The games that are called mechanical or classical slot machines are usually the three reel slots. However, it may also happen that they have four or five reels. In fact, all slot machines that have real reels and gears are called mechanical, unlike the video slots where the reels have been replaced by a digital screen with scrolling symbols.

Mechanical slot machines are still very popular among players, and they are emerging as a class of games that are being developed by all software developers for online casinos. Most of the time these classical games prove to be very innovative even. This is particularly true for the games Gold Slam and Random2Wins of Sheriff Gaming, Jackpot 6000 and Mega Joker of developer Netent, and Jackpot Winner of Betsoft.