One-Armed Bandit

The first mechanical slot machine was the Liberty Bell invented in 1895 by car mechanic Charles Fey of San Francisco. The Liberty Bell slot machine had three spinning reels with diamond, spade, and heart symbols painted around each reel, plus the image of a cracked Liberty Bell. A spin resulting in three Liberty Bells in a row gave the biggest payoff, a grand total of fifty cents or ten nickels. Photo: Getty Images & Stockbyte

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