Why do fruit images appear so often on slot machines?

Igor G

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  • #1
Have you ever wondered why there are so many fruit slots? It turns out that in the 1880s, the first slot machines did not pay out money, but fruit-flavoured chewing gum. Cherries, lemons and plums symbolised the flavours of the gum, and these images remained on the slots even after the machines started paying out cash prizes :)
 
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CNXRegie

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  • #2
Ah, that explains why fruits are such a classic in slot machines! 🍒🎰 Pretty amazing how this whole game of chance got started. ✨
 
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Tero

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  • #3
This is actually a quite interesting piece of information. As long as I remember there has been plumbs, lemons, watermelons, etc. I simply thought that they have been chosen because they are easy to recognize, and do not offend anyone.
 
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  • #4
It's part of a gambler's 5 a day:cool:
 
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  • #5
Tero said:
This is actually a quite interesting piece of information. As long as I remember there has been plumbs, lemons, watermelons, etc. I simply thought that they have been chosen because they are easy to recognize, and do not offend anyone.
Click to expand...
Joking apart, I think early slot machines rewarded fruit flavour gum instead of cash - this got around legal issues as they were vending rather than gaming machines.
 
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  • #6
Igor G said:
Have you ever wondered why there are so many fruit slots? It turns out that in the 1880s, the first slot machines did not pay out money, but fruit-flavoured chewing gum. Cherries, lemons and plums symbolised the flavours of the gum, and these images remained on the slots even after the machines started paying out cash prizes :)
Click to expand...

Many times I wondered why, but I also was wondering why the 7s are very common. Now you gave me the idea of looking it up ;).
 
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antonis32123

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  • #7
Funny story, so they paid chewing gums instead of money at the beginning ?? That's odd indeed . Yeah fruits are fun to play with at slots , but I play mostly other slots , Egyptian slots . 7s , fruits in slots , interesting to know their origins in the slots
 
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  • #8
wow actually never knew that about the chewing gum, that's pretty crazy. makes sense why the BAR symbol is shaped like a gum pack too. always just assumed it was because fruit was bright and easy to draw back then lol
 
R.Holynskyi

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  • #9
I wonder what the gums jackpot looked like.
....... the whole village was chewing .. :cool:
 
Sunz of Beaches

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  • #10
I didn't know that interesting! Thanks for explaining why fruits still remain on a lot of slot machines. That makes total sense.
 
DPoker33

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  • #11
I've wondered about that a few times myself, and I'm actually working on a new piece of art right now with a casino theme and fruit-themed slot machines... (I'm giving away a spoiler here, but I think it'll be worth the wait!) Good luck, and thanks for the info, Igor! :)(y) 🍋🍒🍊🍇🍉🍐🍎 🎰
 
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  • #12
monkeytilter said:
Joking apart, I think early slot machines rewarded fruit flavour gum instead of cash - this got around legal issues as they were vending rather than gaming machines.
Click to expand...
en.wikipedia.org

Slot machine - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Not necessarily the oldest ones. Those were more of a reaction to legislation than being innovative on their own.

The oldest ones were just classic gambling for money.
 
belizebum

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  • #13
Hmmm I guess if you were really into gambling, you better like gum...Yuck!!
 
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  • #14
How then to chew Jack Pot?
It's probably not easy ... :unsure:
 
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  • #15
monkeytilter said:
Joking apart, I think early slot machines rewarded fruit flavour gum instead of cash - this got around legal issues as they were vending rather than gaming machines.
Click to expand...
Japan operates thousands of Pachinko machines thanks to the same loophole.
Gambling is very restrictive in Japan so people let buy balls with cash and let player redeem their won Pachinko balls for real money.
Pachinko is BIG in Japan.

Today, most online casinos have gameshows with bonus rounds on pachinko machines
 
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  • #16
Haha, so fruit slots were basically the first ‘chewing gum machines’. Cherries = gum, lemons = gum, plums = gum… you were basically spinning for a chewable fruit salad. And here we are in 2026 fighting for mega jackpots, still staring at fruit symbols. Tradition is tradition!
 
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  • #17
Fruits tend to be bright in color, or at least their renderings. So its better for keeping people engaged.

Its also not offensive to anybody.
 
john_entony

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  • #18
Actually, fruit is the simplest thing you can use when designing slot games. To be honest, I think the reason for using fruit is pretty obvious: there are very few people who don't like it (I don't know anyone like that, for example). :unsure:
 
Lena M

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  • #19
Fruit slots are my favorite. I think this is the best possible visualization of games of this kind.
 
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