Once, when I was a toddler, my parents bought a slot machine from a friend. This happened back in the 70s, but the bandit already looked quite ancient.
It brought great excitement and popularity to the house, but at one point it was sent to the garage. It did not gather that much dust, though, as I tried my luck once in a while pulling the lever.
It had three reels and you needed just a penny to pull the lever. It paid out if you got two cherries in a row, when you’d get two kronor back. The biggest prize came by getting three symbols in a row, although I don’t remember what symbol it was. The only thing I can recall is that it gave a breathtaking 20-krona profit.
I’d have become fat if the slot machine had given out candies instead of coins.
You can say whatever you want about today’s video slots, but you don’t get the same feeling out of the touch of a button. I still remember the movements: slowly at first, then faster, and then slow at the end so the reels would start spinning.
Then the suspense would come. Those few seconds when anything can happen and nothing can be taken for granted.
Expectation. Uncertainty. Excitement.
The reels would start spinning in sequence, one, two and three. It was fairly easy to get a cherry first, and you’d only need one more to get some payout. Other symbols would bring in more excitement, especially when the jackpot symbol appeared on the first reel after pulling the lever.
It probably wasn’t good odds for just a krona. As for the jackpot, well, I never saw it in my life.
However, there was a special feature. The previous owner had drilled a hole in the back of the bandit so you could insert a finger and pull some wires to give movement to the reels. You just needed to pull them for a while until you’d get some cash out of it.
Of course it didn’t feel quite the same as pulling the lever. But in times of crisis, you’d do whatever you could to get some money back.
The hole in the back of the slot machine was a bit like today’s bonuses and free spins. Maybe not quite the same feeling, but with far better odds.
Written by Ken Lennaárd.