Since the tentative debut of electronic games in the 1950s, technology has made remarkable advances to the present day.
And that’s when the first major innovation, electricity, was born. Until then, most games were manual insofar as they required human physicality in order to function.
Let’s take the card game, or roulette wheel, as an example. These do not require electricity to operate. And the fact that we still play the games today is proof of how good these games actually are.
Game mechanics
That being said, it wasn’t electricity that changed the game, it was one device that used mechanics to make the game work. Charles Fay’s accomplishments include: invent the first slot game Released in 1894, it was an instant hit.
Despite becoming an overnight sensation, it soon faced numerous bans and its popularity grew even more. In fact, the reason we associate fruits with slot machines is that they were temporarily converted into dispensing gum.
We put the fruit in question there to identify the flavor of the gum. By the way, the bar indicated a packet of gum.
Because slot machines did not require electricity to serve their purpose, the first fully electronic fruit machines did not appear until the 1960s. The only real differences are the flashing lights and sounds, and the basic principles of the original mechanical slots remain intact.
Video slots emerged in the 1970s with the dawn of modern video arcades. Games like Space Invaders and Pac-Man have revolutionized the gaming landscape, making it accessible to everyone regardless of age.
home video games
But the real revolution in gaming was happening at home. The first home video, Magnavox Odyssey, was created by Ralph Baer and released in 1972.
Baer wanted to create a device that would let you play games on your home TV, and the concept was an instant hit. In 1975, Atari Pong was released and completely changed the way games were viewed and used by the general public. The console was born.
With the introduction of microprocessors in the 1980s, everything changed again. Nintendo used the now semi-legendary Ricoh 2A03 in its groundbreaking NES system, making the debuts of Super Mario Bros. and Zelda possible.
Meanwhile, in the casino world, slots were dealt a decisive blow with the advent of random number generators (RNGs). The truly random results of slots encouraged gamers to play, and slots continued to grow in popularity.
By the end of the 1980s, gamers could play in casinos, licensed gambling establishments, pubs, clubs, and video arcades. But while gaming consoles were developing at a breakneck pace, the real revolution was still happening at home.
online and mobile games
Everything changed again in the early 1990s. This wasn’t the only time the world got its hands on Sony’s original PlayStation. The Internet was here.
Gamers can now connect and play online. Online casinos have begun to appear. Various online pokie sites This allowed gamers to play slots without leaving the house.
Nokia 6110 mobile phone appeared on the market in the late 90s. Mobile technology has been around for a while, but this device came with Snake.
The ability to play games on the go has been around since the days of cards, and pocket-sized mobile electronic devices were introduced in the ’70s. But the combination of phones and games was unique and was about to change the way we play.
With the release of the first iPhone in 2007, smartphones suddenly became mainstream. Sure, Blackberry and IBM’s Personal Communicator have been around for several years, but Apple captured the public’s imagination.
A year later, the App Store has revolutionized the way users interact with games by allowing users to customize their devices. Thanks to 3G (2001), users already had access to the Internet and could play games online anywhere there was a connection.
That brings us up to date in terms of where we are today. Sure, technology is constantly being tweaked to be faster with constant improvements in graphics, sound, etc., but what’s next?
AI has been in the spotlight when it comes to gaming for quite some time and has transformed the way businesses interact with their customers. For example, in slots, AI can improve user experience Keep your customers happy and how they spend their money by changing or tweaking gameplay dynamics.
With this, the online casino industry continues to improve and move forward, with its value expected to reach USD 107.3 billion by the end of 2024. To put this into context, the industry is projected to be worth US$138.1 billion by the end of 2028. The annual growth rate is 6.51%.
And that’s before we properly consider where the Metaverse will be in a few years…
