Around the 1950s in Australia, an organization led by Len Aisnworth founded the company Aristocrat and created their very first slot machine named the “Clubman.” They revised it two years later using a new and improved slot machine known as the “Clubmaster.” Having said that the first slot machine was originally developed inside the United States of America by a man named Charles Fey who developed the slot machine “Liberty Bell”. Most people do not realize that in their early development pokies machines in Australia and around the world were illegal to play and were mostly an underground activity.
It wasn’t until the the early part of the century when the slot machines first hit Australia. In 1956, the NSW Australian government legalized gaming machines in clubs and then the industry really took off. This is where Aristocrat developed considerable market share and began aggressively developing and promoting their range of pokie machines.
The subsequent couple of decades supplied nothing considerably new in terms of the games and changes to the mechanics of how the pokies worked. They all had three spinning reels and either 1, 3 or five lines, pretty boring stuff. The jackpots had been by today’s standards tiny plus the interactivity was limited to pulling the machine lever and waiting for the reels to stop which was boring for some players. The one constant was the the games accepted dollar coins as form of payment, notes were not accepted by machines until later.
It was not till the mid 1980′s when Australia got it’s first taste of video pokies which were interactive, featured excellent graphics and had multiline payouts. This was the biggest development in gaming since Charles Fey had invented the very first slots machine. Not simply did the games have 5 reels but the also had a lot of extra lines, free spins, bonuses and offered further way to win like cost-free spin attributes and bonus functions. The sheer interactivity and excitement of the games led to a massive take up in the population playing slots and some would argue created a problem for some who couldn’t handle the extreme temptation of playing.
Today, that you are likely to see these slot machines in Australian Casinos, pubs and clubs and just about every major center boasts a huge range of pokies. They are without doubt one of the most preferred types of gambling entertainment in Australia. However Australian’s some might argue are now developing an unhealthy appetite for pokies machines and would prefer to play free pokies games as a form of entertainment. Australian pokies today are leading the way in relation to new game concepts, innovation and graphics.
Pokies is usually a slang word in Australia for slot machines. There is no documented date for when the term “Pokies” was 1st applied in Australia. People today in Australia often say factors like “I’m going to have a spin on the pokies” or “I’m off to have a flutter on the pokies.”. The term pokies is likely to have come from the fact that people poke at the machines to win dollar coins.
Today Australia enjoys a diverse range of pokies games including the popular titles such as Queen of the Nile, 5 Dragons and Wheres the Gold. You will find a huge assortment of games available to play from many different pokie manufacturers including Aristocrat, IGT, Konami and Ainsworth.
In Australian politics pokies and restrictions on playing are becoming more debated. This due to the Gillard government who have joined forces with anti-pokie member of parliament Andrew Wilke to implement reforms which place limits on the amount people can gamble or bet. Whilst this is still up in the air (as at 2010-2012) it is likely that some form of reform is going to take place. If it does many players to go on the internet to play online pokies.
History of Pokies Machines in Australia,