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47 free Slot Machines trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Slot machines bring in about 70% of the average American casino's income, and almost everything about them, from the cherries on the reels to the near-miss on the payline, has a story. This quiz starts in 1890s San Francisco and Brooklyn: the poker-drum machines that paid out in beer and cigars, Charles Fey's three-reel Liberty Bell, the copycats, and the fruit-gum vending attachment that put lemons and BARs on the reels for good. It then follows the technology: Bally's Money Honey and its bottomless hopper, the first video slot built around a Sony television, second-screen bonuses, virtual reels, random number generators and the ticket that replaced the coin. It also covers the maths and the world: return-to-player and PAR sheets, why the mid-size win is tuned to keep you seated, minimum payouts in Nevada and New Jersey, fruit machines and nudges in Britain, pokies in New South Wales, pachislots in Japan, the No Pokies senator, the $55 million jackpot a Vietnamese casino refused to pay, and the record Megabucks hit. Easy questions ask what a one-armed bandit is; the expert tier asks for patents, percentages and dates. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on slot machines, Charles Fey, Bally, IGT and related pages, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question. If you like this, try our quizzes on Las Vegas, casinos and gambling.
30 of 47 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the classic nickname for a slot machine?
One-armed bandit
The nickname is 'one-armed bandit': the single side lever is the arm, and the machine's knack for emptying wallets makes it a bandit.
Q 02What are slot machines called in Australia and New Zealand?
Pokies
'Pokies' is short for poker machines, the everyday Australian and New Zealand name for slot machines; officially they are called gaming machines.
Q 03What are slot machines called in Scots?
Puggies
In Scots a slot machine is a 'puggy', so 'puggies'; elsewhere in Britain the usual name is a fruit machine.
Q 04On which card game was Sittman and Pitt's five-drum, 50-card machine based?
Poker
It was based on poker: players spun five drums of card faces hoping for a strong poker hand, and the bar paid prizes such as free beer or cigars.
Q 05Which two cards were usually removed from the Sittman and Pitt machine to help the house?
The ten of spades and the jack of hearts
The ten of spades and the jack of hearts were usually removed, which doubled the odds against a player hitting a royal flush.
Q 06Which German-born San Francisco mechanic devised the three-reel slot machine?
Charles Fey
Charles Fey, born August Fey in Bavaria in 1862, built the first three-reel slot machine in his San Francisco workshop in the 1890s.
Q 07What was the first three-reel slot machine called, after the symbol that paid the most?
Liberty Bell
The Liberty Bell, Charles Fey's three-reel machine of the 1890s, took its name from its highest-paying symbol; its reels also showed horseshoes, diamonds, spades and hearts.
Q 08How much did three bells in a row pay on the original three-reel machine?
50 cents
Three bells in a row paid ten nickels, or 50 cents, the top prize on the original Liberty Bell machine.
Q 09In which Bavarian town was the slot machine's inventor born in 1862?
Vöhringen
Charles Fey was born in 1862 in Vöhringen, a small Bavarian town on the River Iller near Ulm, and emigrated to the United States in his early twenties.
Q 10Which manufacturer produced the first copy of the original machine, in 1907?
Herbert Mills
Herbert Mills of Chicago produced the first copy in 1907; by 1908 'bell' machines were in cigar stores, saloons, brothels and barber shops.
Q 11Why did lemons, cherries, oranges and plums appear on early slot reels?
The machines dispensed fruit-flavoured gum
Early Bell-Fruit Gum machines dispensed fruit-flavoured gum as prizes, so lemon, cherry, orange and plum symbols showed the flavours; an Operator Bell came with a gum-vending attachment.
Q 12Which number, shown on every reel, forms the classic jackpot line on slot machines?
Seven
Three sevens, '777', is the classic jackpot line on reel slots; the red seven became a standard top-paying symbol alongside bars and bells.
Q 13Which Iowa cases about a mint vending machine teach 'ignorance of the law is no excuse'?
Q 21What does RTP stand for on a slot machine?
Return to player
RTP stands for return to player: the percentage of money wagered that a machine is programmed to pay back over the long run, set above a legal floor such as Nevada's 75%.
Q 22What is the legal minimum payout percentage for slot machines in Mississippi?
80%
Mississippi law sets a minimum payout of 80% for slot machines; Nevada's floor is 75% and New Jersey's is 83%.
Q 23What is the table of probabilities for a specific slot machine called?
A PAR sheet
The PAR sheet lists a machine's reel strips, symbol probabilities and theoretical payout percentage; makers and regulators treat them as confidential.
State v. Ellis and State v. Striggles
In State v. Ellis and State v. Striggles, Iowa courts held that a mint vending machine that sometimes paid extra tokens was a gambling device, and that relying on officials' assurances was no defence.
Q 14Which 1963 Bally machine was the first fully electromechanical slot?
Money Honey
Bally's Money Honey (1963) was the first fully electromechanical slot; its bottomless hopper could pay out up to 500 coins automatically, without an attendant.
Q 15Which company built the first video slot in 1976 around a Sony Trinitron television?
Fortune Coin
Fortune Coin Co. built the first video slot in 1976 around a modified 19-inch Sony Trinitron receiver; the prototype was trialled at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Q 16Which company bought the video slot pioneer and its technology in 1978?
IGT
IGT (International Game Technology) bought Fortune Coin and its video slot technology in 1978, and video slots became a mainstay of its business.
Q 17Which 1996 WMS game was the first American video slot with a 'second screen' bonus round?
Reel 'Em In
WMS's Reel 'Em In (1996) was the first American video slot with a second-screen bonus round; Australia's Three Bags Full had used the idea in 1994.
Q 18Which TV game show became IGT's biggest licensed slot machine brand, starting in 1996?
Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune slots, launched by IGT in 1996, became the industry's most successful licensed brand, with a spinning bonus wheel echoing the show.
Q 19What is the list on a slot machine of winning symbol combinations and their payouts called?
The pay table
The pay table is the machine's public list of winning symbol combinations and what each pays; on video slots it sits behind an on-screen button.
Q 20Which Norwegian mathematician patented the virtual-reel random number generator in 1984?
Inge Telnaes
Inge Telnaes patented the virtual-reel random number generator in 1984; the patent itself said the aim was a machine perceived to offer better odds than it has. IGT later bought it.
Q 24On which chip is a slot machine's payout software usually stored?
An EPROM
The payout software is usually held on an EPROM chip; in New Jersey it carries a tamper-evident seal and can be changed only with Gaming Control Board officials present.
Q 25What is the light on top of a slot machine called?
The candle
The light on top is the candle; it flashes to summon an attendant when change is needed, the machine needs service, or a jackpot has been hit.
Q 26What term for any slot machine fault comes from old electromechanical tamper switches?
Tilt
Modern machines have no such switches, but a door in the wrong state is still called one.
Q 27What is a payout made by an attendant, rather than the machine, called?
A hand pay
It happens when a win exceeds the machine's preset limit, usually where taxes kick in.
Q 28What does TITO stand for on modern slot machines?
Ticket-in, ticket-out
TITO is ticket-in, ticket-out: a thermal printer replaces the coin hopper, and the barcode ticket is inserted in another machine or redeemed at a kiosk.
Q 29What is a prize pool that grows with every play until it is won called?
A progressive jackpot
A progressive jackpot grows with a slice of every wager until someone wins it; machines are often linked across casinos so it grows faster.
Q 30Which state's laws led to 'skill stop' buttons on Bally machines in the early 1970s?
New Jersey
New Jersey law required that players be able to control the game in some way, so skill-stop buttons were fitted to about 50 Bally machines in the early 1970s; they were a hit on the Jersey Shore.