Charles August Fey was a German-American inventor who is credited with being the creator of the slot machine. While this title may be contested, there’s no denying his work was the biggest contributor to the modern slot games we know today. They can be found in almost all physical and online casinos and are enjoyed by people from all walks of life, including celebrities like Pamela Anderson.
Originally called Augustinus Fey, he changed his name to Charles after moving to the United States. Reportedly, he did this because he didn’t like being referred to with the shortened form “Gus”.
Before inventing the slot machine, Fey worked for the Western Electric Company, a US telecommunications company that was headquartered in New York City and owned by AT&T.
This was just one of many different professions that Fey had over his working life. While still living in his native Bavaria, he worked at a farm tool factory in Munich with his older brother. He later moved to France to work for a company that manufactured intercom devices. Using the money he saved up from that job, he bought a ticket for a ferry across the English Channel and moved to London, where he took a job making nautical instruments.
What is Charles August Fey famous for?
Charles August Fey is famous for being the inventor of the first slot machine. After travelling across the United States, he settled in San Francisco, California. It was here that he began working on slot machines.
Although he’s often said to have invented the slot machine, this isn’t strictly true. There had been other machines before then, but these required an attendant to be on hand to give out rewards when someone won, something that severely limited their adoption.
Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Schultze invented something called the “Horseshoe Slot Machine” back in 1893. However, this still didn’t pay out coins like the slot machines we know today.
In 1895, Fey created a modified version of the Horseshoe Slot Machine that would reward winners with a cash prize for the first time. However, it still wasn’t quite the same as modern machines.
Three years later, in 1898, Fey invented the “Liberty Bell Slot Machine”, the one that is now often referred to as being the first of its kind.
There are some good reasons why Fey is credited with the invention and not Schultze. Aside from Fey’s machines being the first to pay out cash to winning players, it is also the first time the famous bell symbol appeared on a slot game.
Even many of today’s advanced online video slot games feature the bell and playing card symbols that Fey included on his original Liberty Bell. Unlike this 19th century machine, modern slots contain more reels, multiple paylines, progressive jackpots, and bonus features.
Using the skills he developed through his many careers, Fey manufactured his Liberty Bell slots and reached agreements with owners of bars and shops where they would let him place a machine there in exchange for 50% of the profits. This helped him to become the largest slot operator in the United States during the early 20th century.
Where was Charles August Fey from?
Augustinus Charles Fey was born on the 9th September 1862 in the Bavarian town of Vöhringen, around 100 miles away from Munich. He was born into a very large household, with 15 older siblings in addition to his mother and father.
He moved from Germany to France to avoid being drafted into the German army and to find employment. He moved across the continent to London before travelling across the Atlantic to New York at the age of 23. His uncle, Martin Vollman, had made the same journey several years earlier, so Fey wasn’t completely alone when he got to the New World. However, Vollman moved back to Germany shortly afterwards, leaving Fey with no relatives and few connections.
With no reason to stay in the cold climates on the east coast, Fey moved to California where he contracted tuberculosis and was given just a year to live. To cure himself, Fey moved to Mexico for several years and underwent creosote treatments. After this worked, he returned to California, got married to Marie Volkmar, and got his job working for the Western Electric Works.
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