A - Atlantic City. Right up the road and home to roughly 38,000 slot machines. The casinos' pay-out is reportedly about 91 percent - based on an average annual return, for every $1 you play at slots, you lose 9 cents. At Vegas casinos, you lose an average 5 cents on the dollar, but it's a longer drive. Nickel slots, by the way, have lower pay-outs than $1 slots. Higher denomination equals higher pay-out.
B - Bandit, One-Armed. Traditional nickname for slots because of the handle, which is pulled to spin the reels. Most modern slots function electronically - just press a button, save your strength. But handles remain on most slots for old-time sake.
C - Cherries. And plums and lemons - the famous symbols from the original, three-reel slots machines developed in the early 20th century. In 1910, a gum vending machine was attached to the slot machine. Cherries, lemons and plums were displayed on the reels to imply the winner was playing for fruit-flavored gum. No one cared about the gum. The machine paid out winnings - but since it also offered gum, it wasn't considered gambling. Some slots still use fruit symbols.
D - Double Machines: Very popular, especially the Double Diamond. Pays double with winning combinations when certain symbols line up. Triple Diamond is also popular.
E - Electric Horseman. Sydney Pollack's 1979 film starring Robert Redford. Before Redford rode a stallion through Caesars Palace, the horse listened to tape recordings of slot machines for hours in his stall. The scene worked - although the horse developed a craving for gum.
F - Fey. In 1898, German immigrant Charles Fey introduced the first three-reel slot machine. His "Liberty Bell" slot became a fixture at San Francisco saloons and cigar stands. His winning symbols were Liberty Bells, and the jackpot was 20 nickels. The inventor of the handle and three reels, Fey tried to patent his machine, but two court decisions at that time ruled slots were not "useful devices." The Liberty Bell soon spawned countless imitations.
"He loved mechanics," says Fey's grandson, Marshall Fey. "He was not a gambler. He liked to drink - I remember that."
For 44 years, his grandson has run "The Liberty Bell" in Reno, a restaurant and slots museum that features the Liberty Bell and other antique machines. "My grandfather was considered the Thomas Edison of the industry," says Fey, 75.
Marshall Fey rarely plays the slots. Video poker is his game.
