While every slot player will have their favourite game name, what you might not know is that people call them all sorts of things. From regional dialect to local slang, here are ten things people call slot machines that you might not have heard of…
Fruit Machine (British English)
This term comes from the traditional fruit images on the spinning reels, such as lemons and cherries. But often there were also bars (But mostly fruit). In Vietnam, they call it “may xeng hoa qua” and there is an online version of this slot game at tha.bet (thabet is a legal online betting site in Asia).
Puggy (Scottish English Slang)
Also called Puggies, it is a term for something playful and is meant as a term for endearment and fondness!
Slots (Canadian and American English)
The classic name. The slot refers to the currency detector hole that you ‘slot’ your money into. Any gambling machine without one of these isn’t truly a slot machine.
Pokies (Australian English and New Zealand English)
Pokies is short for poker machines and it is pretty much exclusive to Australia. But these days it is catching on in many other parts of the world.
Liberty Bells (American English)
This was the brand of the very first slot machine and once upon a time that was all people knew to call them.
One-Armed Bandits (American English)
This was the classic name for the classic types of slot machines. With one big handle on the side, you would pull it to spin the reels. But it got its name bandit because it would take all your money (most of the time anyway).
Betting Units (British English)
This is a more official name than one used by the players. Betting Units or the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) are often seen in bookies.
Video Slots (American English)
Some people like the video slots, some don’t But these are the ones that have digital reels rather than real ones like our next name.
Reel Spinners (American English)
This name was only really used since the invention of the video slots. Some people just like to play games with real reels rather than digital ones.
The Stand Up’s (American English)
These are often older slot machines that used to be played stood up obviously. Think of the older classic penny arcades and you will know what I am talking about.