However, in countries like the United States, the law was against pokies, not that that prevented them from being played anyway. It would not be hard then to deduce where those fruit and bar symbols came from. As time progressed, so did the popularity of playing pokies, particularly ones that awarded prizes that were not monetary.
The simpler design of the three-reel machines meant a much lower the chances of sustaining broken components and servicing. Pokies are very much what you could describe as mechanical. However, this kind of machine would inevitable lose the popularity battle to the much simpler three-reel for a fairly obvious reason. This form took off in pubs since the prize money awarded amount for each result was decided by the operator.
The biggest winnings were no more than 50 cents but the playing still spread quite briskly across the country.The one in Brooklyn on the other hand, was a five-reel machine where the prize money rested on how good a hand you played. The one in San Francisco was a three-reel machine with a very limited selection of symbols. The so called poker machines first came into existence circa 1891 (or thereabouts) in America, specifically in California and Brooklyn.
