The Lure of the One-Armed Bandit

If you've ever played an old-style slot machine, you'll appreciate the
idea of the lure of the one-armed bandit. No matter the game, once your
money was in and you pulled that lever, things happened. Waiting seemed
forever as the slots finally lined up. When the machines containing the
easy button appeared on the floors of casinos in Vegas, many players still
used the arm, claiming it just wasn't the same. Machine design had to
progress however, because too many people were sustaining repetitive
strain injuries from repeating the pulling motions on the old-style
machine arms. The sound of ambulance sirens was intermixed with the other
casino noises often, as elderly players were escorted on stretchers off
the floor with their arms frozen in position from pulling levers.

It seems funny to think about it now, but those very same players, once
released from emergency, usually hot-footed it right back to the casino to
their favourite machinery before their streak ran cold. One older woman
player quipped that she wasn't sure if there was life after death, but if
there was, her favourite machine better be there on the heavenly floor.
Gradually over time players did get used to the machines with the big red
buttons and the armed bandits began disappearing from the floor. Then, one
began seeing players coming in with hand and arm braces for carpal tunnel
or sore thumbs. Point was, you just couldn't keep a good player from their
favourite machine.

In the 1990s, slots were one of the very first of the casino games to be
computerized. Slot games began appearing on standalone game diskettes, and
when the online casino gaming industry began to ramp up, slots were featured as part and parcel of the experience. Anyone who has ever played an online version will feel the same allure to the machine, even if it is virtual, because the sound effects and visuals are so very close the brain cannot
tell the difference. Luckily for the online player, the physical risks aren't quite so bad as with their real life cousins. The game is the thing, though, and it is hard to know when to quit before your arm and hand give way -- a good player will time themselves and avoid this kind of sports injury!

Since then there are a number of casino games and the shift to online casino games sites such as www.onlinecasinoking.co.uk there is a wider range of players that are helping to boost the industry.