Video Poker History: Brief, Dynamic and Evolving

Most popular casino games are about 150 years old, though video poker is just under 40 years old, so it’s history is not just brief but ago, its history may appear both brief and not worth mentioning. However, it is its brevity that makes the game as wonderful as it is. 

How did video poker have such a meteoric rise to become one of this century’s most popular games? If you take a look at slots, another popular casino game, you will find that slots began as poker machines. They were made by Sittman and Pitt in 1891 when 50 card symbols were played across five drums. Since completing a video poker hand was difficult, the Jack and 10 of Spades were removed from the deck.

There were no cash payouts in those days, so if a player won a hand, he was given a free drink, cigars or candy. In 1899, the slot machine or Liberty Bell was invented by Charles Frey. Hearts, Spades, Horseshoes and Bells replaced playing cards on drums and winning combinations, instead of poker hands, now comprised a set of symbols.

Fifty years later, when computers and electronic entertainment were invented, it opened the floodgates for video poker machines, first in 1970 by Dale Electronics. Called Poker-Matic video poker machine, they first appeared in the casinos of Las Vegas and were a huge draw. These gave way to more sophisticated machines later.

In 1975, Walt Fraley invented video slots which were unpopular because people could not see the reels spinning before them and couldn’t trust the machine payout. In 1979, the company, SIRCOMA (IGT today), introduced a video poker machine called Draw Poker. It was a runaway success and became the pioneer of the machines people use today for modern-day video poker games and video slot machines.

The popularity of both games—slots and video poker—grew through the 80s. Much of its success was due to the fact that gamers were confident of the table games in casinos and could now successfully play against a mechanical adversary.

With time, video poker machines’ technology improved and more games were invented. In 1989, this game was declared to be the No. 3 popular casino game in Las Vegas, beating real poker. With the coming of the Internet, this game that was already a part of the medium of electronic entertainment could easily be converted into an online game. This made more people play the game in the comfort of their homes. In 1994, the first online casino software was introduced by Microgaming. This was the ideal platform for video poker to develop further.

And now, online casinos have replaced brick and mortar casinos and today, video poker is proud to be among the 10 most popular casino games played online. This proves that a game’s popularity does not depend on either its long or illustrious history. As you can see, this game’s history is not just brief but also highly dynamic and will evolve with time.

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