Human beings just love to gamble, don’t they? From pretty much the very beginnings of history we know this has been the case, with gambling historians unearthing artefacts from as long ago as ten thousand years that point to the playing of rudimentary gambling games even back then. Obviously as time has gone on the art of gambling has become more and more prominent in human society, especially in the last few hundred years where capitalism has provided the impetus for huge gambling expansion in many industries – check it out here.
The slot industry has got to be one of the best examples of this, something that came to life at the end of the 1800s due to an engineer called Charles D. Fey, and one that has already expanded into by far the largest sector in the global gambling world. Much of this is down to online slots of course, a selection of games that have completely changed the face of gambling in the 21st century. Pokies are lesser know than slots, but have still had a large influence. Read ahead for an article on pokies explained in relation to slots.
What is a pokie?
First things first, what even is a pokie? It isn’t a term that many gamblers will have heard of before, especially those of the younger generations. This is because pokie is a fairly old term to describe a gambling game played on 3 to 12 reels, where gamblers hope that a few of the same symbols will line up for them and they will receive a prize.
If this sounds strangely familiar to you that’s because it is, as the term pokie is simply another way of saying a slot machine! The exact history of the term isn’t that well documented, however most gambling analysts point to it growing in popularity towards the last half of the 20th century.
Where did the term pokie originate
By now you are probably wondering where the term pokie originated, and the answer is that it was made popular in New Zealand and Australia. As you will surely know the English language can be full of double meanings and grammatical puns, with regional dialects playing a large part in how people talk on a day-by-day basis.
For this reason it is no surprise that the term pokie came from Australia and New Zealand. Most people think that the name has something to do with a trick that some gamblers tried to use where they would poke their fingers into the slot to try and activate the winnings.
Are pokies the same as slots
Oh yes, if you ever hear somebody talking about pokies it is important to remember that they are simply talking about the slot machines we all know and love, just in a slightly different dialect. So there you have it, what are pokies? Well, they are just the same as slots! Sometimes the English language can play tricks on you, right?
