In the days before the Internet there used to be a special type of slot machine found in the pubs in Britain. It was a three reel slot machine but was special in two ways. It had certain features that were not available in the more common slot machines. This machine accepted coins as inputs but dispensed fruit flavored chewing gum to the winners instead of coins. The drinkers probably needed the chewing gum to freshen up before leaving the pub. It was because of this reason that these machines were given the name fruit machines.

In online casino gambling there is a small niche market for fruit machine slots. The leading software providers offer a few games in this category. There are not too many additions to the fruit machines at online casinos. But once players get familiar with the features then they generally dedicate some amount of time wagering on fruit machines.

The simplest of the fruit machine features are Nudge and Hold. Nudge can be randomly displayed below any reel after any spin. By clicking Nudge that reel moves one position down. This can be of great advantage to the player. Sometimes another Nudge can appear as soon as the player has activated the Nudge button and sometimes even two Nudges may appear on different reels. The Hold feature is equally exciting. Players can fix the reel marked Hold and respin the other two. No additional amount is wagered when the Nudge and Hold options are exercised.

The Cash Ladder is a more complex feature. Usually any win lights up the first rung of the Cash Ladder. Then players have to play a Hi Lo type of game. They have to guess whether the next number revealed in the game will be higher or lower than the present one. A correct guess enables players to climb one rung of the Cash Ladder. Each rung of the Cash ladder offers a higher prize. The players can claim the prize and quit the ladder or they can play the Hi Lo game and aspire to the next rung. The highest rung offers a Cash Pot jackpot prize. The catch in the fruit machine Cash Ladder game is that if players guess wrong they return empty handed. At some rungs the fruit machine game offers a thematic feature game that players can opt for. In that case they will forfeit the cash prize of the rung and will take home whatever they win in the feature game.

The most exciting feature of the fruit machine is the Feature Board. It is activated when a designated combination of symbols appear on the reels. The Feature board has squares along its perimeter. A virtual dice is rolled or a random number generated and the player moves that many squares on the Feature Board. Squares of the Feature Board offers benefits and the player can avail of the benefit provided by the square he lands on. Common benefits include moving up the Cash Ladder by a specified number of steps, adding to or multiplying the amount that the player is holding in the Cash Pot and activating special feature games. The Feature Board also contains booby squares that terminate the Feature Board.

Microgaming offers some of the best fruit machines in the business. These include Cash ‘n Curry, Dubya Money, Game On and Pub Fruity. These fruit machines are live at all Microgaming online casinos.