Fruit slots and Fruit Machine Themes
The very first one-armed bandit had poker cards on it. But the slot machines we all know and love are fruit machines.
Video slots with fruit symbols are not just the most popular around but the most varied.
You get 5 reel slots. You get all ways pays slots like Aloha Cluster Pays that brings bananas and pineapples to the reels, you get themed games that throw in some fruit for familiarity.
The reason for this is that the fruities we know and love started what we’ve come to know as “slot machines” in the first place.
And that’s 3 reels with melons, plums, cherries, oranges and, grapes, maybe a bell. Why? Because originally, the slot machine paid out flavoured gum by the Bell-Fruit Gum Company.
Classic Fruit Machine Slots
If you’ve opened this page and seen some games that, to you, don’t count as fruit machines, then chances are, you are a classicist.
You love 1 to 5 paylines and 3 reels and all the classic symbols mentioned above.
These are some of the easiest classic slot machines to find because 3 reel classic slots with fruit symbols are in every slot studios checklist.
First, build a unique game to make you stand out (i.e. Starburst), then when you run out of ideas, create an Ancient Egyptian or Ancient Greek slot, and finally, make sure you have at least one 3 reel fruity in your portfolio.
Why? Because cherries, melons and grape slots are familiar and give you a simplicity that is harder to find in 5 reel video slots, you now have to have ten bonus game features.
It rarely gives you lots of bonuses, just big wins when you line up three fruit machine symbols in a row, maybe a wild or a re-spin here and there.
Better yet, there are no complicated calculations – the paytable is usually within sight, and you can see what you win.
The best classic 3 reel fruit machines:
- Ivanhoe by Elk
- Sweet27 by Play’n GO
- Emerald Diamond by Red Tiger Gaming
- Bar Bar Black Sheep – Microgaming
Fruities and Joker slots
Another subcategory of slot games with fruit themes is the Joker, the Circus Clown or the Medieval Fool.
These aren’t always simple, but they are usually closely tied to those fresh crops and berries because they tend to be big win machines.
And, right or wrong, classic slots tend to be seen as more volatile games, so it’s a quick and easy way to show to players (in an easy way) that your game means business.
Adding a Joker also usually means another thing: the super meter bet.
What is a Supermeter slot game? It’s a game where you have to bet back your winnings to get a bonus feature or a higher paying paytable.
So when you win, you usually have to bet 20 coins to bet on the ‘supermeter’ reels, which allows you to either get jokers (which pay out more) or hit a big feature (like a wheel of fortune or a re-spin).
These are dangerous slot machines, so be careful. You are basically betting back all your winnings in the hope to get bigger wins down the line.
It’s not for beginners or those wanting to prolong their gameplay.
It takes a certain mentality to enjoy these supermeter joker slot machines – it’s the mentality of a jackpot hunter. You keep putting money in a machine, and only winning the jackpot will do nothing else.
There’s a certain thrill to that, and you can’t deny that the jackpot wins can be huge, but be sure you play on Joker video slots that have that big jackpot, because not all of them do. But then, that’s why we write these mobile slot reviews.
The best joker-themed slots with supermeters:
- Jackpot Jester 50,000 by NextGen
- Jackpot 6000 by NetEnt
- Wicked Circus by Yggdrasil Gaming
- Jackpot Jester Wild Nudge by NextGen
- Mystery Joker 6,000 by Play’n GO
5 reel fruit machine games
Now we come to a slightly wider category.
These are still fruit machines in the traditional meaning of the word in that they have lemons, cherries, plums etc… on the reels as you open it.
The difference is that they have 5 rather than 3 reels, which means that, unlike classic or supermeter gambling fruities, they have a broader fan base.
You have casino games of all volatility, some with lots of bonus game features, some with very few and play almost like a classic 3 reeler.
So why is this theme used rather than something that strikes the imagination like slots about the Far East or those cheeky Leprechaun games?
Other than familiarity, a fruit cocktail is a simple, bright, colourful theme that doesn’t require a whole load of imagination.
When you play 5 reels and 3 or 4 rows of symbols, you want the symbols to stand out, be easy to distinguish, and be visually striking.
And say what you will, but a lemon looks very different from a plum, which has a very different colour from a melon.
But that doesn’t mean 5 reel fruit video slots lack imagination; some do, but many do a lot with very little, which puts a nice smile on most gamblers’ faces.
The best 5 reel slots with fruit symbols:
- Fruit Shop by NetEnt
- Fruit Warp by Thunderkick
- Hot Sync by Quickspin
- MultiFruit 81 by Play’n GO
- Reel King by Novomatic
Video slots with fruits in them
And now we get into the bigger broader theme that means ‘any slot machine that uses fruit symbols’.
To give you an idea of how broad that is, it would be a little bit like doing a gambling machine theme around ‘high card symbols’ (i.e. Ace, King, Queen, Jack).
The reason for this is that they are both the original slot game symbols, and, as we’ve mentioned above, fruits are happy and colourful.
And because it’s such a common theme, it has since moved on from just your cherries and bells fruit machine games.
You get games like Snow Wild and the 7 Features or Party Island which just uses fruits as part of its charm.
But then you get the ones that really stand out by giving you either a mix of themes, like the Pirate Fruit in Juicy Booty or Arcader which mixes retro arcade game with retro slots.
The true fruit video slots are all about the fruit
And then there are the summer slots that celebrate all the exotic bounty of the Caribbean islands.
From Sunny Shores to SunTide to Summertime, these bring a little holiday spirit to your five reels that is hard to beat.
Finally, you get the Fruit game slots that bring the flavour of olden days to your screen.
Because slot machines were popularised in the flying forties and the fabulous fifties, there’s something about that Americana flavour that brings images of days gone by and fruit machines.
The NetEnt Swipe and Roll game is a prime example, but then you get the Roaring Forties by Novomatic and Route 777 by Elk just to give you a couple of more.
We won’t make the best video slot fruit list because, to be honest, there are too many different types to do them all justice.
But it’s no coincidence that we’ve ended this Fruity slot theme post with a list of games for you to try. Because why else do we play and write slot reviews if not to make your life easier?
