Cherries, lemons and other bright fruit have been spinning on slot reels for more than a century. They feel familiar, but their place on the reels was not a design whim.
This article looks at where those symbols came from, how three cherries became a classic payout icon, and why fruit beat images of cash. It also explains the practical reasons behind the artwork, what the most common fruit once meant, and how these visuals still shape slot design and branding today.
By the end, the symbols you see on classic and modern slots should make a lot more sense.
What Is The Origin Of Fruit Symbols On Slot Machines?
Fruit symbols appeared in the early 1900s, not long after the first mechanical slots arrived. They were chosen for a clear purpose rather than decoration.
At the time, cash prizes were restricted or banned in parts of the United States. To keep operating, many machines paid out non-cash rewards such as chewing gum or sweets. The reels showed fruit so players could see which flavour they would receive. A row of lemons meant lemon gum, cherries meant cherry, and so on. This helped venues comply with the rules while keeping the games appealing.
Even after cash payouts returned, the fruit stayed. Players had learned to associate those icons with the machines themselves, and makers kept them as a simple visual language everyone could recognise.
That origin story also explains how one fruit, in particular, came to signal a win.
How Did Three Cherries Become A Payout Icon?
Cherries were among the earliest and most common symbols on those gum-paying machines. Operators often set the pay table so that three cherries awarded a small prize. It was a combination that appeared often enough to be memorable, and it quickly became shorthand for a payout.
As machines moved back to cash prizes, designers kept the association. Three cherries remained an easy-to-spot line on mechanical reels and later on video slots, so the idea travelled across decades of design. Today, it still reads as a reassuring sign that a prize line has landed.
With cherries established, the next question is why fruit was used at all instead of clearly displaying coins or banknotes.
Why Were Fruit Symbols Used Instead Of Cash Images?
The main reason was legal. In places where gambling laws restricted monetary rewards, slot-style machines operated as vending or “trade” devices that dispensed goods. Fruit pictures were a neat, non-cash way to show what type of gum or sweet would be issued, which helped manufacturers present their products as promotional giveaways rather than cash gambling.
There was a marketing benefit, too. Fruit imagery let companies tie specific flavours to winning combinations, turning every spin into subtle advertising. It kept the machines in circulation and the brands in front of customers without drawing attention from authorities in the way coin or note graphics would have done.
There was also a practical side to the choice, linked to how the machines were built.
Mechanical Reasons Behind Fruit Symbol Choices
Early machines were entirely mechanical. Symbols had to be printed on narrow reel strips, read through small glass windows and recognised at a glance. Fruit worked perfectly because the shapes are simple and the colours are bold, which suited the inks and printing plates of the time.
Clean outlines reduced misreads and mechanical errors that could come from fussy designs. Limiting the reel set to a handful of clear symbols also made it easier for makers to control the number of possible outcomes and keep the games reliable.
So which fruits made the cut, and what did they originally stand for?
Common Fruit Symbols And Their Original Meanings
Fruit on the reels usually pointed to the flavour of the gum or sweets that would be dispensed with a win. Over time, those meanings faded as cash returned, but the icons stuck.
Cherries often represented cherry-flavoured gum or sweets. They were frequently set as a lower-tier prize, which is why they appear so often.
Lemons indicated lemon-flavoured rewards. A line of lemons told players what they would receive, not the size of a cash payout.
Oranges and plums signalled their matching flavours. Including several fruits gave operators more distinct winning combinations to advertise.
Watermelons sometimes appeared to broaden the set of flavours and help build larger prize tables for product giveaways.
Players also still see the bar symbol. This was not a fruit at all but a stylised company logo used as a reel icon, which later took on a life of its own as a standard symbol.
Those associations set the template for the classic fruit-machine look that designers still return to today.
Why Do Modern Slots Still Use Fruit Symbols?
A few reasons keep fruit on modern reels. First is recognition. For many players, a cherry or lemon instantly says “classic slot,” which makes the game approachable even if the mechanics are new.
Fruit also solves a design problem. Simple, high-contrast symbols read clearly on screens of all sizes, from cabinets to mobiles. They carry a sense of heritage without making the interface feel dated, so developers often mix them with contemporary features like free spins, cascading reels or Megaways.
Finally, fruits are universal. They do not rely on language or cultural references, which helps games travel from one market to another without a redesign.
That long shelf life also shows up outside the reels themselves.
How Fruit Symbols Shaped Slot Machine Design And Branding
Fruit icons helped define how slot machines look and how they are marketed. On busy gaming floors, bold cherries, lemons and plums acted like beacons, drawing the eye from a distance and making one cabinet easy to distinguish from the next.
Manufacturers built brand identity around those shapes and colours, repeating them across cabinet art, glass panels and adverts. Even as themes expanded into everything from mythology to movies, fruit symbols remained a visual shorthand for “slots,” anchoring the category and giving designers an instantly recognisable toolkit.
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**The information provided in this blog is intended for educational purposes and should not be construed as betting advice or a guarantee of success. Always gamble responsibly.