For decades, gamblers around the world have enjoyed spinning the reels of fruit-themed slots. Learn more about why so many players like to play online slots based on this popular theme and the experience that some fruit-themed online slots offer.
Understanding the Appeal of Fruit Slots
Fruit slots could be popular for a number of reasons. Here’s a closer look at some of the possible reasons behind their appeal.
1. Bright, Colourful and Lively Slot Theme
Humans have evolved to keep an eye out for wholesome fruit that are delicious and rich in nutrition. These fruits tend to have bright, eye-catching colours so that they can be easily spotted. Fruit-themed slots could play into this instinctual part of people’s nature by filling the reels with bright and lively fruit-themed visuals that draw the player’s attention to the slot.
2. Nostalgic Appeal
Another reason why people might love to play these slots is their nostalgic appeal. The existence of fruit-themed slots goes back many decades, with some of the earliest slot machines being called “fruit machines”. These machines were probably given this name for two reasons. Firstly, most likely to avoid the ban on slots in America in the early 20th century, and secondly, because they used fruit instead of playing card symbols.
Even when slot machines were eventually unbanned, fruit symbols remained a popular alternative to card symbols on slot game reels. Their appearance in many games throughout the mid and late 20th century resulted in fruit symbols becoming what’s now considered a classic slot theme.
This could explain why some older fans of slot machines might experience a sense of nostalgia when they play a fruit slot machine and why they might find themselves being drawn to this genre of slots.
3. Retro and Modern Design and Gameplay
Many fruit-themed slots are considered retro online slots because of their visuals, audio, and old-school gameplay. These are games that feature three reels, symbols like cherries, grapes, and lemons, and sound effects like classic chimes and other high-pitched tones.
However, there are also many slot machines with fruit symbols that embrace everything that modern slots have to offer. This could include gameplay features like cluster payouts, extra spins, or bonus minigames. These modern games also embrace the latest trends in slot visual and audio design which many slots fans may find appealing.
A Closer Look at Fruit-Themed Slots
Here are three fruit-themed games that demonstrate the wide range of visual, audio, and gameplay design choices that different types of online slot machines offer.
Banana Drop
| Software Provider | Microgaming |
| RTP | Up to 96.70% |
| Volatility | Medium |
| Jackpot Type | N/A |
| Paylines | 4,096 |
| Reels | 6 |
| Max Wager | 30 credits |
| Max Win | 180,933.90 credits |
Banana Drop by Microgaming is a slot that combines fruit and animal symbols into a single experience. The game features highly-stylized cartoon graphics, audio that could easily fit into a Saturday morning cartoon, and three thrilling features. These features include wild symbols, the Falling Banana feature, and Banana Drop extra spins. This game also offers 4,096 ways to win along its 6 reels.
Lucky Lemons
| Software Provider | Microgaming |
| RTP | Up to 96% |
| Volatility | Medium |
| Jackpot Type | Fixed |
| Paylines | 20 |
| Reels | 5 |
| Max Wager | 50 credits |
| Max Win | 250,000 credits |
Lucky Lemons is a fruit-themed slot with bold illustrated visuals, charming music, and 4 features. These features are Collect Wins, Lemon Booster, Bonus, and extra spins. Players can also win one of four fixed jackpots worth up to 5,000x the player’s wager.
While its features may be more modern, this game’s reel format and slot symbols are influenced by the classic symbols of traditional fruit-themed slots and feature lemons, grapes, watermelons, and other classic fruit.
Sweet ‘n Juicy
| Software Provider | Playtech |
| RTP | Up to 95.88% |
| Volatility | Low–High (depending on the mode) |
| Jackpot Type | N/A |
| Paylines | Pay Anywhere |
| Reels | 6 |
| Max Wager | 70 credits |
| Max Win | 25,126.8x |
Sweet ‘n Juicy is a Playtech slot with 6 reels and the pay anywhere game mechanic. This game mechanic rewards players for landing the minimum required number of symbols anywhere on the reels. Each spin of the reels could trigger one of the game’s four features, including Cascading Reels, Sweet Prizes, Wheel Feature, and extra spins. Players can also use the fifth Buy Bonus feature to automatically trigger the extra spins feature. This title has mellow music and vibrant fruit-themed graphics.