Fruit machine

Fruit machine was a slang term for a device that was supposed to be able to identify homosexuals. The subjects were made to view pornography, and the device measured the pupils of the eyes, perspiration, and pulse for a supposed erotic response.

The fruit machine was employed in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s during a campaign to eliminate all homosexuals from the civil service, the RCMP, and the military. A substantial number of workers did lose their jobs. Although funding for the "fruit machine" project was cut off in the late 1960s, the investigations continued, and the RCMP collected files on over 9 000 suspected gay men and lesbians.

Article from Maclean's magazine (http://www.macleans.ca/xta-asp/storyview.asp?viewtype=browse&tpl=browse_frame&vpath=/2001/06/25/History/53112.shtml)

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Fruit Machine is a British term, describing a gambling machine that is commonly found in pubs, arcades, and some take-away food shops. These machines commonly have 3 or 6 reels with around 16 or 24 fruit symbols printed around them. These reels are spun, and if certain combinations of fruit appear, winnings are paid from the machine, or subgames are played. These are very similar to slot machines seen in casinos around the world, but the term Fruit Machine is usually applied to a type of machine more commonly found in pubs and arcades. These games have lots of extra features, trails and subgames with opportunities to win money, usually more than can be won from just the reels.

This type of fruit machine is popular across Europe (in the countries where they are legal), and very popular in countries such as the Czech Republic, Russia, and the Ukraine.

The machines are typically programmed to pay out around 82-94% of the money that goes into them as winnings. This can often be changed by the owner with the aid of DIP switches on the motherboard.