Fortune teller is an art that dates back to thousands of years ago, the earliest reference we can find are in Egyptian paintings. It is a fascinating practice that dates back to that time and involves fortune tellers telling fortunes to people in return for a service or payment. The term for a fortune teller in English is “fortuneteller” while in Greek the word for fortune teller is “apotropes”. This practice has taken various forms throughout history, though its roots are in ancient Greece. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica (the encyclopedia magazine): “To this day, fortune tellers practice it, mediums, psychicians, and others who take part in the business of forecasting the future.”
A fortune teller can be anyone who possesses at least a rudimentary understanding of probability. This means anyone who can count and spell. However, in the 21st Century most commonly a fortune teller is required to use coins, especially the black “Lucky Number” coins that are given out in slot tournaments and online video slot games. These coins, which are imprinted with numbers, letters, or both, are passed from player to player during the course of a game so that whoever gets a set of twenty numbers correct wins a prize.
The symbols on the coins are usually simple images such as a human face, a heart, a number, or a symbol for luck or “special.” In some instances a picture is combined with a symbol to create a more complicated design. A free-spinning slot machine is designed so that when a player passes within a certain range of symbols on the screen it will stop and a spinning symbol will appear to tell the player that he is “lucky” enough to receive a prize.