Do slot machines play in the key of C?

Question

I was listening to Episode 57 of the Talk Show (at 44:35), and one of the hosts mentioned that he'd heard that slot machines all play in the key of C. Ostensibly, this is because this frequency is especially pleasing.

The show notes linked to an ask.metafilter page with worthless posts that provide none of the research that makes for a good answer here on Skeptics.

Is there evidence that slot machines play in the same key?
If so, is some sort of path dependent artifact or is there a reason C was actively chosen?

What is **key of C**? What is **C**? – Lazer Sep 05 '11 at 08:09 — Lazer, Sep 05 '11 at 08:09
@lazer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_major – Sklivvz Sep 05 '11 at 09:54 — Sklivvz, Sep 05 '11 at 09:54

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 04 '11 at 04:33

It looks like the claim is no longer true.

A writer at the Vegas Chatter blog was skeptical of this claim, and so decided to contact IGT, a gaming machine manufacturer.

They were quoted as saying

The original....sounds were centered in the key of C - Once we began creating theme specific content that went away, and pretty much all the key centers of western music I (sic) available on any given slot floor. The Key of C still makes appearances regularly, though, and lives on in a lot of legacy products.

Do slot machines play in the key of C?

1 Answers1