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Sunday, June 18, 2006 | 7:40 a.m.

1987 Caesars Palace installs four $1 slot machines with instructions in Spanish as a test market for Hispanic gamblers.

1990 Centel Cellular tests (in Las Vegas and Arlington Heights, Ill.) a system by Motorola that increases network capacity by 50 percent. At the time, cellular users complained that calls were not going through because networks were overloaded.

Early 1990s Slot-machine giant International Game Technology begins to test market its "Easy Pay" technology, by which machines pay out ticket vouchers instead of coins. The test quickly grows from a couple dozen machines to more than 300. User surveys find them to be 85 percent favorable.

April 1991 Anheuser-Busch tests a full-calorie Natural Pilsner beer.

May 1992 Burger King test markets (in Las Vegas and five other cities) a dinner table service concept. Thirteen local Burger Kings offer waiter-waitress table service from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily for three months. As part of the test, free popcorn is served.

1993 Pizza Hut's 21-slice Big Foot pizza is test marketed here; Acuevue's 1-Day contact lenses, the first daily disposable s, are tested in Las Vegas and Omaha, Neb.

June 1993 Sprint Cellular of Nevada test markets digital imaging . The service turns a cell phone into a pager that receives text messages.

1994 Black Hawk Gaming tests a table game called Maverick Poker at the Riviera in Las Vegas and Harvey's in Lake Tahoe.

1996 Hallmark greeting card company test markets several new products as well as advertising methods and store designs. As part of that project, Hallmark, for the first time, hires a local advertising firm to market local stores.

1990s McDonald's tests the environmentally friendly EarthShell, a hinged container made from potato starch, calcium carbonate, water and wood pulp.

April 2000 Washington Mutual tests "teller towers," the pods at which customers stand beside tellers to do their banking. Each tower includes a safe into which deposits are dropped and a machine that distributes withdrawals to customers - features the company says are not only convenient but also far more secure than traditional walk-up teller windows .

August 2000 Home Depot test markets its first Internet retailing concept in six stores, offering 41,000 products on its Web site.

2000s CBS leases space at the MGM Grand for Television City, a studio where new TV shows are test-marketed to audiences.

April 2006 General Motors opens The Drive, where, for $10, locals and tourists can test-drive GM sports cars on either a performance course or an off-road course.

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