2012년 9월 6일 목요일

Debunking slot machine myths

Nobody worries about whether a machine will go cold if it senses hot coins fresh from the hopper, since hardly any games use coins anymore. And players have gotten used to rewards systems — I don't remember the last time I was asked if using your card brought lower paybacks on the games.Game programming is no different whether the crowds are sparse or the casino is packed.

There are more jackpots paid in big crowds, but that's just because more people are playing. For any individual player, the chances of hitting a jackpot are the same in a packed house as they are when nobody else is playing.The machine keeps paying the percentage determined by the normal odds of the game. Over time, big jackpots, hot streaks and cold streaks all will fade into statistical insignificance.

Programmers don't tell a machine it has to pay out a certain percentage. They set the odds of the game so that repeated play will lead naturally to that percentage.That's called a “secondary decision,” and it's not legal in commercial casinos in the United States. Early computerized slots manufactured by Universal selected an outcome from a pool of all possible winning outcomes, along with a weighted number of losers.

댓글 없음:

댓글 쓰기