Can a slot machine be aproximately mapped by sampling the decisions of the reels?

Quote: Wizard

There seems to be confusion whether we're taking about video slots, a weighted single-line slot, or both. Since video slots are more popular and would be more easily reverse engineered, I think it makes more sense to focus on those, for the sake of discussion.

Yes, this would not be feasible with physical reel slots because the symbols are not evenly weighted. On video slots, with rare exceptions, the symbols are all evenly weighted. The only video games that I've seen break this rule are those designed to mimick physical reel games in jurisdictions that don't permit reels.

It would; you'd just have to ignore the frequency of off-payline symbols for math purposes.

Quote: MathExtremist

It would; you'd just have to ignore the frequency of off-payline symbols for math purposes.

But, you wouldn't know how many samples to take because there could be many hundreds of stops. If it is a multi line game, you could still use data for the off payline symbols since each symbol must have the same frequency on every line. I guess there could be exceptions, but I haven't seen any. Although it's not common, I've seen reel strips up to 512 symbols long on physical reel machines.

Quote: Wizard

However, casino security usually gets nervous about people taking a lot of notes at the machine for an extended period of time. What might work better would be to record about 500 spins on a cell phone and then go over them carefully when you get home.

If you're ever in Michigan you're welcome to come to the Upper Peninsula and record the game results. Heck, we'll even tell you how close you are.

Not too long ago we had a player who was doing something unusual. He sat with a notepad in a binder and would spin a reel slot. He would right something down, we couldn't see what, and then wait up to a minute to spin again. We watched him for quite a while before curiosity got the best of me and I went and asked him what he was doing. I told him he was welcome to continue doing whatever it was but what was it? He said he liked to keep track of his wins or losses so as to not lose too much. My guess is that he had some timing system figured out so he could predict the reel outcome.

Mark

Quote: marksolberg

If you're ever in Michigan you're welcome to come to the Upper Peninsula and record the game results. Heck, we'll even tell you how close you are

Which casino? My brother lives in the UP and I'm overdue to visit him.

Bay Mills Resort and Casino, Brimley MI.

I was referring to weighted single line stop reels.