The meter increment has exceeded...

Lady Luck HQ had a weird error message on a slot machine, and the machine went out of service. The language heard in the video was that she bet more than $250 per spin and this error will happen. She had another problem with a TITO ticket printing up across two sheets of paper. I haven't watched the whole video, but she says a manager was involved after she broke 2 machines.

Quote: ChumpChange

Lady Luck HQ had a weird error message on a slot machine, and the machine went out of service. The language heard in the video was that she bet more than $250 per spin and this error will happen. She had another problem with a TITO ticket printing up across two sheets of paper. I haven't watched the whole video, but she says a manager was involved after she broke 2 machines.


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The meter runaway error is very uncommon today but used to be more frequent when mechanical meters were used.

The video link doesn’t work. I recently played this game and found the free feature must be won before 1888 is a gimmick.

Quote: aceside

The video link doesn’t work. I recently played this game and found the free feature must be won before 1888 is a gimmick.
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How so? Also, how did you come by this information?

Quote: aceside

The video link doesn’t work. I recently played this game and found the free feature must be won before 1888 is a gimmick.
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How is it a gimmick?
How is it different than other must hits?

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: aceside

The video link doesn’t work. I recently played this game and found the free feature must be won before 1888 is a gimmick.
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How is it a gimmick?
How is it different than other must hits?
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i think they are saying it didnt hit before that number

Quote: DRich

The meter runaway error is very uncommon today but used to be more frequent when mechanical meters were used.
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What exactly is that error? Looking at the very few hits on it, it sounds like a desync error for linked progressives, which makes sense if the bit about it happening on this set of machines when wagering 250$+/spin is accurate.

Quote: Venthus

Quote: DRich

The meter runaway error is very uncommon today but used to be more frequent when mechanical meters were used.
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What exactly is that error? Looking at the very few hits on it, it sounds like a desync error for linked progressives, which makes sense if the bit about it happening on this set of machines when wagering 250$+/spin is accurate.
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I think that is what it probably was. Often we put some constraints on parameters that we call sanity checks. Basically, does the change make sense or is it possibly an error. The progressive controller just sees the number changing must faster than they had ever expected and flags a possible error.

Quote: 100xOdds

Quote: aceside

The video link doesn’t work. I recently played this game and found the free feature must be won before 1888 is a gimmick.
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How is it a gimmick?
How is it different than other must hits?
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The free feature does come before 1888, but it is too tiny to pursue for it, compared to other must hit machines.

Quote: ChumpChange

Lady Luck HQ had a weird error message on a slot machine, and the machine went out of service. The language heard in the video was that she bet more than $250 per spin and this error will happen. She had another problem with a TITO ticket printing up across two sheets of paper. I haven't watched the whole video, but she says a manager was involved after she broke 2 machines.

g]
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Speaking of odd error messages, I recently had a banner at the bottom of my player card screen that said something like 'Bonus eligibility can not be determined. Please reinsert card'. Never saw that one before and had me paranoid that bonus frequency could somehow be set internally at the casino.

I find my card times-out if I haven't won anything in about 15 minutes or so, then I have to pull my card out and reinsert it. It just means points won't add up to my card when my bets actually lose or win while I'm waiting with a card slot in red instead of green.

Quote: ChumpChange

I find my card times-out if I haven't won anything in about 15 minutes or so, then I have to pull my card out and reinsert it. It just means points won't add up to my card when my bets actually lose or win while I'm waiting with a card slot in red instead of green.
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Card was fully active - still accruing points, I could still access my point balance, etc. It was just a small banner overlayed at the bottom of the screen

Sometimes slots have little Bonus Games you can play on that little slot screen and it may only be valid during certain hours, or reinserting your card would activate the game system. For some reason it needed the card reinserted.

These games have a bonus buy-in feature that can cost hundreds of dollars depending on denom and game configuration. These games are connected to a vertex progressive controller that has some safeguards built in looking for irregularly high progressive meter movement, if the installation technicians did not adjust the vertex progressive controller metering threshold after converting or installing these games and someone bought into a $250 bonus, the vertex controller will lock the entire bank of games up in a tilt as a safeguard because the progressive meter movement was abnormal. In the end, a technician will have to access the vertex controller to clear the tilt and should adjust the meter threshold to accommodate large bets that won't set off the safeguards. There were no casino shenanigans here, just a mistake by the installation technicians. The tickets being printed across two sheets of paper usually happens when the paper was fed into the printer backwards, again no casino shenanigans here.

Well 2^8 = 256, so betting $300 may have exceeded the 8 bits in the system.

Quote: ChumpChange

Well 2^8 = 256, so betting $300 may have exceeded the 8 bits in the system.
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That doesn't sound right. $300. is 30000 pennies. 30000 is under 15 bits, but over 14 bits, which is an unusual size in modern systems.

Quote: Dieter

Quote: ChumpChange

Well 2^8 = 256, so betting $300 may have exceeded the 8 bits in the system.
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That doesn't sound right. $300. is 30000 pennies. 30000 is under 15 bits, but over 14 bits, which is an unusual size in modern systems.
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Yes, a 16 bit number generally will not exceed 32767.

2^16 = 65,536

Quote: ChumpChange

2^16 = 65,536
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Yes, but if using signed integers, a 16-bit integer ranges from -32,768 to +32,767

I'll do my best to summarize why this is happening more clearly.

All games in the group are connected to a Vertex progressive controller. Each time one of these games is played, the amount wagered contributes to the progressive meter based on an increment rate set in the controller. For example, with a 0.1% increment rate, a $10 spin would add $0.01 to the meter.

To help prevent issues caused by incorrect settings, the Vertex controller includes safeguards that limit how much the meter can increase from a single play. These limits are designed to protect against excessive meter jumps due to configuration mistakes, reducing potential losses for the casino.

One of these safeguards is a configurable “meter tolerance” — the maximum amount the meter is allowed to increase per individual game spin. If a single spin causes the meter to increase more than the tolerance allows, the game will tilt. For example, if the tolerance is set to $0.01 and an $11 spin increases the meter by $0.011 (based on a 0.1% increment rate), the game will tilt because the increase exceeds the tolerance.

Now imagine a player buying directly into a bonus round for $250 while the meter tolerance is still set at $0.01. At a 0.1% rate, that play would add $0.25 to the meter — exceeding the limit by $0.24 and causing a tilt. To properly support large wagers like this, the meter tolerance must be increased to accommodate higher single-play meter contributions, in this case at least $0.25.

This problem usually pops up right after the games are installed because the installation techs often forget to adjust the meter tolerance settings in the Vertex Progressive Controller for the big $250 bonus buy-in bets.

Quote: ChumpChange

2^16 = 65,536
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You are forgetting the sign bit.