PAR sheet acquisition

I've been APing for several years, and I've done quite well. I've made a lot of my own calculators, and using data, I've figured out how to beat several games myself. However, something I've never been able to do and have never had any clue how to do is find PAR sheets. I know there are a lot of people who sell them for absurd prices (in the thousands of dollars), but where do those people actually get them? There are plenty of games which have PAR sheets which allow you to essentially completely solve when to play them, namely Everi slot machines. Even having PAR sheets for several Ainsworth slot machines (very simple to solve once you know the RTP) would be helpful for various reasons.
Anyone here know what to do to actually leverage into a position where finding PAR sheets is feasible? How are people actually getting ahold of them?

I can open any slot machine in my casino and look at PAR sheets. I have looked at a few just for fun, but I'm not going to share the information and destroy my career.

Quote: KevinAA

I can open any slot machine in my casino and look at PAR sheets. I have looked at a few just for fun, but I'm not going to share the information and destroy my career.
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When you say "your casino", do you mean a casino you work at? What position?

Yes, I work there, in slots. It would be illegal for anyone to have keys to open machines who doesn't work there.

Quote: KevinAA

Yes, I work there, in slots. It would be illegal for anyone to have keys to open machines who doesn't work there.
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So, can anyone who works in slots at a casino typically gain access to these sheets, or would you need to be a cut above a typical slot attendant or technician?

Anyone with slot keys could do so.

Quote: KevinAA

Anyone with slot keys could do so.
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PAR sheets aren't something that can just be found on the slot machine software, are they? Sorry for inundating you with questions, but I'm just curious: How do you actually gain access to these sheets just by having slot keys? Just make a request to see one? Most of the slot attendants I speak to seem almost completely clueless about how slot machines work and likely wouldn't even know what a PAR sheet is. And no fault on them; that's not necessary for them to do their jobs. I'm just curious how getting access seems to be so simple when, for me, finding PAR sheets has been extremely difficult and people online are charging thousands of dollars not even for access to the PAR sheets but just for information that they derived from them.

With the keys, I can open the machine. Every slot machine has paperwork inside it. At a minimum it has the RTP. Most games also have basic information that can be displayed on the screen that can be pulled up with the keys without having to physically open it.

It's trivial for me to get access to this information but it's not trivial for you or anyone else because that information is confidential and releasing it is a serious violation.

Slot employees who say they don't know how the games work may be B.S.ing you. I B.S. people and claim to know nothing because that's much easier than trying to explain to them that this is confidential information and I'm not releasing it.

I do the same thing if someone asks me what is the maximum amount you can cash out on a TITO. I just say "uh, I don't know, just hit the cash out button and if it prints a ticket, great, if not, we'll do a handpay" (I do know, I'm just not going to tell them this).

Quote: KevinAA

With the keys, I can open the machine. Every slot machine has paperwork inside it. At a minimum it has the RTP. Most games also have basic information that can be displayed on the screen that can be pulled up with the keys without having to physically open it.

It's trivial for me to get access to this information but it's not trivial for you or anyone else because that information is confidential and releasing it is a serious violation.

Slot employees who say they don't know how the games work may be B.S.ing you. I B.S. people and claim to know nothing because that's much easier than trying to explain to them that this is confidential information and I'm not releasing it.

I do the same thing if someone asks me what is the maximum amount you can cash out on a TITO. I just say "uh, I don't know, just hit the cash out button and if it prints a ticket, great, if not, we'll do a handpay" (I do know, I'm just not going to tell them this).
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I know about this information, like certain screens displaying, for example, RTP or lifetime return stats for the game. I'm specifically inquiring about PAR sheets, which sometimes contain information like the hit probabilities of progressives.
Is the paperwork inside the slot machine generally equivalent to the PAR, or is it something else?

Quote: ctslots

Quote: KevinAA

With the keys, I can open the machine. Every slot machine has paperwork inside it. At a minimum it has the RTP. Most games also have basic information that can be displayed on the screen that can be pulled up with the keys without having to physically open it.

It's trivial for me to get access to this information but it's not trivial for you or anyone else because that information is confidential and releasing it is a serious violation.

Slot employees who say they don't know how the games work may be B.S.ing you. I B.S. people and claim to know nothing because that's much easier than trying to explain to them that this is confidential information and I'm not releasing it.

I do the same thing if someone asks me what is the maximum amount you can cash out on a TITO. I just say "uh, I don't know, just hit the cash out button and if it prints a ticket, great, if not, we'll do a handpay" (I do know, I'm just not going to tell them this).
link to original post

I know about this information, like certain screens displaying, for example, RTP or lifetime return stats for the game. I'm specifically inquiring about PAR sheets, which sometimes contain information like the hit probabilities of progressives.
Is the paperwork inside the slot machine generally equivalent to the PAR, or is it something else?
link to original post

Yes, it is.

In the past, a slot technician may come up and open a machine near me and I can glimpse what the coin-in and coin-out numbers are and figure a percentage payback that was going on with the machine. It may not be the same number as what the RTP is set at on the machine, that would be on another screen. These PAR sheets you speak of seem to be actual pieces of paper in an envelope along with other information about the machine that may be under seal and only for slot coders from the factory to access, like a game schematic.
If slot coders want to raise betting limits on an e-game because of the new $2,000 limit, they would be running a software update. They may refer to PAR sheets to do that, but it may not be necessary.

The most useful information I can readily glean is by discreetly shoulder surfing while a technician has the machine open and checking something in the menu pages. This has been fairly unreliable to trigger.

The second most useful information I can glean is from carefully watching bootup screens. At some properties, this happens predictably, right after the count team does a scheduled slot drop.

None of this gets me a PAR sheet; the best I can usually hope for is an RTP.