If slot machines are random numbers, how can they be programmed to win a certain number of times? How can something be both random and programmed?
In: Engineering
The programming relates to the *probability* of a win.
A typical way that slot machines keep players hooked is by occasionally giving them a medium win. You could do this by, each pull, drawing a random number from 1 to 100. On the first pull, only 100 generates this medium win. On the second pull, 99 *or* 100 can win. On the third pull, 98, 99, or 100 can win. Each time the chance of winning becomes higher, but it is still also random. If the player wins, this resets.
Gaming commissions have pretty strict rules about how far slot machines can go with this kind of behavior. These tend to set a baseline winnings rate (so the machine can’t just take your money and never pay out) and to ensure some variation in outcome with each pull (so it’s not just a deterministic program). In the example above, you would have to stop adding winning numbers at some point to keep from having a pull that definitely wins.
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