Ask the Slot Expert: Flipper is a dolphin, not a slot-cheating device

Question: Some machines have a USB port on them I doubt it would work as an i/o port ... ? Right I didn't think so. Are you familiar with radionics ? Are you aware of a device called a flipper what potential have these at gaming by no means am I condoning any illicit intent or nefarious actions just curious thank you.

Answer: The USB ports you find on some slot machines provide power only and do not communicate with the computer system running the slot machine. Any connections that do communicate with the computer are behind a locked door.

I don't think I've ever used one of the ports just because I don't carry a USB cable with me. I have tried using the wireless charging pad that is on the button decks of some machines, but I don't recall ever finding one that works.

Have you ever tried one of the USB ports? Has anything other than the recharging icon appeared on your phone?

I found an article by Josh O'Connell called Phone Charging on Slot Machines Needs a Rethink. He has two complaints. One, many decks do not have enough room to lay your phone down on them. And two, they frequently don't work.

Moving on, I am not familiar with radionics. Are you referring to the radionics that Wikipedia defines as "a form of alternative medicine that claims that disease can be diagnosed and treated by applying electromagnetic radiation (EMR), such as radio waves, to the body from an electrically powered device"?

The Flipper Zero is billed as the "Multi-tool Device for Geeks." "It loves hacking digital stuff, such as radio protocols, access control systems, hardware, and more." Maybe it would also love hacking a slot machine, which is just a digital device today?

The Flipper Zero sports a multi-band antenna and a CC1101 transceiver chip, which supports an alphabet soup of "various types of digital modulations such as 2-FSK, 4-FSK, GFSK and MSK, as well as OOK and flexible ASK shaping."

The Flipper Zero also supports more familiar technologies: RFID, used by RFID tags and some old access control systems; NFC (Near Field Communication), used mainly for contactless payments; Bluetooth; and Infrared, used for remote control of devices.

The web page shows a number of devices that you can use the Flipper to communicate with. One thing that most of the devices have in common is that they want to get input from the outside world. The access reader on an office door wants to get a transmission from a valid access card. Your garage door opener wants to get a valid access code from your remote opener. Your TV wants to get a command from the remote control that is lost under your couch cushions.

The slot machine wants input from the outside world, but there are only a few ways to communicate with the machine: the card reader, the bill acceptor, the soft buttons on the touchscreen, and the physical buttons on the button deck. With the exception of the Bluetooth transceiver that some slot club modules use to cardlessly connect with your phone, the slot machine is not listening on any of the transmission methods supported in the Flipper.

Even if the slot machine isn't looking for input on these transmission methods, maybe it could be vulnerable to EMR from the method. The most likely effect is that the machine would either reboot or crash. Slot manufacturers and testing labs subject machines to stress tests to ensure that the machines aren't affected by external radiation.

But that's not to say that it's never happened.

About 25 years ago, a casino purchased a new walkie-talkie system for the slot floor. There was one small problem. Whenever a slot person keyed the mike on one of the radios, nearby slot machines would pay out a coin. The casino quickly switched to a different walkie-talkie system.

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.