Ask the Slot Expert: Video poker suggestion

I hit the Spin button on one of my favorite Quick Hit slot machines. The screen dimmed a bit and shooting stars danced all over the screen.

I knew something good was about to hit. Most likely, it was going to be the bonus. But it could also be enough Quick Hit symbols to win one of the bigger progressives. The machine grabbed my attention.

Slot machines have had these anticipatory displays for at least a decade now. They crack the door open slightly into how the software in a slot machine works.

The software gets a number from the Random Number Generator for each reel. That number tells the software where the reel will stop. The software could get the number for the first reel, stop that reel in the proper spot, then get the number for the second reel, stop that reel, and so on.

This methodology is called Just-In-Time. It is used in programming and warehousing and maybe some other functions that I'm not aware of.

The philosophy behind Just-In-Time is that a needed resource isn't acquired until just before it's needed. In a computer system, a line of code isn't compiled or translated until right before it needs to be executed. In warehousing, materials aren't delivered to the warehouse until they are needed for production or sale.

The presence of the anticipatory display tells us that slot machines don't use the Just-In-Time model. The software has to know where each reel will stop before any reels have stopped. It has to know the result of the spin sometime in between Spin and stopping the first reel. If the program didn't know beforehand, how would it know to trigger the anticipatory display?

The software in video poker machines used to be as far from Just-In-Time as you could get. When you pressed the Deal button, it chose all 10 cards that could possible be needed to play out the hand. It used the first five cards for the dealt hand, waited for the player to hit the Deal button, and then used the remaining five cards to replace the discards.

This methodology creates a vulnerability in the machine. Anytime an Electronic Gaming Device sits with a result locked in and the player can change the state of the machine, the device is vulnerable to cheating.

Video poker machines following this algorithm sit with the five replacement cards already chosen. That in itself isn't sufficient to facilitate cheating. Allowing the player to choose which cards to hold (that is, changing the state of the machine) while those cards are locked in does.

If you could hack the RNG algorithm and then know where it was in its cycle, you would know what the five replacement cards were. You could then make your discard decisions based on the cards you would receive instead of relying on the Expected Values and probabilities.

A group of cheats did this many years ago. Regulators changed video poker regulations to require video poker machines to choose only the five dealt cards when the player presses the Deal button. The RNG continues to run while the player chooses which cards to hold. The software chooses the replacement cards only after the player presses Draw. The machine no longer sits with a result locked in.

I received my third dealt royal a few days ago. I missed seeing it happen. Something caught my eye and I looked away from the machine right after hitting Deal. Then I heard the jackpot music and looked down to see a royal in hearts and "Call Attendant" flashing on the screen. I wish I had been paying attention when the machine was dealing the royal.

Maybe IGT could add an anticipation display when the player gets a dealt royal. Make sure players know something wonderful is about to happen and they should pay attention to the screen.

I'm reminded of a promo that runs during the trailers at Cinemark theaters. We see a movie audience enthusiastically reacting to something that has just happened in their movie. Then we see a movie goer carrying his popcorn and soda going down the stairs and sitting down in his seat.

The person next to him asks, "Can you believe what just happened?"

He says, "No," but he really doesn't have any idea what just happened because he was at concessions getting his snacks.

The tag line is something like "Don't miss the big moment. Order you're snacks ahead in the app."

I don't want to miss fully experiencing a rare dealt royal. I wish video poker machines would let me know when it was about to happen so I don't miss anything.

Just a thought.

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

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com.

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