![]() Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter! Recent Articles
Best of John Robison
|
Gaming Guru
Megabucks Odds9 September 2004
Dear Mike, Thanks for providing the information about these machines and for answering the reader's question about setting the hold. I'm grateful that you and other readers take the time to help out fellow readers of this column. I had never heard of Cherry Master machines until someone asked about them many months ago. They're not found in casinos--at least no casinos that I've been in. I discovered the world of quasi-legal and outright illegal gaming in taverns and clubs. I also discovered the controversy concerning whether you can press the Stop button to stop the reels on a particular symbol. Thanks again for providing an operator's perspective on these machines. John
Dear Jim, You said, "...if each reel has 512 positions...." What if each reel does not have 512 stops? What if each reel has 368 stops and there is one Megabucks symbol on each reel? You would have one chance in 49,836,032 to hit the Megabucks, and these are the number on the Megabucks par sheet I have. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Jason, Let me start with your last question. Machines don't need physical proximity to be linked together. A network can link machines in a bank, in a casino, and even in a state. As for your first question, John Grochowski wrote in an article about new slots on this site on March 23, 2003, that the Mr. Cashman bonus appears on a machine about once every 40 spins at the whole bank. I don't know how exactly the bonus is triggered, but that it will appear more often the more people are playing. Not necessarily more often on your machine, but more often on the whole bank. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Cliff, Thanks for providing this information about the IGT chipsets. John In a standard video poker machine like IGT's Jacks or Better, how many RNG's are there and does an RNG run between the initial 5-card deal and when you hit the draw button? Does the time you wait to hit the draw button affect your outcome? Are only your first 5 cards determined when you hit deal and then the possible replacement cards determined when you hit draw? There is only one RNG needed in a video poker machine. The RNG continues to run between the deal and the draw. Each fraction of a second you wait to hit the draw button does give you a different outcome. Video poker machines today select five cards on the deal, continue "shuffling" the deck, then select replacement cards on the draw. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Jack, The evidence was from someone who played in a casino that used stored-value cards for play and not cash. At least I think they were stored-value cards, but some other technology may have been used. In any case, this person had, say, $10 on his card and was in the middle of an interactive bonus round. He pulled out his card before playing out the round, and then went to a different machine. When he put his card in the new machine, the amount he had available was $10 plus what he won on the bonus. It looked as if the amount he won on the bonus was predetermined and stored on his card before he played the bonus round. Best of luck in and out of the casinos, Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@comcast.net. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't send a reply to every question. Also be advised that it may take two or more months for your question to appear in my column. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Recent Articles
Best of John Robison
John Robison |
John Robison |