Payout %?

[Slots_007]

I've always wondered this, How did the payout percentage work on the Universal machines? were they all fixed payout percentages from the factory or are they adjustable by the end user?

[bruno]

Each game theme is controlled by an EPROM with a predetermined payout %
It's not adjustable. If you want to change the payout % , you must change the EPROM.

[Slots_007]

Each game theme is controlled by an EPROM with a predetermined payout %
It's not adjustable. If you want to change the payout % , you must change the EPROM.

Thanks for the info!

[OldReno]

If you want to calculate your machine's %, you must go into self test, and log-down all the combinations on the reel strips.  You must log the population.  Universal had a spurt of growth on their dollar machines, which built up the company, and however it was suspected they had 'funny' reel strips.  E.G. rumor was that on a no-pay, they could 'show' 7's or high pays just missing.
Don't know the truth in this, but their growth was near-exponential, as I was working in the industry then.
Hope someone can debunk my paranoia....
It might be a fun project to calculate your odds, but it would take some time and commitment probably from the whole group here to do that.

[uniman]

Yes, Universal did have a program in their machines called the "near-miss" feature. In 1988 IGT filed a protest and The Nevada Gaming Commission had Universal remove all chips with the near-miss feature.

Now, how does the percent payout work?
It works like this; Each reel has 11 symbols and 11 blanks. So if it was a mechanical machine there would be 22x22x22 combinations on a three reel machine. Thats 10,648 different combinations.
When the electronic slots came out, 1985, they used the Telnaus patent. Inge Telnaus was an engineer at Ballys who came up with a way to offer bigger jackpots on a 22 symbol reel machine by creating a virtual stop table.
So lets number the stops on each reel 1-22. All odd numbers are symbols and all even are the blanks. You could create a simple 32 stop table like this;
 
REEL #1             1  1  1  2  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  16  16  17  18  18  18  19  20  21  22  22  22
REEL #2             1  1  1  2  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  16  16  17  18  18  18  19  20  21  22  22  22
REEL #3             1  2  2  2  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  16  16  17  18  18  18  19  20  21  22  22  22

These above numbers would be located in the eprom and each will have it's own address. The machines RNG Random Number Generator choses three address, one for each reel and the computer looks and sees what is at that address. If the number chosen for reel #1 was an 7, then the reel stops at location #7. The machine then looks at a symbol table and sees what symbol is at location #7. Does the same for all three reels and then determines if it is a winner and  what the pay is.
Now let's say there is one jackpot symbol on each reel and it is at location #1. On my virtual table above there are three #1's on reels 1 & 2, but only one #1 on reel 3. So that is 3x3x1= 9 chances in 32,768 (32x32x32=32,768 total combinations available)
So chances are you may see a jackpot symbol on reels 1 & 2 (a 1 in 11 chance each) and then not see the jackpot symbol on reel 3 (a 1 in 32 chance on reel 3)
But look at all those #2's and #22's. Those are the blanks on each side of the jackpot symbols! So the chance of seeing the jackpot symbol just off the line is much greater than seeing it on the line. That's the beauty of the virtual stop table. A manufacture can load up on hitting just off the line making you think "Ahh, I just missed!" Nevada does have limits on how many blanks can be offered near a symbol.
All the combinations are computed with the payouts to determine what the chip's percentage is. Changing the virtual stop table changes the payout. So when you have a machine that has a chip rated at 88% it will have less chances at most payouts and more blanks (even numbers in my table). So when you change to a 97% chip the entire eprom is the same as the 88% eprom except the virtual stop table.
I know Universal used 32, 64, 128, and even 256 virtual stop tables to represent 22 stops on the reels.
Here is link to slot history; http://www.readybetgo.com/slots/history/history-241.html

Back to the near-miss feature.
Universal had a program in their machines that when the machine determined the chosen stops were not a win, then about 1 in 7 losing combinations were directed to a second table that had several different near-misses instead, like 7-7-blank, etc. On certain games, like ones with no cherries, as soon as reel #1 stopped on a blank the spin was a loser, no need to watch anymore. So universal decided to create a little more excitement by changing the blank to a symbol and giving the player a little more action. There was no law at the time against it. It did not affect the payout. IGT protested and said they too would start using this feature if the gaming commission wouldn't do anything about it. So the commission ruled against Universal and made them remove all chips with the near-miss feature in Nevada. It cost them big time and they were on the way out after this setback.
Looking at it now, all Universal had to do was go to a 256 stop virtual table and load up reels 1 & 2 with symbols and reel #3 with a lot of blanks. Same effect. Just like IGT does now.

Hope this helps!

[OldReno]

I am in awe of your post, thanks, but I believe the Summit (early Bally conversion company) created the virtual reel, and eventually sold it to IGT.  But then I wasn't there so don't know....
As I recall, you I and Statfreak with others did some posting on calculating percentages a while back.
It was a hoot.

Thanks for your great post.

[Slots_007]

Ah! I remember reading about that. I think Uni might have had a bit of legal trouble with the poker machines as well, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I honestly think these machines were built to last forever. Having seen many Universal machines down in Jamaica in open-air gaming rooms (exposed to salt air, moisture and dust/sand) they are still going strong! Most of those games were imported in the late 90's and were still in use a year or so ago when I was visiting.

[Slots_007]

I didn't take this photo but here are the Jamaica Uni's in use, same machines were still going strong around 2010 or so and are still registered/certified & being used in Jamaica.

[uniman]

Ah! I remember reading about that. I think Uni might have had a bit of legal trouble with the poker machines as well, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I honestly think these machines were built to last forever. Having seen many Universal machines down in Jamaica in open-air gaming rooms (exposed to salt air, moisture and dust/sand) they are still going strong! Most of those games were imported in the late 90's and were still in use a year or so ago when I was visiting.

Legal trouble, I don't think so. But I do believe that Ron Harris, former Nevada Gaming Commission technician had "gaffed" Universal video poker programming.
It was American Coin Inc who had legal trouble. In the mid 1980's the gaming commission was in charge of verifying that slot machines met the legal requirements of the law. When the computerized slots came out they were behind on the technology. They hired Ron Harris to check programing on eproms and verify that they didn't cheat. So the gaming commission would check all new games and programing and authorize their use, give them a stamp of approval. Well, American Coin Inc had their chips approved and had video poker installed in various bars around town. But then someone at American Coin instructed their programmer, Larry Volk, to add programming to the chips that prevented royal flushes. When a royal flush was drawn the game changed a card. These new "gaffed" chips were labeled as previously approved chips and installed in their video poker machines. It didn't take long before a complaint was filed by full-time video poker players who noticed no one was hitting any royals. The gaming commission sent out Harris who checked the programming and found it was different than the approved chips. But the programming was beyond Harris's ability to understand. American Coin program designer Larry Volk was called in and reluctantly admitted he was directed to gaff the program and was willing to testify before a grand jury. He also stated he feared for his life. He was given no police protection, even after his home was bombed. Then, someone shot him in the back of his head in his own driveway. Nobody went to prison for the murder or the gaff chips. American Coin paid a million dollar fine and it's owner left town.
This incident is what Ron Harris said made him start his cheating. He felt there was no justice in Vegas. After the American Coin incident the Gaming Commission figured out they needed to spot check games that were installed in casinos and verify the programming. Ron Harris was in charge of writing the programming verifying the chips. What he did was write a program that verified a chip and then wrote more code to the chip, thereby installing a gaff of his own. He did it to both poker and slot machines. The gaff would be a series of coins played that would trigger a jackpot. Like 1,3,5,4,2,3,1, and then max bet 5 coins that would trigger the jackpot. He told his friends which games to play and how. He got caught when he and a partner successfully won a $100,000 keno jackpot in Atlantic City.

Here is a link to a newspaper article written about Harris; http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/1997/Mar-12-Wed-1997/news/5015949.html

The statements are to the best of my knowledge and there could be some omissions or inaccuracies. 

[Slots_007]

Ah! I remember reading about that. I think Uni might have had a bit of legal trouble with the poker machines as well, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I honestly think these machines were built to last forever. Having seen many Universal machines down in Jamaica in open-air gaming rooms (exposed to salt air, moisture and dust/sand) they are still going strong! Most of those games were imported in the late 90's and were still in use a year or so ago when I was visiting.

Legal trouble, I don't think so. But I do believe that Ron Harris, former Nevada Gaming Commission technician had "gaffed" Universal video poker programming.
It was American Coin Inc who had legal trouble. In the mid 1980's the gaming commission was in charge of verifying that slot machines met the legal requirements of the law. When the computerized slots came out they were behind on the technology. They hired Ron Harris to check programing on eproms and verify that they didn't cheat. So the gaming commission would check all new games and programing and authorize their use, give them a stamp of approval. Well, American Coin Inc had their chips approved and had video poker installed in various bars around town. But then someone at American Coin instructed their programmer, Larry Volk, to add programming to the chips that prevented royal flushes. When a royal flush was drawn the game changed a card. These new "gaffed" chips were labeled as previously approved chips and installed in their video poker machines. It didn't take long before a complaint was filed by full-time video poker players who noticed no one was hitting any royals. The gaming commission sent out Harris who checked the programming and found it was different than the approved chips. But the programming was beyond Harris's ability to understand. American Coin program designer Larry Volk was called in and reluctantly admitted he was directed to gaff the program and was willing to testify before a grand jury. He also stated he feared for his life. He was given no police protection, even after his home was bombed. Then, someone shot him in the back of his head in his own driveway. Nobody went to prison for the murder or the gaff chips. American Coin paid a million dollar fine and it's owner left town.
This incident is what Ron Harris said made him start his cheating. He felt there was no justice in Vegas. After the American Coin incident the Gaming Commission figured out they needed to spot check games that were installed in casinos and verify the programming. Ron Harris was in charge of writing the programming verifying the chips. What he did was write a program that verified a chip and then wrote more code to the chip, thereby installing a gaff of his own. He did it to both poker and slot machines. The gaff would be a series of coins played that would trigger a jackpot. Like 1,3,5,4,2,3,1, and then max bet 5 coins that would trigger the jackpot. He told his friends which games to play and how. He got caught when he and a partner successfully won a $100,000 keno jackpot in Atlantic City.

Here is a link to a newspaper article written about Harris; http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/1997/Mar-12-Wed-1997/news/5015949.html

The statements are to the best of my knowledge and there could be some omissions or inaccuracies. 

Wow, I never knew that. Great read Uni Man!