Stat Freak Wanted

[jdkmunch]

That answers alot if questions ! Thanks

So there is indeed a true 128 position virtual strip. Based on this stat is 100% correct that the animation
is just for show. Even though it only moves 5 positions the
machine just hides symbols to arrive at the generated stop point.
 

[TZtech]

Hi

Had a long reply with the attachment but internet flaked out on me. Lets try again.

The info supplied is for the International version of Stinking Rich - My guess would be that the Math for IGT domestic products would be the same. If you can get the paytable ID from your machine you can confirm this. I think this is displayed under program version information in the test menu.

I had never given it much thought until you asked the question and this info does not conclusively prove that the five symbols on screen are consecutive numbers of the virtual strip. I have always just assumed that they are and like Mike said if you go into paytable test you get the same impression. Now that you have the info its pretty easy to confirm if your paytable Id matches that of the info. Just play a few games and confirm that the symbols displayed on screen match the consecutive symbols somewhere on the virtual strip.

Stat - Another aspect of video games that I have been wondering about. Conventional wisdom says that you you should always cover all the lines and reduce your credit bet per line as opposed to play max bet per line on fewer lines (That the advice I used to give to customers anyway) but that may be another false assumption since i have never actually tried to prove this mathematically. What I am interested in is how you would calculate how much better the RTP is if you do cover all the lines.

Ian

[StatFreak]

TZ, first, thanks and K+ for the PAR sheet. 
It certainly suggests that they are using standard strips with no randomization of symbols.



Mike, even though you can step through the strip order in test mode, it doesn't conclusively prove that they're not randomizing the strips. Only comparing live spin data to the strip listing can do that. However, I doubt that they are after seeing the PAR. It's a standard issue PAR, with no mention of randomizing the strip symbol order.

I believe that they would have to disclose any such actions. Besides, randomizing the symbol order exponentially increases the number of combinations, which would have to be disclosed on the PAR.



TZ, from what I remember of the discussions on the board a while back, some of the older video slots required a bet on every line to activate scatter pays and perhaps some other bonuses. I've seen newer games that no longer have that requirement. As long as every payout is proportionately available to the bettor, then there is no advantage to playing max lines.

You'll want to be sure that the scatter pays will activate anywhere in the window (i.e., on un-played lines). They should pay a multiple of your total bet, even if the bet is not a multiple of the number of lines. The same applies to bonus rounds. If there are buy-in bonuses (extra button), the same applies. The for-pay bonus must be available for less than max line bets and in proportion to the size of the bet.

Line bonuses should not make a difference, as long as they pay a multiple of the number of coins bet on the line they hit.

Disproportionate top jackpots matter. Of course, it's up to the player to decide if they're worth a max bet.

Keep in mind that given the same sized bet, more lines at fewer coins decreases volatility and increases hit frequency. Fewer lines at more coins does the opposite.

[StatFreak]

By the way, you got me thinking about what would happen if they scrambled the symbols on each reel instead of adhering to a specific order, given that they would still select the three symbols from a pool for each strip that had the same number of occurrences of each symbol (same weighting) as a specifically ordered virtual strip.

You know what happens?  

It decreases volatility and increases hit frequency, while leaving the total payback percentage and the odds of hitting any individual line win unchanged !!  

To put it another way, you win more often BUT WIN LESS each time!

Does that sound familiar?



So, now you've got me wondering.
Of course, they can build the same design into a fixed strip, too.

Stat

<EDIT> Correction.  I did some more figuring in the light of day and realized that this isn't always true.   Fixed symbol locations can be designed to fall on either side of the volatility of a random outcome. Basically, there is no motivation to randomize the strip order, because doing so can only return one specific hit frequency and volatility index for a given weighting of symbols, and that would limit the designers' creativity to arrange the symbols to carefully craft the ebb and flow of game play that they desire for the theme.

Sorry about that. I can screw up with the best of 'em!  

[StatFreak]

Munch, K+ for the question.   I had never really thought about symbol randomization before.

[jdkmunch]

Thanks!   For me it makes the hobby that much more fun.

I love to know what makes things tick.