Dear Mark: As you so often state, the random number
generator on a slot machine is always crunching numbers.
If that is true, then doesn't it stop to give you
your results for that particular spin? Dave N.
Technically,
Dave, the random number generator (RNG) never stops
crunching numbers. You are correct in that at some
point the software within needs to know the value
of the RGN to produce the outcome you see on the screen,
but what the program is doing is "polling the
RNG" to pinpoint its value at that given moment,
and it's not necessarily coming to a complete halt.
Just
what creates that given moment? Some action by you
the player causes the program to poll the RNG. It
could be when you yank the handle, deposit your
first coin, or press either the Spin or the Bet
Max buttons. Because pulling a handle and pressing
Spin commences the same action, the program accounts
for that, and any or all of these events have been
used by to initiate polling the random number generator.
Pulling
The Slot Card A player pulls the slot card from the reader
before hitting the Draw button on a hand that
has potential for a big payoff.
A
slot I had just left hits jackpot.
If I had played just three more quarters, that
$10,000 jackpot would have been mine.
No even gluing your hopeful fanny to that same
machine's stool would not have given you that
$10,000 jackpot. Why?
Slots
Playing Max Coins
Next time you're front and center of a one-armed
bandit, give the paytable a once-over.
Good
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