Computerized Slot Machines
When consider the modern slot machines, the play itself didn’t change. You feel, as if you played the old mechanical model. However, what changed completely is the way they work. The outcome of each pull is no longer controlled by the motion of the reels. It’s under control of the inner machine central computer instead. Well, it’s easy to predict who rules in the computerized machine- computer of course. It uses STEP MOTORS to turn each reel and stop it at the predetermined point. It also controls short DIGITAL PULSES of electricity which drive the step motors. The digital pulses move the motor a set increment, or step very precisely. ( see INTRODUCTION TO STEP MOTOR SYSTEM to get more information ).
The fact that the computer determines where the reels stop doesn’t mean the games are pre-programmed to pay out at a certain time. Here, a RANDOM NUMBER GENARATOR plays its role- a heart of the computer ensuring that each pull has an equal shot at hitting the jackpot.
The random number generator works extremely fast. As the machine is turned on, the RNG spits out whole numbers ( typically bewteen 1 and several billion ) hundreds of times a second. As the name says, the proces of choosing the numbers is carried out randomly. If you hit the jackpot, you are a real lucky!
- Below, we introduce the complete process plays out in a typical three-reel machine. when you pull the handle, the computer records the next three numbers from the random number generator. The first number is used to determine the position of the first reel, the second number is used for the second reel and the third number is used for the third reel. Let’s take the first number is 123, 456, 789.
- In order to determine the position of the first reel, the computer divide the first random by a set value. Generally, slot machines divide by 32, 64, 128, 256 or 512. Let’s take the computer divides by 64.
- When the computer devides the random number be the set value, it records the reminder of the quotient. In our example, it finds that 64 goes into 123,456,789 a total of 1,929,012 times with a reminder of 21.
- Of course, the reminder cannot exceed 64 or be less than 0. In other words, there are only 64 possible final results of this calculation. The 64 possible reminders act as stops on a large VIRTUAL REEL.
- Each of the 64 stops on the virtual reel corresponds to one of the 22 stops on the real reel. The computer consults the table which tells it how far to move the real reel for a particular value on the virtual reel. There are much more virtual stops than real stops. From that reason, some of the real stops will be linked to more than one virtual stop.
that word. They are easier to use, easier to pay for, and definitely more comfortable With the computer development, slot machines are now easier in every meaning of considering both- betting ( you can bet money straight from a credit account ) and playing ( you don’t have to pull the handle anymore. You just press a button- that’s all).
If you want to find, how the computer program can be designed to change the slot machine’s odds of hitting the jackpot, the next section is for you!
