These, and more, questions have been answered previously in this thread - but as you say, it's a behemoth now, so i don't blame you for not checking. I certainly wouldn't, that's for sure
Firstly, let me say a couple of things:
1. Thanks for the questions!
2. Thanks for being a part of the forum!
3. There are some members here who will ardently disagree with everything i'm about to say when i answer you, but what i'm telling you is facts as i know them. I don't speak for everyone - i'm sure in some parts of the world there are dodgy companies doing dodgy things - but my answers are almost certainly true of every UKGC (and probably MGA) licenced games provider.
Hello all.
i will admit to not having read all 92 pages of this thread so far, so sorry if these questions have already been asked.
1. Bonus rounds. Are the triggering of bonus rounds determined by the rng or is it simply how the front end of the game decides to display the win to you?
All outcomes in a game are determined by the RNG. There are many, many ways to make a slot game. And yes, picking a win and then going through some complex algorithm to determine how to show it WOULD be possible, and quite possible legal, but it's also how no-one (in my experience) makes games. There are some games (like jammin jars) which have many (millions+) outcomes predetermined, and the RNG picks which one to show you, and then you are basically watching a movie of the win being awarded, but the RNG in that case has picked sequency 13,250 and that sequence happens to give you a bonus. Most games that look like they are using reels will likely run on a reel band type system - where the RNG gives 5 reel stops (using whatever alogrithm the games provider has implemented to determine the reel stops) and the game just spins to those positions. Simples
2. How does the front end work in terms of how it dispays wins? What i mean is, does the front end have modes of play where for example it will do bonus rounds more frequently for a while then change? A good example of this is Netent's Starburst, where it feels like the game will favour dropping in the wild columns for a period of time then go cold on them.
Nope - simply not true, not legal, and not done.
Just so you're not consufed - the front end is the client (the bit you play) and the server is where the game engine (the maths, accounting, etc.) is stored. This system is used for many reasons, including security (so you can't hack it). The client is completely dumb to game maths - it just does what the server tells it to do.
3. Does the rng dictate the win amount when you press spin or does it dictate the position of the reels? For example take Netent's Invisible Man. I could win say £45.60 from a bonus round. Their bonus rounds are variable length. How is that amount decided upon? Once you are in a bonus round, is the ultimate outcome already determined?
Each spin will be randomly determined. It almost certainly (i say almost, because Jammin Jars and other games like that are slightly different, as mentioned) has not picked a value and then got to it. I've never come across a slot game that does it that way - why would you? It's all calculated in the maths when we make the game - we look at how the feature will be on average, and also how good / bad it can be, and we can tune the games in many different ways - our job as game producers / designers is to make the best maths we can for the game design we have. No rigging, compensating, or doing shady shenanigans because quite simply we don't need to
4. I am not disputing long term rtp. However, does a slot have different modes of play that it can switch between during a session, or more widely at server level? Again using starburst as the example here, for a supposedly low variance slot it quite frequently appears to go into a higher variance mode where you can go 30 dead spins easy. Other times it plays more lively. Its hard to believe this is truly random.
Nope, this would be illegal for a start, and utterly pointless. Random games act in this way precisely because they are random. Get a dice and roll it, and sometimes you'll have runs where it's only high numbers, or mainly odd, or whatever. It's just luck.
5. Is it in anyway possible to get hold of PAR tables for current popular games, eg netent? Wouldnt it be nice to actually see the probabilities of various wins.
Thanks.
There are some old games knocking around on the internet somewhere i'm sure - but the PAR sheets contain the IP of the game. It's the maths of the games that is THE most important thing, so companies don't give that away easily.
Hope those answers helped.
Dave
