Stacker (and other skill testers): where's the l00t at

Amigu

I watched my friend win a PSP playing stacker the other day. He did it first try then he asked me whether I wanted an ipod and got within one block of winning again. It was pretty awesome!
Mind you he has sunk about 200 dollars into this machine and is only now getting anywhere near good.

Being a skeptic I have a feeling that there may be a randomizing factor in the machine that only allows a win every X amount of games. You probably wouldn't even notice if the machine delayed your input by a fraction of a second.

Does anyone know whether this is the case?

Failing that post sweet things you have won on Stacker and other skill testers...

Daedalus

There is a control panel inside the Stacker-type games (this includes crane games) where the arcade operator can control the win percentage. I've seen it myself.

edit: the basic Stacker game can be set to win anywhere between 1 in 10 games and 1 in 800, although you (as in the arcade operator) can buy an upgrade kit to set the odds as high as 1 in 1400 games. The manufacturer's official line is that it is still a game of skill and any game can be a winning one, but this does not match actual practice. (But who knows, maybe they keep a 1:1,000,000 randomizer in there for every game for legal reasons; I don't have the source code).

Amigu

So the only real way to beat the odds on it would be open it up and change the control panel settings... which is obviously sort of illegal

Daedalus

The real fun part is where the arcade operator sets it to 1 in 1400 or so and then powers it off every night so the counter starts over every morning and it never actually wins, ever.

Slot machines are held to higher standards.

Daedalus

There is of course, the one classic way to beat the odds on a Stacker machine: purchase one, and then rent yourself some high-traffic real estate e.g. in a mall or on a boardwalk, put an unrealistic prize in there and set the odds to "one in fuggetaboutit".

DiannaoChong

The answer to cracking these machines are stakeouts. You sit and watch the machines for days, and figure out how many it takes before a winner comes out. then you do it at least once more. if the numbers are around close (in this case, in the hundreds most likely with expensive prizes), then you have the seed number. now you continue to sit until enough people play to push the played numbers up, and then you start playing again. you will win without spending as much.

this is the general rule of thumb to claw games at least.

AbsoluteZero

I played a lot of Stacker when I got bored sitting around a boardwalk in Delaware. 9 times out of 10 I got within 1 block of winning but somehow could never win, I suspected ever since it was rigged... a little sad to see I was right. Buttholes made off with a bunch of my quarters!

AbsoluteZero

Switch setting from the operators manual ...

P10 - Skill Setting (Major Prize)
1 = Easiest (Approx. 1 Win in 20 Games) 6 = Medium to Hard (Approx. 1 Win in 200 Games)
2 = Very Easy (Approx. 1 Win in 30 Games) 7 = Hard (Approx. 1 Win in 300 Games)
3 = Easy (Approx. 1 Win in 40 Games) 8 = Very Hard (Approx. 1 Win in 400 Games)
4 = Easy to Medium (Approx. 1 Win in 50 Games) 9 = Very, Very Hard (Approx. 1 Win in 600 Games)
5 = Medium (Approx. 1 Win in 100 Games) 10 = Hardest (Approx. 1 Win in 800 Games)

So yeah, it's rigged as all hell. See the manual for yourself.

redraptor

Well if it wasn't someone who was good at it could just drive around the country winning and selling xboxs and whatnot. All these machines are missing is a three-toothed carnie standing in front asking you to win something nice for your lady friend. You should know better.