Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

polygon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 238 posts

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#81

Post by wu_187 »

abaracadab wrote: post #72
rubyn00bie wrote: post #63

Oh, I thought this was known. I'm not even joking... A few years ago, I was at a local comic shop, and I watched someone (a kid) play the machine and appear to get a "perfect" shot, key went exactly into the fucking hole... but then it just pulled back. No prize! I was stunned when the kid asked an employee essentially "WTF?" and the employee replied "there's a chance the key may not turn even though it's lined up."…

So it sounds like skill + luck: key in the hole gives random chance of winning. Honestly, these kind of lawsuits are ridiculous. People need to sue General Mills for false advertising instead because sugary cereals causing diabetes; or any other big-food company brainwashing children on YouTube kids.

The lawsuit is not rediculous. These are marketed as being games of skill, which means there's always the ability to win on every turn. This is obviously false and people lose tons of money on this thinking it's fair.

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#82

Post by dylan604 »

viraptor wrote: post #56
dylan604 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? You aren't familiar with one random guy on the internet that maybe makes some videos in a very niche market that you may have never even heard of before? What? Do you have some sort of life of something preventing from crawling every single crevice on the interwebs?

Not quite as niche as you describe. He figured out how to fairly consistently hit youtube recommendations / top videos. If you use youtube, there's quite a good chance you've seen one of his videos on the frontpage or seen his name a few times, even if you never watched them or aren't interested in his content.

This may be something you haven't considered, but there are ways of using YT with never seeing the front page. Some people don't just "browse" YT, or watch video after video after video following some algorithmically chosen playlist. It is possible to watch a single specific video and then leave the site. Just like you can also read a single tweet without infinitely scrolling through the bedlam.

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#83

Post by [deleted] »

brightball wrote: post #74
rubyn00bie wrote: post #63

Oh, I thought this was known. I'm not even joking... A few years ago, I was at a local comic shop, and I watched someone (a kid) play the machine and appear to get a "perfect" shot, key went exactly into the fucking hole... but then it just pulled back. No prize! I was stunned when the kid asked an employee essentially "WTF?" and the employee replied "there's a chance the key may not turn even though it's lined up."…

Mark Roper actually did a video on this and found the exact frequency at which people are allowed to win.

[deleted]

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#84

Post by loonster »

brightball wrote: post #74
rubyn00bie wrote: post #63

Oh, I thought this was known. I'm not even joking... A few years ago, I was at a local comic shop, and I watched someone (a kid) play the machine and appear to get a "perfect" shot, key went exactly into the fucking hole... but then it just pulled back. No prize! I was stunned when the kid asked an employee essentially "WTF?" and the employee replied "there's a chance the key may not turn even though it's lined up."…

Mark Roper actually did a video on this and found the exact frequency at which people are allowed to win.

It's also in the article...

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#85

Post by Karunamon »

cortesoft wrote: post #80
nkrisc wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s just luck.

No, because if you really suck, you can’t win at all. It is like poker, which is a combination of skill and luck.

Okay, I can accept that. But poker is still considered gambling, and we wouldn't allow arcade owners to target poker games at children. Why should this be allowed?

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#86

Post by HarryHirsch »

cortesoft wrote: post #80
nkrisc wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s just luck.

No, because if you really suck, you can’t win at all. It is like poker, which is a combination of skill and luck.

Skill when the machine decides to let you win, no chance when the machine doesn't want you to. It's not at all like poker and very much like the well-known shell game with a pea.

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#87

Post by userbinator »

megameter wrote: post #31
Cerealkiller050 wrote: post #2

I remember seeing and playing this on a cruise ship. It was a dollar per try, and I shoved in 5 bucks. By the 4th try it was NOTICEABLE that if you press the button at the "right time", there was a lag before it overshot it and you failed. I pretty much could guess that something like the article discusses was at work, and was simply more a game of luck. Obviously I stopped after that, as a pure luck game is not as f…

Like with gambling devices, redemption games all seem to have operator-adjustable payout. I recall playing "Stacker" for a little while in the 2000's. It used an LED dot display for gameplay, which was a simple timing game where you "built" a tower by stacking up the blocks, with it getting faster at each level. What it did was exactly as you describe: it had a minor reward level that you could always win, and then a…

where the game would cheat and instantly warp the block ahead to make you lose.

Thanks to the Internet, this has been recorded on video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofEb9fM8m0Q

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#88

Post by Waterluvian »

I’m fascinated about the idea that some team had to decide on this. Then another team had to design it. Then another team had to program it.

What are the practical mechanics of how you do something shady or illegal in an otherwise legit company?

I wonder if discovery will reveal any interesting communications or designs on the matter. Would love to see source code.

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#89

Post by pitaj »

hellbannedguy wrote: post #35
lupire wrote: post #6

Good. These covert casino machines are a blight , and all of them should be banned and the proprietors prosecuted.

I wouldn't mind if all gambling was illegial in the USA, including the lottery.

Let's bring back prohibition while we're at it.

Re: Sega sued for ‘rigged’ arcade machine

#90

Post by umvi »

Is it even possible for a "game of skill" arcade machine that dispenses high value prizes to be profitable? Seems like any such game would just breed expert players that clean house and win all the iPads with their skill. If not, surely it would invite some hacker or tinkerer to invent a device to augment their skill and (again) clean house and get a bunch of cheap iPads.

Maybe you could have arcade machines where you:

- play AlphaGo/Stockfish

- factor a huge prime

- Some other "hard" feat

and if you succeed you get an iPad. Those are the only "games of skill" that wouldn't get you bankrupted by expert players

Post reply on HN