Slot machines are effectively modern computers, and even mechanical reel slots have a computer running under the hood. All those computers require power – and that means when there’s a power outage it all comes to a halt.
Does that impact anything?
Would a power outage change the timing on slot machines so that they pay out a lot more frequently? A friend of mine said her cousin experienced that at a local casino and it wasn’t just one machine, all the machines were paying out? She seems to think it was because of the power outage!
Geraldine M.
It makes sense that the timing would change, but it wouldn’t change specifically in a way to make them pay out a lot more frequently. That would still come down to the luck of the draw.
Slots and their Random Number Generators (RNGs) work through hundreds or thousands of random numbers every second. Within those numbers will be ones that lead to winning combinations, and ones that lead to losing ones. As such, the precise time a wager is made is the sole consideration.
When it comes to power outages, most players polled on Brian Christopher’s YouTube page has never seen one. Of those who did, a majority said it was quick while a smaller amount dealt with a longer power outage.
In this case, it’s just good luck that after the power outage players at the casino went on a lucky run. We’ve had other people write in and say after a glitch the machines stopped paying out, leading to players thinking the casino somehow “flipped the switch” (which helps explain our name).
But we know that the chances of a particular outcome happening is equally possible on any spin, so the introduction of a variable that changes our timing is neutral – we’ll never truly know if it improved or hurt our chances, because we don’t know what the other outcome would have been instead.
But no, the power outage can’t take credit for those winning streaks. It really does come down to the moment you press the button, so in that way, technically you can thank yourself for a job well done pushing buttons!
One thing to know about slot machines is that they have batteries in them to remember what happened up to the point of a power outage. So you won’t lose a bonus that’s going mid-stream, for instance, because it will pick that bonus right up where it left off when the power returns. So that’s another good thing about slots – they can’t be manipulated into taking away something you’ve already accomplished before the outage.
I probably read or heard that there was a battery backup to the slot machine program, but it was interesting to read that ( maybe again 🤔😅)
But I do wonder if micro power surges or, like in the dry desert, static sparks, could in some way trigger the RNG (wait for it) positively or negatively.
We love a good pun Jim :) The ability for a slot to recover from a power failure is among the more interesting things about them – they pick up right where they left off, and have all the information backed up!
Brian what an informative Newsletter !!! Thanks !!
Thanks so much Colin – we really appreciate your reading Flip The Switch!