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All modern slot machines are controlled by a computer, and the computer has the task of generating random numbers. However, computers are not random in any way at all - they follow a fixed sequence of instructions which is absolutely predictable. Starting from the same set of conditions a computer will always generate exactly the same sequence of "random" numbers time and time again. Actually there are not many things in the Universe that ARE truly random, and all of those which are known are "quantum" events that happen inside individual atoms. For example, neon tubes glow because the electricity stores packets or "quanta" of energy in the individual neon atoms, which the atoms later give back in a flash of light. The time it takes for each atom to give back the energy is a random quantum event. This effect was used in ERNIE, the computer used for many years by the British "Premium Bonds" lottery, which had a neon tube at its heart to generate random times which it printed out as numbers. Incidently, Einstein hated the idea that quantum events were random - this is what he was referring to in his famous quote "God does not play dice with the Universe".
But I digress. Slot machines do not have neon tubes in them producing random numbers. They rely on a simple, but cunningly designed, mathematical formula to produce a long sequence of numbers which APPEAR to be random. If you knew the formula and knew what the last number was, you could calculate the next one, and the next, and so on. To avoid this possibility, the slot machine runs its RNG continually whether it is being played or not, so nobody has any idea what number it has generated at any particular time. The sequence has a finite length and always repeats, but if the formula is properly designed it takes a very long time. For example, an RNG based on a 32-bit binary number produces every possible variation of 32 binary bits (except all 0's) once and only once in its sequence. This is 4.3 billion different numbers. If the slot machine runs the RNG 1000 times a second, a typical value, it will take 50 days to complete the sequence and start over.
How are the random numbers actually used in a machine? Most slot machines have 22 stopping positions on each reel, 11 symbols and 11 spaces. Internally, however, they have so-called "virtual" reels with somewhat more positions. IGT machines generally have 63 stops on the virtual reels, sometimes more. These virtual reels don't really exist, they're just lists of numbers in the program. Each position on the list is "mapped" to a stop on the physical reel, and when a particular number is picked on the virtual reel, the machine makes the physical reel stop at the corresponding place. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "63, 22, wait a minute. Some physical stops must be mapped to more than one virtual stop!" Keep at it, and in a moment you'll work out why the pesky jackpot symbols often stop above or below the line, but hardly ever on it. Anyway, back to the RNG. Some time between you dropping the first coin and the reels beginning to turn, the computer pulls three numbers out of the RNG. These can be pretty big numbers, anywhere between 1 and 4.3 billion. To make them correspond to the number of places on the virtual reel, the computer divides them by 63 (or whatever the size is) and keeps the remainder. Remember from your high school math, the remainder must be less than 63 otherwise it would have gone in one more time. So now we have an "index" from 0 to 62 which is used to look up a number in each virtual reel, and for each of these numbers the computer looks at its map to see which reel position is being pointed to. Then the reels start moving and click, click, click on each of the target positions, and damn it honey, look, I just missed the jackpot again!
I glossed over a couple of points above. First, the reduction from 4.3 billion to 63 means that every position on the virtual reel is pointed to by 68 million different random numbers. You don't have to wait 50 days for the RNG to cycle - the same index comes round about 16 times every second and it is quite possible for two jackpots to come up back to back. Second, the statement "some time between you dropping the first coin and the reels beginning to turn" means it's pointless to try and guess the sequence. There's at least a couple of seconds window, in which time the RNG will have thrown away 2000 numbers from its sequence. Whether the numbers that select the game outcome are taken at the beginning, when the first coin drops, or at the end, when you hit the start button, makes no practical difference. Dropping the coin or hitting the button happens at a random time and the chances are very small indeed that you would hit a particular number, even if you knew it was about to come round.
I hope I've shed some light on the mystery of the RNG, even if I haven't given you any hope that you can beat it. In the end, the inexorable laws of probabilities working in favor of the operator will nickel and dime you out of your bankroll, except on those rare occasions when Lady Luck smiles on you and delivers a jackpot too big for you to spend before you leave. We'll look at probabilities next time.
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