TedChee wrote:
Are the % returns for MS games calculated without free rides?
No, the return contribution of free rides is included.
In order to calculate variance don't you need to know the frequency
of free rides at each level?
That's right. The free ride frequencies are specified within the Help
information screens. They are fixed and differ according to paytable.
The casinos can't alter free ride frequencies and for any given
paytable the free ride frequencies are the same from one machine to
another.
By the way, Free Ride frequencies are set so that when the game is
played with optimal ER strategy the probability of advancing from one
level to the next is approximately 50%. There's some modest deviation
from this which allows for rounding of frequencies to the nearest .1%
and some other goals to meet various statutory requirements (e.g.,
venues in which ER for the game played with any given number of levels
must be less than 100% and that ER must stay the same or increase as
the number of levels played/total wager is increased).
Having tried 5-play MS, I have to admit it is a lot of fun though it
doesn't produce the volume of play/hr that I'd like. Wondering if
casino theo is generally higher, if so then it makes up for lower
volume.
There's little doubt that for any given total wager standard multiplay
is faster than MS multiplay (e.g. $1 std 5-play vs. $.25 MS 5-play),
reducing coin-in per hour -- a factor that would reduce casino hold
(before considering % hold).
It might be noted, however, that the same is true for standard
multiplay vs. standard single line ($1 5-play vs. $5 single line) ...
the hourly coin-in on the 5-play will be significantly short of that
expected for single play.
Concerning % hold, if the comparison is multiplay to single play (MS
in both cases or else standard vp for each), then strategy stays the
same and thus casino hold % would be expected to stay the same. The
attraction to offering multiplay to a casino, despite the fact that
there are fewer plays, is two-fold: The novelty will draw more play
from the player and the potential is that the player will advance
their total wager per play in the move to multiplay.
As far as the % hold comparison of MS vs standard vp (both with the
same paytable), using optimal strategy, MS boosts ER by around .2%.
However, if you play 4-level MS by using standard game strategy on all
levels, your ER is reduced by around a full 2% (for e.g. 9/6 JB MS
played with standard 9/6 strategy reduces ER to under 98%).
This latter fact is why casinos should have considerable enthusiasm
about offering MS in "full pay" paytables.
Also leery of the Piggy Banking bait-and-switch. When Piggy Banking
first came out, the slots were set loose so higher payouts were
frequent. Within a couple of months, the chips were changed & triple
7s were just a fond memory.
This is where here's a keen advantage to MS. Not only do you have the
benefit of a stated paytable but the free ride frequencies are stated
as well. Thus, a specific game ER can be determined.
This differs marketedly from games such as Gold Mine Bonus vp, etc.,
where there's a bonus factor for which you never have any idea of the
frequency and which appears can be changed by the casino in a similar
manner to Piggy Banking.
Given the desire by the game designers to keep the expected MS advance
rate from one level to the next at 50% (assuming optimal strategy
play), it shouldn't be anticipated that free ride frequencies for a
given paytable will change at any time.
Bottom line, the game designers really look for this game to be fully
on the "up and up" and have been very enthusiastic about designing a
game that is attractive to players in all respects. I take the
ultimate assurance in game integrity from this.
- Harry