Untitled - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
Untitled - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
Untitled - TRS-80 Color Computer Archive
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
I have<br />
by Richard Ramella<br />
yet to decide whether by these words<br />
A.E. Housman meant: Don 'tfall in love in a<br />
casino or Try to get the house to accept British<br />
currency for the fa vorable dollar exchange rate.<br />
I think it's the former because I've never sensed<br />
anything near affection in a gambling den.<br />
Consider, this month, the seemingly puz<br />
zle-like contraption known as the slot ma<br />
chine. Some people who enjoy puzzles are<br />
also attracted to lotteries and slots. They like<br />
to regard the latter device as a mechanical<br />
puzzle that can be beaten by brainpower<br />
though, of course, it can't. In recent weeks<br />
I've had three requests for a puzzle with a<br />
slot-machine motif. I've succeeded in writing<br />
a slot-machine game like none you have ever<br />
seen. The program in the listing is called<br />
Jackpot Jerome.<br />
When you've typed and debugged the list<br />
ing (that is, if you have run itl. type POKE<br />
65494,0 and press the enter key before trying<br />
to save it. This disables the high speed POKE<br />
65495,0. If your computer won't work with<br />
the speed-up POKE, delete the statement<br />
from the beginningofline 140. With the speed<br />
POKE invoked, you can't LLlST the program<br />
to paper or CSA VE it to cassette. You might<br />
also have difficulty saving it to disk.<br />
When you run Jackpot Jerome, you're in<br />
structed to press any key to start. This gives<br />
the randomizing routine the chance to theo<br />
retically make every run of the program dif<br />
ferent. Once you have pressed a key to begin<br />
the randomizing process, the program asks<br />
16 HOT CoCo February 1986<br />
Hit the Jackpot!<br />
----_o>� �oo---<br />
--<br />
When I was one-and-twenty<br />
I heard a wise man say,<br />
'Give pounds and crowns<br />
and guineas<br />
But not your heart away,<br />
you to be patient. A few seconds later the<br />
playing screen appears.<br />
Jackpot Jerome is a small and friendly me<br />
chanical creature. On his chest appear three<br />
reels, each of which shows three vertical po<br />
sitions. In the upper right comer of the screen<br />
the figure 100 appears. Press the space bar to<br />
register a wager and select the number of<br />
rows on which you want to bet. With each<br />
press of the space bar, pointers in the shape<br />
of plus signs appear marking the rows of the<br />
three reels that must match for you to win.<br />
You can attempt to match one of one, two, or<br />
three rows. Press the space bar once followed<br />
by any key (except the break or shift keys) to<br />
bet on one row position. Press the space bar<br />
twice and any key to bet on two row posi<br />
tions. Pressing the space bar three times se<br />
lects three positions. Each time you tap the<br />
space bar, the number in the upper right cor<br />
ner is reduced by one.<br />
Once you've placed your bet. the reels spin.<br />
If you get three solid bars in a row, you win<br />
50 pOints. With three open bars In a row you<br />
get 20 pOints. This is a true simulation. The<br />
reels have a definite arrangement. and the<br />
game works by spinning the reels randomly.<br />
I claim that the reels are arranged so you will<br />
more often go broke than raise your total to<br />
System Requirements<br />
16K RAM<br />
Extended <strong>Color</strong> Basic<br />
200. It's up to you to prove me right or wrong.<br />
If you would prefer that Jerome pay out more<br />
than he takes in (something you won't find in<br />
world of casino gambling), Insert this line:<br />
625 IF PI =0 AND VI = 5 AND P2 = 0 AND<br />
V2 = 5 THEN Q = 6<br />
It makes Jerome pay six points for a row with<br />
consecutive open bars in the left and middle<br />
reels that ends with an empty space in the<br />
right reel.<br />
To see the arrangement of the reels, insert<br />
the following line:<br />
245 SCREEN 1,1: GOTO 245<br />
When you type RUN, instead of the game<br />
you'll see the three reels as if they were un<br />
coiled and laid nat on the screen. Each reel<br />
contains 19 positions made up of solid bars,<br />
open bars, and empty spaces. If three solids<br />
pay 50 and three opens pay 20, how much<br />
will you win or lose on the average for every<br />
100 plays? For the purposes of this problem,<br />
let's assume that a hypothetical player wag<br />
ers only one point (in other words, one row)<br />
on each play. I need a mathematical answer.<br />
If this problem makes your temples pulse,<br />
be assured it has the same effect on me. If no<br />
one writes to me with the solution, the question<br />
might go forever unanswered .•<br />
Write to Richard Ramella at 1493 Mt. View<br />
Ave., Chico, CA 95926.