Computer Dice

Forum Archive : Computer Dice

 
Does Snowie cheat?

From:   André Nicoulin
Address:   nicoulin@oasya.com
Date:   4 September 1998
Subject:   Fair dice problematic in Snowie
Forum:   rec.games.backgammon
Google:   6so840$8cu$1@news.interpoint.ch

Hi,

A crazy amount of effort is devoted to the discussions in rgb about random
number generators, fairness of the dice in backgammon softwares/servers,
cheating, etc. This let us conclude that it is a topic where us, poor human
beings, get irrational and do not accept the truth as it is...

I dont even want to enter into the mosh, but only to report how Snowie Pro
handles the problematic. The problem we faced was in fact simple: how to
make the customers confident that the random number generator does not
cheat?

Actually, we implemented two different "things":

1. In Snowie, you can get the entire dice sequence BEFORE playing, and save
it in a file. Then you play with this sequence. If you feel unconfident,
you can always verify a posteriori by comparing the dice you got while
playing with the initial file. Try the menu Options¦Set Random Gen Seed,
and check the "Save 5000 rolls in a file".

2. You can implement your own random number generator. For computer
scientists, it is extremely easy. The random number generator is in an
external DLL named SnowieDice.dll. The bottom part of this post provides
the needed information in order to write your own SnowieDice.dll. Feel free
to contact us for any technical details you would need (support@oasya.com).

The Oasya Team
(Authors of Snowie)

------------------------------------------------------
// Copyright by Oasya SA, Switzerland.
// Dll for Snowie random generator use for dice
// Created 02/02/98
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <time.h>
#define DllExport __declspec( dllexport )
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// This function set up a random seed, based e.g. on
// the current timestamp, such that you dont always get
// the same sequence of dice when restarting Snowie.
extern "C" DllExport int SetRandomSeed()
{
  // Example using the standard Win95/98/NT generator
  srand((unsigned) time(NULL));
  return(0);
}
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Specify a particular seed
extern "C" DllExport int SetSeed(long lSeed)
{
  // Example using the standard Win95/98/NT generator
  srand((unsigned int)lSeed);
  return(0);
}
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Provide a random number in [1,2,3,4,5,6]
extern "C" DllExport int GetNextDie()
{
  // Position iDie as you want, you can even do a Input
  // form/window such that you can enter your dice manually
  // !!!
  return(iDie);
}
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
Did you find the information in this article useful?          

Do you have any comments you'd like to add?     

 

Computer Dice

Dice on backgammon servers  (Hank Youngerman, July 2001) 
Does Agushak Backgammon cheat?  (Mr Nabutovsky, June 2000) 
Does BG by George cheat?  (George Sutty, Nov 1995) 
Does Backgammon NJ cheat?  (Greg+, June 2010) 
Does Cybergammon cheat?  (Goto Informatique, Aug 1996) 
Does David's Backgammon cheat?  (Joseph B. Calderone, June 1998) 
Does GNU Backgammon cheat?  (Robert-Jan Veldhuizen, Nov 2002) 
Does Gammontool cheat?  (Jim Hurley, Sept 1991) 
Does Hyper-Gammon cheat?  (ZZyzx, June 1996) 
Does Jellyfish cheat?  (Fredrik Dahl, June 1997) 
Does MVP Backgammon cheat?  (Mark Betz, Oct 1996) 
Does MonteCarlo cheat?  (Matt Reklaitis, June 1998) 
Does Motif cheat?  (Rick Kiesau+, Mar 2004)  [Long message]
Does Motif cheat?  (Billie Patterson, Feb 2003) 
Does Motif cheat?  (Robert D. Johnson, Oct 1996) 
Does Snowie cheat?  (André Nicoulin, Sept 1998) 
Does TD-Gammon cheat?  (Gerry Tesauro, Feb 1997) 
Error rates with computer dice  (NoChinDeluxe+, Feb 2011) 
FIBS: Analysis of 10 million rolls  (Stephen Turner, Apr 1997)  [Recommended reading]
FIBS: Are the dice biased?  (Kit Woolsey, Oct 1996) 
FIBS: Entering from the bar  (Tom Keith+, Apr 1997) 
GamesGrid: Too many jokers?  (Gregg Cattanach, Sept 2001) 
GridGammon: Are the dice random?  (leobueno+, Sept 2011) 
Jellyfish: How to check the dice  (John Goodwin, May 1998)  [Recommended reading]
Jellyfish: Proof it doesn't cheat  (Gary Wong, July 1998) 
MSN Zone: Security flaw  (happyjuggler0, June 2004) 
Official complaint form  (Gary Wong, June 1998)  [Recommended reading]
Randomness testing  (Brett Meyer+, Dec 2010) 
Safe Harbor Games dice  (Michael Petch+, Aug 2011) 
Synopsis of "cheating" postings  (Ray Karmo, Feb 2002) 
Testing for bias  (Kit Woolsey, Jan 1995) 
The dice sure seem unfair!  (Michael Sullivan, Apr 2004) 
Too many repeated rolls?  (Stephen Turner, Mar 1994) 
Winning and losing streaks  (Daniel Murphy, Mar 1998) 

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