prize game payout rate?

[ericball]

I spent the Canada Day weekend at Darien Lake, where I saw some Keymaster prize machines. I was tempted by the high value prizes (PS4, XBox One, Switch, iPad mini), but figured there had to be a catch - like any of the big prize carnival games.

But the catch isn't one of skill, timing, or dumb luck. Nope - the op can configure the machine to only pay out after a given number of credits have already been "played". So if you're the 699th player and the machine is configured with a payout rate of 700 credits (the default, but can be up to 9999), it doesn't matter what you do, you've already lost.

I find this deeply offensive.

Does anyone know whether such machines are legal in Canada / Ontario? Are other prize machines similarly configurable?

[jasonec]

[theyangman]

I believe Stacker is configured this way as well. No matter what you do or how well you "play" the final block will skip over the top no matter what until the credit limit is hit

[SaraAB87]

I have been to Darien lake and tbh i was a little offended by the situation there as well, most theme parks have these rigged games however DL had an extremely high concentration of nothing but rigged games. When I went there a couple years ago, I don't think there was a legitimate redemption game in that place. They also have what feels like hundreds of E-laut claw machines which are also known to be rigged machines where the operator sets the payout. You never know what its set to as well so as you say it could be 9999 or whatever the highest number is which basically means there is no chance to win and you don't know when they are resetting these machines either.

I have to wonder if those prizes at D&B are real or if they are just empty boxes (I know you can exchange the empty box for the real prize on site however I have to wonder if they actually have any intention of giving out those prizes or if the prizes are even on site). I heard a story about someone putting money into a theme park claw machine once only to find out that there were no iPad's in the boxes but they put bricks into the boxes so you couldn't pick them up with the claw.

To be fair there are plenty of legitimate redemption games out there, there are games that are completely skill based (so you have a fair shot at the game every single time), so its not all of them, if you go to Dave & busters I know they do not purchase these rigged games for their locations, and most games at D&B are skill based.