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Frame by Frame Analysis Gets Big Results!
A few years ago, arcades were very different. They used to give out reward tickets! But now, rewards are electronic points, and the vibe isn’t the same. Anyways...
When we first visited, my kid wanted to win big—and so did I. But most games seemed based on luck, not skill. Video analysis showed that some games had a random delay between pressing a button and the game responding, making it nearly impossible to win with skill.
One game, though, wasn’t rigged: the ball drop. Frame-by-frame analysis showed the ball dropped immediately when the button was pressed. By studying the frames, one could figure out exactly what position the baskets needed to be in for a successful drop. Check out the timestamps in the bottom left of this animated GIF:
So, how did it turn out?
My sister is the real hero of the story for capturing a small snippet on video! The whole experience reminded me of an Imagine Dragons music video, where kids are gathered around, watching the arcade winners!
It was amazing how a crowd of kids—and even parents—started gathering. If you can consistently win the jackpot, you can actually score arcade prizes for less than store prices!
Pictured below: The staff mentioned we had more tickets than they'd ever seen! I think we ended up with around 20,000 or more!
We ended up getting one of every single prize from the arcade that night! There were so many prizes, they couldn’t all fit in a single picture!
It's important to teach kids about fair play and recognizing when something isn’t working out for them, and to avoid the "All or Nothing" mentality when things aren't going the way you'd like. Winning is fun, but the real lesson lies in spotting and pursuing opportunities that are fair, fun, and rewarding.
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