RNG (random number generator)
An RNG is the software that makes a game's results unpredictable. How pseudo-random numbers work, and how Cashout Arcade turns one draw into a payout.
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An RNG, or random number generator, is the software that produces the unpredictable numbers a digital game uses to decide each result. Every spin, deal, roll or crash point starts with a number from the RNG, which the game then turns into reels, cards or a multiplier.
Pseudo-random and true random
Computers rarely use physical randomness. A pseudo-random generator follows a calculation that produces a sequence which is statistically indistinguishable from random and cannot be predicted without knowing its internal state. A cryptographic generator, the kind used for anything where fairness matters, is designed so that seeing any number of past outputs does not help guess the next.
Cashout Arcade's server draws results from the operating system's cryptographic random source. Each draw is a 53-bit fraction between 0 and 1, and the rest of the game logic turns that fraction into an outcome. The app on your phone never chooses the result.
From one number to a payout
The same draw can become very different games. In Dice, a number from 0 to 9,999 is compared with your win chance. In Limbo and Crash, the draw becomes a multiplier by the rule "the chance the result reaches at least x is 0.97 divided by x". That is why a 2x target wins 48.5 percent of the time and a 10x target wins 9.7 percent.
| Target | Chance the draw reaches it |
|---|---|
| 2x | 48.5% |
| 10x | 9.7% |
| 100x | 0.97% |
The RNG supplies the randomness; the game's table or formula supplies the odds. A perfect RNG with a bad payout table is still a bad deal, which is why the table matters as much as the generator.
Common misconceptions
- "The animation decides the result." The result is fixed on the server before the reels or the plane move. Animation is presentation.
- "A random generator evens things out." It has no memory. After ten losses the next round has the same chance as the first. See Independent events (definition and examples).
- "Random means no streaks." Real randomness produces streaks, and their absence would be suspicious.
- "A certified RNG means a generous game." Certification, where it exists, checks randomness and conformance, not how large the edge is.
See What Is an RNG? How Random Number Generators Work for a fuller explanation, and the Odds page for the chances every game's draws are mapped to.