How Crash Games Work: Multipliers, Cash Out, Odds

In a crash game a multiplier climbs from 1.00x and, at a random moment chosen before the round starts, it crashes. If you cash out of the round before it crashes (you lock in whatever the multiplier is at that instant), you get your bet times that multiplier. If it crashes first, the bet is lost. The only decision is when to press Cash out, and the only thing that matters about the crash is how likely it is to come before the target you pick.

What happens in a round

1. You set a bet and, optionally, an auto cash-out target between 1.01x and 50,000x.
2. The server draws the crash point and keeps it hidden.
3. The multiplier starts at 1.00x and climbs.
4. You tap Cash out, or your auto cash-out target is reached, and you are paid the bet times the multiplier at that moment.
5. If the multiplier reaches the crash point first, the round ends and the bet is lost.

The whole thing takes seconds to a minute. Because the crash point is fixed before the multiplier starts moving, the climb is a presentation of a number that already exists.

The multiplier curve

The multiplier grows exponentially with time: m(t) = e^(0.00006 x t), where t is in milliseconds. That means it climbs slowly at first and then faster, and the time to reach each level looks like this:

The curve only affects how the round feels. The odds are decided entirely by where the crash point falls, as the next section shows.

The crash point and why you cannot predict it

The server draws a random number u between 0 and 1 and sets the crash point to 0.97 divided by u, rounded down to two decimals and never below 1.00x. A small u gives a big crash point; a u near 1 gives a crash at or just above 1.00x.

Because of that formula, the chance that the crash point is at least x is exactly 0.97 divided by x. Work it out: the crash point reaches x when u is at most 0.97 / x, and a uniform number does that with probability 0.97 / x. The 0.97 is where the 3% house edge lives.

That one formula gives every number you need:

Three facts come straight from the table:

• About 4% of rounds end at 1.00x, before you can do anything (1 minus 96.04%).
• The middle crash point is about 1.94x. Half the rounds end before it.
• Rounds are independent. The crash point is a fresh draw each time, so 10 early crashes do not make the next round longer. See the streaks guide.

Nothing in the game's behaviour leaks the crash point either. The server does not reveal it until a cash-out could no longer succeed, so checking the round's state during play gives no early warning.

Cash out means locking in the multiplier

When you tap Cash out, the game pays your bet times the multiplier shown. Cash out at 2.31x on a 100-coin bet and you receive 231 coins. Your auto cash-out does the same thing automatically at the target you set, and it is decided on the server, so it is not affected by your connection.

The key point about odds is that every target has the same expected return. A flat strategy that always aims for x wins with probability 0.97 / x and pays x, which averages 0.97 coins per coin bet, whether x is 1.1 or 100. Choosing a target only changes how often and how much you win. The honest version of this idea has its own guide: does any crash strategy work?

What 20 rounds at a 2x target looks like

Suppose you bet 1 coin per round and always aim for 2.00x. Each round wins with probability 48.5% and pays 2 coins (a net gain of 1), or loses 1. After 20 rounds, the number of wins follows a simple binomial pattern:

Summing the table: 36.0% of 20-round sessions end ahead, 17.5% end exactly level and 46.5% end behind. The average is a loss of 0.6 coins, which is the 3% edge on 20 coins staked. The expected number of wins is 9.7, so even "luck-free" play does not quite reach the 10 wins you need to break even. The same 97% can look like a clear win or a clear loss depending on the session, which is what the volatility guide means by swing.

Latency and the 150 ms grace window

On a phone, there is a delay between your tap and the server receiving it. Cashout Arcade handles that with a small grace window: a cash-out that arrives up to 150 milliseconds after the crash is still judged on the multiplier you saw when you tapped. A claim slightly ahead of the server's own clock is paid at the current value rather than counted as a loss.

Be aware of what this means in practice, because it works one way only:

• The window cannot raise the return above 97%. It can only affect whether a very late tap counts.
• A tap that reaches the server more than 150 ms after the crash loses, even if your screen showed the multiplier still climbing. On a slow connection that costs a little: a 400 ms delay lowers the return of manual play by roughly 1.4 percentage points, using the engine's formula 0.97 x (1 - e^(-0.00006 x 250)).
• An auto cash-out is not affected by your connection, because the server fires it when the curve reaches the target.

If you play on a weak connection, an auto cash-out is more reliable than tapping.

The same idea in other games

Crash is the reference for a family of games where a clock decides how long you can wait:

• Limbo has no animation to wait for. You pick a target and win if the draw reaches it, using the same crash-point distribution, so the chance of a target is 0.97 divided by the target.
• Timed cash-out games such as Dunk Tank, Ferris Wheel, Domino Run, Deep Dive, Skyscraper, Snake, Home Run, Popcorn and Snowball run on a crash-style clock with their own payout steps and extras. Each game page lists its own steps; in each, cashing out at a step is priced to return 97%.
• Step-by-step games like Mines, Tower and Road Hop replace the clock with choices: each step you survive raises the payout. The cash-out games guide explains the pricing rule they all share.

Is Crash fair?

The crash point is drawn on the server with a cryptographically secure source, and the formula above is the whole of the game's randomness (see the RNG guide). We publish the 97% return and the formula, so you can check your own results against the table: over 1,000 rounds of a 2x target, an honest game reaches 2x between about 454 and 516 times.

Crash in Cashout Arcade is not "provably fair". That phrase describes a different design in which you can verify each round with seeds and hashes; ours is a server-authoritative design where you rely on the published odds. The provably fair guide covers the difference, and are casino games rigged? covers what to check in any game.

Responsible play

Crash is built to be fast, with the pull of "one more round" always one tap away. Decide on a time limit before you start, not a result you are chasing. A long losing streak does not make a win more likely; the 3.96% instant crashes and runs of early crashes are part of the arithmetic. Stop when it stops being fun.