* * * * *
                                        
                           Rolling, rolling, rolling
                                        
There's been some contention at The Sunday Game™ about the use of computers
to generate random numbers. Usually, dice are used, but there is a small
minority who prefers the use of computers over the use of physical dice when
random numbers are called for.

But this, I think, is an excellent compromise.

> I had a soft target of a machine capable of 200,000 rolls a day, as site
> traffic is growing. However, any automation project worth doing is worth
> over doing, and I way overshot the mark. The result is what you see here: a
> machine that can belch a continuous river of dice down a spiraling ramp,
> then elevate, photograph, process and upload almost a million and a half
> rolls to the server a day. I may not get nominated for a Nobel prize, but
> the deep rumbling vibration you feel more than hear when two rooms away is
> quite impressive. 
> 

Via crasch [1], “Dice-O-Matic hopper and elevator - GamesByEmail [2]”

It's a dice rolling machine! A computer controlled machine to roll dice— the
computer uses a camera to read the results. Now this is a computer generated
random number I can trust.

[1] http://crasch.livejournal.com/783305.html
[2] http://gamesbyemail.com/News/DiceOMatic

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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