Riverboat Gambler

This release is about “bug fixes” and “tweaks”

First, the “tweaks”:

It turns out that all of the Blackjack games have been handling Split cards incorrectly since those games were first released. I want to thank Fernando, a casino floor supervisor, for reaching out via email to bring that to my attention. Now, all Blackjack games will handle splits by first separating the two original cards and then playing each hand individually in turn. This means that you will no longer receive a new, second card on each hand before play resumes after a split.

When considering this minor nuance, it makes sense to me. I assume it is in the House's favor that the Player not burn two sequential cards from the shoe because they would prefer those two cards be played on the first split card. Who knew? I'm a Mississippi Stud guy. Because I like to split 10s, the folks at the Blackjack table generally want to beat me up.

Bug Fixes:

Spanish 21: the recent change to Spanish 21 to support the ability to Double Down up to 3x created a bug that could lock up the game. Many thanks to Donald for reaching out via "Send Feedback" to alert me to the situation. While I didn't reproduce the problem despite a screenshot from Donald, I did find some code that needed to be adjusted.

Craps: It figures the last release to smooth things out for the Odds wagers would break something. The challenge I was chasing was providing the Player the ability to place valid Odds wagers in $1 increments while ensuring the minimum odds amounts were being placed and ensuring whatever amount was wagered was compatible with the odds that would be paid. Both Mobark (all the way up in Canada) and Donald reached out immediately to alert me to the fact that the code I introduced was improperly rounding the base wagers for Place Bets. Basically, 6s and 8s were a real problem. That issue has been addressed in this release. Thanks for your help folks. I truly appreciate you!

More changes coming soon! I really need to spend some time making the Blackjack and Spanish 21 changes on "that other platform" so those Players aren't neglected. Then, I'll be right back enhancing and extending RBG!

Please keep telling folks about the app and thank you for your support!

~Danny

This is "another Craps update". I won't lie; every time I make changes to the Craps code, it leaves me with butterflies in my stomach! While Craps has turned out to be the game of which I am most proud, that code base is also the most complex. There are a lot of moving parts to coordinate in that game. Just one more reason I have such admiration for Craps dealers!

Thankfully, the bugs that are fixed in this release are no where near as complex as the dice animation issues that drove me crazy for months!

This release is addresses some nuances in how the "Odds" wagers get placed. Several Players have reached out to report inconsistencies. Two of the major problems were related to how the odds incremented based on the chip value that was used and how the Odds were placed when they are defined in "Dealer Assist" (the "Preferences" for Craps). The issue seemed to manifest most frequently when the $1 increment was used. I've performed substantial testing on this release using prime number wager amounts and they now seem to work fine.

Thank you to Kristopher and everyone who reached out about these problems. I've done a lot of testing on this release, but Craps is complicated. Please let me know if I broke anything!

Mark reported an issue related to the Dealer Assist feature “Odds Always Working”. In rare cases, Come Odds did not remain active during a Come Out roll. I believe I have addressed this problem, too. Thanks for reaching out, Mark. I’m really digging a lot of your ideas and suggestions!

Since I still have a lot of space for "release notes", I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to post a review. That you would take that time means a lot to me. As a "one-man show" I really don't have the resources to invest in advertising. Your reviews help to encourage new Players when they are considering a download from the App Store.

Lately, there seems to be an increase of positive reviews from casino employees who mention that they leverage RBG for training and practice. That's absolutely amazing and I'm pleased to hear it. I never envisioned that this app would evolve this far. Personally, I always use it to "warm up" before I head to the casino, but hearing that professional Dealers appreciate its authenticity is flattering and humbling.

Please continue to reach out using "Send Feedback" and submit your ideas and suggestions. I will do my best.

Please stay safe!

~Danny

This is my favorite type of a release because it is solely focused on addressing the requests of several people and they have helped me to craft the solution. I just hope I did it correctly.

This release is about "Spanish 21". For those who don't know, Spanish 21 is a Blackjack variant. As a variant, it introduces some twists to that game. The biggest twists being that all of the 10s have been removed from the deck but the Player can Surrender and Double Down at anytime.

In absolute transparency, I rarely play Blackjack. Those who have been following me for any amount of time know that I'm a Mississippi Stud guy. In fact, MS Stud was the catalyst for RBG. When I initially added Spanish 21 to the lineup, I played several hands at my local casino (as I always do) so that I could understand the game and its intricacies. As it turns out, the version that is played at my local casino is pretty weak compared to other casinos and really wasn’t meeting the expectations of Players who enjoy that game.

That created a dilemma for me. My options were:

1. Keep the original version and it would match what we have in South Florida and I could fall back to the fact that “not all casinos are created equally”.
2. Make the changes that many Player requested and the game would not match South Florida casinos and I would not be able to test in “Live Play”.
3. Introduce a second version to RBG. Have “Florida Spanish 21” and “Other Places Spanish 21”.

For several reasons, I decided to go with option 2 and match the options that seem to be the most prevalent. I decided to do this because, from my perspective, the enhanced features are truly left to the Player's discretion. This means that if one is practicing for a casino near me, (s)he just needs to not take advantage of these "enhanced" features because they won’t be allowed at the casino. Also, adding these additional Player discretionary options really makes the game of Spanish 21 different enough from classic Blackjack to justify having it on the menu.

The new features are related to "Doubling Down".

In classic Blackjack, after the first two cards are dealt, the Player has the option to double his initial wager and receive one additional card before being forced to "Stand" on his hand. In Spanish 21, the Player may Double Down at any point in the hand - meaning you may "Hit" and then "Double Down".

What was missing in my original release was the concept of "Double-Double Down. This feature means that the Player may Double Down and then Double Down again - up to 3x in a single hand! Additionally, after each Double Down, the Player has the option for a "Double Down Rescue" which is really just a “Surrender”. If the rescue lever is pulled, the amount of the preceding Double Down wager is refunded, the Player loses, and the remaining wagers are forfeit.

Assuming I have coded things correctly and the game is accurate as it applies to supporting multiple Double Down options, I can see why folks would enjoy this game.

There were some additional, minor bugs on the Blackjack games that I addressed in this release as well. There were certain situations that could arise that would leave the “Deal” or “Hit” buttons available after a Surrender or Double Down action.

I want to specifically credit & thank "TheNoviceDealer" and "Dally1188" who both left great reviews in the App Store and called out the deficiencies in my original version of Spanish 21. Your input led to these changes and your support is greatly appreciated! I hope you will evaluate the changes and let me know what you think. Also, I want to remind you (and everyone) that the best way to reach me is to use "Send Feedback" from any game's menu because those texts will allow us to engage in a meaningful dialogue.

To everyone: thank you for your support, the ideas, and the random words of encouragement.

~Danny

One of the design decisions I initially made with Riverboat Gambler was to attempt to prevent a Player from starting a new hand when they don't have sufficient chips on the table (in their bankroll) to complete that hand. I decided to do this because I have seen from experience that it happens frequently when folks sit down to play a new game with which they are unfamiliar. In "Live Play" you have to dig into your pocket to buy new chips. While you could technically do that in RBG too, I felt is was unfair to place Players in that position.

In the last release, I added 3 Shot Poker to the line-up. Ed, a long time supporter and virtual friend reached out using "Send Feedback" with an example to show my how the "bankroll check" on that game was broken. The purpose of this release is to fix that bug! Thanks for your help, Ed! I appreciate you!

More games are coming. More enhancements are planned. Please keep "spreading the word" and, if you haven't already, please consider leaving a review in the App Store to share your experiences with other who are considering the app.

As always, let me know if you have any suggestions or requests. As folks will tell you (and you can read in many reviews), I take all feedback seriously and do my best to accomodate!

~Danny

At the risk of “jinxing” things, I have to say I am extremely pleased by the previous release! The Craps animation issue appears to be finally resolved! I would be lying if I said how long it took to track down that elusive bug that was resolved with a single line of code. It feels like it’s been months.

I wanted to celebrate the success by introducing game #66!

This game, Three Shot Poker, has been requested by multiple people for several months. Because I did a really poor job of keeping track of everyone who mentioned it, I am leaving out some names when I only credit Mark, Julie, and Jim for the suggestion. While I had never heard of the game (which doesn’t really mean anything), everyone who told me about the game was excited by it. Now, having added it and played it, I can understand why. It’s a really cool game!

If you are a fan of traditional 3 Card Poker, I would take a side bet that you will probably enjoy this game!

The game is played using a standard 52-card deck. Each Player receives two hole cards and three shared Community Cards are dealt. Each of the Community Cards will be individually combined with the Player's two hole cards to form a three card poker hand.

In 3 Shot Poker, the Player is basically playing three separate 3 Card Poker hands and plays those hands against a Pay Table.

Additionally, there is an optional bonus opportunity on the rank of the five card hand that gets created from your two hole cards and the three Community Cards.

I hope you like it! If you have any suggestions or requests for other games, please feel to reach out to me. Riverboat Gambler continues to evolve because of Player support!

With the addition of this game and the resolution of the Craps issue, I really must start dedicating some time to “that other platform”. In all fairness, those folks are at least four games behind us Apple people and my bias is starting to show. That being the case, the next few weeks will be focused on getting better parity. It’s also in my best interest to have both platforms better aligned because it makes bug resolution easier when the code bases are more similar.

Once I am done with that work, I will be “right back at it” and I have what I believe are some pretty exciting ideas for enhancements and a healthy backlog of enhancement requests to address.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of you for your continued loyalty and support. I am humbled by the number of virtual friends I have made with RBG and I hope you know I appreciate you. While I am starting to realize that I likely may never “catch Candy Crush”, I will continue to ask that you consider posting a review if you haven’t already and ask that you keep telling folks about the app. You are my marketing department!

~Danny

Woo Hoo! I can hardly contain myself with this release!!!!

I was FINALLY able to reproduce the extremely rare, yet amazingly annoying bug in Craps! I want to thank EVERYONE who worked with me on this! I received so many messages from folks saying "It's not happening to me" and others saying "it only seems to happen once in awhile", but it was not until Bill and I started to chat via an email that I had the epiphany that I needed to do something I normally wouldn't do that allowed me to reproduce the issue.

For those who are new to RBG: the issue manifested as the dice having been rolled but the final images didn't match the actual "roll results". The results message matched what was shown in "Roll History", but the dice themselves were different images. The bug was elusive, scary (for a developer), and annoying.

Something happened in my back and forth conversation with Bill that led me to "the dice" and "the Hops board". While focusing on those two items, I discovered that it was possible to tap the dice more than once if the Hops Board was "open". This created a situation where the dice animation got hijacked and could display the wrong dice values.

I cannot emphasize enough how many hours I have spent banging my head against my MacBook trying to reproduce this issue so I could resolve it. Finally finding the issue and fixing it is like hitting the lottery! The reduction in anxiety is indescribable!

Again: THANK YOU to EVERYONE who has collaborated in tracking down the root cause of this issue. While I am giving a lot of kudos to Bill for his help, your help and input was just as valuable. It just turns out that my brain was in a certain place when I was emailing with him that allowed me to "go in the right direction"!

Riverboat Gambler has grown from a single game of MS Stud to one of the best table games simulators available because of the massive and loyal support that I receive from you; the Players. Your suggestions, support, and patience motivate and drive me. Please continue to stay involved and please tell your friends, family, and casino buddies about RBG. I still hold out hope that it will become a profitable endeavor that will enable me to move to the "next level" and release some amazing enhancements that I dream about!

More changes, enhancements, and games are coming. Now that Craps is (hopefully) "fixed", I will be focusing my time on evolving the app even more!

Please stay safe!

~Danny

This release is focused on some requested enhancement, library upgrades related to the pesky ads that pay the bills, and some bug fixes.

1. Roulette bug: the space for a split 24/27 wager was not properly recorded so if that wager was made and a 24 or 27 was spun, the wager didn't get paid. Many thanks to Danny (not me!) for using "Send Feedback" to reach out and alert me to the issue. With 280+ spaces to wager on that board, Roulette can be a bit gnarly!

2. Red Dog Bonus bug: another user reached out using "Send Feedback" to let me know that the "Win Achievements" did not appear to be getting tracked correctly. They were absolutely correct and I have fixed the issue in this release. So, if you're a Red Dog (a.k.a. "Acey-Deucey" Player), you have some additional achievement chips that you can still earn!

3. Craps enhancement: Several folks have reached out to request a feature that would show how much gets won (or lost) in Craps while a Shooter is rolling. I've added that as an enhancement in this release. Now, Craps will track the impact to the Player's bankroll while the Player is rolling the dice. The net impact will be reported any time the Shooter "make his point" or rolls a 7. Keep in mind when you're verifying the message that it's possible for some chips to remain on the board after a roll is paid; especially if you are using the "Dealer Assist" features that can be found in Preferences. So, you will have to take the bankroll amount into account with whatever is reported as "In Play".

As to Craps: I feel like I am getting extremely close to isolating the issue associated with the final dice images not matching the roll results. I have still not reproduced the issue but I am getting fewer and fewer reports of this issue. Of course, that could also be an indication that folks are ignoring the problem and creating a false sense of accomplishment on my part. If you experience the issue, please reach out with screenshots. The roll result message is the correct number and it should match what shows in the "Roll History" that is available from the game's menu.

More enhancements are coming; and some more games! Please keep sending me your suggestions and requests. Everything gets added to the backlog and I re-prioritize after each release.

Thank you for your continued support and please stay safe!

~Danny

DISCLAIMER: I really don't know much about football at all; I'm more of a casino and Mississippi Stud kind of guy. Still, this release (and perhaps a couple more after it) are going to employ a strategy that I learned as a child of parents back when the Dallas Cowboys were "America's Team". That strategy is the "Hail Mary" made famous by Roger Staubach under Tom Landry (I believe).

I am working overtime to try to resolve an extremely elusive bug in Craps that manifests as the dice roll completing but the images on the dice do not match the actual number that was thrown. If you look in the newly added "Roll History", it will match, but the two images on the game board don't always refresh properly to align with what was generated as the "random roll". Because I cannot reproduce the issue and because it doesn't appear to follow any specific pattern, it's extremely difficult to resolve.

In this release, I've attempted to "tighten things up" as it applies to animation. I am theorizing that multiple animation sequences may end up firing simultaneously at the end of a roll and that is creating a conflict. I honestly don't know, though. Hence, the Hail Mary.

I want to thank everyone who has been reaching out to me with screenshots and details. I've said it many times before: I cannot do this all by myself and your patience and the time you devote to collaborating with me means a lot. Thank you!

In addition to addressing the Craps issue, I am also going to continue to work on other enhancements and backlog items. In this release, I have added the "In Play" amount to the Roulette board. This is something that Joel requested some time back and Danny (not this one) also recently asked about.

Please stay safe and please keep telling your friends and casino buddies about RBG!

~Danny

I recently received a "less than glowing" review from a Player who had some concerns about Craps. As I always do, I responded and asked for more information to help me understand the those concerns. As often happens, the reviewer, Tim, immediately reached out via email to work and we started to collaborate on the issues. He provided some more in-depth information and has agreed to help me to evaluate some changes I will be making.

As many of you are aware, Craps has had its issues as it applies to the animated dice correctly aligning with the roll results. A few months later, there were several releases that attempted to resolve that issue. I thought it was put to bed when those Players who were working with me gave the "thumbs up". Apparently, the issue has arisen from the "dead bug heap". I won't lie: I'm not thrilled about having to delve into the Craps code again. While it is arguably my best work, the code base is complex. However, RBG really needs to be as accurate and as elegant as it can be and I am not willing to shrug any bug off.

This release enhances some logging features that are specific to Craps. The goal is for me to be able to reproduce any series of rolls and actions in order to reproduce the bug using a simulator that I built. Unfortunately, I suspect that the root cause of the issue is more related to a device and other things that may occur on that device than my actual code and I further believe that is why this bug has been so difficult to completely squash.

For those who are not familiar with the history of Craps in RBG: the bug manifests as a value being rolled but, when the animation sequences end, the dice on the screen do not match the roll that is reported and paid. The issue is that BEFORE the dice animation begins, the roll outcome has already been determined because two random numbers between 1 and 6 have been generated. All that the app is supposed to do is animate the dice and then make sure that when the animation completes, the correct values are displayed on the screen.

Should be the simplest part of that game, but it's not. Ugh!

If you are a Craps Player and you come across a situation where the "final dice" do not match the message that is displayed, PLEASE reach out to me using "Send Feedback" if you are interested in getting involved with trying to isolate and smash this bug!

As always, I appreciate all of you! Thank you for your continued support, your suggestions, and your patience.

~Danny

The last update to RBG was an "emergency release" several weeks ago on the day that my mother had her last (hopefully, final) back surgery. That day, some code that went active to support GDPR regulations in the EU broke the app for everyone outside of the EU. Thanks to quick alerts from loyal Players (and the wifi in the hospital waiting room), the RBG was only down for about 12 hours.

Now that Mom is well on her way to recovering and is starting to walk much better, I will be able to commit more focus on enhancing RBG. In this release, I've responded to a request from Jim, a long-time Player, supporter, and virtual friend and have added Game #65: Wild Card Stud Poker.

Wild Card Stud Poker is an interesting game and, from what I understand, is in a Florida casino that is only a couple hour drive away from me. That being the case, I see a road trip in my future to check it out! At first glance, the game appears to be similar to DJ Wild Poker: Deuces and a single Joker are completely Wild and the game is "heads up" against the Dealer. Where the games differ is that Wild Card Stud does not offer the optional "Two Way Bad Beat" Bonus, the Dealer must qualify with at least One Pair (if the Dealer fails to qualify, the Player's Ante wager is refunded and the hand is called), and the Player makes a decision to wager up to 2x the original Ante when deciding to play his hand against the Dealer's. In DJ Wild, the continuation wager is automatically twice the Ante.

For me, the jury is still out on which I like better. In absolute candor, though, I'm a huge fan of the Two Way Bad Beat wagers.

Check it out and let me know what you think! More games and enhancements are coming.

A long time Player/supporter, Linda, reached out using "Send Feedback" and requested that Crazy 4 Poker be enhanced to support the "Player Slow Roll" feature. Now, if you enable "Player Reveals Cards" under Preferences, that game will pause until you have tapped each of the five Player cards to reveal them. Thanks for the great suggestion, Linda! It adds a bit more suspense to that game and just goes to prove that collaborating with folks like you continues to make RBG better. I likely need to revisit some of the other games that don't currently support Slow Roll!

In addition to the new game and the enhancement, I have also updated the libraries that are used to support the rare ads that are displayed. You should only see an ad after every 85th hand and you should be able to close them relatively quickly. Also, I think I've finally addressed the issues related to them not launching in a muted fashion. If your experience is any different that what I've described, please reach out using "Send Feedback" to let me know.

As always, many thanks to all of you for your continued support and encouragement. I really enjoy supporting this app and making all of the virtual friends. If you have any suggestions, requests, or thoughts, please remember that I am always one text away if you use "Send Feedback" from any games' menu.

~Danny

Many thanks to Karen for reaching out via Send Feedback about this critical fix.

The last release included functionality intended to address some legal requirements for the EU related to displaying ads. That functionality was slated to go live on 1/10/2024. Unfortunately, despite extensive testing (I promise), it created an issue for non-EU Players. The issue manifested in all games being disabled because the full start up initialization failed to fully complete.

This "hot fix" appears to work. I'm sitting in OR waiting room as my mom has another back surgery and will be performing more extensive testing today and the rest of the week to ensure this solution as elegant as possible.

My apologies!

Danny

Happy 2024 everyone! I hope it is your best year ever but nowhere near as good as the many years to follow!

I am "back in the saddle", rested, and will be working through the backlog. There are some bugs that need to be addressed as well as some requested enhancements and new games planned for this quarter.

The main purpose of this release is to address some requirements related to ads that go into effect mid-January for the EU. Now, folks in the EU will be prompted to provide a special approval related to how ads are shown. Folks outside of the EU should not be impacted by this change. I spent weeks working on this functionality and have tested it extensively. When have I said that before?!? Hopefully nothing has broken.

If you are in the EU, I would really appreciate any feedback you can provide me on the User Experience. Often, developers code for what make sense to them, but the final result does not make a lot of sense to the actual user. I can use your input to make any necessary adjustments.

In addition to the change for the EU Players, there is a quick bug fix/enhancement related to video poker:

Most (all) of the card games should allow you to select the color of the deck that will be dealt and select the card faces that you want to see. Most of the card faces are "cheesy" ones that I created by request. Kris reached out via "Send Feedback" requesting a different deck and it turned out that feature had been excluded from the video poker games. That was an oversight on my part. Since you never see the backs of the cards for VP, I turned that feature off. Well, turning off the back of the cards feature also turns off the front of the cards feature - doh! Now, both will show under Preferences. Selecting a deck color will, of course, not affect the deck because you still never see the backs of those cards. Thanks so much for your text, Kris! I never would have realized that bug existed had you not contacted me!

As always, thank you for your continued support! If you are new to the RBG Player Community: "Welcome!". Please know that I am easy to reach if you have any questions, concerns, requests, or bugs to report. Just use "Send Feedback" from any game's menu. I do my best to respond as quickly as possible and I take all feedback seriously.

If you haven't already, please consider posting a review in the App Store. Your reviews and recommendations are basically my entire marketing strategy!

~Danny

I'm not hearing much noise about Craps and the dice "number popping" issue I tried to resolve in the last release. However, I have started to see the dice "flash" on one of my devices when a point gets rolled and the puck is moving. The numbers don't look like they change, though, so that's awesome. What I've found leads me to believe that I'm on the right track! The problem is definitely related to application threads and animation. I have my fingers crossed that this release doesn't introduce any unforeseen complications.

While trying to reproduce the issue, I leveraged a development feature that I have that stores the roll history so I can reproduce as needed. About the same time a "random Player from the 317" who wants to remain anonymous reached out via Send Feedback to question the "randomness" of the dice and to request the ability to see a history of the dice rolls. While a histogram was mentioned, that's a bit too much work for the app, so I'm simply providing a mechanism to view the past rolls much in the same manner as the Baccarat Bead Road and the Roulette spins. The option is available from the game's menu: "Craps Roll History". Check it out and let me know if it helps. I've added a histogram to the backlog and will try to figure out a way to add one in the future.

Bug Fix: things were a little "freaky deaky" in Craps if Preferences (Dealer Assist) were accessed on an iPhone. It was so freaky that I can't really explain what it looked like! Now, it should be better!

While we're talking about Craps. I'm looking forward to playing this week in Florida. If I've learned anything from practicing in RBG it's that the best play is "The Dark Side" and I will be one of those folks who everyone at the table thinks is bad luck. A quick internet search of rolls and probabilities supports my experience in the app. I easily found the following probabilities for rolled points; there are many, many more interesting stats as well.

Points 4/10: probability of rolling a 7 BEFORE making the point: 66.66%
Points 5/9: probability of rolling a 7 BEFORE making the point: 60.00%
Points 6/8: probability of rolling a 7 BEFORE making the point: 54.55%

Of course, you have to wager more to win less when "shooting from the don't", but the odds would seem to be slightly better for the Player. The House still has an edge - of course!

Happy Holidays to all!

~Danny

I'm not hearing much noise about Craps and the dice "number popping" issue I tried to resolve in the last release. However, I have started to see the dice "flash" on one of my devices when a point gets rolled and the puck is moving. The numbers don't look like they change, though, so that's awesome. What I've found leads me to believe that I'm on the right track! The problem is definitely related to application threads and animation. I have my fingers crossed that this release doesn't introduce any unforeseen complications.

While trying to reproduce the issue, I leveraged a development feature that I have that stores the roll history so I can reproduce as needed. About the same time a "random Player from the 317" who wants to remain anonymous reached out via Send Feedback to question the "randomness" of the dice and to request the ability to see a history of the dice rolls. While a histogram was mentioned, that's a bit too much work for the app, so I'm simply providing a mechanism to view the past rolls much in the same manner as the Baccarat Bead Road and the Roulette spins. The option is available from the game's menu: "Craps Roll History". Check it out and let me know if it helps. I've added a histogram to the backlog and will try to figure out a way to add one in the future.

While we're talking about Craps. I'm looking forward to playing this week in Florida. If I've learned anything from practicing in RBG it's that the best play is "The Dark Side" and I will be one of those folks who everyone at the table thinks is bad luck. A quick internet search of rolls and probabilities supports my experience in the app. I easily found the following probabilities for rolled points; there are many, many more interesting stats as well.

Points 4/10: probability of rolling a 7 BEFORE making the point: 66.66%
Points 5/9: probability of rolling a 7 BEFORE making the point: 60.00%
Points 6/8: probability of rolling a 7 BEFORE making the point: 54.55%

Of course, you have to wager more to win less when "shooting from the don't", but the odds would seem to be slightly better for the Player. The House still has an edge - of course!

Happy Holidays to all!

~Danny

To those who get a little frazzled when I push multiple updates, my apologies! I was hoping not to push anything non-critical before the end of the year, but, in way, this release is a bit critical.

Recently, Tony reached out via "Send Feedback" to discuss the Craps dice. His concerns were about a bug that I thought had been addressed, but apparently still lingers for some. I can’t reproduce it. I suspect the Crap Players got used to it and just stopped messaging me.

In short, periodically, the dice “pop” when the animation ends. It almost looks like somebody pushed a button under the table and changed the dice. In Tony’s case, it was particularly concerning because he felt it was always changing the number to 7. I know from past reports that it happens to other numbers as well. This is definitely “not cool” and I can see where some folks might conclude that the game is rigged; it’s not.

I've explained to several people, via text, the workflow for the dice rolls. It’s pretty simple and straight forward:

1. I generate two random numbers between 1 and 6. These are the roll results.
2. The dice images on the table that you tap to start to roll the dice are hidden and their pictures are updated to match the roll results
3. I trigger my cheesy "rolling dice" animation and configure those animated dice to land on the numbers that were selected.
4. I hide the animated dice and show the normal dice pictures which should already match the roll results because they were updated before the animation kicked off.

The problem is certainly occurring in either Step 2 or Step 3. The challenge is that I cannot reproduce it in my development environment and it happens rarely on one iPad and then so quickly I'm not even sure it's the actual issue. I’m feeling pretty confident that the change I made in this release can fix the issue. Not being able to reproduce it, though, means I have to rely on Tony and other Craps Players to let me know after they get the update.

Of all of the games in RBG, Craps was the hardest/most complex to create. It is also the one of which I am most proud. Given that we will be getting Craps (and Roulette) in Florida next week, I really want to try to squash this bug once and for all. I don’t want to risk recommending RBG to someone at the Craps table and risk a bad impression if they encounter the bug.

While it’s never been reported, the same issue likely exists in Sic-Bo and Fish, Prawn, Crab, too, because they follow the same pattern for dice animation and management. Once Craps is fixed, I’ll apply the solution to those two games as well.

Happy holidays to everyone! Please keep recommending the app and please keep your suggestions, requests, and feedback coming. There are several new games planned for 2024!

~Danny

I promise that I really am trying to cut back on releases through the holidays (and take a break), but when a bug gets reported, my OCD kicks into overdrive and I have to address it.

I want to thank Blake for reaching out via text using "Send Feedback". It initially looked like it would be a challenge, but I was able to figure things out as a result of our conversation and the screenshots he sent me. The bug was in video poker which affected six games so that made correcting it pretty important too.

It turns out that if you played a hand and then changed your wager increment, the wager amount would reset to zero (as expected) but the Deal button was still available. This allowed you to continue to play more hands but, since a wager was registered, nothing could win. To make things worse, each hand that was played without posting an updated wager charged the bankroll the amount that had been wagered in the last "good hand".

Thanks again, Blake, for taking the time to reach out. I really appreciate you.

On the upside, too, it would appear that the last release has been successful as it related to muting the ads! Yea!

Happy holidays all! Please post a review!

~Danny

Yet another release related to ads...

I wanted to include a library update to see if it helps get better control over the volume of some of the ads. I also want to thank Steve who reached out using "Send Feedback" from Idaho with some input about his experiences with the ads. His outreach motivated me to check to see if there were some library updates for IOS - and there was one!

All feedback is valuable. It's much more valuable if you reach out using the "Send Feedback" option from the menu because then we can have a text conversation. Posting feedback in a review is static and doesn't really lend itself to any type of dialogue.

I personally only see the ads that get sent to my iPhone and iPad and they aren't going to be the same as the ads you may see. So hearing from other Players about their experiences definitely helps. Steve also pointed out that some of the ads seem to be longer than they used to be. I'm experiencing that as well. I have no idea why that is the case and have yet to find a way to control the duration of the ads. It used to be that you could close an ad within about 5 seconds. Now, some of them seem to run 20-30 seconds before they can be closed. Also, I'm seeing 5 second Reward Ads. Those used to always be at least 30 seconds. All of this having been said, in my testing of this release, I feel like I am being served a significantly higher percentage of ads that are muted than I was before.

I've created a backlog item to do some research, but I am hoping to take a couple of weeks off to "stretch" and energize first.

I play RBG everyday; still primarily Mississippi Stud unless I'm testing app changes. Before I hit the local casino, I'll typically play for 60-90 minutes to "warm up" and get into the swing of things. That being the case, I see quite a few ads. As annoying as the changes in the ads ecosystem are, I still find that the rarity of the ads (1 after every 85 hands) helps to mitigate their impact on my experience. They still don't slow the game down as much as someone who feels the needs to buy chips every 2 or 3 hands at a live table!

Thanks to everyone for your continued support and patience. It's amazing to see how much RBG has evolved. Your help has been instrumental.

If you haven't already, please consider leaving a review in the App Store. Your reviews are invaluable in helping to spread the word about the app.

As the holiday season approaches, I hope everyone has the opportunity to spend quality time with the folks who are most important to them.

~Danny

Another very minor release that is related to ads. Yes - ads. I'm about as fed up with ads as I can get. Still, they do generate a small amount of revenue and, frankly, the money comes in handy. I've been trying to get control over the volume of the ads, but not all providers are created equally. Some will mute, others will not. Some will respect the "mute" setting on my iPhone; others won't. The changes that I made in the previous release started to cause intermittent crashes so I've made some adjustments.

In this release, I've found that an overwhelming majority of the ads that are presented to me (we all get different ads and I have no control over what ads are delivered) provide a volume icon that can be tapped to mute the sound when the ad launches. Those that do not provide that icon are respecting the "mute" button on my devices. Given that there is still only a single ad after every 85 hands, I've found this to be acceptable. It's also worth pointing out here that the hand count crosses sessions. That means if you play 85 hands and then close RBG, you'll see an ad after your first hand the next time.

Whether this release makes it out before Thanksgiving or not, I hope that you have the opportunity to enjoy the upcoming holiday season with the folks who are most important to you. My mom made it back to Florida this week "for the season". 'Tis the season for Snowbirds! I'm looking forward to having her here for the holidays as we prepare for what will hopefully be her final back surgery!

All my best!

~Danny

A bit of an "emergency fix"; at least so far as I am concerned. There is an outage with one of the service providers that is used for logging errors. As a result of the errors that they are generating, the logs are overflowing with false alerts. Unfortunately, I never added a mechanism to turn that logging off. Now I have. There's no change to any of the games. Just getting better control of the error reporting so that real errors don't get lost in the "noise".

In all likelihood the issue will be addressed before this release hits the App Store, but, regardless, it will be there the next time it's needed!

~Danny

This is a quick "hot fix"/maintenance release. There have been some issues related to ads that popped up after the last release in which I updated some foundational libraries. I haven't been able to isolate the root cause of the issues, but I did rollback some of those libraries for the time-being. Hopefully this will fix them. I hate the thought of having another series of "rapid-fire updates".

~Danny

The is a huge release from a maintenance perspective. In it, I have updated many of the core 3rd party libraries that are used for error logging, ads, and the like. I'm always a bit nervous about this type of release because I have no idea how substantial any changes to those frameworks may have been. The best I can do is test RBG and see if anything blows up.

Additional enhancements and bug fixes:

1. Bonus Game: While testing, it became obvious that the "Bonus Game" wasn't popping up like it should be. If you've played long enough, you should have seen the game where you tap on some chests to get additional bonus chips. That screen should appear after every 1500 hands. The frequency was being skewed because of a logic error that was introduced with Game Stats (a long time ago). Hopefully, now, that is resolved. I have some ideas for some other variants of bonus games that I will be introducing in the not too distant future.

2. Let It Ride Bug: Bryan reached out to report an issue in Let It Ride. If the First Street wager was removed, the bankroll changed to reflect a removal of all of the wagers. Then, after 2nd Street, the bankroll reported the correct value. This was aesthetic only; there was never any risk to the true balance. Thanks for reaching out Bryan! This bug has been there for a while now and it's great that you caught it!

3. Pai Gow Bug: There was a bug in the routine that reads the hands and applies the House Way rules that was periodically crashing the app.

4. Muting Ads: I am still trying to get to a place where the ads that pop up are muted when they start - they used to be. The challenge is that not all providers expose that type of support. From my testing, the vast majority of the ads that show are now muted. Those that are not have a volume/speaker icon that can be tapped to mute the ad. You have to look closely because, in typical advertiser style, the icon is quite faint. Personally, it's not a huge problem for me. In my testing for this release, I played about 5K hands on my iPhone. I'm pleased with the infrequency of the ads and I was able to mute the ads pretty quickly. Muting was huge because I started to get inundated with a slot machine ad that leads with a bird screaming bird full pitch. I got to where I could shut the bird up before he could squawk!

Thanks everyone for your continued support and for the stream of requests and suggestions. Also for the bug reports. I appreciate everything.

There are several new games in the pipeline. Now that these important foundational updates have been made, I will get back to the backlog.

Please stay safe! And, if you haven't already, please consider leaving a review in the App Store. I'm still about 3M reviews behind Candy Crush!

~Danny

The is a huge release from a maintenance perspective. In it, I have updated many of the core 3rd party libraries that are used for error logging, ads, and the like. I'm always a bit nervous about this type of release because I have no idea how substantial any changes to those frameworks may have been. The best I can do is test RBG and see if anything blows up.

Additional enhancements and bug fixes:

1. Bonus Game: While testing, it became obvious that the "Bonus Game" wasn't popping up like it should be. If you've played long enough, you should have seen the game where you tap on some chests to get additional bonus chips. That screen should appear after every 1500 hands. The frequency was being skewed because of a logic error that was introduced with Game Stats (a long time ago). Hopefully, now, that is resolved. I have some ideas for some other variants of bonus games that I will be introducing in the not too distant future.

2. Let It Ride Bug: Bryan reached out to report an issue in Let It Ride. If the First Street wager was removed, the bankroll changed to reflect a removal of all of the wagers. Then, after 2nd Street, the bankroll reported the correct value. This was aesthetic only; there was never any risk to the true balance. Thanks for reaching out Bryan! This bug has been there for a while now and it's great that you caught it!

3. Muting Ads: I am still trying to get to a place where the ads that pop up are muted when they start - they used to be. The challenge is that not all providers expose that type of support. From my testing, the vast majority of the ads that show are now muted. Those that are not have a volume/speaker icon that can be tapped to mute the ad. You have to look closely because, in typical advertiser style, the icon is quite faint. Personally, it's not a huge problem for me. In my testing for this release, I played about 5K hands on my iPhone. I'm pleased with the infrequency of the ads and I was able to mute the ads pretty quickly. Muting was huge because I started to get inundated with a slot machine ad that leads with a bird screaming bird full pitch. I got to where I could shut the bird up before he could squawk!

Thanks everyone for your continued support and for the stream of requests and suggestions. Also for the bug reports. I appreciate everything.

There are several new games in the pipeline. Now that these important foundational updates have been made, I will get back to the backlog.

Please stay safe! And, if you haven't already, please consider leaving a review in the App Store. I'm still about 3M reviews behind Candy Crush!

~Danny

This release has been a bit delayed because I was distracted by other pressing issues. It is a maintenance release that addresses bugs in a couple of games:

1. Pai Gow/Face Up Pai Gow: Many thanks to "Eagle Eye Karen" who, during her 1000s of hands of Pai Gow has become an expert at identifying edge cases in which the House Way is not properly optimizing the Low Hand. In this release, some issues associated with 7-card Straights have been addressed. Thanks so much for your support, Karen, and for the screenshot examples that always help me to identify the root cause of the issues!

2. Lunar Poker: As I was reviewing logs, I noticed that there were increasing crashes in Lunar Poker. It turns out that the game was allowing the Player to continuously draw 2-5 cards until the deck was depleted. Once there were no more cards, the game crashed the app. It turns out that a handful of folks were aware of the issue and used it to their advantage to rack up a substantial bankroll. While I don't understand how that can be any fun and do find it a little disappointing that they would take advantage of me and the game, "it is what it is". RBG is a labor of love and the goal is to provide everyone with a robust, simulated experience in which to learn new games and to fine tune their strategies. In a casino, the chips would be forfeit after a visit from the Pit Boss. Here, I just say "Congrats!"

3. Bonus 6 Stud Poker: While doing some testing, I noticed that the sequence of the wager buttons was a bit off so I re-arranged them to be more intuitive.

4. Ads: I noticed while playing that some of the ads are not muted when they start playing. I made some changes that I hope will address this. Those pesky advertisers are a pain in the backside, but they help to pay the bills.

Thanks to everyone who supports me with their suggestions, referrals, feedback, and bug reports. I cannot do this without you. I will keep working to improve the app so long as you keep playing it and keep telling your friends about it. There are several game requests and enhancements in the backlog that I will be getting to in the very near future.

Stay Safe!

~Danny

As I indicated in the last release notes, I upgraded my development environment to support iOS 17 and performed extensive testing to ensure nothing was broken. Unfortunately, I do not have the means to regression test as far back as iOS 12 which is the minimum version on the OS that RBG will support. Well, it turns out there was a bit of an issue with that release as it applied to iOS 12.

The issue manifested in that RBG was crashing as soon as it was launched on an iOS12 iPad. The crash was immediate and was not providing me with any data in the form of “crash reports”. When Jim texted me using “Send Feedback”, I immediately started to diagnose the issue.

Luckily, I was able to uncover some chatter in the Apple Developer Forums that appeared to explain the issue and, following guidance, I was able to make some adjustments in this release. My fingers are crossed that it works. I have tested pretty extensively to ensure nothing breaks on IOS 17, but if you run into issues, please reach out to me.

Many thanks to Jim, a long time supporter, for reaching out and letting me know about the problem. As I told him when he apologized for "causing me trouble", I'm grateful that the issue happened to him (first?) because not everyone would have taken the time to let me know and give me the opportunity to address the issue.

There is another fix in this release: Josh also reached out to me using "Send Feedback" to alert me to the fact that the "bubbles" on the Blackjack games started displaying with with a black, square background behind the gold circle that contains the point count as cards get dealt. In his words, he didn't want me to get lambasted by OCD reviews. Little did Josh know how OCD I happen to be - he knows now! Thanks for letting me know, Josh. I've rectified that issue in this release and, unlike Jim's issue, I was able to definitively test that fix.

Lastly, Karen also reached out to me about a couple of edge cases in Pai Gow where the House Way was not properly optimizing the Low Hand when Straights & Flushes were played in the High Hand. Thanks so much for the text and the screenshots, Karen! They were extremely helpful in identifying the problems and making some minor adjustments.

If it's not been made clear from previous release notes, I sincerely appreciate the support, feedback, & collaboration with the RBG Player Community. I’m just one guy! A decently skilled developer who created an app so he could play Mississippi Stud on an iPhone. Little did I know that my app would grow to 60+ casino games based on Player requests. I cannot do what I do by myself. I am indebted to all of you who take the time to report a bug or let me know when an image is skewed or request a new feature or a change to the app. Though I may not be able to make every change immediately, they all end up in my product backlog and will eventually be addressed.

While it would be cool to be as successful as one of the "big box software companies” that have teams of programmers, designers, testers, marketers, and customer support people, I bet those companies don't have as much fun as I have when I get to respond to your texts and emails and interact with all of you - my virtual friends. Please keep your messages coming!

If you haven’t already, please encourage a friend or casino buddy to check out Riverboat Gambler. Also, a review in the App Store letting folks know about your experience with the app is always appreciated!

Please Stay Safe!


~Danny

Quite a bit of work went into this release. I hope you like it and I hope I didn't break anything!

The main thrust of this release was to adjust the screens for 11" iPads that have adjusted displays to use "More Space". Prior, screens were not being fully utilized & things were not nicely centered. Definitely an issue for my OCD. On a side note: if you notice issues with a screen on your device, please make me aware using "Send Feedback".

RBG currently supports 18 device sizes/resolutions and many of the game boards can be configured, in Preferences, for Left or Right Handed modes. This feature tends is extremely beneficial on an iPhone where you're overworking your thumb to reach buttons! On iPads, the games support both Portrait & Landscape modes.

Another huge benefit of supporting the increased resolution of the 11" iPads is that it makes Craps, Roulette, & Sic Bo (iPad only games) available.

As a result of these changes, it was necessary for me to exhaustively test each game. While doing so, I made some adjustments and enhancements and addressed some minor backlog items related to some of the games. In addition to these changes, I updated my development environment to support iOS 17 and tested the games on that version of the operating system.

Game enhancements:

1. Fish, Prawn, Crab: I've removed the "Roll" button to present it more in line with Craps and Sic-Bo. Now, to roll the dice, simply tap them.

2. Criss Cross: on iPads, I modified the screens so that the bankroll balance sits between the Deal & Fold buttons like it does on most games. I've been playing a lot of Criss Cross lately as I try to develop a decent strategy for that game and I accidentally hit “Fold” a couple of times; not cool!

3. Texas Shootout: I've adjusted the placement of the results message that gets displayed at the end of a hand. Sometimes, that message can be large and it was covering up too much of the Community Cards. Now, it should be easier to interpret the results while being able to see all of the cards on the table.

4. Criss Cross: if a Full House was Folded, the "Oops! Achievement” for "Folded Full House" wasn't being awarded. This also affects the other "Oops!" achievements.

5. 3 Card Fury: the alignment of the "Failed To Qualify" windows were not correct for iPads that were in Landscape mode and set to Left-Handed mode.

6. Ads: I'm so sick of shady advertisers that I could chew nails! Still, the infrequent ads do generate a small amount of revenue for me and I'll take every dime I can get. I have been running into situations where the ads (one should be shown after every 85 hands) are not defaulting to being on mute. Personally, I find that aggravating! I've made some changes in this release that I am hoping will mute them correctly.

There are still more than 100 items in the backlog. These items include your requests & suggestions and code refinement activities that I need to address. Please continue to use "Send Feedback" to share your thoughts with me. I take all input seriously and will do the best I can to satisfy your requests. If I can't, I'll be honest with you about it.

If you haven't already, please consider leaving a review in the App Store to share your impression of RBG with others. I read and respond to all reviews. I don't have the financial resources to do mass advertising of the app, so you are my marketing team. I also believe that you are the best advertising I could have. As long as you are supporting Riverboat Gambler, I will continue to work tirelessly to improve and enhance it.

Best wishes to all! My mom will be returning to Florida for the Winter in the next few weeks. Her health is amazing! Thank you to everyone who continues to ask about her. The previous two years were a medical nightmare! She's had a heck of a journey and I'm happy to report that she can be expected to be around for many, many more years!

Thanks!

~Danny