[closed] TAABL FPGA Raffle - Testing the waters - WINNER 19ZzbTTq...

[nelisky]

Building upon CrackPipe, we're going to be giving away one FPGA miner board on a raffle of sorts;

It is actually a Pick 4 game with tickets priced at BTC 0.10, but instead of receiving the Pot the winner will get an FPGA miner capable of doing >204 MH/s. If all goes well we might introduce this service for others, as an alternative to selling on auctions.

Full details on the prize;
- this is a Spartan 6 LX150 FPGA Board exactly equal to ZTEX' 1.15x module, built under license.
  - This is not a board sold by ZTEX!
- the board has been used.
- the only guarantee given is that the board will reach the winner fully working.
- again, no warranty is given on this device.
- shipping is included in the prize.

While this initial test is provided by TAABL, please keep in mind that the once the Pick finds the winner ticket the prize will be immediately sent to the Pipe recipient (the seller) and it is the buyer and seller responsibility to arrange for the proper completion of the deal. To match the buyer with the bid we will require that the winner signs the hash id for the winning bid transaction with the key for the first input address of that same transaction and send that through PM here on the forum along with the name and address for shipping the prize.
For the message signing to be possible you will need to use an address for which you control the private key, so online wallets are probably not going to work.

We're doing some final checks and will post again once the raffle begins!

edit: We have a winner! 19ZzbTTqNouSpNND5anz5QvaZX98Pxvzdf is the winning address, and we're waiting to hear from you.

[nelisky]

And we're off!

Visit TAABL, place your bets by sending 0.1 or multiples thereof to 1PipetJAiECJYfCi812cWuV8znDKVqMzq4 and good luck.

Once there's a match all sending addresses will receive 1 satoshi to advertise the raffle is over, and the winning bet will get 2 satoshis back. If that is you, let us know here and we'll send you the prize.

General playing rules are the same as for other BitPicks.

Let us know about any doubts or ideas you might have regarding this game.

[Mushroomized]

And we're off!

Visit TAABL, place your bets by sending 0.1 or multiples thereof to 1PipetJAiECJYfCi812cWuV8znDKVqMzq4 and good luck.

Once there's a match all sending addresses will receive 1 satoshi to advertise the raffle is over, and the winning bet will get 2 satoshis back. If that is you, let us know here and we'll send you the prize.

General playing rules are the same as for other BitPicks.

Let us know about any doubts or ideas you might have regarding this game.

I entered, since I didnt get 2 sat back, does that mean I didn't win...? Or what? (I didnt get any sat yet.)

[nelisky]

@Mushroomized: There's good news and bad news... I'll break the bad ones first

You didn't win

On a brighter side, the good news is you didn't lose either. The raffle still hasn't found a winner

To clarify things, and you can also read all the details at http://taabl.net/howtoplay here's how it works: you buy a ticket which has a number. Every time a block is found we extract the potential winner ticket from that hash, but if no ticket has been bought matching that potential winner number then we wait for the next block's hash, and so on.
This raffle is a Pick 4, so 4 hex digits are matched, which means there are 65536 possible combinations. If you look at "Previous Games" on the site you'll see how long Pick 4's have taken in the past, though the number of tickets sold and plain randomness will obviously make this nothing more than a guideline of sorts.

I might hit while I'm typing or it might take a couple of weeks, both being unlikely.

[Mushroomized]

@Mushroomized: There's good news and bad news... I'll break the bad ones first

You didn't win

On a brighter side, the good news is you didn't lose either. The raffle still hasn't found a winner

To clarify things, and you can also read all the details at http://taabl.net/howtoplay here's how it works: you buy a ticket which has a number. Every time a block is found we extract the potential winner ticket from that hash, but if no ticket has been bought matching that potential winner number then we wait for the next block's hash, and so on.
This raffle is a Pick 4, so 4 hex digits are matched, which means there are 65536 possible combinations. If you look at "Previous Games" on the site you'll see how long Pick 4's have taken in the past, though the number of tickets sold and plain randomness will obviously make this nothing more than a guideline of sorts.

I might hit while I'm typing or it might take a couple of weeks, both being unlikely.

Ah, I get it. Thanks

[nelisky]

Just a quick bump to let everyone know that there's still no winning number. We've been running for 8 days now and almost certainly very close to completion, but there's still time for anyone that wants to join in on the fun!

[BitCoiner2012]

Just a quick bump to let everyone know that there's still no winning number. We've been running for 8 days now and almost certainly very close to completion, but there's still time for anyone that wants to join in on the fun!

Honesty surprised this hasn't popped yet.

[nelisky]

Well, in theory it's expected. The current bids are covering only 0.1% of the available space, which means there's roughly 1 in 1000 chances of hitting per block, so with 144 blocks per day we should expect ~7 days. Of course since block hash slices can repeat themselves we may very well have to wait a lot more.

The most surprising thing is that much lower coverage bitpicks have always managed to find a match in a very short timespan compared to this one. But past events bear no weight on the outcome of future ones...

[BitCoiner2012]

Well, in theory it's expected. The current bids are covering only 0.1% of the available space, which means there's roughly 1 in 1000 chances of hitting per block, so with 144 blocks per day we should expect ~7 days. Of course since block hash slices can repeat themselves we may very well have to wait a lot more.

The most surprising thing is that much lower coverage bitpicks have always managed to find a match in a very short timespan compared to this one. But past events bear no weight on the outcome of future ones...

indeed, I watch it all rather closely. However pick 4 seems often enough, it seems the time for that raffle is soon. Is there any reason 00 appears to dominate pick 2?

[nelisky]

indeed, I watch it all rather closely. However pick 4 seems often enough, it seems the time for that raffle is soon. Is there any reason 00 appears to dominate pick 2?

Yes, there is a good reason... lack of bets. Since we keep seeding the BitPicks so no one gets caught winning a single bet which would net loosing the 1% house fee, and because we don't choose any particular numbers the 00 bet is always present along with usually one or two other random bets. We've been playing pick 2 mostly alone, which is unfortunate as that is the one game I thought would be most popular to start with, as you can expect it to hit multiple times per day with moderate betting volume.

[BitCoiner2012]

indeed, I watch it all rather closely. However pick 4 seems often enough, it seems the time for that raffle is soon. Is there any reason 00 appears to dominate pick 2?

Yes, there is a good reason... lack of bets. Since we keep seeding the BitPicks so no one gets caught winning a single bet which would net loosing the 1% house fee, and because we don't choose any particular numbers the 00 bet is always present along with usually one or two other random bets. We've been playing pick 2 mostly alone, which is unfortunate as that is the one game I thought would be most popular to start with, as you can expect it to hit multiple times per day with moderate betting volume.

So the house seeds the pot, which means you are 00. So it hits more often because it is default bet or because 00 is more common on end of block?

I have won pick 2 once, but I played many times. If the bet was .5 I would be in most pots, but a whole coin is a bit for me to gamble consistently.  I have never hit p3 or p4.

[nelisky]

So the house seeds the pot, which means you are 00. So it hits more often because it is default bet or because 00 is more common on end of block?

I have won pick 2 once, but I played many times. If the bet was .5 I would be in most pots, but a whole coin is a bit for me to gamble consistently.  I have never hit p3 or p4.

No number is more common than any other for block hashes, as far as I know. That would be an obvious attack vector on the bitcoin network itself.

We can certainly entertain the idea of lowering the Pick 2 bet value, although that also means the expected pot, everything else being equal, will lower accordingly and the odds of pick completion with just a handful of bets are still as high as always. In fact we were already considering it given the low volume of betting.

We have to date won almost every Pick 2, but we also were often playing almost alone, with you being the exception I guess. The same cannot be said for Pick 3 and 4, where we have a little more dispersed volume and have not won all that many games.

In the spirit of full disclosure, we do not keep any of the pots won as house profit, everything is spread across the open Picks.

[BitCoiner2012]

So the house seeds the pot, which means you are 00. So it hits more often because it is default bet or because 00 is more common on end of block?

I have won pick 2 once, but I played many times. If the bet was .5 I would be in most pots, but a whole coin is a bit for me to gamble consistently.  I have never hit p3 or p4.

No number is more common than any other for block hashes, as far as I know. That would be an obvious attack vector on the bitcoin network itself.

We can certainly entertain the idea of lowering the Pick 2 bet value, although that also means the expected pot, everything else being equal, will lower accordingly and the odds of pick completion with just a handful of bets are still as high as always. In fact we were already considering it given the low volume of betting.

We have to date won almost every Pick 2, but we also were often playing almost alone, with you being the exception I guess. The same cannot be said for Pick 3 and 4, where we have a little more dispersed volume and have not won all that many games.

In the spirit of full disclosure, we do not keep any of the pots won as house profit, everything is spread across the open Picks.

Ah I was wondering how the house so often takes it. But if you are always seeding (which means teams is 00 satoshi) so house often gets 00. ( I only won on "00" bet), doesn't it mean house often wins pick2 by default?

[nelisky]

Ah I was wondering how the house so often takes it. But if you are always seeding (which means teams is 00 satoshi) so house often gets 00. ( I only won on "00" bet), doesn't it mean house often wins pick2 by default?

I am not sure I understand your question. We usually take the '00' bet, unless someone else places the first bet. But that certainly gives us no edge on winning. Any number can be the winner and the only reason that 00 appears to be the usual winner is just because it is always a bet, so while 1e might be more often the end of the block hash (for example) it is not always an active bet. Every time 00 comes up, no matter how seldom that is, it is sure to be a match on the Pick 2. If we had more betting volume this fact would not be noticeable at all.

But I may have given the wrong impression that we have some sort of auto seeder, we don't. We try to manually seed the Picks once per day or every time they match, but it always depends on us having the time to do it, so anyone can get the 00. Since this appears to be an issue, we're going to start seeding with a set bet, thus avoiding taking the 00 by default.

Just remember that if we always take the bet for 1e, that will appear to be the one that is always coming as winner just because it is always a bet, unless there's enough bet coverage to prevent it

[BitCoiner2012]

Ah I was wondering how the house so often takes it. But if you are always seeding (which means teams is 00 satoshi) so house often gets 00. ( I only won on "00" bet), doesn't it mean house often wins pick2 by default?

I am not sure I understand your question. We usually take the '00' bet, unless someone else places the first bet. But that certainly gives us no edge on winning. Any number can be the winner and the only reason that 00 appears to be the usual winner is just because it is always a bet, so while 1e might be more often the end of the block hash (for example) it is not always an active bet. Every time 00 comes up, no matter how seldom that is, it is sure to be a match on the Pick 2. If we had more betting volume this fact would not be noticeable at all.

But I may have given the wrong impression that we have some sort of auto seeder, we don't. We try to manually seed the Picks once per day or every time they match, but it always depends on us having the time to do it, so anyone can get the 00. Since this appears to be an issue, we're going to start seeding with a set bet, thus avoiding taking the 00 by default.

Just remember that if we always take the bet for 1e, that will appear to be the one that is always coming as winner just because it is always a bet, unless there's enough bet coverage to prevent it

Appreciate all your responses!

[nelisky]

And the raffle hasn't found a winner yet! There's still time to place your bets, folks.

This is the longest running Pick 4 game we've had to date (but we have been running for very little time still ).

[nelisky]

We have a winner! Sent from the address '19ZzbTTqNouSpNND5anz5QvaZX98Pxvzdf' came the winning bet.

If this address is yours (you will have received 2 satoshis when the raffle ended) please prepare a message with your name and shipping address and sign it using the winning address, then send both to me by PM.

If you need help in doing this post a message here or PM me and we'll walk you through the process.

Congratulations!