Understanding Provably Fair Games

Provably Fair technology allows you to play online crypto casino games and guarantee that the outcome of the games is truly random. How? By using modern blockchain technology.

At first, it sounds complicated. But it’s a straightforward concept and, more importantly, it’s really easy to use – even if you’re not a tech wizard.

We’ll walk you through what provably fair games are, how they work (with real examples), and where to find provably fair games to try them out for yourself.

What Is Provably Fair Technology?

As the name suggests, Provably Fair is a new-ish type of technology used in crypto casino games to increase transparency between players and casinos.

For as long as online casinos have been around (1994, to be specific), players have been sceptical about whether or not they’re truly fair and random. Often, this is unfounded, and based on little more than hurt feelings after a losing streak.

But there are also definitely unlicensed, unregulated online casinos out there that are scams, and rig the deck in the house’s favour.

With Provably Fair games, you can check the outcome of slot spins and hands yourself. This means you no longer have to blindly trust a casino or the regulator behind it. If you want, you can literally check the outcome of every single crypto slot game spin for hours on end.

Here’s what you need to know about Provably Fair games in a nutshell:

• They’re truly random. The data is collected and verified by uninterested third parties, who have no motive to tilt the game in anyone’s favour.
• They can’t be rigged. You’ll receive the hashed seed before the game begins, so you know everything was set in stone from the get go.
• You have the power. Crypto casinos deliver the seed on every spin and card game hand, so you can check as many or as few as you like.

Important Terms for Provably Fair Games

Once you’ve got the hang of it, Provably Fair tech is really easy to understand. But, like the stock market or real estate, it has some complicated-sounding words for fairly simple concepts.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s take a look at the main terms you need to understand when reading about Provably Fair casino games:

• Algorithm: The complex formula that underpins how an RNG system works. Think of it as the recipe behind the tasty dish you receive at a restaurant – you don’t witness it, but it’s what makes it all possible.
• Hashed seed: A version of an initial seed, containing information about the slot spin or card game hand without giving you the full picture. You’ll get this up front, which proves the outcome was always set in stone.
• Hashing: The invisible process of converting a seed into a hashed seed, which looks very different, so it can be shared with players before the outcome is known.
• Nonce: A way to count rounds, starting at 0. The next round will be 1, then 2, and so on. This digit adds an element of randomness to each round.
  Seed: The very first number (or batch of numbers) used to generate a longer, random number. Seeds can be generated by both the server (casino) and player (you).
• RNG: Random Number Generator. This is the accepted system casinos have used to make their games random before Provably Fair tech showed up to crash the party.

These should get you through this Provably Fair casino games guide, but you can also see more in our crypto casino glossary.

Step-by-Step: How Do Provably Fair Crypto Games Work?

Each crypto casino handle things slightly differently, but most generally follow a very similar outline – just as the sign-up process is pretty comparable across most online crypto casinos.

Here’s a step-by-step guide explaining how a typical Provably Fair casino game works:

1. Choose a game
   You’ll start off in the usual way; by simply picking a game and making sure you have some funds in your account. Provably Fair games will sometimes have a ‘PF’ symbol, or a short line of text explaining it falls under the Provably Fair category of casino games.
2. Place your bets
   Once again, it’s business as usual so far. Choose your stake for your slot spin or card game hand, and go about playing – just as you would with a regular RNG game.
3. Go to ‘Previous’
   This is where things differ to the norm. Once the round is finished, go to ‘Previous’, ‘Last’, or look for a return symbol. This will allow you to take a look at the previous results.
4. Check the seed
   Under the ‘Previous’ section, you’ll be able to see the full seed which determined the outcome of the previous round. You can then double check that it fits the site’s description to conclude that it was truly random.

As mentioned, this is a general step-by-step process, and won’t be identical at every casino. Some of the best online crypto casinos will give you a clickable hashed seed that appears at the conclusion of the round. This lets you skip a few steps and simply use the direct link to verify it.

For example, at Cloudbet, you can enter your results right into the Provably Fair verification calculator.

Real-Life Example of Provably Fair Games

We’re going to explore how a Provably Fair game works in practice, including screenshots of all the key stuff you need to take note of.

For this example, we’ll be using the popular crash game Aviator. This is an ideal game to test it on, because you’re the one who chooses when to cash out – so you want to know that the results were fair, and that the casino isn’t pretending you could’ve won more if you’d cashed out at a later time.

Here’s our example of playing Aviator and checking the Provably Fair technology behind it:

We place our bet on Aviator and can see the cash out value increasing at the bottom. We decide to end the game at the 1.55x mark, locking in profit.

After we cash out, the game continues to increase up to 1.94x. We now know that we missed out on 0.39x profit. So, we want to make sure this is real, and it’s not just the casino trying to entice us to go further next time.

Look for a dropdown menu so you can check out the previous results. It’s highlighted here using this very subtle green arrow.

And finally, the data we’ve been waiting for. You can see the server seed, which comes from Cloudbet, plus the seeds of three in-game players which combine into the SHA512 hash. Note that that’s not the full seed – there’s more, but it’s huge. You won’t fit it all in one screenshot unless you’re reading this Provably Fair games guide at your local cinema.

Provably Fair vs Traditional RNG Casino Games

RNG stands for Random Number Generator, and for many years this was the industry standard. But, despite the name, it was never truly random.

Don’t get us wrong – RNG systems are very close to being random. When you play RNG slots, the online machine has symbols on various reel positions, just like a real-life slot machine does. And it stop in a fairly random place.

But the positions of these symbols is carefully selected to pay out a certain percentage of the time. And there are different levels to RNG.

In essence, RNG works by creating a seed value and then using complicated algorithms to create a (semi) random outcome. It’s not truly random, because the casino will set the game up in a way that produces a house edge.

For example, if the game has a 0.002% chance of hitting a jackpot, it has to be set up so that the number of winning symbols is only likely to be hit once every 50,000 spins.

The most significant difference between standard RNG and Provably Fair games is the way in which the seeds are created. Provably Fair games often use player seeds as part of the random number sequence. Plus, you get the results ahead of time, and can view them in full afterwards.

Think of it like a gameshow, where the host gives you a sealed envelope with a prize amount in it. You can’t open it right now, but you know the gameshow host is being honest about what you could win because it’s already been given to you. They can’t change what’s in that envelope without you knowing about it.

In short, Provably Fair games don’t require you to trust some mysterious RNG computer whizzing and whirring behind the scenes. You can check everything yourself, with 100% transparency.

What Does ‘Random’ Mean in Crypto Games?

There’s a bit of leeway with the word ‘random’, because computers aren’t capable of being properly random. Like putting upside-down shades on your cat. Lolz.

For example, you can tell your computer to choose a random number between 1 and 1,000,000. But the computer doesn’t have a brain. Instead, it will use an algorithm to come up with the number. This algorithm has a starting point, known as a seed. The seed isn’t completely random, as it needs a fixed value.

Like a flower, this seed then blossoms into a much bigger, longer number, unfurling with random outcomes like the unpredictable vines of a plant. But it all came from that first seed, which wasn’t truly random.

Is RNG Random?

In an ideal scenario, the outcome of casino slot games using RNG would be completely random. This is stopped by two things.

First, the fact that the casino doesn’t want it to be random. Instead, they want slots to be set up with specific parameters that mean they always win – but just by a little bit.

The second thing stopping truly random outcomes is the limitation of technology.

Computers are not sentient. They do as they’re told. For now, anyway (apologies, future AI overlords). So, when you program a computer, it’s never truly random. This is because the program has been written, coded, and designed to perform a task. The system can only follow instructions, not go off the edge like a season finale of Westworld.

If you use the same computer code, you get the same outcome every time. So, does that mean that a slot machine using RNG will get the same outcome every time?

No. Casinos combat this by introducing different seeds and hashing. Hashing is when you take a seed and the computer is able to convert it into a random string of numbers and, therefore, a random outcome.

If you were to use the same seed, you’d get the same outcome. So, as long as the casino keeps using different seeds, the RNG outcome is – more or less – random.

Pros and Cons of Provably Fair Games

Provably Fair games are definitely a good thing for casino players, but there are a few drawbacks, too.

Let’s recap the best and worst features of Provably Fair crypto casino games: