PLINKO

OVERVIEW

In Plinko, each drop travels through one binary left/right decision per row and lands in a final slot.

For R rows, the ball makes R decisions and can land in R + 1 slots.

SETUP

• Choose bet size.
• Choose number of rows.
• Choose difficulty: Low, Medium, or High.

DROP FLOW

• Every row contributes one random left/right step.
• Final landing slot determines the multiplier for the selected rows and difficulty.
• Net result per drop is (multiplier - 1) * bet_size.

DIFFICULTY AND VOLATILITY

The difficulty setting does not change the house edge.

Instead, it changes the volatility of the game.

LOW DIFFICULTY

• Multipliers are concentrated near 1x.
• Frequent small wins.
• Lower variance.

MEDIUM DIFFICULTY

• Balanced distribution of multipliers.
• Moderate variance.

HIGH DIFFICULTY

• Most outcomes are small multipliers or losses.
• Rare high multipliers are much larger.
• Higher variance.

IN OTHER WORDS

• Same expected return.
• Different risk profile.

SLOT PROBABILITIES (R ROWS)

• R — the number of rows (peg layers) the ball travels through. You choose this before each drop. More rows = more peg bounces.
• k — the index of the landing slot, from 0 (far left) to R (far right). Each value of k corresponds to one prize bucket.

Slot k uses a binomial probability:

EXPECTED VALUE

Expected multiplier is:

House edge is:

Use the Show Proof block below to pick provider + difficulty and verify RTP from SUM(P_k * M_k).

VOLATILITY / STD

For a given set of paytable values:

Low difficulty has lower SD. High difficulty has higher SD and larger swings.

Example (16 rows, Duel):

TEST STRATEGIES

You can test strategies here in the strategy tool.

WARNING

Strategies are methods of shaping your risk and payout profile, not ways to beat the house.

They can be used to:

• Smooth variance and generate more frequent, smaller wins.
• Increase variance to chase larger, less frequent payouts.

This means each wager has a negative expected value, or neutral when playing zero-edge, and changing bet sizes or betting patterns won't change that.

MARTINGALE STRATEGY

Increase bet size after losses (typically doubling) to recover all previous losses plus a fixed profit. This works extremely well until it doesn't and all of your bankroll is gone.

Bet size sequence: b, 2b, 4b, 8b, ...

Stop when a win occurs, then reset to base bet.

Martingale — Distribution Effect

• Very high win frequency.
• Many small profits.
• Rare but extreme losses (one big loss can drain your bankroll).

PAROLI (INVERSE MARTINGALE)

Bet sequence after wins: b, 2b, 4b, ...

Reset to base bet after a loss.

Paroli — Distribution Effect

• Lower win frequency.
• Many small losses.
• Occasional large wins.