Riverboat Gambler

I literally just released an update last night and then a bug report came in this morning! DOH! This is a quick release to fix a bug in DJ Wild and Wild Card Stud that was reported by Howard using "Send Feedback". Both games were improperly paying wild hands that included a single Joker. The hands were being paid the premium odds as "Natural Hands". Thanks, Howard! You've been contributing feedback and suggestions since 2019! I appreciate your help and your loyalty and your virtual friendship. Additionally, John reaching out using "Send Feedback" asking to be able to disable bonuses. It turns out that the "Disable Bonuses" option that was requested by Players who didn't want their bankrolls overinflated by bonuses was not showing up on the Craps game menu. This was done intentionally because Craps does not support any Achievement Bonuses. When I made that design decision, I overlooked the fact that there are still Loyalty Bonuses. I appreciate you helping me to discover this issue, John! Welcome to Riverboat Gambler. The game continues to evolve as a direct result of collaboration with the Player Community! Now, I am going to get back to the business of clearing out the backlog and further enhancing RBG. Please keep telling your friends about the app and please consider leaving a review in the App Store. If you've left a review in the past that was reporting issues or concerns, please consider updating that review if it makes sense. Please stay safe! ~Danny

I've just returned to South Florida in time for hurricane season after having helped my mother relocate back to Michigan for the summer. For those who ask, she is doing tremendously better. She still has an issue with her back, but there is hope! Thanks for all of your support, kind words, and prayers. The last four years have been a real challenge! Now that I'm back, I've rolled up my sleeves and will get back to focusing more time on making RBG better! This release is a quick update to the Blackjack games that support "Even Money" for a Blackjack when the Dealer shows an Ace. That got broken a couple releases back. Thank you so much to Steve and Jeff who both reached out using "Send Feedback" with screenshots to alert me to the problem. The Player wager was being refunded, but the "Win" was not being paid. Please keep your suggestions and requests and bug reports coming. They are what motivate me and drive the direction of the app. If you haven't already, please consider posting a review in the App Store. It may seem like a trivial ask, but it really does help. Stay safe! ~Danny

This release is focused on the new "M4" iPads. Those devices are 11" and 13", but, unfortunately, the actual screen resolutions are slightly different from the legacy 11" and 12.9"/13" iPads. So, in this release, I had to perform some "tweaks" to some game boards. Most of the games were easily supported, but additional adjustments were required for Craps, Roulette, and Sic Bo because those games are dependent on screen resolution. In this release, I have addressed Craps and Sic Bo. Roulette will become available in the next release. If you have one of these new devices, please let me know if you encounter any issues. I can only test on simulators because it it is cost prohibitive for me to buy all of the actual devices. More enhancements and adjustments are coming. I have been working feverishly on the backlog which I am happy to say is now under 50 items! This doesn’t include the list of new games that are also planned. Please keep your ideas and suggestions coming and know that I am easy to reach if you use the “Send Feedback” feature from any game’s menu. Riverboat Gambler has become a fun collaboration with a great Player Community and I truly appreciate your patience, support, and friendship. Please continue to share the app with others and please be safe! ~Danny

There is a lot packed into this release. Hopefully, I don’t miss anything or forget to give credit where credit is due. I’m including the release notes from the release earlier this week, because this is more of a “hot fix” to address something I found in Craps right after that update was approved for release. 1. Craps (BUG/ENHANCEMENT): I’ve now completed the board that is needed to support a 13” iPad that has its screen “zoomed” (set to “Use More Space”). While testing that board, I discovered a bug that existed in Craps if a Place wager was made while a Come wager on a point was active. Now, you cannot make a Place wager if the point is covered from a Come wager. If a Place bet exists when the Come occurs, that wager is paid and taken down; just like it would be in a casino.
 2. Lunar Poker (BUG): This game has not been properly paying the bonus for A-K-Q since it was released (a long time ago). Thanks to Jason, I was able to track down and correct situations where this bonus wasn’t being read correctly if there was any pair in the hand. Thanks so much for taking the time to reach out using “Send Feedback”, Jason. These are the types of “little issues” that could become “big deals” were it not for the support of Players like you!
 3. Asian Poker Games (ENHANCEMENT): I’ve introduced another “sub menu” to the main game menu to reduce the length of the list. Now, the Pai Gow Games and Asia Poker can be found under “Asian Poker Games”. A couple of notes about the games menu:
 a. You can browse the games in alphabetical order by using the search feature in the upper right hand corner of the screen. b. Games can be designated as “favorites” from the Preferences section for that game (available from the game’s menu). Designating a favorite will cause it to stick to the top of the main menu. c. I’ve done my best to try to group the games on the menu in a manner similar to the pits one would find in a casino. There really isn’t any science to the order. 
 4. Craps/Sic Bo (ENHANCEMENT): A few folks asked for some “Green Dice”. So, as I always do, I did my best to accommodate. Now, those games allow the Player to use green colored dice. Just check out Preferences for those games.
 5. Sic Bo (BUG): While adding the green colored dice to Sic Bo, I noticed that the dice preferences for this game were not always being respected. There was a connection to Craps that was impeding this feature.
 6. 12.9” iPad (ENHANCEMENT): Games like Sic Bo, Craps, and Roulette are very dependent upon the specific screen dimensions of the device because they must capture screen coordinates when the Player “taps”. For this reason, each time a new device size is released, it takes a bit of work to release those games for the new device. Newer iPads allow the user to “zoom” the device to “use more space”. This, too, creates the need for new game boards. In this release, I have completed the Roulette and Sic Bo boards for a zoomed 12.9” iPad. Craps will be addressed in a future release.
 7. Roulette - iPads (BUG): On a couple of iPad sizes, the “Spin History” was improperly located. I noticed this while completing the new boards for the zoomed 12.9” iPad. Also, I moved the Help button on iPads. The button was too large and looked a little funky. With this new placement, it is less obtrusive. This button is used to display the pay table/odds for a Roulette board. More enhancements and adjustments are coming. I have been working feverishly on the backlog which I am happy to say is now under 50 items! This doesn’t include the list of new games that are also planned. Please keep your ideas and suggestions coming and know that I am easy to reach if you use the “Send Feedback” feature from any game’s menu. Riverboat Gambler has become a fun collaboration with a great Player Community and I truly appreciate your patience, support, and friendship. Please continue to share the app with others and please be safe! ~Danny

There is a lot packed into this release. Hopefully, I don’t miss anything or forget to give credit where credit is due. 1. Lunar Poker (BUG): This game has not been properly paying the bonus for A-K-Q since it was released (a long time ago). Thanks to Jason, I was able to track down and correct situations where this bonus wasn’t being read correctly if there was any pair in the hand. Thanks so much for taking the time to reach out using “Send Feedback”, Jason. These are the types of “little issues” that could become “big deals” were it not for the support of Players like you!
 2. Asian Poker Games (ENHANCEMENT): I’ve introduced another “sub menu” to the main game menu to reduce the length of the list. Now, the Pai Gow Games and Asia Poker can be found under “Asian Poker Games”. A couple of notes about the games menu:
 a. You can browse the games in alphabetical order by using the search feature in the upper right hand corner of the screen. b. Games can be designated as “favorites” from the Preferences section for that game (available from the game’s menu). Designating a favorite will cause it to stick to the top of the main menu. c. I’ve done my best to try to group the games on the menu in a manner similar to the pits one would find in a casino. There really isn’t any science to the order. 
 3. Craps/Sic Bo (ENHANCEMENT): A few folks asked for some “Green Dice”. So, as I always do, I did my best to accommodate. Now, those games allow the Player to use green colored dice. Just check out Preferences for those games.
 4. Sic Bo (BUG): While adding the green colored dice to Sic Bo, I noticed that the dice preferences for this game were not always being respected. There was a connection to Craps that was impeding this feature.
 5. 12.9” iPad (ENHANCEMENT): Games like Sic Bo, Craps, and Roulette are very dependent upon the specific screen dimensions of the device because they must capture screen coordinates when the Player “taps”. For this reason, each time a new device size is released, it takes a bit of work to release those games for the new device. Newer iPads allow the user to “zoom” the device to “use more space”. This, too, creates the need for new game boards. In this release, I have completed the Roulette and Sic Bo boards for a zoomed 12.9” iPad. Craps will be addressed in a future release.
 6. Roulette - iPads (BUG): On a couple of iPad sizes, the “Spin History” was improperly located. I noticed this while completing the new boards for the zoomed 12.9” iPad. Also, I moved the Help button on iPads. The button was too large and looked a little funky. With this new placement, it is less obtrusive. This button is used to display the pay table/odds for a Roulette board. More enhancements and adjustments are coming. I have been working feverishly on the backlog which I am happy to say is now under 50 items! This doesn’t include the list of new games that are also planned. Please keep your ideas and suggestions coming and know that I am easy to reach if you use the “Send Feedback” feature from any game’s menu. Riverboat Gambler has become a fun collaboration with a great Player Community and I truly appreciate your patience, support, and friendship. Please continue to share the app with others and please be safe! ~Danny

The major enhancement in this release is to add "stats" to the Blackjack games. This has been requested by several people via reviews (including Thunderbae and Scrapmetal Joe). The stats that are being tracked are similar to other games except that there are no "Folds" and RBG will report the number of "Dealer Blackjacks" and "Player Blackjacks". If I missed something, please let me know! In addition to that enhancement, I also responded to a bug report that I received from "Sean F". Sean was playing "Double Down Poker" with a depleted bankroll of $24 and the app wouldn't allow a new hand to be played. Early on, I made a design decision to try to prevent Players from starting a new hand if they wouldn't have enough chips to complete the hand. In "Live Play" this won't typically happen. A casino doesn't really care if you start a hand and can't afford to finish it. From my perspective, though, it seemed to be unfair. I fixed the bug that Sean reported and tested several other games and make similar changes to: - DJ Wild Poker - Wild Card Stud - Deuces Wild Bonus - Boston 5 Poker - Cali LowBall - Four Card Frenzy If the issue impacts you in another game, please reach out and let me know. Thanks very much to Sean for reaching out. This is the type of annoying bug that I feel relieved to resolve because it presents a risk that folks will consider the app "rigged" if they start a hand and cannot finish it. Please be aware, though, as I reminded Sean: if you need additional chips you can earn them in the Chip Store by watching the annoying "Reward Ads". Each ad will provide you with $25 in chips and pay me something like $0.01. That means you don't have to buy any chips (although I hope you will because it's what pays my bills). In addition to that enhancement, I've also updated several "core libraries" that are used in RBG to support things like logging crashes and serving ads. I'm never excited about updating these type of libraries because (a) I don't like using someone else's code because it puts handcuffs on me because I don't know what that code is doing and (b) not knowing what's going on in that code makes it a huge challenge to fully test everything. As I usually do, I'll be holding my breath for a few days while this release gets adopted. If you run into issues, please let me know! I'm still focusing on "that other platform" because those folks are so far behind the IOS version. But, please keep reaching out with your ideas, requests, and feedback. Everything ends up in the backlog and will eventually be addressed. As always, I appreciate everyone's support and am humbled that so many people are playing "my app". Please keep telling your friends and, if you haven't already, please consider leaving a review in the App Store. It sounds like a trivial matter, but your reviews help me to promote RBG and are really the only marketing strategy that I have! ~Danny

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