name: plinko
aliases: [difficulty, balls]
category: Interaction
related: [casino, pachinko, cash hunt]
description: |
  PLINKO — let it rain!

  play plinko                 Take the single seat at a pyramid.
  difficulty easy             Choose easy, medium, hard or expert.
  balls 5                     Drop 1-10 balls together (default 1).
  paytable                    Check the current pocket multipliers.
  bet 10                      Wager 10 PER BALL and release them.
  bet / rebet                 Repeat with your current risk and ball count.
  stop                        Leave after the balls have landed.

  Every ball makes 16 independent, equally likely left/right bounces.
  The payout legend runs down the left, outside the pyramid, one entry per
  row, so every value is known well before the ball reaches the pockets.
  Each entry takes the pocket's board color. The board then unfolds one row
  per tick, without clearing your screen. Balls fall between pegs.
  Equal payouts share a letter: normally A B C D E F G H I H G F E D C B A.
  Rounded ties also share letters, so some risks use fewer than nine labels.
  Dim-gray pocket letters appear below the midpoint, without hiding balls
  or pegs. The base repeats the letters in brackets; landing pockets light
  up as >A< instead of [A]. Hints mark positions, not predicted results.
  The outside A pockets pay 16x on easy, 100x on medium, 1000x on hard
  and 10000x on expert.
  Multipliers INCLUDE your stake. Each outer pocket has a 1/65536 chance.
  Higher difficulty has much higher variance, including zero-return pockets.
  The one-line paytable shows the actual RTP for your selected difficulty.
  Actual RTP never decreases as difficulty increases.

  A single ball is white. Overlapping balls become pink, then pure red
  when all released balls meet. Basic ANSI approximates these shades.
  Without color, overlaps show 2-9 or * for ten balls.

  The receipt after each drop itemizes the result by landed payout: one
  row per distinct multiplier, with its staked amount and net (mirrored
  pockets share a row). The board has no fixed background, so your
  terminal theme shows through.

  The room's configured target return defaults to 98% at every difficulty.
  Interior multipliers are balanced in 0.1x steps to stay close to that
  target; the outside prizes stay fixed. The displayed multipliers are
  exactly what pays. Returns include your stake.
  Fractional batch winnings round randomly to adjacent whole credits,
  preserving the expected return even for one-credit bets.

  Your full batch is charged up front and paid once when all balls land.
  You cannot change settings or leave mid-drop. Disconnect forfeits an
  unfinished drop; shutdown refunds pending stakes. Failed payments keep
  their stake pending for recovery rather than claiming a paid win.