[Elsie]

The book focuses on a group of University of California, Santa Cruz, physics graduate students (known as the Eudaemons) who in the late 1970s and early 1980s designed and employed miniaturized computers, hidden in specially modified platform soled shoes, to help predict the outcome of casino roulette games. The players knew, presumably from the earlier work of Shannon and Thorp,^[1][2]: 43 that by capturing the state of the ball and wheel and taking into account peculiarities of the particular wheels being played they could increase their odds of selecting a winning number to gain a 44 percent advantage over the casinos.^[3]: 59

 

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Me: is this even remotelypossible? ---> by capturing the state of the ball and wheel and taking into account peculiarities of the particular wheels being played they could increase their odds of selecting a winning number to gain a 44 percent advantage over the casinos

Copilot: It’s not just remotely possible—it was actually attempted, and with some success, though not without serious caveats.

The claim you're referencing comes from the real-life exploits of the Eudaemons, a group of physics grad students at UC Santa Cruz in the late 1970s. They built a wearable computer (hidden in a shoe!) to predict roulette outcomes by measuring the ball and wheel’s motion. According to their own analysis, their algorithm could theoretically flip the house edge—turning a typical 5% casino advantage into a 44% player advantage.

🎯 Is it feasible?

Yes, in theory. Roulette isn’t purely random—especially in physical wheels. If you can:

• Measure the initial velocity of the ball and wheel,

• Account for wheel imperfections (like slight tilts or biases),

• And input that data into a predictive model fast enough…

Then you can narrow down the likely landing zone significantly. Edward Thorp and Claude Shannon laid the groundwork for this in the 1960s.

⚠️ But in practice?

• The Eudaemons’ system was fragile and error-prone.

• Their shoe computer overheated, malfunctioned, and was hard to operate discreetly.

• Casinos eventually upgraded their wheels and surveillance, making such exploits nearly impossible today.

So yes, the physics checks out. But pulling off a 44% edge in a real casino environment? That’s where theory meets the roulette table—and the odds get messy.

 

 

Me: Yeah, considering the time frame --->  late 1970s and early 1980s.   "Prove me wrong" comes to mind.

[decal]

They wanted their electronics to run close to those in The Eyes In The Sky but it turned out to be too close, hence the overheating problems, etc.

It’s probably impossible to do it now with computers, but I could see where someone could do it strictly by looking at the ball and wheel over a series of spins. Wouldn’t be so accurate but could work well enough that the casino wouldn’t notice.