Control Program Requirements

Control Program Requirements. (a) All must employ a mechanism approved by the Executive Director to verify control programs code and data. The mechanism used must detect at least 99.99 percent of all possible media failures. If these programs and data are to operate out of volatile RAM, the program that loads the RAM must reside on and operate from a Conventional ROM Device. (b) All gaming devices having control programs or data stored on memory devices other than Conventional ROM Devices must: 1. Employ a mechanism approved by the Executive Director which verifies that all control program components, including data and graphic information, are authentic copies of the approved components. The Executive Director may require tests to verify that components used by licensees are approved components. The verification mechanism must have an error rate of less than 1 in 10 to the 38th power and must prevent the execution of any control program component if any component is determined to be invalid. Any program component of the verification or initialization mechanism must be stored on a Conventional ROM Device that must be capable of being authenticated using a method approved by the Executive Director. 2. Employ a mechanism approved by the Executive Director which tests unused or unallocated areas of any alterable media for unintended programs or data and tests the structure of the storage media for integrity. The mechanism must prevent further play of the gaming device if unexpected data or structural inconsistencies are found; 3. Provide a mechanism for keeping a record, in a form approved by the Executive Director, anytime a control program component is added, removed, or altered on any alterable media. The record must contain the date and time of the action, identification of the component affected, the reason for the modification and any pertinent validation information; 4. Provide, at a minimum, a two-stage mechanism for validating all program components on demand via a communication port and protocol approved by the Executive Director. The first stage of this mechanism must verify all control components. The second stage must be capable of completely authenticating all program components, including graphics and data components in a maximum of 20 minutes. The mechanism for extracting the authentication information must be stored on a Conventional ROM Device that must be capable of being authenticated by a method approved by the Executive Director. 5. If approved before August 1, 2004, receive a waiver from the Executive Director for any modification to the device if the full implementation of this section cannot be met. The Executive Director may waiver portions of this section if the manufacturer can demonstrate to the Executive Director’s satisfaction that the imposition of the full standard would hinder the design of the device or pose a hardship due to limitations in the approved Platform. (c) Any gaming device executing control programs from electrically erasable or volatile memory must employ a mechanism approved by the Executive Director that ensures the integrity of all control program components residing therein, including fixed data and graphic information and ensures that they are authentic copies of the approved components. Additionally, control program components, excluding graphics and sound components, must be fully verified at the time of loading into the electrically erasable or volatile memory and upon any significant event, including but not limited to door closings, game resets, and power up. The mechanism must prevent further play of the gaming device if an invalid component is detected. (d) Unless otherwise approved by the Executive Director, any gaming device that allows the adding, removing, or alteration of any control program components through a data communication facility must employ a mechanism for preventing any change from taking place that would interrupt a game in progress. Any device, technique or network which may be used to accomplish the adding, removing, or alteration of any control program components may, at the Executive Director’s discretion, be considered a gaming device that must receive separate commission approval. (e) Gaming devices with control programs or other security programs residing in conventional Read Only Memory (ROM) devices such as EPROM’s or fusible-link PROM’s must have the unused portions of the memory device that contains the program set to zero or some other value approved by the Executive Director. (f) Gaming device control programs must check for any corruption of random access memory locations used for crucial gaming device functions including, but not limited to, information pertaining to the play and final outcome of the most recent game, the nine games prior to the most recent game, random number generator outcome, credits available for play, and any error states. These memory areas must be checked for corruption following game initiation but prior to display of the game outcome to the player. Detection of any corruption that cannot be corrected shall be deemed to be a game malfunction and must result in a tilt condition. (g) All gaming devices must have the capacity to display a complete play history for the most recent game played and nine games prior to the most recent game. Retention of play history for additional prior games is encouraged. The display must indicate the game outcome (or a representative equivalent), intermediate play steps (such as a hold and draw sequence or a double-down sequence), credits available, bets placed, credits paid and credits cashed out. Gaming devices offering games with a variable number of intermediate play steps per game may satisfy this requirement by providing the capability to display the last 50 play steps. The Executive Director may waive this standard for a particular device or modification if the hardware platform on which the device is based was originally approved prior to the adoption of this standard as modified and the manufacturer can demonstrate to the Executive Director’s satisfaction that the imposition of the full standard would hinder the design of the device or would otherwise pose a hardship due to capacity limitations in the approved platform. (h) All gaming devices must have the capacity to display a complete transaction history for the most recent transaction with a cashless wagering system, and the previous thirty-four transactions prior to the most recent transaction, that incremented any of the meters set forth in Part 8, Rule 3.4. Retention of transaction history for additional prior transactions is encouraged. (Adopted: 09/15/2004.)