Here's an actual case where understanding computer science would have been immensely helpful...<p>> The motivation for this aberrant behavior was a contest put on by a local radio station. Each day a disk jockey would read a serial number aloud on the air, and if any listener was able to produce the matching dollar bill they would win $30,000. Michael reasoned that 100,000 one dollar bills was 100,000 opportunities to win the prize, giving him a statistical advantage. And even if his scheme proved fruitless he would just redeposit his money, so he figured he had nothing to lose.<p>> Michael and Teresa spent each day rifling through piles of cash looking for matches, pausing only for such distractions as eating, bathing, and excreting. They soon realized that it was impossible for two people to examine that much money in the allotted time<p>(sort then binary search)
It's a triumph of regulation that he got his money. It would have been very natural for CBS to cite technical difficulties or find some other way to change the rules of the game, but US game shows in this era were terrified of the FCC, who were given strong powers to enforce fairness in game shows after some frauds in the 50s [0].<p>Those laws are still on the books, of course, but I expect game show producers have got better at working around them in the small print, while regulators haven't kept up.<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_quiz_show_scandals" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_quiz_show_scandals</a>
It is hilarious how much effort some poeple will go to to make money through scams when they could spend the effort doing something sustainable. Or at least once you get away with one scam, use it for actual business, don't blow it on testing your luck again and again!
Highly recommend at least skimming the full episode.<p><a href="https://youtu.be/WltjaxiowW4?si=KkVJPy_e7ALQulE-" rel="nofollow">https://youtu.be/WltjaxiowW4?si=KkVJPy_e7ALQulE-</a>
I imagine there was a mechanical, rotating drum with metal contacts to "randomly" trip the scoreboard. There would have been 5 such patterns on the drum. I even imagine a human was operating the drum, choosing among the five possible patterns.<p>I could be wrong but this was early in the era of popular computing — and interfacing with high-current lamp circuits would have been a challenge for most. The other compelling reason to believe it was mechanical is that having only 5 patterns seems really lame if there was software driving it.<p>Why only 16 of the possible 18 tiles would ever have the Whammy, I have no speculation.
$331,381.55 in 2024 dollars. If only he'd invested it in the stock market rather than half-assed ponzi schemes he could have been reasonably comfortable.
$100K would have been "comfortable retirement" money in the 80s. But I guess the same attitude that got you the money is what prevents you from quitting while you are ahead. A true gambler will always continue to double down until he loses it all.
Fun read. My favorite line: "Six months later, in May 1984, Michael Larson sat beardily in the interview room for the Press Your Luck auditions in Hollywood."
<i>> One of his later schemes involved opening a checking account with a bank that was offering a promotional $500 to each new customer; he would withdraw the cash at the earliest opportunity, close the account, then repeat the process over and over under assumed names.</i><p>He could do this today, without using assumed names, at different banks. Sign up for a bank account that's offering a bonus, comply with the fine print to the letter, get bonus, close account. Repeat at a different bank. This can be parallelized for increased performance. It's minorly lucrative.<p>There was probably only one local option for this when Larson did it, forcing him to use assumed names. Today there are countless online banking options available. No assumed names required.<p>$500 is a solid bonus today. That was even more money when Larson was doing this.
This shows up here every now and then. Interesting story!<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9570713">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9570713</a>
Not that it matters now, but I have deduced who burglarized their house.
Michael was certain that Teresa had something to do with it so he clearly told no one. Which makes sense for his personality.
Teresa not being a paranoid scam artist would have told someone. Especially if she felt like it was a chore.
Probably her best friend.
The Christmas party invitation was clearly from Teresa’s side since Michael doesn’t have the sort of friends who invite you to a Christmas party.
And it was probably her best friend.
Her best friend told someone, probably male, probably a younger relative, probably at the Christmas party. He was looking at them at the party realized they’d be here for hours and left early to go burglarize their house.<p>A call to the host of the Christmas party with that information would certainly be enough for her to think of the name.
This American Life also covered this in Ep. 412, act 4: <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/412/million-dollar-idea" rel="nofollow">https://www.thisamericanlife.org/412/million-dollar-idea</a>
I'm not sure why people are calling this a scam (or maybe they refer to the other exploits described?)—the article itself says "even the CBS executives ultimately admitted that he had broken nary a rule."<p>But I have to say that it is heartbreaking that it is only the name of the girlfriend, and not the hacker who thought he was smarter than everyone, that is "Dinwitty."