American TV series: Starting with exploiting young Sheldon

Of course, in Mike's opinion, Mia now not only looks like a princess, but her temperament is becoming more and more like that of a real princess.

For example, this princess has already learned to uphold her bottom line.

Time passed peacefully and beautifully, day after day.

One evening, Mike noticed that Connie's grandmother, who had rushed back, looked very unwell.

Chapter 309 The Arcade Scandal

"Grandma Connie, what happened? You don't look well," Mike asked at the Cooper family's dinner table.

Grandma Connie's face was filled with regret and anger. The last time she looked so upset was after she broke up with Professor John.

As far as Mike knows, Connie has completely moved on from that relationship.

"I...I'm fine..." Grandma Connie gave a forced smile and answered, trying to appear calm.

However, her trembling hands holding the cutlery made it clear to anyone that she was suppressing her anger.

The Cooper family naturally noticed that the old man was different today.

“Okay~” Faced with everyone’s concerned looks, Grandma Connie chose to confess: “It was Collison, he swindled all my retirement money. Mike, you’re right, Chris is a despicable thief…”

Mike had advised Connie's grandmother to quit while she was ahead after he learned she was winning money at the arcade.

Connie's grandmother agreed at the time.

Judging from the current situation, she clearly couldn't resist the "temptation" of winning money.

“Mom, I’ve warned you before that gambling is bad.” Mary interrupted her mother’s nagging and asked worriedly, “How much did you lose this time?”

"Not much, just over four thousand." Having already lost all her money, in order to maintain her remaining dignity, Connie's grandmother, realizing what had happened, immediately put on a nonchalant act.

“Four thousand US dollars! OMG~ Where did you get so much money?” Mary exclaimed in surprise.

In an era when the average monthly salary was only two or three thousand yuan, more than four thousand yuan was no small amount, especially for a retired elderly person.

"That was my retirement savings from scrimping and saving this year." Grandma Connie couldn't help but feel regretful at losing such a large sum of money.

“Collison went too far this time. Should we call the police? I knew that arcade was shady a long time ago…” Seeing her mother suffer such a big loss, Mary immediately joined in the condemnation of the arcade.

To be honest, that basement arcade at the street corner is definitely not legitimate; calling the police would surely give Collison a run for his money.

“We can’t call the police, I don’t want to get arrested,” Connie’s grandmother retorted.

If the matter is resolved by calling the police, Connie's grandmother, who had been to the arcade, will also be implicated.

"Can you tell me how you lost so much money?" After the conversation reached a dead end, Mike asked the question that concerned him.

Generally speaking, the financing system of small arcades is not that large, and the turnover rate of gambling machines in them is probably around 40% to 50%.

While maintaining entertainment value, you can earn some money without even realizing it.

The key is to maintain a steady and long-term relationship.

It's clearly abnormal that Connie's grandmother lost over 4,000 yuan in just a few days in this small arcade.

"I don't know why I've been so unlucky lately. I used to win a lot of money. But I've been losing and losing since a few days ago..." Things had gotten so bad that Grandma Connie was willing to go all out and tell everyone how she lost money.

Now Mike was certain that Grandma Connie had indeed fallen for a "fishing" scam.

On the other side, Peggy and Sheldon, who are also incredibly intelligent, also figured out the problem.

"Probability!"

Peggy and Sheldon Jr. both gave their answers.

"What?" Connie's grandmother, who had just finished recounting her experience of losing money, was not able to react for a moment.

"The problem lies with the game console; the owner must have rigged the odds of winning," Peggy explained briefly.

"That can't be right, that arcade has been open for so long..." Grandma Connie became more and more unsure as she spoke.

I don't blame Grandma for not realizing it; a small arcade can't survive without resorting to overly exploitative practices.

After all, most of the people who go there are acquaintances, so word-of-mouth is very important.

"Is Mr. Chris planning to sell the arcade?" Mike made the same judgment as Peggy and the other man.

However, being a man of great experience and knowledge, he thought about things more deeply.

"That arcade is quite profitable, so it shouldn't be worth selling. But I did hear Collison mention that he's planning to go live with his son at the end of this year. By the way, I heard his son has a respectable job in a big city..." Grandma Connie gossiped.

Alright, the case is solved now.

Chris may not have considered selling the arcade, but he definitely intends to make a quick buck and leave before the end of the year.

It's only October now, and there are still two months until the end of the year. Collison's behavior is really too disgusting.

“The problem must lie in the probability; Mr. Chris is probably already prepared to leave…” Mike said, expressing his guess.

“I knew my luck wouldn’t be that bad; it turns out Collison was behind it all.” Grandma Connie’s perspective seemed a little odd. Then, she asked for help, “What should I do?”

Suffering a great loss in silence is not Grandma Connie's style.

“How about I go with you this weekend?” Mike suggested.

With his intelligence, winning money using probability wouldn't be difficult. However, he's a man of principle and absolutely avoids gambling and drugs.

The main reason I decided to go to the arcade to gamble was to help Grandma Connie get revenge.

“I can help too…” After learning about the whole incident, young Sheldon, who had nothing to do at the time, also became interested in the arcade.

“Me too~” Peggy looked at Mike and raised her hand in greeting.

By then, it was too late for George and his wife to stop them.

“How about this, George? We’ll go with Mom this weekend too…” After thinking it over, Mary decided to bring her husband along to ensure the safety of Sheldon and his group.

"Great! Let's teach Collison a lesson this time." With a think tank and a bodyguard team in place, Connie's mischievous grandmother immediately smiled.

With that, the plan to go to the arcade in Jiedaokou this weekend is now set.

"Um, can someone tell me what happened?" Missy, who was listening from the side, was still confused and hadn't caught up with everyone's train of thought.

"Haha... It's okay, Missy. Just know that Grandma will keep her promise to buy you ice cream this weekend." Looking at her bewildered granddaughter, Connie's grandma laughed happily.

Time flies, and it's the weekend.

As time went on, more and more people were being scammed at the arcade at the street corner.

Compared to Grandma Connie, the others weren't as obviously scammed.

When Connie's grandmother arrived at the dimly lit underground arcade at the street corner with a large group of people, it really startled the owner, Collison.

At this moment, Mike and his group, who came to seek justice, clearly had ill intentions.

"Connie, long time no see. Are you planning to make a comeback?" Collison, with his greasy looks and strong-man hairstyle, asked guiltily.

Connie's grandmother, who frequented the arcade, was quite familiar with Collison.

Collison's previous actions of taking advantage of acquaintances were indeed somewhat unethical.

"Of course! Today I'm going to win back all the money I lost. How can you not welcome me?" Grandma Connie, supported by a large group of people behind her, seemed very confident.

Grandma Connie, with her cowboy-like style, did not choose to immediately expose Collison's true colors.

She firmly believes that grudges at the gambling table should be settled at the gambling table.

This is called tit for tat.

"Of course you're welcome, and good luck!" Collison was very confident in his little tricks, and seeing that Grandma Connie wasn't there specifically to cause trouble, he immediately gave a professional smile.

Moreover, in places like arcades, as long as there's no unexpected big win, the more people who come to play, the better.

Anyway, they're most likely just here to give money to the boss.

"What should I do next?" After saying goodbye to Boss Collison, Grandma Connie quietly asked Mike for his opinion.

"Don't rush, let's see how things go first." Mike shook his head, telling Grandma Connie to stay calm.

This group is now showing signs of being led by Mike.

The underground arcade in Jiedaokou is not very big, and there aren't many games to play. It mainly consists of simple games like slot machines, coin pushers, and slingshots.

The main selling point is that it's simple and easy to use, so most of the people who come to play are elderly people.

When Connie's grandma returned, many elderly people sitting in front of the game console greeted her.

"What do you think?" Ten minutes later, Mike, who had been observing the arcade, turned to look at Peggy and Sheldon.

"From what I've observed, the odds of winning on most of these gaming machines have been lowered to less than 30% by the owner..." Sheldon, who is sensitive to numbers but not good at games, concluded, "I don't recommend gambling here; it's like throwing money away."

“I have a different opinion,” Peggy said. “As far as I know, each machine has a win rate threshold. The owner here has cleverly lowered the odds of small prizes, but this will definitely increase the odds of big prizes. My suggestion is to place large bets on the same machine.”

“No, winning a big prize isn’t guaranteed. I still maintain that we shouldn’t gamble here…” Young Sheldon retorted, dissatisfied with Peggy’s statement.

In Sheldon's mind, science is about being realistic and pragmatic.

Grandma Connie, who was acting as the mascot, saw that the two little geniuses had different opinions, so she handed over the decision-making power to the more reliable Mike.

“My opinion is similar to Peggy’s, and I already have a favorite position in mind. If we just bet blindly, there’s a good chance of winning the big prize,” Mike declared decisively. “Let’s go, let’s go exchange some game tokens.”

“Very good, I’m ready.” For Grandma Connie, returning to the arcade this time was also to avenge her previous defeat.

Therefore, she declined Mike's offer to buy her game tokens and then pulled out a large amount of loose change from her pocket.

Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Don't be fooled by how pitiful Grandma Connie was last time; she's actually far from running out of money.

Chapter 310 The Arcade Scandal (Continued)

"This is the game machine. Trust me, if nothing unexpected happens, you'll definitely win the grand prize before you run out of tokens." Mike led Connie's grandmother, who had exchanged over two hundred tokens, to a game machine that wasn't very popular.

There's an unspoken rule in arcades: the more popular a machine is, the more likely it is to pay out a big prize. This involves the "padding" theory.

The colorful machine that Mike chose may not be very popular now, but it must have been frequented by many people before.

The machine is probably not very popular because the owner set the payout rate too low. Players who never saw any returns eventually gave up on it.

However, as mentioned before, under the law of conservation of energy, this machine is actually more likely to produce big prizes.

"I believe you~" Connie's grandma seemed to be holding back a grudge as she returned to the arcade.

She stopped talking, took a large box full of game tokens, and went to the slot machine.

The game of the slot machine is very simple to play. You press the button on the machine once for every one-dollar coin you insert.

Three rows of images of various patterns will appear on the screen. When the scrolling stops and three identical images appear, you win the prize.

To win the grand prize, all three images on the screen must be gold cups.

With the clattering of coins being inserted and the clanging of buttons, the game tokens in Connie's grandma's box gradually decreased.

Even after inserting more than fifty game coins, the slot machine still hadn't produced a single small prize.

Connie's grandmother's frantic coin-pouring attracted the attention of many players. Many of them looked hesitant, seemingly wanting to approach and advise Connie's grandmother.

Ultimately, however, they chose to continue to observe.

"Mom~"

Mary, who hadn't been to an arcade much, finally couldn't resist when she saw her mother spend over fifty dollars in such a short time.

The stimulating effect of spinach is something most people can't really enjoy.

"I'm fine!" Grandma Connie, already caught up in the moment, had no time to pay attention to Mary.

It's highly addictive; those who lose want to win it back, and those who win want to win even more—that's what makes gambling so dangerous.

"Mike, Connie won't be in any trouble, will she?" Seeing her mother's seemingly possessed state, Mary turned to Mike and asked for help.

The group of people who came with him also looked at Mike, and their feelings were similar to Mary's.

"It's okay, the results will be out soon." Mike was quite calm at this point.

In this situation, the fewer small prizes appear, the higher the probability of winning a big prize.

It seems like Grandma Connie is destined to strike it rich this time.

Sure enough, with the sound of the game token hitting the ground and the clicking of the buttons, a firework-like celebratory image finally burst forth from the slot machine where Grandma Connie was.

Simultaneously with the fireworks, three golden cup images appeared in the center of the screen.

This is a huge prize!!!