Crypto-Games.net

Owned by: Kewl, Joter

Bitcointalk.org: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=750760

This is a copy or the review available on my site

Feel

I really like the look of crypto-games. The gray and gold theme looks nice and give off a social vibe (for me personally). I've I've looked over the whole page, it was very easy and quick to navigate so it didn't cause any frustration to use.

The fast scrolling bets tab does strain the eye when it's set to all bets though.

Usability

My very first time on the site, I hit a stumble block right of the bat. I was actually stuck on the home page for a minute. I clicked on dice repeatedly but the page was not redirecting, and it took a while before I noticed that I need to select my currency before being able to play a game, as I thought the icons simply displayed the supported currencies.

I would personally have made it either default to Btc when a game is selected, or show an instruction on the home page, similar to a wizard (Select the game you want to play: (user selects). Now select the currency you want to play in (user Selects). Redirect to game.).

Once I got on the dice page things were going better.

The layout for the controls is clean and easy to use, with the bets panel showing the information in a logical and easy to understand manner. There are so many bets displayed in this panel though at such a quick rate that it makes the page feel a bit cluttered. I'd suggest limiting the bets shown on this page to bets above a certain size only. From a more technical perspective, this probably causes a lot of traffic for users and even more for the server. This will become limiting factor and could become a crippling factor when the site gets more and more bets and the server is unable to receive and send all of the data to every connected client. It's going to cause lag and reduce the betting speeds for all users.

Lastly, the chat panel blocks some information on the bets screen because I have a relatively small screen. I find this a slight inconvenience but irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

I like that you can access all of the information you need from this single page by opening popup panes in the same window instead of having to navigate to a new page. All of you account and rewards information is accessible from the same page you play on, as well as the provably fair information. Initially, I had to look for the deposit and withdrawal buttons because of a lack of emphasis, but they're in a very logical position and took only a second or two to find (rather than pulling the eye)

Fair

I only reviewed the Dice provably fair method and it is solid, so i'll assume the other games work on a similar system with only the changes needed for the different games.

The API uses a per bet client and server seed pair. The Sha512 hash of the server seed is provided before the bet. To generate the roll, the client seed is appended to the end of the server seed, without any spaces of spacers: <server seed><client seed>
The SHA512 hash of this string is then calculated and the first 5 characters of the hex number is extracted. If the decimal values of these 5 characters is equal to or above 1 million, the next five is extracted until a selection of numbers is found that is below 1 million.
The last 5 digits of the decimal value of these 5 hex characters is taken and devided by 1000 to provide the roll for the bet.
For example:

Server seed:JYxorjpptVZGn1f0FGWAuCSoPqO3BCx0OGnPoBpP Client seed:pMtAF1WJo7xiM9KpZFLHxJHTz3nnlTFlo3RgstvK Appended seeds:seed:JYxorjpptVZGn1f0FGWAuCSoPqO3BCx0OGnPoBpPseed:pMtAF1WJo7xiM9KpZFLHxJHTz3nnlTFlo3RgstvK Hash:e3b5bb4ad23818bcd3f95798bc5490ac5cb715345ee718920950ed386d4bdebb92df21b3be1c65c75fbf822aae3d83d3dfb06ca4149930e6b02329f1963f3fe1 Hex:e3b5b Decimal:932699 Roll:32.699

Dicebots Implementation of the provably fair method:

Code:
public override double GetLucky(string server, string client, int nonce)
{
SHA512 betgenerator = SHA512.Create();
int charstouse = 5;
List<byte> buffer = new List<byte>();
string msg = server + client;
foreach (char c in msg)
{
buffer.Add(Convert.ToByte(c));
}
byte[] hash = betgenerator.ComputeHash(buffer.ToArray());
StringBuilder hex = new StringBuilder(hash.Length * 2);
foreach (byte b in hash)
hex.AppendFormat("{0:x2}", b);
for (int i = 0; i < hex.Length; i += charstouse)
{
string s = hex.ToString().Substring(i, charstouse);
double lucky = int.Parse(s, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber);
if (lucky < 1000000)
{
//return lucky / 10000;
string tmps = lucky.ToString().Substring(lucky.ToString().Length - 5);
return double.Parse(tmps) / 1000.0;
}
}
return 0;
}

Speed

Crypto-games' Dice is one of the fastest dice games I've played on recently. I was able to get just below 3 bets/s with only 1000 satoshi bets. Bets are throttled based on size, as on most sites but only up to 0.00001000 Btc. I'm not sure about the throttles on the other currencies, but they should be of equivalent value.

The response speed of the pages I was on was generally very fast and I had no lag. Navigating some of the menus caused minor lag as the page was getting data from the server sometimes, but that might have just been my slow internet connection that was under a lot of load at the time.

API

Crypot-Games recently added an API to their site that allows, for now, only the basics. Getting user stats, currency info, bet info and placing bets.

The api is easy enough to use. It's a normal rest API accepting URI parameters for GET calls and JSON body and URI parameters for POST calls. Authentication is done using an API key that can be retrieved from the website in the accounts page.

The api returns JSON objects as most rest APIs do and the documentation clearly specifies the parameters and responses for each call. The API is quick and stable as far as my testing has shown.

More info on their API can be found here

Community

I've not been around the site for too long, but I've already seen the community in action quite a bit.

The chat is usually busy with a mod not far away if needed. The community is active and chatty and mostly friendly. One nice thing about the chat is the rain command, that allows users to send x amount of whatever currency they're using to their most active fellow chatters. Of course this kind of features draws some bad apples, like people only talking nonsense/making trouble to get rain or chat bots that only spews gibberish to catch rain. The mods are all over this though and they keep the chat in line.

The mods and users are generally happy to help if someone has questions. The mods do their best to keep peace and to keep the chat a nice and happy environment.

I'll update this as well as I get to know the regulars and the community a bit better.

Owners

My interaction with Kewl and Joter has only been positive.

I was contacted by Kewl regarding the API, we went back and forth a bit and my inputs regarding the API was taken into consideration. After testing a bit, Joter was all over making the changes and fixes I requested for the api and everything was done very quickly.

They've been really supportive and understanding in this regard.

They seem to very capable of operating the casino and I've not heard any negative comments about them. I'll keep an eye on the site and update this as I get to know them a bit better.

Features

Cryptogames is a very feature rich casino, featuring multiple games and currencies, reward programs and learderboards.

Games:
Dice
Slots
Blackjack
Lotto

Multi Curency support: Btc, Redd, Doge, Eth, Grc,Ltc,Ppc and their own play money.
Community Chat with rain functions
Tipping
User stats
Leaderboards
Jackpot
Affiliate Program
API
Ranking Sytem
Investment
Faucet

My Comments

I like the design of the site and it has a lot of functionality, some of which I might have overlooked in my dice biased review of the site.

The community has been kind and helpful so far, and fun to interact with and the owners/operators have also been pleasant to work with. They responded quickly to my requests and were helpful when I had questions.

Except for my troubles on the home page and the eye straining stream of bets on the dice page, I've had no troubles with the site and it works well and is very fast and responsive.

Overall I like crypto-games and wish the best of luck to Kewl and Joter

This Review was done on Sunday, April 17, 2016