I was refereed to 3Blox.com by a friend, after having a look at the site I was surprised to find a gambling site that was purely skills based. With all gambling the odds are always stacked in faviour of the house (i.e Casino) with a purely skill based game this would allow someone to take the house for all they have.
I had a play with 3Blox and found it to be surprising easy to win (without money down). I decided that I would put some money down and see how I would go. After playing for a short while I was up 2 times my initial buy in. Everything was great... until... suddenly I just couldn't seem to win anymore. I decided to do some investigation.
As a software developer I decided to write a simple application to record a screen capture when I clicked the mouse to make sure I wasn't being cheated. I was... well at least I was fairly sure I was. The problem with recording a screen capture on a mouse click is that there is a possibility (although very slim) that the amount of time it takes to capture the screen could be long enough for the block to have moved passed the point that is was clicked. To put this in perspective running on my laptop I can capture 1000 screens in ~0.3 seconds. As I only need to capture 1 screen to be sure the probability is so small that its unrealistic and I'm almost certain 3Blox is a scam.
I decided to write a decided to modify my software to be 100% sure 3Blox was scamming me. I wrote a simple simple loop that would capture the screen calculate the location of the block and play the game for me. This gave me the ability to click the mouse at the exact moment the blocks were stacked on top of each other and then take a second screen shot after the click to make sure 100% sure it was clicked in time.
CONCLUSION
I have come to the conclusion that 3Blox is a scam, after have played myself and I had a friend play as well it appears that it would allow you to play to a level that you can win 20 pounds/dollars before something changes and it seems to constantly loose. I have emailed 3Blox and attached the replies below. If you have played 3Blox and lost money I recommend you email them requesting a full refund and report them to you can contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingMoney/KeepingYourMoneySecure/DG_10035798
SCREEN CAPTURES (Money bet)
You can see from the images below a capture after the mouse (stop button) has been clicked, you will see that 3Blox has cheated and not correctly stacked the blocks up as it should have resulting the in the game being lost before the break even point.
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SCREEN CAPTURES (No money bet)
You can see from the images below that without money bet there a a massive difference in the outcome of the game resulting a win every time
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HOW TO USE THE SOFTWARE
The software works by capturing the specific region of the screen that the blocks move in this exact region is is the grey area shown in the captures above. The area is is calculated as a fixed 380 pixels high by 190 pixels wide. To setup the capture region the top left most pixel needs to be entered into the application. To do this click the 3rd button (On) and you will see that the coordinates of the mouse pointer are written to the top left of the application. Move to the mouse to the top left of the 3Blox playing area and enter the values into the textbox's labeled "TOP (X)" and "LEFT (Y)"
MANUAL MODE
Manual mode records a screen capture every time the mouse is clicked this allows you to verify that you have click the mouse at the correct point to allow the block to stack correctly.
Once you have setup the application click the "Manual" button this will save a capture image of the screen region defined in the setup above to the same path that the applaction is running from. Saved captures are in in the format "Click_yyyyMMHHmmss.bmp" where yyyy is the current year, MM is the current month etc.
AUTO MODE
Auto mode will play the game for you stacking the blocks to the top. This works by monitoring the location of the blocks in real time and simulating a real mouse click when the block are correctly stacked. The application will try to stack 3 blocks to the top, if 3Blox cheats it works out how many blocks are left and continues on.
Auto mode is simple to use, once application has been correctly setup, all the user has to do is click the "Start" button on the 3Blox game, once you see the blocks start to move back and forth click the "START" button the tester, you will see that the mouse automatically moves to the "Stop" button on the 3Blox game. Make sure not to move the mouse as it needs to be on top of the button throughout the game to send the click. Auto mode also saves screen captures to the same path that the test application is running from.
DISCLAIMER
I do not endorse cheating at all, the software was developed to confirm a suspicion that 3Blox was a scam. Software is provided as is and open source, all opinions are of my own.
Download (includes full source code): 3BloxPlayer.zip
You cheat and wonder, that you cant win? ;) Your software is also a scam buddy.
ReplyDeleteTerms & Conditions @ 3blox.com:
"Abusive behavior in connection with the website of the operator is forbidden. These include in particular
-to use software that allows the use of artificial intelligence or giving the participant some other advantage, which goes beyond his human skills.
The operator uses visible and invisible technical mechanisms to detect and prevent abuse and manipulation."
It´s easy to detect your Software and let you lose. But thanks for your work.
@XPeter, interesting that this is the first comment you have ever made on a blog before, and that you just registered today... Whats the bet you are affiliated with 3Blox.
ReplyDeleteIf you read the blog post you would see that first off I created a application to record a screen capture on a mouse click and the block still didn't stop the block when I should have. How is this cheating?
You say: "It´s easy to detect your Software and let you lose." First, in the terms it states the account will be banned not that you will loose. Second, if you knew anything about what you were saying you would realize this is not possible for the operator to use visual mechanism as the browser is sand boxed on the computer. I assume you think 3Blox can control the users webcam... that's not possible.
that is very interesting. i played i tried i got denied credit i earned. bs website if you ask me.
ReplyDelete@admin, I'm with you xpeter is affiliated with them. He has a YouTube video with this same user name showing himself playing and winning 1000 dollars,the problem is that this is his only YouTube activity EVER. No other videos, no comments, nothing. It's like he started the account and THAT VERY SAME DAY uploaded the video of him winning the 1000 dollars in just 3 minutes, other than replying to others comments about the video he has no other activity over there, just like over here. I'm researching this game to see if it's worth trying out, probably not with these suspicious people vouching for it. OH yeah, the YouTube name he uses is xpeterparker but it's close enough to conclude that it's the same person.
ReplyDeleteWhat do i say in order to get a refund?
ReplyDelete@freebie helper, I don't think it is possible to get a refund. It's like going to the casino. They are not going to give you your money back because it didn't work out in your favor. That's like if you were winning, they can't say oh we didn't really think you were going to win, we're not paying you.
ReplyDelete@Kismisme Your casino analogy is correct, but, if there is suspicion of CHEATING, then the person is able to sue the casino and get their money back. That's what makes 3blox different here. They are definitely cheating. I lost about 100 dollars to them today, but I figured out where the scam was during the time I played it. The game sucks you in with the easy free game part. I can hit the top level pretty much everytime. Then when you pay for credits, it lets you win a few times (to set the HOOK). But after a few wins, you begin to lose, and can't win anymore. This is where the scam comes in. I noticed that the blocks would speed up a lot more than usual, and it will SLIP past a the block below even though you clearly click the mouse right on time. This happened to me at least 20 times. I knew I had gotten it right on the dot, but slipped past.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone knows how to get a refund from this silly scam, please email me at this below :
novatodood@yahoo.com
Mark
@Marky this happens to me all the time as well. In fact, 4 times now I got booted from the site because it said "I was on the game too long", try logging in again. Meanwhile, I was in the middle of a game with money at stake and as I log back in, the money is gone. I have emailed them several times about this as it has lost me about $25 in total ($10, $5, $5, $5). They have yet to respond. However, they were quick to send me an offer about promoting it on facebook for a chance to win a free iPad. The blocks ALWAYS slip. I have yet to hit the $100 level on a $10 wager, however, I can hit that same spot in a $1, $2, and a $5 game pretty often. Ironic, I think not....
ReplyDeleteTo get a refund I would just cancel the payments off your credit card say it was a scam and your not going to pay. I have done this several time in the past for purchases that I was not happy with. If the credit card merchant that 3Blox use gets to many refunds they will take action to cancel the credit card service.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand liars and cheats! People work hard for their money and just want an honest chance to increase it through fair play activities. XPeter obviously is a dishonest trickster. He is affiliated with a site that is and will continue to receive a lot of bad press, poor ratings, and lawsuits.
ReplyDeleteOh, and if you're wondering XPeter, my suspicions told me that 3Blox was a scam before I lost any money! =)
I'll be honest. I'm addicted to the site. I've deposited $45 so far, but I just made a $15 withdrawal (hopefully I'll actually get it...). As of right now it definitely seems like it's easier to win when the wager is $1 instead of $10, but no doubt that's to be expected. There seems to be random change involved as well. Sometimes only one row moves really fast until I get up to $10. Other times the block appears to move at lightning speed on row 3. I'd say this is certainly a game of luck and skill. Is it any more of a scam than a casino though? To me, I don't notice any "cheating," but I haven't tried the capture program.
ReplyDelete