Question

I’m trying to make a slot machine game in Ruby and this is as far as I’ve gotten. It still won’t run and says there is an error on the last line, which I do not know what is or how to fix it.

I need it to have an output similar to this:

How much total money would you like to play with today? 25
Total cash: $ 25
How much would you like to bet? 10
Cherry – Orange – Orange
You have won $ 20
Would you like to continue? (yes to continue) yes
Total cash: $ 35
How much would you like to bet?
etc…

I’ve already got the winnings set on there, like if you get two, you win twice your bet and if you get three, you win three times your bet.

But I get the error: 33: syntax error, unexpected $end, expecting kEND cash += cash + winnings

What is wrong with my code, and how do I fix it?

    def multiplier(s1, s2, s3)

          if s1 == s2 and s2 == s3:
            multiplier = 3
          elsif s1 == s2 or s2 == s3 or s1 == s3:
            multiplier = 2
          else
            multiplier = 0;

          return multiplier


    def main()

    slotImageList = ['Cherry', 'Orange', 'Plum', 'Bell', 'Melon', 'Bar']

    cash = gets
    puts "How much total money would you like to play with today? " +cash
    while True:
        puts("Total cash:  $", cash)
        bet = gets
        puts "How much would you like to bet? " +bet

    cash = (cash - bet)

    slotImage1 = slotImageList.sample
    slotImage2 = slotImageList.sample
    slotImage3 = slotImageList.sample

    puts "slotImage1", " - ", "slotImage2", " - ", "slotImage3"

    winnings = bet * multiplier(slotImage1, slotImage2, slotImage3)
    puts "You have won $" +winnings

    cash = cash + winnings

    cont = gets
    puts "Would you like to continue? (yes to continue) " +cont
    if cont != "yes":
        puts "You have ended with $" +cash
    else
        puts " "
    end

Answer 1

When you see the message:

unexpected $end, expecting kEND

you can translate it to, “I reached the end-of-file (“$end”), but I did not expect it, because I was still waiting to see an end statement.” It means that you forgot to type at least one paired end, and you need to go through your code and ensure that it’s indented properly so that you can visually match up the statements.

Below is the result of fixing your code to be correct.; in some spots you seemed to have used indentation to close a block (like Python) instead of the correct syntax.

def multiplier(s1, s2, s3)
  if s1==s2 && s2==s3
    3
  elsif s1==s2 || s2==s3 || s1==s3
    2
  else
    0
  end
end

def run_slots!
  slotImageList = %w[Cherry Orange Plum Bell Melon Bar]

  print "How much total money would you like to play with today? "
  cash = gets.chomp.to_i
  loop do
    puts "Total cash:  $#{cash}"
    print "How much would you like to bet? "
    bet = gets.chomp.to_i

    cash -= bet

    slotImage1 = slotImageList.sample
    slotImage2 = slotImageList.sample
    slotImage3 = slotImageList.sample

    puts "#{slotImage1} - #{slotImage2} - #{slotImage3}"

    winnings = bet * multiplier(slotImage1, slotImage2, slotImage3)
    puts "You have won $#{winnings}"

    cash += winnings

    print "Would you like to continue? (yes to continue) "
    unless gets.chomp=="yes"
      puts "You have ended with $#{cash}"
      break
    end
  end
end

run_slots! if __FILE__==$0

If I were to take a few more liberties with it, here’s how I might write it:

class SlotGame
  SLOT_COUNT = 3
  TOKENS     = %w[Cherry Orange Plum Bell Melon Bar]
  KEEP_PLAYING_RESPONSES = %w[y yes sure ok go]

  def initialize(cash=nil)
    unless cash
      begin
        print "How much total money would you like to play with today? "
        cash = gets.to_i
        puts "You must have a positive bank account to play!" if cash<=0
      end until cash > 0
    end
    @cash = cash
  end

  def play_forever
    begin
      # Using begin/end ensures one turn will be played
      # before asking the player if they want to go on
      play_one_turn
    end while @cash>0 && keep_playing?
    puts "You have ended with $#{@cash}; goodbye!"
  end

  def play_one_turn
    puts "Total cash: $#{@cash}"

    begin
      print "How much would you like to bet? "
      bet = gets.to_i
      puts "You only have $#{@cash}!" if bet > @cash
    end until bet <= @cash
    @cash -= bet

    results = SLOT_COUNT.times.map{ TOKENS.sample }
    puts results.join(' - ')
    winnings = bet * multiplier(results)

    if winnings>0
      @cash += winnings
      puts "You just won $#{winnings}!"
    else
      puts "Sorry, you're not a winner."
    end
  end

  def keep_playing?
    print "Would you like to continue? "
    KEEP_PLAYING_RESPONSES.include?(gets.chomp.downcase)
  end

  private # Don't let anyone outside run our magic formula!
    def multiplier(*tokens)
      case tokens.flatten.uniq.length
        when 1 then 3
        when 2 then 2
        else 0
      end
    end
end

SlotGame.new.play_forever if __FILE__==$0