Very basic dice game in Javascript - trying to log 'wins' variable

Question

I'm trying to make a very basic dice game (new to Javascript). On the page load, the 'dice' is 'rolled' three times and the results are displayed, with a message to say whether you managed to roll a 6 or not. I'm trying to put in a permanant message about how many games have been won - problem is, if you look at my code below, the variable I'm using for this 'wins' is incremented each time there is a win, but it only actually displays two values: 0 if the user just lost, and 1 if it was a win. It never gets to a higher number no matter how many times the dice is rolled. Wondering if anyone has a solution/explanation?

Code:

console.log("Dice game. You have 3 tries to roll a 6 - go");
var rolls = 0;
var wins = 0;

function rollDice()  {
    var dice = Math.random();
    if (dice <= .17) {
        dice = 1;   
    }
    else if (dice <= .33) {
        dice = 2;   
    }
    else if (dice <= .50) {
        dice = 3;   
    }
    else if (dice <= .67) {
        dice = 4;   
    }
    else if (dice <= .84) {
        dice = 5;   
    }
    else if (dice <= 1) {
        dice = 6;   
    }
    return dice;
}

function diceGame() {
    do {
        var dice = rollDice();
        console.log(dice);
        rolls++;
        if (dice === 6) {
            console.log("You won!");
            wins++;
            if (rolls === 1) {
                console.log("It took " + rolls + " try");
            }
            else {
                console.log("It took " + rolls + " tries");
            }
            break;
        }
    }
    while (rolls <= 2);
    if (dice !== 6) {
        console.log("You lost");
    }
}

diceGame();
console.log("Times won: " + wins);

The page has to be refreshed/reloaded to roll the dice again? — Sufian, Feb 09 '15 at 07:34

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 09 '15 at 07:36

The value 1 will never be hit, because:

The Math.random() function returns a floating-point, pseudo-random number in the range [0, 1) that is, from 0 (inclusive) up to but not including 1 (exclusive), which you can then scale to your desired range. The implementation selects the initial seed to the random number generation algorithm; it cannot be chosen or reset by the user.

Ref: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Math/random

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 09 '15 at 07:39

0

How are you running the code? Each time it runs, it resets the wins variable to 0. You need to call the function with a button, or something so it doesn't have to refresh the code block to run a second time.

answered Feb 09 '15 at 07:39

aric johnson

49
4

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

Some improvements ;)

Call continue instead of break MDN continue
Change rollDice function Random number from range
anonymous function for create namespace

    // namespace for our variables
    (function(){

    console.log("Dice game. You have 3 tries to roll a 6 - go");
    var rolls = 0;
    var wins = 0;

    function rollDice()  {
            // simple random from range ( https://stackoverflow.com/a/1527820/2746472 ) 
            return Math.floor(Math.random()*6)+1;
    }

    function diceGame() {
        do {
            var dice = rollDice();
            console.log(dice);
            rolls++;
            if (dice === 6) {
                console.log("You won!");
                wins++;
                if (rolls === 1) {
                    console.log("It took " + rolls + " try");
                } else {
                    console.log("It took " + rolls + " tries");
                }
                continue; //instead of break!
            }
        } while (rolls <= 2);

        if (dice !== 6) {
            console.log("You lost");
        }
    }

    diceGame();
    console.log("Times won: " + wins);
})();

Thanks for the suggestions. I've implemented them, and while my code certainly is a lot neater, the problem hasn't been solved. Any suggestions? Also, 'continue' does seem to cause the game to play after it has been won until there have been three tries, which I was trying to avoid. — Avariel, Feb 10 '15 at 01:55
Works for me: `Dice game. You have 3 tries to roll a 6 - go 6 You won! It took 1 try 6 You won! It took 2 tries 4 Times won: 2`. Maybe you want something else. Describe your goal ;) — Krzysiek, Feb 10 '15 at 07:06

Indiana Kernick · Answer 4 · 2015-02-09T07:51:00.210

-1

Your rollDice function can be simplified to 1 line.

var dice = Math.floor(Math.random() * 6) + 1;

edited Feb 09 '15 at 07:51

answered Feb 09 '15 at 07:42

Indiana Kernick

5,041
2
20
50

This is range 0-6 and have non-even distribution. – Krzysiek Feb 09 '15 at 07:44
The chances of it being 0 are extremely unlikely. So you'll never see it happen! – Indiana Kernick Feb 09 '15 at 07:47
BUT IT IS! `General, we randomly select numbers from a specific range, 0 - send nuclear bomb to Russia, but is unlikely to happen, don't bother this.` – Krzysiek Feb 09 '15 at 07:49
Yes. (and 10 more chars) – Krzysiek Feb 09 '15 at 07:53

Anna Nowak · Answer 5 · 2015-02-09T08:55:40.260

-1

It's because you have a break if you win so it exits the loop after the first win.

edited Feb 09 '15 at 08:55

answered Feb 09 '15 at 07:45

Anna Nowak

1
1

Very basic dice game in Javascript - trying to log 'wins' variable

5 Answers5