An Ontario Professor Found A Hack For Tim Hortons' Roll Up The Rim & It Actually Works
They won 98% of the time!
A Tim Hortons in Ontario. Right: The screen of a winner playing Roll Up The Rim.
Are you one of those people who can't win Roll Up The Rim no matter how many times you go to Tim Hortons in a day?
Well, don't fret, friend! Michael Wallace, an Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Waterloo, may be able to improve your odds.
In 2020, Wallace came up with a "game theory" that allowed them to win 98% of their Tim Hortons Roll Up The Rim tries.
"It was a mixture of excitement and satisfaction! It's always exciting to win prizes (even if it's just a donut), but as a scientist, it was really satisfying to see my experiments working as I'd hoped," Wallace told Narcity.
The professor explained to Narcity how the virtual contest works and what they've determined to be the "best" time to play.
When is the best time to play Roll Up The Rim?
Wallace told Narcity 3:16 a.m. Eastern is the best time to play Tim Hortons' Roll Up The Rim. They also warned that 11:46 a.m. Eastern Standard Time is the worst time to play.
"Note that this catches both the start of the lunch rush in Eastern time, and the breakfast rush in Pacific time, so lots of players!" they added.
Wallace explained that they used "statistical analysis" on data obtained from the Tim Hortons website to determine the best time to play.
The site provides users with information regarding the number of prizes awarded on a daily basis.
"This season, the Tim Hortons website featured data on the number of prizes that had been won in the contest, and this number was updating in near-real time," they said.
"This meant that I could see (for example) that many more prizes were being awarded between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. than between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.," Wallace added.
Will odds be lessen if everyone starts playing during the best time?
"Unless lots of people start playing in the early hours, this should still be a fairly reliable time to play to boost your chances," Wallace said.
Hate waking up early? The professor had a solution for that as well.
"Even if you don't want to get up at 3:00 a.m. for a chance of some free coffee, my advice is to save your rolls until just before you go to bed: in general, the later you can play, the better," they added.
How many times have you played?
Wallace revealed to Narcity that their Roll Up The Rim game is still going strong almost three years after their initial discovery.
"This season, I've played 60 times so far. I played 30 rolls at 3:16 a.m. (winning 23 times), and 30 rolls at 11:46 a.m. (winning just 5 times)," they said.
"I didn't really want to do those rolls at the worst time, but I had to in order to test my theory and ensure my results were reliable — I am a scientist after all!" Wallace added.
How has Tim Hortons reacted to your strategy? Have they contacted you?
"I've had contact with Tim Hortons in the past, such as in 2020 when I won 98% of the time. They were really good about the whole thing, and even set up a donation of coffee and donuts to the hospital I was working at at the time. I haven't heard from them this season, though.," Wallace shared.
However, "they did make one change ù although I can't say this was directly because of me ù after I won in 2020. The way prizes that went unclaimed were re-allocated later in the contest was modified, which did require me to update my strategy," the professor added.
So, maybe you're not cursed, after all. You just have bad timing. Phew! What a relief.
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