Bot orders $18,752 of McSundaes every 30 minutes to find if machines are working

If you’re a fan of Maccas’ sundaes, you’ve no doubt come across the inevitable broken down machine. Yeah, nah, these buggers are about as work-shy as my mate Duncan the Dolebludger, and that’s a royal pain in the arse for anyone who’s taken the trip to Mickey D’s just to load up on ice-cream. Now, though, there’s a solution. It’s called McBroken, and it’s bloody awesome.

Rashiq Zahid is a bloody smart guy. Obviously sick of going to Maccas and copping a big yeah nah when he was ordering his McFlurry, he put his coding skills to work.

I reverse engineered mcdonald's internal api and I'm currently placing an order worth $18,752 every minute at every mcdonald's in the US to figure out which locations have a broken ice cream machine https://t.co/2KsRwAdrMd

— rashiq (@rashiq) October 22, 2020

“I reverse-engineered McDonald’s internal ordering API and I’m currently placing an order worth $18,752 every 30 minutes at every McDonald’s in the US to figure out which locations have a broken ice cream machine.”

Basically, Rashiq has used the company’s own software to figure out whether the machines are working with some simple logic. He reckoned that if you could order a Sundae online, you could trust the machine to be working.

Credit: McBroken

He started off in his home-city of Berlin, and spent time physically riding around the city to make sure the app was giving him the correct data before expanding into the States.

There were some glitches with the app where he had to figure out exactly what kind of spacing he needed in order not to be identified as a bot, but it seems like even Maccas itself is pretty f**ken cool with his app.

Only a true @McDonalds fan would go to these lengths to help customers get our delicious ice cream! So, thanks! We know we have some opportunities to consistently satisfy even more customers with sweet treats and we will.

— David Tovar (@dwtovar) October 23, 2020

The company’s communications executive David Tovar said on Twitter, “Only a true McDonald’s fan would go to these lengths to help customers get our delicious ice cream. So thanks!”

Final thought: Sometimes in life you come across top blokes. Rashiq is clearly one of them. That said, someone needs to get him a beer. Rashiq, you deserve a mid-strength beer and a f**ken high-five. Top stuff, mate. Top stuff.

Just in case you missed it, here’s one of Ozzy’s latest commentary videos…Ozzy Man Reviews: Cougar Escort

H/T: ARSTECHNICA.