  We study analytically the dynamics of a ball bouncing inelastically on a
randomly vibrating platform, as a simple toy model of inelastic collapse. Of
principal interest are the distributions of the number of flights n_f till the
collapse and the total time \tau_c elapsed before the collapse. In the strictly
elastic case, both distributions have power law tails characterised by
exponents which are universal, i.e., independent of the details of the platform
noise distribution. In the inelastic case, both distributions have exponential
tails: P(n_f) ~ exp[-\theta_1 n_f] and P(\tau_c) ~ exp[-\theta_2 \tau_c]. The
decay exponents \theta_1 and \theta_2 depend continuously on the coefficient of
restitution and are nonuniversal; however as one approches the elastic limit,
they vanish in a universal manner that we compute exactly. An explicit
expression for \theta_1 is provided for a particular case of the platform noise
distribution.
