  We construct games of chance from simpler games of chance. We show that it
may happen that the simpler games of chance are fair or unfavourable to a
player andyet the new combined game is favourable -- this is a
counter-intuitive phenomenoknown as Parrondo's paradox. We observe that all of
the games in question are random walks in periodic environments (RWPE) when
viewed on the proper time scale. Consequently, we use RWPE techniques to derive
conditions under which Parrondo's paradox occurs.
