Fairness in Cribbage Pro
A fair shuffle. A game you can trust. Results you can check yourself.
At Fuller Systems, we believe every game deserves a fair deal, and Cribbage Pro has always used fair, random shuffling. Our new Fair Shuffle feature takes this a step further by letting you help create the shuffle and verify the results yourself!
How Fair Shuffle Works
Fair Shuffle does something special: it sets the rules for every random shuffle before the cards are even dealt!
Before a game starts, a secret random value is created. The game then shows you a special code called a commitment. Think of it as a sealed promise. After the game, you can check that the secret matches the original commitment.
You also get your own random value, which you can change as often as you like before play begins. In multiplayer, both players contribute their own secret values. The server makes its commitment before it knows those values, so neither the server nor either player can choose which cards they want from the resulting shuffle.
Here’s the really exciting part!
Once play begins, these values are locked. They become the starting point for every shuffled deck, from the first hand to the very last!
Each new deck is created from those same locked values using a published, trusted shuffle method called Fisher Yates. The game doesn’t simply pick new random numbers whenever it wants to decide which cards come next. Even allowed reshuffles requested by a player are recorded so they can be checked later.
This means Fair Shuffle makes a promise about how all your cards will be shuffled before you even see your first card!
And unlike simply asking you to trust that promise, Fair Shuffle gives you the tools to check it. After the game, the original values can be used to recreate every shuffled deck and compare the results with the cards recorded during play.
See for Yourself!
Look for the small shield icon on the top right during your game. It shows the current Fair Shuffle status and lets you explore the details by selecting it.
When your game ends, select the shield shown on the game summary, and choose Verify Now. Cribbage Pro will recreate the shuffle and check that it matches the cards recorded during your game.
You can even save a verification file and check it using our public tool:
The verifier checks your file right in your browser, without uploading it to our servers. You can even download the verifier to your own computer and run it there yourself.
What About Single Player?
Fair Shuffle works in both single player and multiplayer games!
In single player, everything happens on your device, even without an internet connection. You can check that the recorded cards match the saved random values.
In multiplayer, both players contribute randomness, and signed records from the game server provide additional evidence that can be checked.
Our Commitment to Fair Play
Fair Shuffle is just one part of how we work to keep Cribbage Pro fair.
We also study card patterns across large numbers of games, test our shuffle methods, and check that computer opponents make decisions using only information they should know. These are the audits we have mentioned before in the Help and on the game blog.
We’ve been publishing shuffle fairness audits for years, and we’ll continue testing as new games are played.
See the FAQ for Our Published Shuffle Audits
Note: Special challenges like the Daily Cribbage Scrimmage use preset cards so everyone can play the same challenge. These games do not use a new random shuffle.
Fair Shuffle is automatic, requires no extra steps, and gives you more ways than ever to see how your cards were dealt!