Start here · Essential guide
Probability and Game Design: A Guide
Why designers add randomness to games, what it does for fairness and excitement, and the main tools they use to tune it, from dice and decks to weighted tables.
Design and Decisions
How designers use and tune randomness.
Start here · Essential guide
Why designers add randomness to games, what it does for fairness and excitement, and the main tools they use to tune it, from dice and decks to weighted tables.
How dice sums create bell curves, how the number of dice changes the shape and spread of results, and how designers choose dice for board game mechanics.
How board game designers balance luck and skill, from input versus output randomness to catch-up mechanics, and how to tell whether a game rewards good play.
How drawing outcomes without replacement from a shuffled bag limits extreme streaks in game design, with worked numbers, trade-offs and common pitfalls.
How designers set weights in outcome tables, convert them to probabilities, check expected value and rare-event chances, and verify the table behaves as intended.
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