Just realized I've been shuffling my deck wrong for 10 years

Was playing Catan last night and my buddy Tim pointed out that I wasn't actually randomizing the cards, just moving them around in piles. He showed me the proper riffle shuffle and now I feel like an idiot - has anyone else had a game moment where you found out you were playing a basic step wrong the whole time?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimr1016d ago

Playing Catan last night with Tim sounds like he was just showing off. In my experience, as long as the cards are mixed enough to not be predictable, your old method probably worked fine for years.

cooper.phoenix16d ago

Read somewhere that real casino dealers use something called an "overhand shuffle" multiple times to get things random enough. They don't bother with perfect riffles every single time because the point is just to break up patterns not impress anyone. Sounds like your old way was probably fine for a board game night.

nancybailey16d ago

Totally agree with you @kimr10! Tim sounds like a bit of a rules lawyer to me. I did the same thing with cards for years just giving them a good pile shuffle and called it done. Found out the same way when my buddy Dave insisted I wasn't "properly" randomizing for a game of Spades. Honestly, it never caused any issues in all that time. Sometimes people just like to show off what they think is the "right" way to do things when the old method worked just fine.