How Cribbage JD Shuffles and Deals Cards
Short answer: the current Cribbage JD browser game creates a standard 52-card deck and applies a Fisher-Yates-style shuffle using a seeded random-number generator before dealing. The shuffle routine receives the deck of cards—not the player identity, score, or computer difficulty.
What the shuffle code does
The browser game randomizes the deck by stepping through its cards and swapping each card with a randomly selected card from the remaining range. This is the standard structure of a Fisher-Yates shuffle. The random values come from a seeded random-number generator.
The shuffle function has no input for a player's name, rating, wins, current score, or chosen computer level. Those details therefore cannot be used by that function to favor either side's deal.
What computer difficulty changes
Difficulty controls how the computer evaluates discards and plays its cards after the deal. It does not select or reorder the cards dealt. A stronger computer can make better decisions with the same kind of randomly shuffled deck.
Why random deals can feel unfair
Random does not mean evenly alternating. Several strong hands, repeated ranks, or losing cuts can occur close together. People naturally notice unusual streaks more than ordinary deals, especially when a cut card changes a promising hand or gives the opponent a large crib.
A meaningful fairness check needs many games, not a short run. Record every deal before judging the pattern; choosing only memorable hands creates a misleading sample.
Scope of this explanation
This page documents the current browser/computer implementation reviewed on August 4, 2026. Online coordination and future versions may use additional systems, so this description will be updated when the implementation changes.
Report a suspicious pattern
If you see a pattern that appears wrong, record the game mode, computer difficulty, date, and a large sequence of complete deals. Send those details to [email protected] so the behavior can be reproduced and investigated.