Card-driven Turn Sequences: Testing the theory

I decide to test my latest idea for a card-driven turn sequence by making up a pack of cards, shuffling them, and seeing what the results were.

The pack contained 24 Black cards, 18 Red cards, and 3 Jokers. I shuffled the pack using an automatic shuffling machine every time a Joker ended the run of cards, and ran through a sequence of eight ‘turns’. The results were as follows:

1. Black, Red, Black, Black, Black, Black, Red, Red, Black, Black, Black, Red, Black, Black, Black, Red, Red, Black, Black, Black, Red, Black, Black, Red, Red, Red, Red, Black, Black, Black, Black, Red, Red, Joker: 33 cards (20 x Black, 13 x Red)
2. Black, Red, Joker: 2 cards (1 x Black, 1 x Red)
3. Black, Red, Red, Red, Black, Black, Red, Joker: 7 cards (3 x Black, 4 x Red)
4. Black, Red, Black, Red, Red, Red, Black, Red, Black, Red, Black, Red, Red, Black, Red, Red, Joker: 16 cards (6 x Black, 10 x Red)
5. Red, Red, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Black, Red, Black, Black, Black, Joker: 21 cards (11 x Black, 10 x Red)
6. Black, Red, Black, Red, Red, Joker: 5 cards (2 x Black, 3 x Red)
7. Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Joker: 5 cards (5 x Black, 0 x Red)
8. Black, Red, Red, Black, Black, Red, Red, Black, Red, Black, Black, Red, Red, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Black, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Red, Black, Red, Black, Black, Black, Joker: 31 cards (17 x Black, 14 x Red)

The result were – to say the least – very variable, and more Red cards were turned over than one would have expected (the ratio of cards turned over was seventeen Red cards for every twenty Black cards whereas it should have been closer to fifteen Red cards for every twenty Black cards). Some of the turns were very long or very short, and some of the ‘runs’ of cards of a particular colour were too long for playability (a player may well feel aggrieved if they had to sit through a ‘run’ of seven Black or Red cards as occurred more than once during the test).

I think that this basic concept will work quite well with a bit more development. In particular I need to:

• Reduce the ratio of Black and Red cards turned over until it gets closer to what it should be
• Try to ensure that the length of the turns is more consistent
• Try to ensure that the ‘runs’ of cards are not too extreme

Back to the drawing board!