The Role of RNG in Poker and Gaming

Random number generators play a large role on both real money poker sites and video games. Whether it is determining your hand, what power-up you’ll receive or how the rest of the game will play out – they all rely on random mechanics. Let’s assess something of similarities and differences when playing both.

So, Let’s Be Clear…What is an RNG again?

You’d be forgiven for not knowing what a random number generator is. In its simplest terms, computers and software can’t autonomously pick choices for themselves. Well, not yet anyway. Therefore, when a user wants it to pick something, it cannot just pluck an answer out of thin air, it’s got to run some software to determine a choice. This is typically a Random Number Generator. For example, you might ask AI to pick a color at random. Instead of picking the color for its aesthetic value, it will number all the colors it knows. I.e., red will be one, blue is two, yellow is three, and so on. It then selects a number at random and then tells you which one it picked, except it tells you the color instead of the number. There are many processes to this when it comes to sophisticated RNGs that platforms use to ensure legitimate gambling, but this is the crux of it.

Gameplay Impact

In video games, RNGs are employed to distribute random elements of the game. These are more common in multiplayer games where players will try to find special items that will enhance their chances of winning. In online poker, RNGs are mostly used to determine how the cards are distributed and subsequently, how the game plays out. In the early days of online gaming, some items were not very random, meaning that players who memorized certain values were at a major advantage. This was especially true of online shooter games where the re-spawn points were only a handful of options meaning that avid players would almost instantly defeat their opposition when they re-entered the game.

Reward Systems

Almost every form of video game or gaming software has a reward system to encourage consistent play. This can come in the form of a reward when a player executes a set number of games or completes specific challenges. While some of the rewards can be in the form of bonuses like on the best real money online poker sites, a lot of them can be randomly allocated. I.e., play five hands of poker and get a free reward. Then you open the reward and it’s a randomly allocated prize, it could be some currency for the site, a free turn on another of the brands’ products or something else entirely. The same applies when you’re on the Mini Clip pool game and you unlock a random prize. You could get that ultra-rare cue or just 10 coins.

Weighted Random Selections

There are some instances in video games where RNGs and random selections are weighted to help competitiveness among the players. This doesn’t happen in poker…for obvious reasons. The most obvious example of weighted random selections in games like Mario Kart where the racers who are toward the back of the field get the best powerups. While it’s still random, there’s a good chance they will get the Bullet Bill or the Star powerup as they are the best two options. This mechanic is in place to help all racers either player-controlled or CPU to have a chance to win. In poker, it’s seen that the players have the same chance to win at the start so the game doesn’t need to be weighted during play. You’d be hard-pushed to find a dealer who will just give you two aces after a bad beat.