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How Randomness Works in Video Games
A broad guide to where video games use chance in combat, loot and level generation, why designers add it, and how computers turn numbers into outcomes.
Game Deep Dives
Chance in Video Games
Random number generation, drop rates and critical hits explained.
Critical Hits: Expected Damage and Crit Chance Math
Work out average damage when critical hits add a chance and a multiplier, and see why crit chance and crit multiplier trade off in expected damage and spread.
Drop Rates and the Gambler Fallacy in Loot Systems
Why a 1% drop rate does not guarantee an item after 100 attempts, what the real chances are, and how the gambler's fallacy misleads players in loot systems.
Hidden Streak Breakers: When Games Fake Fair Randomness
How some games adjust odds after long runs of misses or hits so results feel fairer, with shuffle bags and rising-chance examples and what they change.
Hit Chance Versus Displayed Percentages in Strategy Games
Why a 95% hit chance still misses more than it feels like it should, and how rounding, stacked rolls and averaged random numbers can change displayed chances.
Pity Timers and Bad Luck Protection in Gacha Systems
How guaranteed-after-N pity rules change the shape of waiting times in gacha games, with a worked example showing the average wait and the spike at the cap.
Procedural Generation and the Odds of a Rare Map
How seeds and weighted tables let games generate huge numbers of layouts, and how to work out the chance that a rare room, map or item turns up in a run.
Pseudo-Random Number Generators in Games Explained
How seeded algorithms produce number sequences that look random, with a tiny worked example, plus why games rely on them and how modulo can skew results.
Understanding Loot Box Odds Disclosures
What published loot box odds mean, how to turn a listed percentage into an average number of opens, and what disclosures leave out, as educational context.
Weighted Loot Tables Explained for Players
How rarity tiers are built from weights, how to convert weights into percentages, and why adding an item or a luck bonus changes every other chance.
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