In the world of online poker, ensuring fairness and transparency is paramount. Players must have confidence that the game is free from manipulation and that the cards are dealt randomly.
Traditionally, this has been achieved using Random Number Generators (RNGs), either developed in-house or provided by third-party services. However, at Basepoker, we have chosen a different path: the Daily Seed, a chain of hashes used in reverse order as a seed for dealing cards.
How The Chain of Hashes Works
To understand how our chain of hashes system operates, let’s break down the process step-by-step:
1. Initial Seed Generation: We start with an initial seed value (Seed 0), which is a secret, alphanumeric string generated at the beginning of the chain.
2. Creating The Chain of Hashes: Using a cryptographic hash function (SHA-256), we generate a chain of hashes. Each hash in the chain is produced by hashing the previous hash. This process continues for a pre-determined number of iterations, creating a robust chain of hashes.
3. Reverse Order Usage: The final hash in the chain becomes the Daily Seed used for the first day. This means if we generate a chain of 1,000,000 hashes, the 1,000,000th hash in the sequence is used as the Daily Seed for the Day one. To ensure transparency, the hash used as the Daily Seed is published a day later, allowing players to verify its authenticity.
4. Verification: Players can take the published Daily Seed and, by hashing it in reverse order, trace it back to the initial seed value. This backward verification proves that no modification has occurred.
Why Use a Chain of Hashes?
The main challenge with RNGs is the difficulty in publicly proving that they are truly random and have been used as claimed. Even with certifications and audits, skepticism can remain. Here are the key reasons why we believe our chain of hashes approach is superior:
- Proving Immutability: By using a chain of hashes in reverse order, we can prove that no modifications have occurred once the initial seed is generated. This ensures that the integrity of the seed remains intact.
- Transparency: Providing the hash (Daily Seed) a day later allows players to verify that the seed was not altered. This level of transparency is difficult to achieve with traditional RNGs.
- Simplicity and Trust: The chain of hashes method is straightforward to understand and verify, fostering greater trust among players. The complex mathematics behind RNGs can be opaque and hard for the general public to grasp.
Now you understand the Daily Seed. Let’s get into other parts! Here is the list of different parts of our randomness system.
- Understanding Randomness: Part 1 (Overview)
- Understanding Randomness: Part 2 (Daily Seed) *This article
- Understanding Randomness: Part 3 (Player Seed)
- Understand Randomness: Part 4 (Shuffle & Distribution)
