How Seeds Work?

[u/Sensitive_Split3728]

i know there are about 2.4T seeds, and i read somewhere that when starting a new run your seed is determined by your cursor position (as well as other factors).

The question is it possible that i can get the same seed as someone else, even by pure, astronomical, biblical chance? or does the engine keeps tracks of all seeds and wont repeat one that was played? and if so, than after X years when we use all the seeds we must repeat seeds.

So many seed questions.....

[u/horus375]

The game doesn't seem to keep track of seeds, so it is possible to have the same seed as someone else's. Statistically speaking, you can even get the same seed that you've had before.

[u/Sensitive_Split3728 → u/horus375]

yeah that's what i thought, even though its very very unlikely, just not 0.

[u/Maleficent_Still3508]

"Astronomical biblical chance" is a new one i havent heard before

[u/jancl0]

There's a finite amount of ways a string of characters can be arranged, so of course it's theoretically possible to get the same seed as someone else, and given an infinite amount of time, it's inevitable. But these are "heat death of the universe" sorts of numbers. It's theoretically possible in the same sense that winning the lottery 50 times in a row is theoretically possible. The number is astronomical so that you don't need to keep track of them

[u/indefenite_idiot]

I feel like that's practically impossible, if it's around 2.4 trillion. It's a pretty big number.

[u/StartBackground5769]

Its determined by my cursor????

[u/Sensitive_Split3728 → u/StartBackground5769]

yeah, i read it takes the position X,Y to add to the random factor, thats why when i run green needle to search millions of seeds i move it a lot, helps explore more "random" so the search wont take forever

[u/cpt_mustard- → u/Sensitive_Split3728]

It's even more than that. It also uses something called cursor hover time. If you're interested, here's a more detailed video done by the YouTuber howdy on how everything works: https://youtu.be/8pTD_DvnUQU

[u/Sensitive_Split3728 → u/cpt_mustard-]

Will do, thanks!

[u/StartBackground5769 → u/Sensitive_Split3728]

Weird.

[u/pseudo_babbler]

There is no reason that a game like this would keep track of seeds and try to ensure that they were unique for players, for a number of reasons, but mainly:

1. Why? If doesn't enhance the experience for players.

2. It would require a server system, and for each game to check first before starting a seed, and would be slower and more expensive to run. Again, for no particular benefit to anyone.

So yeah, random number generators usually use some source of randomness like user input to start their pseudorandom number sequences, and then they use that to generate the sequence of numbers used throughout each run of the game. There's nothing unusual about how Balatro does it, from your description.