The Shuffler Really is Broken: Finding the Best Method for Shuffling Cubes

I’ve been playing Cube for quite a few years, and among new Cube owners, I hear two questions over and over. The first is “how many basics do I need?”, and the second is “how do I even begin shuffling this thing?”

Shuffling a single deck of cards by riffle or mash shuffling is easy, and mathematicians have proven that seven riffles will fully randomize a deck of poker cards. But to shuffle a cube of hundreds of cards, we have to shuffle smaller, deck-sized portions and then mix them together. If the cube isn’t randomized enough at the end of the process, then you run the risk of unshuffled chunks showing up in your cube packs, causing your innocent drafters unneeded psychic pain.

So which shuffling method offers the best mix of speed and randomness? If you want to skip ahead to our endorsed method, we have a separate primer at the ready. Otherwise, buckle up for stochasticity and simulation!

We Cube owners almost universally shuffle the same way, by recruiting our friends before the draft. Everyone grabs a stack of cards, shuffles them, and occasionally swaps some of their cards stack with someone else.

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