Games and Puzzles Calculators

Odds, scoring and probability for card games, dice, lotteries and board games. 21 calculators, plus a couple of cipher tools that ended up here because puzzles are where people use them.

Lottery expected value is the page that does the arithmetic nobody wants to see. A $2 Powerball ticket has an expected value somewhere around 50 cents at typical jackpot sizes, and even at record jackpots it rarely crosses $2 once the lump-sum discount and tax are applied. The page includes both, because headline jackpot figures are annuity totals before tax and the number people actually receive is closer to a third of it.

Dice probability covers the case that trips people up: the chance of rolling at least a given total, versus exactly that total. On 2d6, exactly 7 is 16.7%, but 7 or higher is 58.3%. Board game arguments usually turn out to be two people answering different questions.

Poker and blackjack pages give exact combinatorial odds rather than simulations, so the numbers are the real ones and not close approximations. Worth remembering that correct odds tell you the right decision, not the outcome. Playing a 90% favourite and losing is not evidence you played wrong.