ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Mental poker

Have you ever played a card game like poker? Well, imagine playing poker with your friends, but without any physical cards. That's called "mental poker".

In mental poker, instead of using physical cards, players use math and cryptography (that's a fancy word for secret codes) to simulate a deck of cards in their minds. This means that players don't need to worry about someone cheating by hiding cards up their sleeves or swapping cards with a hidden deck.

Players start by agreeing on a set of rules and what the cards look like. They then generate a "deck" of shuffled cards using secret codes and math formulas. Each player can then simulate drawing cards from the mental deck and use their math skills to figure out what cards they have.

Without any physical cards, players need to trust each other to play by the rules and keep track of their hands. Mental poker can be a fun way to test your math skills and practice trust and cooperation with friends.