Optimal card shuffling and dealing algorithm for a multi-player game server.

gistfile1.txt

THE PROBLEM:

A game server deals hands of cards to each player in a multi-player game.
The ideal user experience is for players to be able to play multiple 
games (with random opponents) and not be dealt repeated cards until 
they have seen most of the cards in the deck. 

CONDITIONS:

1. Each card has a unique id.

2. Each player has 7 cards in their hand. At the end of each round the 
players are dealt new cards to fill their hands.

3. Each card is never dealt more than once in any given game.

4. A card can not be dealt that any player has already been 
dealt (in any game past or present), unless it is impossible to satisfy 
this condition.

5. Players may be in multiple games which may or may not be simultaneous.

6. If it is impossible to satisfy all conditions then a card can be 
dealt twice.

VARIABLES:

Number of cards in Deck, N ~= 500.
Number of players in a game, P = 3 to 10
Number of rounds in a game, R ~= P * 5.

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS:

* The shuffling is done by a Node.js server and must be close to real time :D
* There is a Mongo document for each game and each user. 
* This question is for improving the Evil Apples (iPhone App) game server.


Contact @TopWobble or @EvilApplesApp on Twitter with questions.