Do you sometimes feel that even your best friends don’t fully understand everything you do? We felt that way recently about our tool Croupier, so here we are to explain.
Croupier is a software tool to help you deal cards from our threat modeling games online, for hybrid teams. Dealing cards lets each player know which of the 70 or so cards in a deck they get to play with today. Real croupiers - the people dealing cards at casinos - have it easy. Nobody put a pane of glass and hundreds of miles between them and the players they are trying to help, but this is often the case in software engineering projects.
Content worth having
Developing a hybrid gameplay model that gets paper to pass through glass and along wires didn’t seem like a very sensible thing to try. That was until we realised people were still spending money on Elevation of Privilege in lockdown, when remote working was imposed on every software project everywhere. Why did people still want the decks when getting together for a game was illegal?
The reason was the content! Sales of other content rich card-decks were also holding up in lockdown. We knew from in-person sales that people actually enjoyed holding the decks and going through them. This simple act created “ah ha!” moments, before playing a game was even on the cards. These aha moments are cost effective and valuable starting points.
We decided that if the content was worth having without a game, then it was even better with a game. We developed a style of play where everyone has the physical deck, but plays the game through video conferencing. The only shared surface is for the system diagram.
What does dealing really do?
The only thing stopping an actual game was the dealing process. A single deck can be shuffled and cards handed out across a table. Shuffling is the random bit. Handing cards out is actually communication. The allocation of a card to a player is embodied in the card as it moves across the table but really the allocation was fixed when the deck was shuffled. If the random element can be replaced, communication seems like an easy problem.
Our Croupier accepts a list of names and assigns cards randomly to names. It just takes a list of the cards and picks a card for each person until there are none left. Real simple. It doesn’t even need a login, there is no database, nothing. This simplicity makes it pretty private too.
Communication is even easier in some ways than at a casino table. The selection of cards in a casino game has to be secret, but in a constructive game like Elevation of Privilege openness is an advantage. Players can help each other out or trade cards more easily if they know the other players’ hands. Within your secure calendaring system, you can just copy and paste the selection of cards into the event description. It is so simple, it's genius.
The magic that happens when you use Croupier
Getting started with Croupier is simple:
1️⃣ Head over to Croupier.
2️⃣ Pick your game – Choose from Elevation of Privilege, Cornucopia, or LINDDUN GO.
3️⃣ Add your players – Bring your team together.
4️⃣ Click a button to generate random hands – No manual setup needed.
5️⃣ Share the hands with your team – Everyone gets their cards, and the game begins.
Once players have their hands, they use their own physical copy of the game deck to select their assigned cards and prepare for a collaborative gameplay session over a video call.
We think we did a good job on this model. It has endured beyond lockdown because of a few surprising advantages.
The Power of Physical Cards
Having cards in your hand while playing is more tactile, more engaging and better for your eyes. Players can reorder, group and sense-make with physical cards in private without the constraints of structured digital spaces, or the extra burden of manipulating virtual cards with a mouse.
Flexible Screen Usage
The screen remains an adaptable tool, rather than a restrictive one. Players are not forced to dedicate valuable screen space to representing their hands, allowing for:
- A cleaner and more focused digital environment.
- The ability to use screens for real-time collaboration tools like MIRO.
Our favourite experiences of threat modeling sessions began with the co-creation of a system diagram in MIRO in real time. The co-creation process guarantees shared understanding of the diagram, the notation used etc. MIRO allows everyone to point and edit simultaneously, merging perspectives as they go. For this reason complex system diagrams evolve quickly in MIRO. This usage feels more valuable than simulated card fronts.
The Role of Zoom in Collaboration
If there is additional screen space, this will be consumed by Zoom. Seeing your colleagues’ faces while collaborating is often crucial. You can see if their eyes are wandering down to their physical cards - usually a cue to give them a moment. You can sense who is daunted and who is confident and judge the best moment to step in if you have spotted where the card fits into the diagram. It is amazing how often that happens even in fiercely competitive games. This is all on top of the usual benefits to team collaboration from being able to see each other's faces.
Asynchronous Engagement with Content
Physical cards naturally encourage engagement before, during, and after the game:
- Before the session – Players receive their cards, anticipate the game, and take time to familiarize themselves with their allocations.
- During the game – Cards serve as tangible references, keeping players immersed.
- After the session – Players retain their cards, allowing for continued reflection and follow-up discussions.
This autonomous, asynchronous engagement supports different learning styles, ensuring everyone interacts with the content in their own way.
Cards as Boundary Objects
Finally, the card’s role as a boundary object - an item with common meaning in different groups - is useful well beyond the borders of the game. They are symbols with a known meaning that is a jumping off point for a conversation, or a check against ambiguity and a source of cultural expectations about certain choices.
Who, for example, is going to forget the smug content of the soldier on IJ or the helpless defeat of RK and react the same way to the non-functional requirements they embody?
Croupier exists because we wanted something that just worked - something that kept the best parts of playing with real cards while making online games feel effortless. It turns out that a simple way to deal cards was all we needed to bring people together, spark ideas, and keep games engaging, no matter the distance. If that sounds like something you’ve been looking for, well… now you know how it all works!
