Beautiful, I had my fingers crossed something like this was out there. Pretty complete front end we’d only need minor changes

I could probably explain it better, but in my head I’m picturing the ecash being “settled” upon the end of each hand.  The system can automatically transfer the ecash to the winning seat so by the time the next hand starts all funds are technically settled, allowing players to quickly come and go and no losing player can runoff with funds 

Sure! This is the aspect I’ve spent the most time thinking on. 

Existing games with lightning integration work very well and they are reliable, but it requires some central entity running a lightning node to handle deposits, escrow, and withdrawals when the game is over. The big problem with this is legally that entity is considered the “host” effectively running in an unlicensed gambling operation. I set out with a goal of decentralizing further than that so no single person would be liable. Also this would remove a need for a rake of the game, as far as I’m concerned it could run on donations. 

Ecash offers some unique possibilities. Tokens can be transferred through any medium even offline. So I was envisioning a system where when you deposit your ecash tokens into the app, you receive chips and sit down to play. In the background your ecash tokens didn’t really go anywhere. They’re just represented as chips and then are transferred between seats as the game is played.

If this works out the way I imagine, there is no central repository holding funds for the game. The tokens are temporarily stored within the game while you play and then you can take them when you’re done or even leave them in your game wallet for next time

😂 definitely have more experience there than with code

Absolutely! I can admit a lot of this is over my head, I’m great at mapping out ideas but when it comes time to build I’m not the best choice.

I’m going to continue exploring the concept, but I have already thought of a question for you.

At this point are we able to build this in a way that the players at a table wouldn’t all have to be using the same mint? Another workable idea was table specific mints if we needed all players on one mint, but I have a passing knowledge of ecash so I’m unsure

This is why I need you guys, lots of UX stuff I haven’t considered. The examples puzzl laid out would work pretty well, feel like most UI decisions we can steal.

The ecash aspect is a trade off and I see the merit in both paths. If we stick with lightning its established and more reliable to integrate at this time, but the node runner would be labeled as the “host” and face legal risk for running an unlicensed gambling operation. The big benefit with ecash being we have a better chance of structuring in a way that no individual has to take on that burden

Good stuff that hasn’t even crossed my mind yet. The shuffling component is difficult but seems solvable, however other aspects of cheating like simple player collusion I have no solution for yet.

Currently best I can imagine is a “good faith” game with people you know. Private invite only tables can help but if playing with randoms there would need to be other solutions