Rasmus Holbroe vikings
Artist: Copyright © Rasmus Holbroe (Jan. 2016).

Measured tafl game haphazardness.

Tafl variant Game balance Counted games Game haphazardness
Historical Hnefatafl 11x11 +1.06 446 32%
Simple Hnefatafl 11x11 (aka Welsh Tawlbwrdd) -1.19 56 32%
Historical Hnefatafl 9x9 (aka Saami Tablut) +1.21 89 36%
Copenhagen Hnefatafl 11x11 +1.31 8033 38%
Market Hnefatafl 9x9 -1.15 152 39%
Frisian Dablo0 11x9 +1.14 67 33%
Saami Daabloe 11x9 +1.18 111 40%
Frisian Dablo 11x9 +1.09 144 43%
Frisian Dablo2 11x9 1.00 14 86%
Saami Sáhkku 3x15 (Kåfjord) -1.14 183 61%
Daldøs 3x14 1.00 340 65%
Daldøs 3x12 +1.09 293 81%
Daldøs 3x16 +1.08 231 87%

The game haphazardness is calculated as:
(number of games where, after adjusting for game balance, a lower rated player wins against a higher rated player) divided by (number of counted games) * 2
Draws are counted as half wins.
Only games between players of adjusted ratings separated by at least 150, are counted.

Imagine a completely uncontrollable game, where the outcome is random like throwing a dice. The higher rated player would win half the games and lose half the games, and the game haphazardness would be 100%.
In a completely controllable game, where the higher rated player always wins, the game haphazardness would be 0 %.

A completely random game would seemingly have a game balance of 1. So some game variants can have seemingly good game balances, which are only caused by a random outcome.

Apparently, measured this way, the normal range of haphazardness is up to 50%.


Updated 23.5.2026
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