Shuffle

The shuffle is the mechanism that moves planets from their initial starting position to their buddy packs, private galaxies or random galaxies. The shuffle has been a recurring feature of PA since the early rounds.

Timing

The timing of the shuffle has varied in nature between rounds but have always been during protection. Until round 34, it took place at tick 36. The rounds since then have had their protection shortened, and conversely, the shuffle has been moved to tick 12.

Mechanism

The shuffle serves to move people from their initial positions into the galaxies they will spend the rest of the round in, unless they exile. It puts players who have formed a buddy pack into the same galaxy. Currently, private galaxies can contain up to 8 members. Players who have not formed a buddy pack or who are in a buddy pack on their own are put in random galaxies that consist of 13 players initially, but which can grow during the round.

In earlier rounds players in buddy packs were put in galaxies with several random players.