The point of how we run the draw is that you do not have to take our word for it. Two things are published before anyone enters, and both are fixed in public, so neither entrants nor SHFTD can steer the outcome.
All of it is on the draw registry at shftdco.com/pages/verify. You do not need an account and you do not need to have bought anything.
What is published before entries open
- The digital fingerprint of a secret number. We publish the fingerprint, not the number. A fingerprint cannot be worked backwards, but it does prove afterwards that the number we reveal is the same one we committed to.
- The exact future pulse of drand, a public randomness beacon run by independent organizations. We name the pulse in advance, so we are locked into a value that does not exist yet and that nobody controls.
What is published after entries close
- The entry list commitment, so the pool cannot be edited after the fact.
- The secret number itself, which anyone can check against the fingerprint published earlier.
- The drand pulse, which anyone can look up independently from the beacon.
- The winning position, and the entry that held it.
- The final entry count, so you can check the pool you were measured against rather than taking our word for the odds you saw.
- The full entry list, so you can find your own order number and see exactly which positions you held.
How the two combine
The revealed secret is combined with the drand pulse to land on one position in the entry pool. Whoever holds that position wins. Because both inputs were fixed in public before entries closed, the result was determined by things nobody could adjust once the pool was known.
The registry sets out the exact steps to reproduce that yourself, in order, so you can arrive at the winning number independently rather than being told it.
If a drawn entrant is disqualified
A drawn entrant can be disqualified under the Official Rules, and an alternate is drawn instead. The Rules set out what leads to that and the deadlines involved.
The alternate is not a fresh draw and it is not someone we pick. The same secret number and the same drand pulse, both fixed in public before entries closed, produce a fixed running order of positions. Disqualifying the first simply moves to the next one in that order.
That is why the registry publishes the disqualification list alongside the result. It lets anyone replay the same steps and land on the same alternate, rather than taking our word for who was next.
The record carries numbers, not people
The published record does not carry entrants' names or email addresses, so taking part does not put your details into a public file. The entry list shows order numbers, the ones printed on receipts, and nothing else. A winner is announced publicly. If you would rather not appear, say so when we contact you and we will keep it to a first name.
Every entry has its own number
Each entry keeps its own number in a permanent record. That is what makes the result checkable rather than just announced. Your own numbers are on the My Entries page in your account at account.shftdco.com, in the side navigation.
If you hold a large number of entries the page shows a portion of them rather than the whole list. That is display only and it does not change what you hold. The registry carries the complete list, and you can search it by your order number.
The draw runs live
The draw is run live and in public. The channel is announced ahead of each draw, because it can change from one giveaway to the next, and the result is published afterwards so it can be checked against the commitments.
Mailed entries are in the same pool
Entries from the free mail in route are added to the pool as they arrive and are numbered the same way. There is no separate list and no separate draw.
Where to see it
The draw registry is at shftdco.com/pages/verify. It carries the seed fingerprint and the named drand round for the giveaway that is running right now, and after a draw it carries the revealed secret, the entry list fingerprint, the full entry list and the result.
Past giveaways and their winners are at shftdco.com/pages/past-winners. That page is public, so you can look at a finished giveaway before you ever buy anything.
The Official Rules for the giveaway that is running are at shftdco.com/pages/rules.
If you want to check a result
Everything you need is on the registry. If something does not reconcile, use the contact form at shftdco.com/pages/contact and tell us exactly which figure does not match. We would rather someone checked and found a discrepancy than never checked at all.
What we cannot do is change a result. Under the Official Rules the Sponsor's decisions are final, and the whole design exists so that the result does not need anyone's discretion.