Theory is nice, but most groups want to see the numbers move before they trust a new way of splitting. This guide walks through a complete, realistic $1,000 case split with four friends — from agreeing the rules to the final settlement — with every calculation shown. The game doesn't matter; the same arithmetic applies to Magic, Pokémon, One Piece, or anything else. If you want to follow along, the homepage demo runs this exact scenario interactively.
The setup
Four friends — Ana, Ben, Cleo, and Dan — buy a sealed case for $1,000 including tax and shipping. Before opening anything, they agree on the ground rules: everyone keeps what they claim, unclaimed bulk goes to whoever stores it, and payment is due within a week via Venmo. They write this into the case's Terms & Conditions field so it's attached to the case itself, not lost in a group chat.
They pick four rarity tiers: Common at 0.5, Rare at 1.0, Super Rare at 1.5, and Secret Rare at 1.7. The case's one well-known chase card has a stable market price of $200, so they agree it will be a fixed cost, not a weight.
Step 1: Log the pulls
By the time the last pack is open, the claimed cards look like this. Ana: 2 Secret Rares, 4 Super Rares, 10 Rares, 20 Commons. Ben: the $200 chase card (fixed), 3 Super Rares, 8 Rares, 10 Commons. Cleo: 1 Secret Rare, 6 Super Rares, 12 Rares, 30 Commons. Dan: 1 Secret Rare, 3 Super Rares, 6 Rares, 15 Commons.
Step 2: Deduct the fixed cost
Ben's chase card is priced at a fixed $200. That comes out of the case cost first: $1,000 − $200 = $800 remaining in the weighted pool. Ben already owes $200 no matter what; his weighted cards only decide his share of the remaining $800.
Fixed costs are settled one-for-one. Weights divide whatever is left.
Step 3: Total each person's weight
- Ana: (2 × 1.7) + (4 × 1.5) + (10 × 1.0) + (20 × 0.5) = 3.4 + 6.0 + 10.0 + 10.0 = 29.4
- Ben: (3 × 1.5) + (8 × 1.0) + (10 × 0.5) = 4.5 + 8.0 + 5.0 = 17.5
- Cleo: (1 × 1.7) + (6 × 1.5) + (12 × 1.0) + (30 × 0.5) = 1.7 + 9.0 + 12.0 + 15.0 = 37.7
- Dan: (1 × 1.7) + (3 × 1.5) + (6 × 1.0) + (15 × 0.5) = 1.7 + 4.5 + 6.0 + 7.5 = 19.7
The total assigned weight is 29.4 + 17.5 + 37.7 + 19.7 = 104.3. Every weighted dollar is divided across that 104.3.
Step 4: Convert weight to dollars
- Ana: 29.4 / 104.3 × $800 = $225.50
- Ben: 17.5 / 104.3 × $800 = $134.23, plus his $200 fixed card = $334.23
- Cleo: 37.7 / 104.3 × $800 = $289.17
- Dan: 19.7 / 104.3 × $800 = $151.10
Check the math: $225.50 + $334.23 + $289.17 + $151.10 = $1,000.00. The split always balances back to the exact case cost — that's the property that makes the system auditable. Anyone can re-add the column and confirm nothing vanished.
Step 5: Sanity-check against the naive split
A flat split would charge everyone $250. Under the weighted split, Cleo — who claimed the largest pile including a Secret Rare — pays $39 more, while Dan pays $99 less because his pulls were thinner. Ben's number looks highest, but $200 of it is a card he could sell tomorrow for that price. That is the entire argument for weighting: the people who took the most value out of the case put the most money back in.
Step 6: Share and settle
The group enables the public share link and drops it in their chat. Everyone can see the full card list, the weights, the fixed cost, and their own total in the Split panel — read-only, no account needed. Cleo pays Ana (who fronted the case) within the week, and they screenshot the panel for the record. Next set, they duplicate the case: participants, weights, and terms carry over, so setup takes under a minute.
What would change the numbers
- A higher Secret Rare weight (say 2.0) pushes more cost onto Ana, Cleo, and Dan, who each pulled one.
- Setting Commons to 0.0 removes them from the math entirely — Cleo's share drops the most, since she claimed 30 of them.
- If the chase card had been weighted at 2.5 instead of fixed at $200, Ben's share would swing with the pool instead of being locked to a market price.
There is no single correct weight sheet — there is only the sheet your group agreed to before the shrink-wrap came off. Run the scenario in the demo on the homepage, or start a real case and plug in your own numbers.