Ah, yes, the funsies of unwinnable seeds. Either the developers run some sanity checks to (somewhat try to) avoid them, or they are just part of the game(-design). Both approaches have their merits.
Even in a simple game as Hanabi [cooperative card game; if you don't know it, look it up!] this is possible. In the basic game mode this requires incredible bad luck (e.g. the three last cards to be drawn are the three copies of the red 1); it's more likely to lose due because the first copy of a card (cards 2 to 4 have two copies each) is discarded and the second copy of that card is then the last card to be drawn (which means followup cards can not be played anymore). So the strategy of strong players involves reducing the number of (useful) cards discarded. But in some of the advanced modes, there are truly "unwinnable" seeds of the randomized deck, no matter the player's luck (e.g. the singular black 1 being among the last few cards to be drawn results in not being able to score the full 25 points).
Now a computer implementation could try to avoid most of these "bad" seeds using some heuristics. But one might argue that this isn't true to the spirit of the game and as a player, one should just accept that sometimes there is a chance not to win. It's then up to the player to decide if the game is still exciting, even when losing.
> Now a computer implementation could try to avoid most of these "bad" seeds using some heuristics.
This is potentially a problem with roguelike games that do random procedural level generation. It's no fun to get dropped into a dungeon where there is literally no path to the exit.
Typically, the way they solve it is by having the algorithm for level generation ensure solvability by construction. For example, if you build level by starting with the exit room and randomly attaching new rooms to it, then it's obvious that you can always get to the exit from every room.
Maintaining that property while having an interesting level generator that makes fun levels is a challenge.
Even in a simple game as Hanabi [cooperative card game; if you don't know it, look it up!] this is possible. In the basic game mode this requires incredible bad luck (e.g. the three last cards to be drawn are the three copies of the red 1); it's more likely to lose due because the first copy of a card (cards 2 to 4 have two copies each) is discarded and the second copy of that card is then the last card to be drawn (which means followup cards can not be played anymore). So the strategy of strong players involves reducing the number of (useful) cards discarded. But in some of the advanced modes, there are truly "unwinnable" seeds of the randomized deck, no matter the player's luck (e.g. the singular black 1 being among the last few cards to be drawn results in not being able to score the full 25 points).
Now a computer implementation could try to avoid most of these "bad" seeds using some heuristics. But one might argue that this isn't true to the spirit of the game and as a player, one should just accept that sometimes there is a chance not to win. It's then up to the player to decide if the game is still exciting, even when losing.