Board game “sequence” / mathematical theory?

[Cramig88]

So girl busts out a board game, sequence. Never played it before and I’m looking at the board, basically it’s “connect 4” the child game but connect 5. 104 cards, 2 decks. Each player gets 7 cards, pick a spot and place your chip

dabbled online and saw printable boards - all of which had the same layout

so she takes a break and gets mad cause I start looking up board patterns, mathematical solutions and so on. Gets all angry cause I’m “cheating”

Suppose my question relates more to cryptography rather than probability.  Why is the board arranged how it is, and HOW is it arranged in terms of the cards?  There’s less face cards in a deck,

jacks are “variable”

Focus of this question isn’t so much card counting or otherwise. Rather the layout of the playing field itself

there has to be a simple “key” as to why sequence has the board made how it is. I refuse to beleive its random - that’s improbable. 
 

ideas?