The history of Blackjack is a tale of the development of one of the most popular card games and how it has conquered the hearts and minds of players all around the world. Blackjack’s combination of luck and skill, along with the possibility of manipulating the cards, has grabbed the attention of the gambling community for decades in the quest for the perfect Blackjack strategy.
Blackjack is believed to have originated from a number of similar games which were played in Medieval Europe. There were several games that were all based on the central idea of reaching a certain number total in order to win. Baccarat appeared in Italy in the 1490s and required reaching a total of 9 in order to win. Seven-and-a-Half was played with 8s, 9s, 10s and face cards which counted as half their points and players needed to reach the total of 7 ½ to win. This game was also the first in which players went ‘bust’ if they passed this total.
One and Thirty was another card counting game which was found in Spain in the late 1500s. This game used community cards dealt to the middle of the table, with players pulling cards from the central pool. Points were awarded according to card totals, with 31 being the optimal score. French games also impacted the development of Blackjack – Quinze emerged in the early 1880s in which players needed to reach a total of 15; while Trente-et-Quarante was played with six decks of cards set out in rows and the row totaling closest to 31, won.
The true grandfather of Blackjack, however, is the French game Vingt-et-Un. While the game itself was not played exactly as the Blackjack we know today, the aim was to reach a natural 21, with betting in each round. Vingt-en-Un reached America in the late 1800s and was first mentioned in the “American Hoyle” in 1875. In 1905 it also appeared in the “Foster’s Hoyle” and was believed to have been a very popular leisure activity in private circles. In the 1910s, Vingt-en-Un began appearing in American gambling parlors, reportedly first spotted in Evansville, Indiana.
At first, the game was not as popular as the gambling proprietors had hoped, so they decided to implement a few changes and incentives. The rules were adjusted slightly, the name was changed to Blackjack and a series of bonus schemes and payouts were introduced. With these changes, Blackjack began spreading like wildfire and soon became a favorite with professional gamblers who realized that it was a game in which odds could be manipulated.
Between the late 1800s and early 1900s there was a honeymoon period for gambling because no government regulation existed for betting and gambling. This climate was the perfect breeding ground for the expansion of Blackjack culture, which came to a halt in the 1910s when the government decided that the gambling industry was leading to crime and corruption. Blackjack was forced underground for a 20 year period where it was still played with a passion.
In the 1930s, the State of Nevada decided to legalize gambling in order to reboot the suffering economy following the Great Depression. Las Vegas became the home of the rebirth of Blackjack because most other states did not re-legalize gambling like Nevada. Card games such as poker and Blackjack soon became the backbone of the gambling culture in Las Vegas, which in turn became the Casino Capital of the World.
Blackjack also attracted the attention of scientists who wished to understand more about the odds and calculation of risks. In 1956, Roger Baldwin, a mathematician, joined forces with some associates and published the Basic Strategy of Blackjack in a scientific journal. This strategy could be printed on cue cards to help prompt players into making the best moves depending on the cards presented.
Dr. Edward Thorpe, a mathematician, was also enthralled by the game of Blackjack but for other reasons – he believed that by tracking the ratio of the high cards to the low cards in Blackjack, a player would be able to have a statistical advantage over the dealer. In 1962, Thorpe published “Beat the Dealer” in which he outlined a number of betting techniques and strategies for Blackjack, including card counting.
Thorpe’s book was not the first documentation of card counting however, as this phenomenon had been in practice by a hand of professional gamblers a few years previously. The 1950s and 1960s saw the peak of card counting activity, but already by the late 1970s and 80s, casinos were becoming cleverer than the card counters and began installing anti-card counting measures. These measures included computerized dealing systems, alternative shuffling methods and staff to monitor suspicious betting trends.
The online casino industry rolled into existence in the late 1990s and Blackjack was one of the first games to go live. Players who had not been privileged enough to play Blackjack at a casino, were now able to logon to their computer from anywhere and experience the thrill of a game through an online Blackjack session.
Become part of Blackjack’s exciting history and join millions who currently play Blackjack online.