Blackjack
Beat the dealer. Stay under 21.
A card game for one to seven players: draw towards 21 without going over, and finish closer than the dealer. It is played for table chips, never real money, and the most chips after the last round wins.
- Play at a real table
- Printable rules card
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- Players
- 1 to 7
- You need
- A shoe of four decks
- Style
- Hands against a dealer
- Goal
- Finish with the most chips
- Time
- About 30 minutes
What is Blackjack?
Closer to 21. Never over.
Blackjack is played with ordinary 52-card packs shuffled together in a shoe, four packs here. Every player plays their own hands against an automatic dealer. The aim of each hand is a total closer to 21 than the dealer’s without going over.
Number cards count their number, and jacks, queens and kings count 10. An ace counts 11 unless that would take the hand over 21, when it counts 1. A hand where an ace still counts 11 is called soft.
A little history
A game against the dealer.
In Blackjack you do not play the other players, you play the dealer. The dealer has no choices and must follow set rules, so every decision on the table is yours.
Here the chips are a score and nothing more: nothing is bought and nothing is cashed out. These are our Classic rules, taken from the Feral Game Kit’s definition of the game, and they are shown before every game.
Fun facts
- The shoe holds four packs, 208 cards in all.
- A standard table plays 30 rounds, and everyone starts with the same chips.
- An ace and a ten after a split count as 21, not blackjack.
Why people love it
Simple rules. Real decisions.
One number to chase.
Get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. That is the whole game.
Choices every hand.
Hit, stand, double down or split a pair. Each one changes how much is riding on the hand.
The dealer has no choices.
The dealer must draw to 17 or more, so you always know what the dealer will do.
A match to win.
Everyone plays the same number of rounds against the same dealer, so the bets decide who finishes on top.
How to play
Bet. Draw. Beat the dealer.
Setup
- Players: one to seven, each against the dealer.
- Chips: everyone starts with 1,000 chips. The minimum bet is 10.
- Shoe: four decks, shuffled together.
- Length: the match is 30 rounds.
Winning
After the last round, the player with the most chips wins. Playing alone, you win by ending with more chips than you started with.
- 1
Bet and get your cards
Each round starts with a bet of one or more units of the minimum bet. Every player gets two cards face up, and the dealer gets one face up and one face down.
- 2
Blackjack
An ace with a ten-value card as your first two cards is a blackjack. It pays 3 to 2 unless the dealer has one too, which is a tie.
- 3
Hit or stand
Hit to take a card, as many as you like. Stand to keep your total. Going over 21 is a bust and loses at once, whatever the dealer does later.
- 4
Double or split
Double on your first two cards to double the bet and take exactly one more card. Split two cards of the same value into two hands, each with its own bet equal to the first. Split aces get one card each.
- 5
Insurance
When the dealer shows an ace you may take insurance, an extra bet of half your bet that pays 2 to 1 if the face-down card makes a blackjack. With an ace or a ten-value card showing, the dealer checks for blackjack at once.
- 6
The dealer plays
When every player is done, the dealer turns over the face-down card and must take cards until the total is 17 or more.
- 7
No bust, no win
If you go over 21 your hand loses, even if the dealer busts afterwards.
These are our Classic rules, taken from the Feral Game Kit's definition of the game. Some tables let the dealer hit on soft 17, allow late surrender, or change the blackjack payout; the host picks, and the table shows which. Printable rules card →
Scoring
Beat the dealer, or lose the bet.
If the dealer has a blackjack, the round ends and every bet loses except a player’s own blackjack, which is a tie. Insurance pays 2 to 1 when the dealer has a blackjack.
| Result | What happens to the bet | |
|---|---|---|
| Blackjack (an ace and a ten-value card) | Pays 3 to 2 | |
| A higher total than the dealer | Pays even money | |
| The dealer busts | Every hand still standing wins | |
| The same total as the dealer | A tie: the bet comes back | |
| A lower total, or a bust | The bet is lost | |
| After the last round | Most chips wins |
The shoe is reshuffled when a quarter of it is left. The game ends after the last round, or when nobody can bet.
Strategy
Play it smart. Then play it feral.
Tip 1
Let the dealer bust.
A dealer showing 2 to 6 must keep drawing and often busts. On a hard 13 to 16, stand and let the dealer take the risk.
Tip 2
Keep hitting against a high card.
Against a dealer 7 or higher, keep hitting up to 17.
Tip 3
Size your bets to the match.
Bet small while you lead. When you trail, bet what one win needs to pass the leader, and bet more as the rounds run out.
The Feral Worlds community
Play-testing Blackjack? Tell us in Discord.
Found a bug, a rule that feels off, or a house rule your family swears by? Our Discord is where we collect play-test feedback, and where game nights are starting to happen.
Glossary
Talk like a regular.
- Shoe
- The box of shuffled decks the cards are dealt from.
- Hit
- Take another card.
- Stand
- Keep your total and move on.
- Bust
- Go over 21. The hand loses at once.
- Soft hand
- A hand where an ace still counts 11.
- Blackjack
- An ace and a ten-value card as your first two cards.
- Double down
- Double your bet on two cards and take exactly one more.
- Split
- Turn a pair into two hands, each with its own bet.
- Insurance
- An extra bet of half your bet, offered when the dealer shows an ace.
- Push
- A tie with the dealer. The bet comes back.
The Feral twist
Still under the hat.
Every game can be played Classic. In Feral mode, the host writes the house rules: how many rounds, whether the dealer hits soft 17, whether you may surrender, and how many hands you may split to.
In play-testing
Blackjack is in play-testing.
Blackjack is not in a pack yet. You can play it in the Feral Table Games client while we test it.
$9.95, one time, to host every game in it. Playing is always free. Packs go on sale when the full game launches.
Blackjack is in play-testing
Save a seat.
Hear when the Kickstarter opens, and when Blackjack can be hosted with friends.