Blackjack as a game is believed to have its origins in France at the start of the 18th century. It earned a mention in the famous novel Don Quixote, before being transported to the US by French colonists.
It became a staple game in the casinos of Las Vegas during the 20th century but did not really start to take over from the likes of craps as the most popular table game until the 1960s. It has transferred seamlessly to the digital arena, with the online blackjack games at Virgin Games attracting lots of people.
But then, it is an essentially solitary pursuit that is well suited to online gaming. Read on to learn about how blackjack gained and retained its popularity in the modern gambling scene.
The Rise of Blackjack
For many years, blackjack struggled to attract the kind of enthusiastic custom that games such as poker and craps managed. One of the primary reasons for that was the fact that it does not have the inherent social appeal of those games.
Whereas in poker or craps you play against other people, in blackjack it is you alone up against the dealer. Add in the fact that it was perceived as an ‘intellectual’ game that was almost impossible to win at and you have the reasons for the comparative lack of interest in blackjack amongst the Vegas casino crowds.
The popularity of blackjack began to rise when the Baldwin Group team of math geeks laid out the ‘basic strategy’ for success. This provided players with a guide to every possible blackjack hand and how to play it well.
Followed a few years later by the card counting strategy described in the huge-selling book ‘Beat the Dealer,’ and suddenly blackjack was both fashionable and a game that people felt they had a real chance of winning at. Both basic strategy and counting the cards remain standard ways of playing blackjack in 2023, and they have helped to keep the game as a popular choice at casinos.
The Continuing Popularity of Blackjack
Despite the complex range of bets or moves that a player can make during a blackjack game, the essential rules are not difficult to grasp. The aim of the game is to get a hand of cards that is closer to 21 in value than that of the dealer, but without going over that figure.
That simple idea has helped to boost the popularity of the game. It contrasts with the many different betting moves that can be used during a game of blackjack and that help to ensure that it never becomes repetitive or boring even for regular players.
In that sense it has some similarities with another popular casino game: the slots – although blackjack is very much a game of skill and strategy as well as luck. Its blend of simplicity and complexity is fairly unique and is a big contributory factor in its ongoing high profile.
Unlike its biggest card game rival, poker, blackjack is also a quick-fire game. That is another element that it has in common with the slots and has made it a longstanding popular choice for people who want to exercise their strategic skills without spending all day on a game.
The speedy and solitary aspects of blackjack make it ideal for the digital casino age.
The Impact of Online Casino
Online casinos first started to pop up during the early internet days of the 1990s and have gradually supplanted land-based ones in terms of user-numbers. The ease of access, convenience and comfort that they offer, coupled with enticing bonuses, are things land-based casinos simply could not compete with.
Blackjack is a central part of most of the online casinos, so it has transitioned well into the digital game era. There are several reasons why that was always likely to be the case.
For one thing, blackjack puts the player directly up against the card dealer. That meant that online casinos could easily replicate it with computer software.
Some people found that too impersonal, but the development of live online casino options allowed them to play blackjack against real-life dealers from home by video stream. The very easy access provided by online casinos has also introduced the game to places where it was largely unknown before.
The internet breaks down national barriers, and the online version of the game enjoys global accessibility and popularity. That is understandable, as there are many good reasons to play it.
Online blackjack is available in multiple variations, including European, Atlantic City, and Vegas Strip Blackjack. Each offers something slightly different, and all can be played at any time from home.
Blackjack is popular because it is both simple and complex, with the online version also making it widely available.