The History of 21 Blackjack

The game of Blackjack 21 is one of the most popular casino card games in the world. Blackjack 21 has a long and rich history, going back to 17th Century France.

In French casinos in the 1600s a game called Vingt et Un was very popular. “Vingt et Un” is French for “Twenty-One” and was the precursor to the modern-day game of Twenty-One Blackjack. Vingt et Un was played by rules that were very similar to 21 Blackjack. The differences included rules that only the dealer could double and that betting took place between each round of the game.

After the French Revolution the game of Vingt et Un was introduced to North America as the casino card game of Twenty-One. You may be surprised to learn, however, that the game of Blackjack 21 was not always as popular in the United States as it is today.

In order to attract more players to the game casinos began to offer special deals for specific hands including the Blackjack 21 point hand that consisted of the Ace of Spades and a Black Jack that had a payout of 10:1. Not only did this new rule attract new players to Twenty-One Blackjack, it also gave the game of Blackjack its name.

Today the payout for Blackjack hand is only 3:2 but the game of 21 blackjack remains as popular as ever!