There are a few iconic games that come to mind when people think of casinos. Blackjack is one game that’s likely to come up, as it’s been around for centuries and remains one of the most popular casino card games.
But Blackjack hasn’t always gone by the same name, and players might have seen references to the name Twenty-One instead when looking for online Blackjack games. The fact is that the two are essentially the same, with very little to set them apart outside of terminology. But there’s still an interesting discussion to be had over the slight differences between the two, so let’s explore it.
The origins of Twenty-One
Technically, the name Twenty-One came first. The card game first came about in Europe, although it’s hard to pin down the exact origin date. One of the clearest ancestors of the modern game is Vingt-et-Un, which was a popular parlour game in 18th-century France.
The name certainly gives away the similarity, with both games having the same aim of reaching a hand value of 21 without exceeding it. But the wider details of the game were a little different, having evolved further over time.
It was Vingt-et-Un that made its way across the Atlantic, ready to transform into Blackjack.
The rise of Blackjack
There’s some confusion over how the name Twenty-One evolved into Blackjack, with a popular myth still doing the rounds.
Blackjack as a name isn’t actually the invention of US casinos, it came from miners during the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada. They decided to nickname the most valuable hand (21) after a mineral commonly found near gold and silver deposits – zincblende, otherwise known as blackjack.
It was a catchier name, even if it didn’t communicate the core of the game quite like Twenty-One does. So, naturally, it stuck and was widely adopted when the card game became a staple of American casinos.
Twenty-One still stuck around as a more general name for the class of card games, particularly in Europe and more casual play settings.
The key similarities and differences between Blackjack and Twenty-One
Blackjack and Twenty-One came from the same common ancestor, so naturally, there are plenty of similarities between the two. They share the same core objective, with players going bust if their hand goes over 21 in value.
The valuing of cards is also the same, with each card in the deck being worth from two to ten other than the variable Aces. Plus, they both play out in much the same way, with each player taking their turn before play eventually returns to the dealer.
Where the two differ is in the fact that Blackjack is a more formal format, being played in casino venues. This means that the role of the dealer is more set in Blackjack, while in a game of Twenty-One players might take turns acting as the dealer.
Another thing that sets Blackjack apart is the wider degree of rule variants and different gameplay formats that casinos offer.
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Blackjack is really just Twenty-One with a different name, but it’s also a little more evolved in terms of gameplay, variants and rules.
