In some cases, a game going online doesn’t lead to any great changes in its rules and gameplay, while in other cases it changes dramatically when this happens. If we turn our attention to blackjack, we can see that this simple card game has diversified in various ways while retaining the simple appeal that made it so popular in the first place.
Added Multipliers and Side Bets
The basic rules of blackjack are simple, as you either get closer to 21 with the hand than the dealer and win the round or you don’t. However, the way the game has gone online has allowed developers to add extra features that introduce new ways of winning. For example, side bets such as 21+3 and Perfect Pairs give a different way of betting that can bring bigger wins but that is more difficult to predict correctly.
This genre is growing all the time, with the addition of new rules one of the factors that provide alternative ways of trying to win more. If we look at the blackjack online games at Betfair, we can see a variety of live deal versions where the likes of multipliers and side bets have been added as an optional extra on top of the main game. Titles such as Power Blackjack Live and Quantum Blackjack Plus Live take the original game and add these elements for more variety.
The Majority Rules Feature
Blackjack has always been a game where each player has to decide exactly what to do with their hand and their bet. As explained here by Britannica, the overall aim is to try and get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over that number, and that means choosing carefully when to ask for another card and when to stick with what you have.
However, the arrival of majority-rules style games has given a new way of playing. In this case, you can play in the normal way or else choose to act based on the decisions taken by the majority of players. This is a way of potentially using the wisdom of the crowd to reach the right decision, with the added option of simply choosing for the game to pick the most suitable decision for you at any given time.
More Players Sitting at the Table
What image springs to mind when you picture a crowded blackjack table in a casino? For most of us, it would be a group of maybe four or six players sitting or standing across from a dealer. This was how online blackjack was originally played when live dealers were first introduced to the industry, with each player taking a virtual seat at the table and getting their cards dealt to them one at a time.
However, the infinite-style of online blackjack games has changed all that by making games more accessible for bigger groups of players. This type of game is where an unlimited number of players can sit at the table and all receive the same cards. So, a large number of players can all receive the same opening hand but then each person plays them in the way that they want to. The introduction of smart wearables and more immersive ways of playing could add a new edge to this way of playing with others in the future.
The addition of these features lets us see how blackjack has diversified since going online, providing players with a variety of interesting alternatives as well as the chance to simply play the basic game if they choose to.
