WELCOME TO MICROILLUSIONS' BLACKJACK ACADEMY RULES TO BLACKJACK OBJECT: Defeating the dealer by having a better hand. WINNING: When the player's total hand does not exceed 21 and is greater than the dealer's total hand, the player is a winner. If the dealer busts (total hand exceeding 21), play also wins. LOSING: When the player's total hand exceeds 21 or when the dealer's total hand is greater than the player's total hand, the player loses. When the player busts it is an automatic loss even if the dealer also busts. DRAW/PUSH: When a player and the dealer have the same total hand without busting, that is known as a draw or push. The player does not win or lose and keeps his/her original bet. CARD VALUES: Totals are determined by adding the face value of the cards in a player's hand. Twos through tens are counted at face value, with jacks, queens, and kings valued at ten, and aces valued at either one or eleven. If an ace is dealt, it is the player's option to use it as a one or an eleven, this is known as a soft total. Face cards and tens are collectively known as ten count cards. BLACKJACK: If the first two cards dealt to the player are an ace and any of the ten count cards, that is called a blackjack and is an automatic winner. The only exception is if the dealer also has a blackjack in which case the hand is a draw/push. Blackjack hands are turned face up immediately. BETS: The player places his/her bet before the cards are dealt. If the dealer wins, he/she collects the bet. If the player wins, the dealer pays off an amount equal to the original bet. If the player has a blackjack the dealer pays off $3 for each $2 of the original bet. THE DEAL: After the bets are placed, two cards are dealt to the player and to the dealer with one of the dealer's cards always face up. The player's cards may be dealt face up or face down depending on table rules. THE PLAY: Once the dealer has dealt to all players (play starts at dealer's left) each player needs to determine how to complete his/her hand. Each player will be requested in turn to do one of the following: Hit, Stand, Spllit, Double Down, Surrender, or Insurance. Casino rules differ, so some options may not be available. HIT: Hitting is the term for drawing another card. If a player requests a hit, the dealer will deal another card. The player then must determine the new hand total and select his/her next play option. STAND: When a player is satisfied with the total in the hand, he/she signals that he/she does no want any additional cards and is standing. DOUBLING DOWN: This option allows the player to double the amount of his/her original bet. When this option is chosen, the player places his/her cards face and then places the second bet (equal to the first bet) next to the first bet. The dealer then deals ONE additional card to the hand. The player may look at the card if he/she wishes, however, no additional hits are permitted. The play of that hand ends when double down is selected. Some casinos limit doubling down to hands totaling 10 or 11. SPLIT A PAIR: When the first two cards dealt in a hand are of the same value, i.e.4-4, 9-9, 10-K, Q-K, etc., the player may choose to split the pair and make two hands. When this option is chosen, the player places the two cards face up and places a second bet equal to the original bet next to it. The dealer then deals one card to each hand making two separate hands which are played separately. If aces are split, the player will receive only ONE card per ace and must stand after that deal. If a split hand also contains two cards of identical value, they too may be split. This is called resplitting. Resplitting of aces is not allowed. Check casino rules for doubling down on split hands. INSURANCE: If the dealer's up card is an ace, he/she will ask if players want to place an insurance bet. This, in fact, has nothing to do with insurance, it is merely a side bet on whether the dealer has blackjack. If the player makes an insurance bet he/she is betting that the dealer does have blackjack. To place the bet, the player places any size bet up to 1/2 the original bet in front of the bet box. The dealer then looks to see if he/she has blackjack. If the dealer has blackjack the player wins the insurance bet. Insurance bets pay 2 to 1. Because the dealer has blackjack only about 1/3 of the time, insurance is usually an unwise bet. SURRENDER: This option is offered by only a few casinos. If the player chooses to surrender, play of the hand ceases and the dealer collects only 1/2 of the bet. DEALER RULES: After the dealer has dealt and all players have played out their hands, the dealer plays his/her hand and has strict rules to follow. If the dealer has a hard total of 17 or more he must stand. If the dealer's total is 16 or less he must hit. Some casinos require the dealer to hit a soft 17, others require him/her to stand. SETTLING THE BETS: Insurance bets are settled before the hands are played. When a player gets blackjack, he/she turns his/her cards up immediately and the dealer pays him/her immediately. Similarly, if the player busts, the cards are turned up and the dealer collects them and the bet immediately. Once the dealer finishes playing out his/her hand, he/she settles the bets with each player still in the game. PLAY INSTRUCTIONS 1. Insert the Blackjack Academy disk into df0: when the workbench is requested. 2. To begin simply click the left mouse button when the title screen appears. 3. The main screen is a representation of a casino blackjack table. There are five possible player locations. When the program first begins, only the center location is occupied. This can be altered under "PLAYER SETUP". 4. After the player setup has been made, select the wager amount, then click on the "BET" box to place the wager. When all bets have been placed the dealer will deal the cards starting at seat number one. After the cards have all been delt, each player's cards are viewed and played in turn starting at position one. After all players have played out their hnds, the dealer settles the bets and the bets are placed for the next hand. 5. By using the pull down menus at the top of the screen, the player can select the system options and game play options. 5A. STORAGE: a. LOAD: Load a saved game. b. SAVE: Save the current game. c. DELETE: Delete any of the saved games. d. ABOUT: Credits e. QUIT: Ends the session 5B. HELP: a. GAME SUMMARY: Synopsis b. INSURANCE HELP c. DOUBLE DOWN HELP d. SPLIT HELP e. SURRENDER HELP f. HIT/STAND HELP g. HARD/SOFT TOTALS h. RULE VARIATIONS i. CARD COUNTING j. MONEY MANAGEMENT 5C. SETUP: a. PLAYER SETUP: Click on the large box at any of the seat locations and type in players' names or initial to seat players at the table. Determine players' banks by clicking on the box just under the name box (table minimum is the minimum player bank). Show players' hand totals by clicking on the box marked "SHOW TOTAL" (this is an option that any player can choose). b. NUMBER OF DECKS: Select one, two, four, or six decks. Decks can be changed when you are using any of the table rules, as many casinos offer single as well as multiple decks. c. MIMIMUM BET: Select $2, $5, $25, or $100 as the minimum bet permitted. Minimum bet can be altered during any table rules, as many casinos offer several minimum wager amounts. d. MAXIMUM BET: Select $100, $300. $1000. or $3000 as the maximum bet permitted. Maximum bet can be altered during any table rules, as many casinos offer several maximum betting limits. e. LAS VEGAS RULES f. DOWNTOWN VEGAS RULES g. RENO RULES h. ATLANTIC CITY RULES i. LIBERAL RULES j. CUSTOM RULES k. DISPLAY CURRENT RULES 5D. PREFERENCES: a. SYSTEM SPEED SLOW b. SYSTEM SPEED NORMAL c. SYSTEM SPEED FAST d. SYSTEM SPEED VERY FAST e. COLOR f. SOUND: This selection is a toggle. When the check mark is there, the sound is on. g. SHOW COUNT: This will show the card count for a favorable or unfavorable deck. 5E. STRATEGY: a. OPTIMAL PLAY: Gives you the best play for the current hand. b. PLAY STRATEGY: Basic guidelines for successful game play. c. BETTING STRATEGY: Basic guidelines for betting. d. CURRENT RULES e. CURRENT CARD COUNT: When the card count toggle is off, use this option to find the current card count. 6. At the top of the screen are a set of buttons used to select bets and play options, which are clearly labeled and will be described in the following text. 7. BUTTONS: Clear: Upper left corner. This clears the amount of the bet that was previously wagered. Bet: Upper left corner. This is the amount of the wager to be placed. When starting a new game the wager stays the same as the previous player's use clear or the numbered buttons to change the wager. Each player's individual wager remains constant until he/she changes it. No Bet: Middle top. This allows the player to pass on any given hand. Numbers: Left second row. This is the way the player selects what his/her wager will be. By simply clicking on the desired number or combination of numbers the player can choose any wager amount, from the minimum table bet to the maximum table bet, of course depending on the amount of money the player has. Split: Middle top. Click this button to select the split option. Pull down the help screen using the right mouse button for help. Surrender: Middle second row. Click this button to select surrender. Double Down: Right top. Click this button for the double down option. Stand: Right top. Click this button to stand. Hit: Right top. Click this button to hit. ============================================================================= These docs to Blackjack Academy are brought to you through the courtesy of the Southern Star.