Blackjack
As with most card games, the precise history of the game of blackjack is still being disputed to this day and the true history can only be speculation. The most widely accepted origin of “Blackjack” was derived from a game discovered in France in the 18th Century called ‘Vingt-et-Un’, which is French for ’21’. It is suspected that Vingt-et-Un came from a version adapted from another game called ‘Chemin de Fer’, French for ‘way of the Iron” due to the fact that the cards were kept in an iron box.
A hundred years later in the early 1800’s, the game of 21 made its way to America and immediately became popular. It was here that the name “Blackjack” was born. The original version of the game included an aspect where if your first two cards dealt to you were the Jack of spades and the Ace of spades you would be paid out at 10 to 1. So everyone was hoping to be dealt that black Jack in the deck. This is no longer practiced in today’s blackjack games, but is still an interesting historical explanation of where the name came from.
In the 1930’s the state of Nevada made gambling legal and established a number of casino’s and betting rooms where Players could come and enjoy their favorite casino games in an organized and controlled fashion. Among the games that was included was “Blackjack” and it quickly become a favorite throughout the casinos and still is today. In the years to follow, a number of other states and countries around the world legalized this past time and the popularity for the game “Blackjack” has continued to grow ever since.