Blackjack (formerly black jack and vingt-un) is a casino banking game.[1]: 342 It is the 5️⃣ most widely played casino banking game in the world. It uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global 5️⃣ family of casino banking games known as "twenty-one". This family of card games also includes the European games vingt-et-un and 5️⃣ pontoon, and the Russian game Ochko [ru].[2] Blackjack players do not compete against each other. The game is a comparing 5️⃣ card game where each player competes against the dealer.

History [ edit ]

Blackjack's immediate precursor was the English version of twenty-one 5️⃣ called vingt-un, a game of unknown (but likely Spanish) provenance. The first written reference is found in a book by 5️⃣ the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. Cervantes was a gambler, and the protagonists of his "Rinconete y Cortadillo", from Novelas 5️⃣ Ejemplares, are card cheats in Seville. They are proficient at cheating at veintiuna (Spanish for "twenty-one") and state that the 5️⃣ object of the game is to reach 21 points without going over and that the ace values 1 or 11. 5️⃣ The game is played with the Spanish baraja deck.

"Rinconete y Cortadillo" was written between 1601 and 1602, implying that ventiuna 5️⃣ was played in Castile since the beginning of the 17th century or earlier. Later references to this game are found 5️⃣ in France and Spain.[3]