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Review of Blackjack by Wazdan
Blackjack is the most popular casino card game that’s played all over the world, and is also the second-most popular card game upon the globe, behind poker (if you combine all the various forms of poker – such as Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Stud and Draw – as one). It also takes second place in the list of the most popular casino games played behind roulette, but is miles ahead of baccarat, which is the game that takes third place.
Here from Wazdan is a rather pleasant-looking and pleasant-sounding version of blackjack, or ‘BlackJack’ as it is stylised. Of course, there are many potential rules surrounding casino blackjack, and not all games have all options. This review will run you through all the possible options that are available, so that you can decide whether this version of blackjack is one that is likely to suit you.
How to Play Blackjack by Wazdan
Once the game has loaded and the suit symbols have stopped swirling around the screen for some reason, you are presented with a standard casino blackjack table. Do not be fooled by the fact that there are five player positions as you can only play one hand at a time.
You will set a range of chip values along the bottom of the table. All you need to do to set your bet is to click on the suitable chip. It will then be placed upon the table itself. If you make a mistake click the ‘cancel bet’ button. The chips available and the minimum and maximum betting limits are set by the casino offering the game.
When you are ready to have cards dealt to you, click the ‘rotating arrows’ button at the bottom of the screen. You will be dealt a card face up, then the dealer a card face up, then you are dealt another card face up. Your total is announced, then the dealer is dealt a second card face down. If the dealer has a card worth ten face up, then they will check for blackjack. If they have blackjack, the hand ends immediately.
The croupier will also check for blackjack if their face-up card is an ace, but you will be offered insurance which pays 2-1 if the dealer does have blackjack. Experienced blackjack players know that you should never take insurance if offered it.
When you are ready to play you can hit ‘hit’ to be dealt another card, or ‘stand’ if you are happy with your total. Of course, the object of the game is to score higher than the dealer without scoring more than 21. As per casino rules, the dealer must keep drawing cards until they’ve amassed a total in excess of 16. So, should you stand on 16 and the dealer draws to 16 they still have to keep taking cards even though they have already beaten you.
Unlike many blackjack games you will not receive a warning if you are about to make a ‘dumb’ decision, such as hitting on 20. If you do make a mistake, then it’s simply a case of hard luck!
If you find this game too slow, then you can engage ‘hare’ mode in which all the cards are dealt a little bit speedier. The default mode is ‘tortoise’ mode.
Blackjack Game Rules
- The game does not state how many decks are used
- The game does not state whether the dealer should stand on both soft and hard 17s
- Dealer peeks for blackjack
- The game does not state anything about doubling, although you can double on totals of 10 and 11
- The game does not state whether you can split, but you are offered the chance to split when you are dealt a pair. It is unknown where you can re-split.
- The game saying nothing about splitting aces
- There is no surrendering
- Blackjack pays 3:2
- Insurance pays 2:1
- The expected RTP is unknown
Graphics and Sounds
This game uses a poorly-designed deck of cards. The numbers are simply too small. Although your total is announced, the dealer’s is not so you have to look quickly at their face-up card before 90 percent of it is covered by the face-down card.
The ‘checking for blackjack’ audio soon gets annoying and slows the pace of the game. In ‘hare’ mode, the ‘checking for blackjack’ and ‘the croupier does not have blackjack’ audio clips overlap each other.
Final Thoughts
This game is perhaps suitable for newbie blackjack players, but the same cannot be said for experienced ones. Game rules should be transparent and upfront, not left to be discovered.
In a nutshell, this version of blackjack could have been a whole lot better!