Indian Blackjack

The ninth Death Match is…

Indian Blackjack.

In Indian Blackjack, players will be betting on blackjack games, knowing their opponent’s entire hand - but not their own.

To start, I will explain the deck used in Indian Blackjack. This deck will have four copies of cards numbered from 1 to 11 - making forty-four in all. When there are less than five in the deck at the start of a round, the deck will be re-shuffled before the respective round.

Each match of Indian Blackjack will start with one ‘community’ card and one card from each player’s hand. The community card will be dealt publicly, but each player’s starting card will be hidden from them. However, both players will be informed of their opponent’s card. Following this, there will be a round of betting, a chance to ‘hit’, a second round of betting, and then the reveal.

Starting off, each player will gain 30 chips. Every match will begin with an ante of one chip from both players, and betting will begin following that. After the first betting period, each player will get an option to ‘hit’, and add another card to their hand. Both players will be informed of this second card.

After another period of betting, each player will make a hand using their own card(s), and the community card. The player with the closest number to 21, without going over, will win the round and all bet chips.

There are three options when betting. The first option is to Call. This will occur when the player matches their opponent’s bet. Whenever a call is done, betting will end and the next phase of the round will begin. The second option is to Raise. When raising, the player will exceed their opponent’s bet. Play will then go to their opponent to decide whether to call or raise further. Finally, a player can choose to fold. When a player folds, they will immediately concede the match to their opponent, and the round will end.

In the first set of betting, the starting player must either raise or fold. However, in the second set of betting, the starting player may choose to pass. If both players pass at the start of the second betting period, then the bets will remain the same and cards will be revealed.

After each round, the player closer to 21, without going over, will take all of the chips bet. In the event of a tie, all chips will be returned to the players. However, there are certain exceptions. If a player folds with a hand that equals 21, they must pay an extra 10 chips to their opponent. Conversely, if a player doesn’t fold with a hand that goes higher than 21, they will bust, and must pay 5 chips to their opponent. Lastly, if a player has a Blackjack (a 10 and 11) and wins the match, their opponent must pay them an extra 15 chips.

With a Hacked Garnet, a player may use the power of Free Fold. When a player folds, they may use this power to essentially make the round ‘null’ - this will make both players receive the chips they bet back, and washes the round. This power must be used alongside the action of folding, before the reveal of the cards. If a player uses this power with a hand that equals 21, they will not have to pay the penalty chips

When one player takes all 60 chips, the game will end, and they will be deemed the winner of the Death Match and move onto the next round. The player who lost all their chips will be the ninth eliminated contestant of The Genius: Code Breakers.

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Archivist's Note: The following slides come directly from the Finals Match version of Indian Blackjack. During the Finals Match, the Hacked Garnet ability was removed and functioned as a regular Finals Item.

In addition, there are three items able to be used in Indian Blackjack. The first item is Free Fold. When a player folds, they may use this power to essentially make the round ‘null’ - this will make both players receive the chips they bet back, and washes the round. This power must be used alongside the action of folding, before the reveal of the cards. If a player uses this power with a hand that equals 21, they will not have to pay the penalty chips

The second item is Chip Bonus. At the start of any round, a player may use this power to give themselves an extra five chips. These chips will be added to the total amount of chips.

The third item is Deal Again. In the ‘hitting’ phase, a player may use this power after being dealt a card to discard said card, and draw a new card.

Basil gave the Free Fold item to Tezzy, Shaun gave the Chip Bonus item to Cake, and Luna gave the Deal Again item to Cake.