Big Bet Blackjack

Hi Everyone,

I will be debuting this game at the Global Table Games conference next month but thought I should give you a sneak peak. The game is Big Bet Blackjack, it plays the same as blackjack except it offers a big raise and big pays

Big Raise:
Players may double or triple their bet on any two cards totaling less than 20
- including after a split
- aces are considered 11 for this rule (so can't raise on A-9, A-A, Blackjack)
- replaces double down option (players can hit or stay, they don't have to take exactly one card)

Big Pays:
- All dealer bets pay odds based on the number of cards the dealer busts with
3 card busts: 1:2
4 card busts: 1:1
5 card busts: 3:2
6 card busts: 3:1
7 card busts: 10:1
8+ card busts: 100:1

That is it. Kept it super simple, easy to explain, easy for dealers to explain, yet adds an element of excitement with some monster payouts that blackjack was missing. I have more info and a demo on my website housewaygaming.com

Anyways, I would welcome your feedback.

I think you have a chance! I played your demo and the ‘triple down’ option was fun. Of course getting paid 1/2 on most dealer busts tempered that joy.

I didn’t put enough mental energy into the basic strategy changes that the different rules would lead to. Imagine the frustration of busting then seeing the dealer busting on his 8th card! (7-2-2-1-1-1-2-7) as an example.

Good luck!

Quote: SOOPOO

I think you have a chance! I played your demo and the ‘triple down’ option was fun. Of course getting paid 1/2 on most dealer busts tempered that joy.

I didn’t put enough mental energy into the basic strategy changes that the different rules would lead to. Imagine the frustration of busting then seeing the dealer busting on his 8th card! (7-2-2-1-1-1-2-7) as an example.

Good luck!
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Thanks! I figured I could sell the 1:2 payout as better than a push like other variants, and also tried to disguise it by offering the bigger payouts for more bust cards in the same paytable. That frustration would be devastating, I guess the saving grace is that the odds of an 8 card bust when the dealer's up card is 7 or higher is astronomical

The very first goal of inventing this game is to discourage card counters, but the majority of players are counters. The ad needs to be more positive. BTW, what’s the house edge?

Quote: aceside

The very first goal of inventing this game is to discourage card counters, but the majority of players are counters. The ad needs to be more positive. BTW, what’s the house edge?
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Thanks for the feedback, I probably may need to tweak the messaging on my site I will take a look at that. The house edge is 0.80% paying blackjacks at 3:2, with a total RTP of 99.44% (since there are potentially 3+ bets in play, this is the total return for all the money put on the table), so still a very fair game for the players.

This game went live this week at FireKeepers in Michigan.

Quote: zbrownson

This game went live this week at FireKeepers in Michigan.
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Good luck it looks fun. Can we get the Wiz to compute basic strategy?

Solid game and features. I think you can get some installs, and some i terest from the major distri utors, which is rarely true for new games. Good luck.


ZCore13

Good luck it looks fun. Can we get the Wiz to compute basic strategy?
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Really interesting change to the game format, I'd love to see this make its way to the UK.

Interesting novelty! It seems like this game could bring fresh ideas to blackjack. It will be curious to see how it develops.

Good Luck. I like the game.

Big Bet Blackjack Update:

This game has been on the floor in Michigan for six months with mixed results. It is holding too much and volume of play has gone down, which is definitely correlated, so we are tweaking it a little bit.
- dropping the Top 20's side bet (pays 2 card 20's, 21's, and AA) because it is brutal odds and the game is holding too much and I didn't want dealers to have to explain a side bet on top of a new game.
- cleaning up the layout to make it look more like blackjack (before the big bet circle was below the blackjack wager, now it is to the side where you typically place a double down)
- adding a progressive to blend in with every other blackjack game
- changing the dealer bust paytable. Before 3 card busts would pay half, which happened 17% of the time. Now it is a 4 card bust pushing, which happens less than 9%. I didn't think I would ever do this, but players seem to mind a push less than getting paid half, my guess is they have already accepted it from other games like Free Bet and Double Up. If they experience both as negative outcomes I would rather have it happen half as often. This also cleans up the half pays and lets me bump the bigger odds on dealer busts..

Before:
8 card.....100 to 1
7 card ......10 to 1
6 card ....... 3 to 1
5 card ........3 to 2
4 card ....... 1 to 1
3 card ....... 1 to 2

Now
8 card.....100 to 1
7 card ......10 to 1
6 card ....... 4 to 1
5 card ........2 to 1
4 card ....... Push
3 card ....... 1 to 1

It is hard to say how this game will do, a lot of players were not capitalizing on the 2x big bet opportunity when I went to watch, which all but guarantees a less than desirable outcome. The new paytables are definitely better with a 99.69% RTP.

I have learned a ton throughout this process. Biggest takeaways come down to the core concepts in game development.
- Keep it simple. I thought a 2x raise if your first 2 cards are under 20 would be dirt simple to explain. it is not, at least not on blackjack, I think any poker variant this would be a breeze, but not in blackjack. People get it after a couple hands, but it is hard to verbalize to a lot of people.
- Keep it clean. I got cute with the layout in the first version, which turned out to make it look foreign and I think scared some players away.
- Less is more. This game already had the "side bet" built in, it didn't need another one. Dealers would explain the side bet before explaining the game, and it took too long to explain because of it even if it was simple.
- Ensure players utilize the new "feature". I think a game like Free Bet does this better, where it is obvious and hard to screw up. The Big Bet option was getting played, just often for much less than it should (anything less than 2x) and in the wrong situations. This is good to bump hold but is too easy to screw up and is bumping it too high.

Anyways, hopefully this is helpful to any aspiring/current game developers out there.

I will study it a little more and get back to you. However from what I read, I think you are on the right track. I think it is important when making a game, that you make it so when the players make mistakes they are not hurting themselves to much. So for example if they play opposite of basic strategy its only like a negative 4 instead of 2 percent basic strategy. If it's like a 10 percent mistake it beats them up to fast and they blame the game.

Quote: YouDontSay00

I will study it a little more and get back to you. However from what I read, I think you are on the right track. I think it is important when making a game, that you make it so when the players make mistakes they are not hurting themselves to much. So for example if they play opposite of basic strategy its only like a negative 4 instead of 2 percent basic strategy. If it's like a 10 percent mistake it beats them up to fast and they blame the game.
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I created a video poker game that failed horribly because the typical strategy that most people use in video poker was a killer in my game. People were just losing their money too quickly. I only got about 500 machines out in the casinos before they started pulling them.

I created a video poker game that failed horribly because the typical strategy that most people use in video poker was a killer in my game. People were just losing their money too quickly. I only got about 500 machines out in the casinos before they started pulling them.
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That is interesting. I have ideas for keno game and a blackjack game. Do you think it is easier to get a patent of a video poker device. I believe I may have asked you this before. I just trying to figure a way to make a cross breed between a table game and a video version that will give me some rights to it. How did you get 500 installs in first place? I know on video poker machines have a variety of games. So the volume could be higher at first.