Week 21 : New Game

BlackJack / 21 / Pontoon

The next gaming assignment is a to make a well know card game into a computer game.

Blackjack/pontoon/21 are all card games involving the concept of players trying to get as close to 21 points in a given set of cards.

Blackjack, also known as twenty-one, is the most widely played casino banking game in the world.^[1] Blackjack is a comparing card game between a player and dealer, meaning that players compete against the dealer but not against any other players. It is played with one or more decks of 52 cards. The object of the game is to beat the dealer, which can be done in a number of ways:

• Get 21 points on the player's first two cards (called a blackjack), without a dealer blackjack;
• Reach a final score higher than the dealer without exceeding 21; or
• Let the dealer draw additional cards until his or her hand exceeds 21.

The player or players are dealt an initial two-card hand and add together the value of their cards. Face cards (kings, queens, and jacks) are counted as ten points. A player and the dealer can count his or her own ace as 1 point or 11 points. All other cards are counted as the numeric value shown on the card. After receiving their initial two cards, players have the option of getting a "hit", or taking an additional card. In a given round, the player or the dealer wins by having a score of 21 or by having the highest score that is less than 21. Scoring higher than 21 (called "busting" or "going bust") results in a loss. A player may win by having any final score equal to or less than 21 if the dealer busts. If a player holds an ace valued as 11, the hand is called "soft", meaning that the player cannot go bust by taking an additional card; 11 plus the value of any other card will always be less than or equal to 21. Otherwise, the hand is "hard". (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackjack)

Each card is given a value, which is its face value. The picture cards Jack / Queen / King are all 10 points each and the ace is 1 or 11  (depending on variant of game rules you choose).

The game is to look something like the image given below.

There is a dealer and 4 other players. 

You control one player and the computer controls the other 3 players

This is not about amazing graphics, its also not about GAMBLING. The goal of the game is is to win a round, you can have a system where its best of 7 games or something like that. You will need to study first of all the rules for playing blackjack/pontoon/21 and pick a rule set. Then you need to study probability (ie the mathematical study of chance).

When would you choose to twist or stick and why?

When would an AI player choose to stick or twist and why? You will need to understand and embed this into the game. Creating this game is a lot harder than it looks.

Stage one is:

Study the rules and understand the card games

Study probability (rules or chance).

Blog your development process and blog how you get the AI to choose to twist or stick and how probability links with this.