Gaming: Eric Snider's Blackjack

I have a confession to make.

As a writer, I often find myself looking for a diversion, any diversion, to
avoid writing. It's a sickness, really. If I've got a deadline looming over
my head, I'll become fascinated with the texture of the desk, or try to
find what patterns work best with my optical mouse. Anything to avoid
actually writing.

So it's with mixed emotions that I've recently discovered Eric Snider's
Blackjack for Palm OS. This is a pretty good game, and thus a pretty good
way to waste time when I should be writing.

The game is really simple, especially if you've ever played the actual card
game. You're dealt two cards, and the dealer is dealt to cards. You can see
both of yours, but only one of the dealer's. The object is to take cards
until you get as close as possible to 21 in the combined value of your
cards without going over. Face cards are worth ten points, aces can be
either one or eleven. Whoever get's closer to 21 wins, but you lose
automatically if you hit 22 or more.

Easy, right?

Well there's a little strategy involved, and in playing this game, which
comes as close to the real thing as I think you can get on a Palm, I've
realized why I don't spend more time up in the casinos here in the
mountains of Colorado. About all I know about Blackjack strategy is not to
take the "insurance" offered if the dealer has an ace showing (and I
learned that from the excellent help system within this game) and to stand,
or stop taking cards, once you reach 17 or more. Even so, I've had good
runs and bad runs in the game. You start out with $1,000 in chips, and I've
both gone broke and doubled my money.

For you blackjack geeks out there, this game offers a lot of realism. You
can configure how many decks to put in the shoe and how deep to put the
yellow Shuffle card. This alters the odds of what will come up when.
There's a big difference in playing all the way through a single deck like
most of us have done with friends and playing 30% of the way into a six
deck shoe before reshuffling. In the latter example, there's almost no
limit to how many tens and face cards can pop up and bust your hand.

The betting system is really easy, just a matter of tapping on the chips in
front of you with your stylus to add to the bet, or tapping on the bet to
clear it and start fresh. You can buy in more chips whenever you want,
which is really my only problem with this game. I'd have preferred to be
able to set a limit on how much of "my" money I can gamble, just like I do
with real casinos. It's too easy to say, "hey, I'm only down two grand,
I'll just buy in again and win it back." And yes, the game keeps running
statistics, so you know how many blackjacks (being dealt 21 on your first
two cards, an automatic win that pays 3 to 2, or 150% of your bet) have
happened, your tally of wins and losses, and how much money you're up or
down.

The graphics on my Tapwave Zodiac are impressive, but not the best I've
seen. There was a blackjack game for the Pocket PC back a few years ago
that actually had photorealistic dealer's hands against a black background
dealing you cards. It gave the impression that you were in a dark room with
a real human dealer. This game looks more like a computer card game, which
it is. While it's not as snazzy as that Pocket PC game, I think the
gameplay is actually better, as you can see the shoe and how many cards are
left in it before the shuffle. This is a very easy game to play, but not so
easy to win. And untimately, for a casual gamer (like a writer avoiding a
deadline) that's the best kind.

I should point out for my writing readers that this isn't just about
avoiding deadlines. Games like this, which require a little thought, but
not too much (Bejeweled 2 in puzzle mode, for example) and can be played at
a leisurely pace are great ways to let your mind stretch and wander. I've
found that when I'm stuck on a story problem, it's when I'm doing things
like playing blackjack that my subconscious solves the problem and then
shoots it to the front of my mind in one of those "Eureka!" moments. So
give this game a try. It might just help you write.

Or not.

Check it out at http://www.sniderware.com