Intro
For this week’s critical play, I decided to play the card game Blackjack on washingtonpost.com. It’s a casino banking game played between each player and the dealer, with the winner being the person who gets a hand closest to, but not exceeding, 21. Because the competition is individual, I wasn’t able to find any sites that allowed me to play with other people.
Gameplay
Each round starts with the player betting a certain amount of money through chips. The dealer then deals two cards to each player and themselves, with the players’ cards being dealt face up and the dealer’s cards being dealt one face up and one face down. The two main actions the player can then take are hit (draw another card) and stand (stop drawing).
If the player’s turn ends without them exceeding 21, the dealer then reveals their face down card and makes their own moves. They must hit until they reach a value of at least 17, at which point they can end their turn. The winner is the person with a hand value closest to, but not exceeding, 21.
While Blackjack is technically a casino game and meant to be played by people 21+, I believe anyone is able to enjoy this game (when there is no real money involved) because it’s a simple game with simple rewards.
Personal Experience
In the first round that I played, I started by betting a 50 chip and was dealt a starting value of 13. I decided to hit twice, and ended up hitting exactly 21. 
In the next 2 rounds I played, I won again. This chain of winning gave me a very false confidence in my abilities, despite not even having a strategy for the game (in fact, I did the opposite of all the advice the website gave me). Even though I logically knew that the game was all about luck, my winning streak made me think that I really was just good at the game, and I found myself starting to bet more money.
Interestingly though, I found that after a few more rounds, I stopped caring about the money completely and was barely paying attention to what I was betting. Like what was described in the reading, I found that I kept playing for the sake of winning rather than for the sake of earning more money.
Risk for Addiction
Compared to other casino games, Blackjack is much more transparent in its chances than other games that use chance or probability because the probability of a deck of cards is known. Unlike slot machines, there’s no hidden chip that hides the true mechanics of the game (as described in the reading). Because you have full knowledge of the game, you feel more confident in your abilities as you win more rounds. This is why it can become so addicting, as you start to take pride in your strategy and want to keep proving that you can win.
Players also win pretty frequently in Blackjack, which is unlike many other chance games. I would argue the frequent wins also encourage players to keep playing, as the small dopamine hits from winning rounds can become addicting.
