B. User Manual

Welcome to BlackJack. Congratulations on downloading this software and the team hopes it is a joy to play. Starting cash is $2,000 and the game is played till $4,000 is reached or the player runs out of  money.

Key Terms:

Before jumping into the game, knowing these few terms, will improve one’s ability to win virtual money.

• Value of cards 
  • Ace- can be worth 11 or 1
  • Face Cards- worth 10
  • Numbered Cards- worth the value that it says (a  2 of clubs is worth 2)
  • The suit of the card does not matter.
• Bet- the amount of money the player wants to risk.
  • If the player loses, the player loses that money. 
  • If the player wins, the player wins the amount they bet.
  • If the dealer and player tie, the player doesn’t win or lose money.
    • Unless they tied and busted, then player loses and player loses bet.
  • If a player gets blackjack and the dealer does not, the player gets 3/2 what they bet.
  • If the dealer gets blackjack and the player does not, the player loses their bet.
  • If both get blackjack, the player neither wins nor loses money.

• Hit– When a player wants another card, they hit.
• Stand– when a player does not want another card, they stand.
  • This means they do not hit and it is the dealer’s turn.
• Bust- when the value of cards exceeds 21.
  • If an ace in the hand, check it’s a 1 not 11 before a bust is believed.
  • If player has three 9s, the player has a score of 27 so they bust.

• Split- if the value of the cards dealt are the same, the player can split their hand and play 2 separate hands. When a player splits, their original bet is applied to each hand.
  • If dealt 2 aces and splits, they are dealt 2 new cards, one card goes to each ace.
  • So they now have 2 hands, each have an ace and a new card.
  • If the player bets $100 in the beginning, they will have a bet of $200 if they split because $100 bet is now for each hand.
  • The winnings and losings of one hand are independent of the other. The dealer’s hand still determines if either hand wins.

• Double Down– The  player doubles their bet and only gets one more card. After the card is dealt, it is the dealer’s turn.
  • If a player bets $100 and doubles down, they must put another $100 as the bet. 
  • When doubling down, the player will always end with 3 cards. After being given the 3rd card, they cannot hit again.

• “Black Jack”– When the player or dealer’s first two cards are an ace and a card with the value of 10  .
  • Does not need a black jack to have “BlackJack” 
  • Can have a 10 and an ace and still have blackjack.
  • Having a card that is a jack of spades or clubs only means they have a card with a value of 10.

• Winning– when the player’s hand beats the dealer’s hand
  • Player is closer to 21 than the dealer.
  • If a player has 20, and the dealer has 19, the player wins.
  • Dealer busts and the player does not.
  • Dealer has 26 and the player has 3: player wins.
• Losing– when a player’s hand loses to the dealer.
  • Dealer is closer to 21 and doesn’t go over.
    • Player has 18 and the dealer has 21.
  • Player busts and the dealer does not.
    • Player has 26 and Dealer has 3: player wins
  • Player and dealer bust.
    • This does not end in a tie, if the player busts, the player always loses.

How game works:

This will describe the rules for the game.

• Player first makes a bet.
  • This value determines the amount of money a player will win or lose
• The cards are then dealt.
  • 2 cards to the player are dealt up and 1 card is flipped up and one is flipped down for the dealer.
  • When the player’s turn is over, the dealer then flips the other card over.
• Once the cards are dealt, the player can double down or split.
  • The dealer is unable to double down or split, only the player can do this.
  • As stated above, if chose to double down, the player doubles bet and gets one card and their turn is over.
  • If they split, the player will play two hands each hand with the original bet.
    • The player must finish one hand before they move on to the other.
• After that decision, the player then decides to hit or stand.
  • If they hit, they get another card.
  • The player may continue to hit until they bust or decide to stop.
  • When the player stands, it becomes the dealer’s turn.
• How dealer works
  • The dealer flips the face down card over.
  • The dealer may not split or double down but that is because they are not betting.
  • The dealer must hit until they get to 17, an ace counts as 11.
  • Once at or above 17, they must stop hitting and the hand is over.
• Pay out
  • The way it works is stated above in the betting key term.

How to play:

How to play the game in Matlab.

• Game starts off with the intro; stating max bet and starting cash.
  • Press return/enter to get past the intro.
• The player will then be directed to enter their bet.
  • To enter the bet, type the desired amount and press enter.
  • Must be more than $0 but not be more than $100. 
  • The player may not bet more money than they have.
  • Game will state players’ cash and bet.
• Graphics will appear with both of the player’s cards visible and 2 cards for the dealer but only one of the dealer’s cards is visible.
  • The player is to input all numbers and commands into figure one with the cards
    • This entails clicking on the figure and not clicking onto the command window
• If the cards allow, the player will be asked if they want to split their hand.
  • If they want to split, type “y”. 
    • If the player does not have enough money, the screen will go back to ask if they want to split until “n” is inputed.
    • If a player chooses to split, they will have to decide to double down or hit for two hands. Plays one hand at a time.
  • If the player does not want to split, type “n”. 
  • If the cards do not allow to be split, this question is skipped.
• The game then asks if the player wants to double down.
  • If the player wants to double down, type “y”. 
    • Bet is doubled and the player will be dealt one more card and it is now the dealer’s turn.
    • If a player does not have enough money to double down, it will redirect back to the double down window.
  • If the player does not want to double down, type “n”. 
    • This will allow the player to just hit until they want to stop.
• The game then asks if the player wants to hit.
  • If the player wants to hit, type “y”. 
    • Player will receive another card.
  • If the player wants to not hit and stand, type “n”. 
    • The player’s turn is over for that hand and goes to the dealer’s hand.
  • The questions will be asked till the player types “n” or the player busts.
• The player does not have to do anything during the dealer’s turn except hope that the dealer loses.
• When the dealer’s turn is over, the script file states if the player won or lost, the player’s new balance, and how much they lost or won.
• The game only uses one deck and if there is less than half a deck left, the cards are shuffled.
• The hand is now over and the player is commanded to press any button to start the next game.
  • Once a button is pressed a new hand is starts and the player is requested to enter a bet.