Black Jack For The Atari VCS

Of all of the games that made up the launch titles for the Atari VCS, Black Jack is oddly my favorite. Yep, not Combat, not Air-Sea Battle, not even Star Ship, but a simple faux gambling-based card game earned my number one position. Admittedly, this is my favorite for personal reasons, but I'll get into that later.

This is a fairly basic card game presentation. The rules are not exactly casino accurate, but it does serve as a decent learning tool for anyone attempting to pick up the basics of this popular card game. I've never really learned all of the nuances of Poker, but thanks to this one cartridge I was set on the path to pretty much mastering the game of Black Jack.

The graphics are far from incredible. Honestly, they make a standard Windows version of Solitaire look like a masterpiece of video game programming, but for 1977 they're just fine.

Oddly, the programming also gives a major advantage to the house, but that means that if you get good at this version, you'll have an advantage when you hit Vegas, or Atlantic City. No, don't take my word on that, and don't foolishly follow my advice when it comes to gambling.

The programmer was Bob Whitehead, who was also responsible for Atari's Football, and Home-Run. And, Mr. Whitehead went on to become one of the founders of Activision.

Now for that personal note that made this my favorite of the Atari 2600's launch titles. I was raised by my grandfather and although he usually had zero interest in video games, he bought this cartridge for himself soon after I received my Atari VCS for Christmas. I'd regularly come home from school and notice him sitting in front of the television playing this game. Or, I'd wake-up in the morning, and find that my Space Invaders cartridge that I was playing the night before was no longer in the console, but the Black Jack cart was. I think those memories alone are reason enough for me to give the game some high-marks.

-Jay