Blackjack (Atari 2600 video game)

Blackjack
Blackjack art by Rick Guidice
Developer(s)	Atari[1]
Publisher(s)	Atari[1]
Designer(s)	Bob Whitehead
Platform(s)	Atari 2600
Release	September 1977
Genre(s)	Digital tabletop game[2]
Mode(s)	Single-player, multi-player

Blackjack is a video game simulation of the card game blackjack. It was designed by Bob Whitehead for the Atari Video Computer System (later known as the Atari 2600). The game allows up to three players to play a variation of blackjack. Each player is given 200 chips where they can bet 1 to 25 of each round. The game ends for a player when they either run out of chips or earns 1000 chips or more.

Computer simulations of blackjack have been developed since the 1950s with all the home video game consoles released in the 1970s having a variation of the game released for their system. Whitehead developed the game following his work on Star Ship (1977). He was responsible for specific development choices, such as controlling the game via the paddle controllers and initially planning to include other card games on the cart. Whitehead made Blackjack the first Atari 2600 game that would be able to copy graphics on the fly, which would be used continuously in later games for the system.

On the games release in September 1977, it was the most well received game of the systems launch titles by Video magazine. Blacjack was no longer promoted by Atari following the release of Whitehead's Casino in 1979, but still continued to sell in small amounts as late as 1989. Retrospective reviews were generally dismissive, with Brett Weiss and AllGame noting low quality sound and graphics while Kevin Bunch in Atari Archive: Vol.1 1977-1978 found that the release of Casino made Blackjack a relatively superfluous game for the Atari 2600.