Through its history that in fact dates back to centuries, the game of blackjack has time and again surfaced and resurfaced in various nooks and corners of the world under different names and at times even in slightly different forms. Travelling from one part of the world to the other and passing from one kind of men to other, the game itself had undergone an assortment of changes in its rules and ways of playing. In fact, many of these varieties of the game, origin of all of them rooted in blackjack, still exist under different names around the world.
One of the most widely known variant of the game of blackjack is Pontoon. The game is an English one and the strategies and rules applicable in it also vary to a certain extent. However, the name Pontoon is also used to describe an adaptation of the American game of Spanish 21 without the license played without a hole card in Malaysia and Australia which has got nothing to do with the English game. Incidentally, Spanish 21 is also considered to be another variant of blackjack which however has got a set of rules far more liberal for the players like the option for doubling down on unlimited number of occasions, doing late surrenders, etc.
When one is in California, one can easily stumble upon a form called the 21st Century blackjack also popularly called as Vegas Style Blackjack. The unique characteristic of the game lies mainly in busting aspects. A player bust does not necessarily produce an automatic loss as there are quite a number of conditions where the he or she can further push if the dealer busts as well, given that the dealer busts with a total higher than the player. In fact one can find cases where just in order to create a new variant of the game some changes are brought about in the existing set of rules. While apparently attractive to the beginners, they actually result in an increased house advantage for the casino.
Certain variants of the game are found in France and Germany as well. While the French counterpart is known as “Vingt-et-un” meaning 21, the German alternative goes by the name of “Siebzehn und Vier” that stands for Seventeen and Four. The main feature of both of these versions is the fact that none of them include the option for splitting the cards. They are not found much in the casinos but have their popularity among the private parties. Another variant of blackjack that does away with the idea of splitting a hand is the Chinese Blackjack. Chinese Blackjack enjoys considerable popularity in certain parts of Asia.
