The History of Blackjack: From Cervantes to Online Casinos
Games where the goal for players was to make a hand as close to 21 points as possible date back to at least the 16th century, when a game known as “veintiuno” (or twenty-one) appeared in a short story written by Miguel de Cervantes. The game spread throughout Europe and first appeared in the United States in the early 1800s.
Throughout the 19th century, 21 games proliferated at casinos across the United States. At the time, the term for a hand with an ace and a 10-point card was a “natural,” a term you still might hear on rare occasion.
By 1899, the common name for the game had become blackjack, likely because prospectors during the Klondike Gold Rush named the best possible hand after a mineral associated with gold and silver deposits. That name remains today, with the rules largely unchanged for the past century. Today, you can find blackjack online in almost every online casino, with a variety of blackjack games available for players.