1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:00,630 All right. 2 00:00:00,630 --> 00:00:04,230 Let's talk about the mechanics and the program requirements for the Blackjack 3 00:00:04,230 --> 00:00:08,100 game that you'll create. For those of you who are not familiar with the game of 4 00:00:08,100 --> 00:00:10,170 Blackjack also known as 21, 5 00:00:10,560 --> 00:00:13,290 I'm just going to spend a few minutes to go through the rules with you. 6 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:16,980 Blackjack is a game that's played using cards. 7 00:00:17,550 --> 00:00:22,550 And the goal of the game is to add up your cards to the largest number without 8 00:00:23,730 --> 00:00:27,840 going over 21. If the cards in your hand 9 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:32,430 add up two more than 21, then it's called a bust 10 00:00:32,700 --> 00:00:34,890 and it means that you lose immediately. 11 00:00:35,610 --> 00:00:40,560 And it doesn't matter how much you've gone over 21, as long as it's over 21, 12 00:00:40,620 --> 00:00:44,610 then you lose. Now the way that the cause are counted 13 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:49,790 is that all the cards from 2 to 10 count as their face value. 14 00:00:50,090 --> 00:00:53,060 So a six is a six and a nine is a nine, et cetera. 15 00:00:53,810 --> 00:00:58,810 But the Jack, Queen and King each count as 10 and the other special card is the 16 00:01:00,350 --> 00:01:01,183 Ace. 17 00:01:01,370 --> 00:01:05,720 Now the Ace can either count as a one towards your total, 18 00:01:05,990 --> 00:01:09,770 or it can count as an 11. And depending on whether, 19 00:01:09,770 --> 00:01:13,190 if you've gone over 21 or whether if you're under 21, 20 00:01:13,220 --> 00:01:17,330 you can decide which value you want your Ace to represent. 21 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:22,370 Let's play a sample game. Let's say that the dealer over here got 22 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,000 a 10 to begin with and you got a queen which also counts as a 10 to begin with. 23 00:01:29,660 --> 00:01:30,200 So these 24 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:34,730 are the first cars that are dealt and both of these cards are revealed. 25 00:01:35,390 --> 00:01:40,100 And then the dealer deals another card to each of you. Now the dealer's 26 00:01:40,130 --> 00:01:44,690 second hand is concealed so you can't work out what their total is, 27 00:01:45,350 --> 00:01:47,120 but you can see your own card. 28 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:50,720 So the moment we don't know what the dealer has, 29 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,090 it might be 10 plus anything, 30 00:01:53,630 --> 00:01:57,800 but we know that our score is 13, 10 + 3. 31 00:01:59,540 --> 00:02:02,900 At this point you might ask the dealer for another card. 32 00:02:03,380 --> 00:02:08,380 So now you have three cards and luckily it adds up to 20 without going over 21. 33 00:02:11,150 --> 00:02:15,530 But there is also a possibility that you might've gotten a card that would have 34 00:02:15,530 --> 00:02:20,180 pushed your total over 21 at which point you now lose. 35 00:02:20,420 --> 00:02:23,180 And it doesn't matter what the dealer has in their hand, 36 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,000 you've already lost because you've gone over 21. 37 00:02:27,050 --> 00:02:31,190 Now let's say that we got lucky and our total adds up to 20. 38 00:02:31,910 --> 00:02:35,180 Now at this point we say we don't want any more cards 39 00:02:35,540 --> 00:02:39,830 and the dealer reveals their hand. If. like in this case, 40 00:02:39,980 --> 00:02:42,830 they end up with 20 and we have 20, 41 00:02:43,310 --> 00:02:45,170 then we end up in a draw. 42 00:02:45,590 --> 00:02:48,590 So whenever your score equals the dealer score, 43 00:02:48,890 --> 00:02:53,150 then you will draw rather than win or lose. Now, 44 00:02:53,180 --> 00:02:56,360 if on the other hand, the dealer ended up with an Ace, 45 00:02:56,420 --> 00:03:01,420 which we know can count as an 11 and they actually scored higher than us. 46 00:03:02,110 --> 00:03:06,550 They have 21 and we have 20, well, in this case, we would lose. 47 00:03:07,510 --> 00:03:12,510 Now the rules also state that if the dealer ends up with a hand that's smaller 48 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:16,540 than 17, so 16 or under, 49 00:03:16,900 --> 00:03:19,270 then they must take another card. 50 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:22,180 Those are the basic rules of blackjack, 51 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:27,100 but I'd recommend that before you get started head over to the link that's in 52 00:03:27,100 --> 00:03:31,390 the Blackjack starting file and have a few games of Blackjack 53 00:03:31,690 --> 00:03:36,370 just so that you can see for yourself how it actually works and how you win and 54 00:03:36,370 --> 00:03:37,270 how you lose. 55 00:03:38,140 --> 00:03:43,140 And then head over to the final version of the completed project and play our 56 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:49,060 simplified version of Blackjack. This way 57 00:03:49,090 --> 00:03:52,540 you'll see what the end result is that you're trying to create 58 00:03:52,900 --> 00:03:56,620 and it will be easier when you're creating the code yourself. Now, 59 00:03:56,650 --> 00:03:57,550 as I mentioned, 60 00:03:57,610 --> 00:04:01,780 we're going to try and keep our version of Blackjack a little bit simpler, 61 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,420 and we're going to assume a couple of things. 62 00:04:04,990 --> 00:04:09,430 The first thing is that the card's that we're starting with comes from this 63 00:04:09,430 --> 00:04:13,090 list. You'll notice that I've got 2 through to 10, 64 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:14,890 all represented in the list. 65 00:04:15,430 --> 00:04:19,660 And then I've got Jack, Queen and King represented as tens as well. 66 00:04:20,110 --> 00:04:25,110 So this means that the 10 has four times the probability of occurring compared 67 00:04:25,870 --> 00:04:27,040 to the other cards. 68 00:04:27,670 --> 00:04:31,660 Now the Ace is going to start off being represented as 11, 69 00:04:31,990 --> 00:04:36,070 and it's going to count as 11 until the user goes over 21. 70 00:04:37,060 --> 00:04:41,050 Now finally, we're going to assume that we have an infinite deck. 71 00:04:41,470 --> 00:04:44,320 So it means that when a card is drawn from the deck, 72 00:04:44,380 --> 00:04:48,130 it's not removed from the deck. Whereas in a real casino, 73 00:04:48,280 --> 00:04:52,780 they have maybe six or eight decks of cards. When a card is drawn, 74 00:04:53,050 --> 00:04:57,310 then there's less probability of that same card occurring again. 75 00:04:57,790 --> 00:05:00,220 And this is how professional card counters, 76 00:05:00,280 --> 00:05:02,260 the people that the casinos hate the most, 77 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,640 actually go about trying to optimize and improve their chances. 78 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,000 But in order to keep things simple in our game, 79 00:05:10,270 --> 00:05:14,770 we're not going to deal with things regarding probability or removing cards from 80 00:05:14,770 --> 00:05:15,460 the deck. 81 00:05:15,460 --> 00:05:19,930 We're going to assume that each of these cards in the list have equal chance of 82 00:05:19,930 --> 00:05:23,770 occurring. If you head over to the App Brewery Blackjack 83 00:05:23,790 --> 00:05:25,000 starting project, 84 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,870 you'll see each of these rules written out in more detail. 85 00:05:29,260 --> 00:05:32,890 Take a look at it so that you're aware what our house rules dictate. 86 00:05:34,030 --> 00:05:37,090 Now, if you scroll to the very top of the Blackjack project, 87 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,590 I've given you four tracks. So just as when you start a video game 88 00:05:41,620 --> 00:05:46,330 you have the choice of normal, hard, extra hard or expert, 89 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:51,520 it's the same in this project. You can limit yourself to using only one 90 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:55,060 hint if you are at expert level in Python. 91 00:05:55,630 --> 00:05:57,860 You can only use hint 1 and 2 92 00:05:57,890 --> 00:06:02,890 if you want an extra hard challenge and maybe a little bit of a cry at the end, 93 00:06:04,010 --> 00:06:08,510 there's also hard and normal. So I'll leave the choice up to you. 94 00:06:09,050 --> 00:06:12,500 And if you scroll down, you'll find all the hints listed in here. 95 00:06:13,070 --> 00:06:16,130 Now I recommend everybody, no matter your experience, 96 00:06:16,550 --> 00:06:21,260 everybody should try out the Blackjack game and also look at how the final 97 00:06:21,260 --> 00:06:23,000 project is supposed to work. 98 00:06:23,510 --> 00:06:28,510 But then I've got other things such as a list where I've broken down the program 99 00:06:29,090 --> 00:06:32,840 requirements. You know how we always say, when you have a big problem, 100 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,750 always try to break it down into smaller pieces. 101 00:06:36,290 --> 00:06:41,290 Now you can of course create this list yourself by exploring the game, 102 00:06:41,540 --> 00:06:43,070 exploring the final project, 103 00:06:43,370 --> 00:06:47,210 and then writing your own to do list of things that need to be coded up. 104 00:06:47,570 --> 00:06:48,770 Or alternatively, 105 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:53,800 you can look at the one that I've created inside hint 2. Inside hint 3 106 00:06:54,650 --> 00:06:56,720 I've created a flowchart for you 107 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:01,580 which takes the to-do list and breaks it down into a flowchart where you can 108 00:07:01,580 --> 00:07:06,020 look at the logic in more detail. Now, of course, as always, 109 00:07:06,020 --> 00:07:08,390 it's a good idea to create your own flowchart 110 00:07:08,750 --> 00:07:12,650 using a tool like draw.io or using a piece of pen and paper. 111 00:07:13,190 --> 00:07:14,270 But if you need help, 112 00:07:14,330 --> 00:07:18,170 it's there for you and you can download the PDF and read through it. 113 00:07:19,010 --> 00:07:20,480 Now the rest of the hints 114 00:07:20,510 --> 00:07:24,590 will go through how to solve this project in even smaller 115 00:07:24,590 --> 00:07:29,510 bite-size chunks. Depending on your own level of Python at the moment, 116 00:07:29,780 --> 00:07:31,880 choose your own difficulty level. 117 00:07:32,270 --> 00:07:37,270 But I just want to say before you get started that this project is difficult and 118 00:07:37,910 --> 00:07:42,560 I wanted to give you a bit of a challenge and to push yourself so that you get 119 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:43,393 stronger. 120 00:07:43,970 --> 00:07:48,970 But it will inevitably be moments where you will have doubt and you will be 121 00:07:49,010 --> 00:07:53,000 wondering, what am I doing? I don't understand anything. And in this moment, 122 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:56,510 I want you to look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself that you got this. 123 00:07:56,540 --> 00:08:00,770 You can do it. And that remember that I'm here rooting for you. 124 00:08:01,100 --> 00:08:02,300 I believe you can do it. 125 00:08:02,300 --> 00:08:06,260 You've got everything that you've learned so far will enable you to do it. 126 00:08:06,470 --> 00:08:09,140 There's nothing new in this challenge. 127 00:08:09,470 --> 00:08:11,750 You just have to put all the pieces together. 128 00:08:12,020 --> 00:08:16,370 You have to push through the difficult parts and maybe sleep on a problem and 129 00:08:16,370 --> 00:08:21,050 think about it and then come back to it. But I believe you can do it. Once 130 00:08:21,050 --> 00:08:23,030 you're ready, pause the video, 131 00:08:23,660 --> 00:08:27,050 head over to the starting project and give it a go. 132 00:08:28,310 --> 00:08:29,780 And once you're satisfied, 133 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,289 then head over to the next lesson and I'll walk through the solution with you.