Game Rules

Best 21

How to Play Best 21

The goal of Best 21 is to get the highest score possible by making five high scoring blackjack hands before time runs out.

Best 21 has three rounds of play; each round lasts 45 seconds. Finishing the third round with more than 120,000 points earns a bonus round. Finishing the bonus round with 160,000 or more points wins the game.

To play, move cards one at a time from the stock pile to one of the five blackjack hands, or to the reserve pile. The reserve pile can only hold one card each round.

Play cards to try to make hands that score 21 or close to 21, without going over 21.

Current hand totals are shown next to the hand. Jacks, queens, and kings are worth 10, aces are worth 1 or 11, and all other cards are worth their face value. Note that although aces are worth 1 or 11, only their “hard” value is shown. In other words, an ace and an 8 are shown as 19, not 9, although they can be worth either 9 or 19. You can hit these “hard” hands, if desired.

Busting any hand (going over 21) ends the round immediately.

When you’ve played as much as you can, click the Take Score button. The game proceeds to the next round (or ends, if you’re on the last round).

Scoring in Best 21

You score 100 times the total of all your final blackjack hands. Getting 21 in any hand gives you a bonus of 10,000. Finishing a round quickly gives you a time bonus; you score 100 times the amount of seconds remaining on the clock when you finish the round.

For example, if you made hands of 21, 20, 20, 18, and 15, with 32 seconds left on the clock, you’d get this score:

9,400 points for your five hands (21 + 20 + 20 + 18 + 15 = 94 x 100=9400)

                        + 10,000 points for the hand of 21

                        + 3,200 point time bonus (32 seconds left x 100)

                        = 22,600 points total

Strategies for Best 21

Try to form piles of 11, since cards with the value 10 are the most common. Of course, you’ll want to use your aces on piles of 10 or 20.