The dockGames shedLantern Blackjack
Lantern Blackjack
The card table lives on the screened porch, under a hurricane lamp that draws every moth in the township. Lantern Blackjack is the classic game of twenty-one, dealt from a six-deck shoe with plain, friendly rules. Bring your Cabin Coins and pull up a chair.
How to play
Choose a stake of 10, 25, 50 or 100 Cabin Coins and press Deal. You and the dealer each get two cards, and one of the dealer's stays face down under its plaid back. Your aim is a hand closer to 21 than the dealer's without going over.
Press Hit to take another card, Stand to keep what you have, or Double on your first two cards to double your stake and take exactly one more card. Once you stand, the dealer turns over the hidden card and keeps drawing until the hand reaches 17 or more.
What the table pays
Number cards count as their face value, jacks, queens and kings count 10, and an ace counts 11 or 1, whichever suits the hand. A blackjack is an ace and a ten-value card as your first two cards. It returns your stake plus one and a half times it, which is what 3 to 2 means.
Any other hand that beats the dealer returns your stake plus the same again. If the dealer goes over 21, every hand still standing is paid. A tie, called a push, simply hands your stake back. The full table rules sit under the cards.
Field notes
The porch table
Every family has one: a folding card table with a wobbly leg, a coffee tin full of chips, and a deck missing the four of clubs that everyone pretends not to notice. On rainy evenings it comes out onto the screened porch, somebody lights the lantern, and the game goes on until the loons start calling. Ours has all six decks intact and a dealer who never forgets the rules.
Porch questions
Questions about the table
Does the dealer hit on soft 17?
No. The dealer stands on every 17, including a soft 17 where an ace is counted as 11.
Can I split pairs?
Not at this table. Lantern Blackjack keeps things simple: hit, stand, or double on your first two cards.
Is there a strategy that guarantees results?
No. Each hand is dealt from a shuffled shoe, and no approach can promise an outcome. Standing on a strong total is part of the fun of the game, but it doesn't change what Cabin Coins are: free, and worth nothing outside Reel Bungalow.
More from the shed: Loon Lake Reels, Birch Bark Scratch Card and Firefly Keno.