itch.io

Yeah, I can explain how those two rules are supposed to differ.

The altered win condition (Rule 6) can show itself in two ways: either the player who busts actually wins, or, when neither side reaches 21, the player with the lower total wins instead of the higher one.

The altered target score (Rule 4) usually changes the number you're trying to reach from 21 to something either lower or higher. For example, if your hand reaches 23 and you don't bust, that's a sign that the cheating is related to the target score (Rule 4).

Since I made the game by myself, I was extremely limited on time — as you can probably tell, I barely managed to submit it before the deadline. When designing the altered rules, I mainly focused on making sure that each one had some way to be distinguished from the others. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to properly balance how easy or difficult each rule is to identify. I also didn't want one altered rule to be so obvious and isolated that it became much easier to identify than all the others.

That said, I definitely agree that some of the altered rules ended up being too similar in how they present themselves, or are easy to confuse because of how the rules interact. That makes some of them harder to distinguish than I intended, and I think that's one of the weaknesses of the game.

The chip system was actually also intended as a light resource-management mechanic: it limits how much you can investigate while also helping recreate the feeling of gambling at a blackjack table.

There's also a little trick you can use when you're running low on chips: if you find a table where you've already figured out the altered rule, you can try to exploit that rule to make money. For example, if you've confirmed that busting makes you win, you can confidently go all-in, keep hitting, and try to make a ridiculous amount of money! :D