I kept seeing ads for a mobile game called "21 Blitz", where you can supposedly win real money. I downloaded it this morning out of curiosity, and then I read the reviews on the App Store.

Before I begin, I need to explain how the game works.

21 Blitz is sort of a cross between blackjack and solitaire.

You have four "lanes" of cards, which you stack upon one another (like solitaire). However, unlike solitaire, there is no order the cards need to be stacked, and instead you're just totaling the values. The goal is to make exactly 21 in each lane. If you bust, you get a "strike". If the total is under 21, then nothing happens, and the cards stay there until you add more to it. If you make 21, then you get 400 points. At that point, the lane "clears" and you start that lane over. You play with one 52-card deck, and are on a timer. Usually you will finish before the timer expires, but you get bonus points for time remaining. Obviously the goal is to make as many 21s as possible, and to constantly clear lanes. Also, the jack of clubs and the jack of spades are "wild" cards and will automatically clear any lane as soon as they're dropped, and will earn 200 points (600 if it also makes 21, 800 if it makes 5 cards, and 1200 if it makes both 5 cards and 21). If you get three strikes from busting, the game ends prematurely.



You can download it for free on your smartphone, and play practice rounds. It's very easy to learn and get a hang of.

After a few practice rounds, I very quickly learned some strategy.

First, look if the current card can make a 21. So if you have a 5 to place, and one lane has 16, obviously put it there.

Next, if you can't make 21, see if you can make 11. Why? Because there are 16 tens in the deck (T/J/Q/K), so it's easy to make 21 with those.

If you can't make either 11 or 21, then you should first fill open lanes. Once open lanes are filled, you should seek to avoid having the same hard totals over 10 out there. So let's say you have a 5 and the four lanes are: 8, 14, 13, 7. You should put it on the 7, to make 12. You wouldn't want to put it on the 8, because then you'll have two 13s, BOTH of which will need 8 to make 21. You want to open up as many possibilities to make 21, so the next card is more likely to make 21.

You should also avoid making high totals (especially 20), because those are a lot harder to convert to 21. For example, 20 can only become 21 via an ace.

Furthermore, an ace is valuable because of its 1/11 flexibility, so you should avoid putting an ace on an lane with a total of 11-19, because you want to be able to use it for 1 or 11.

You also want to avoid having four lanes all over 11, because then if you draw a ten, you will bust one of them.

You also get bonuses for "streaks" (21 made multiple times in a row). So 2 in a row, you get 250, 3 in a row gets 500, 4 in a row gets 750, etc.

If you make 5 cards in one lane, you automatically clear it (even if it's not 21) and get 600 points. If you also make 21, then you get 1000 points.

You always play this game in "match" mode. You have an opponent with the exact same cards dealt as you (a random deck shuffled beforehand, and you both get the cards from it in the exact same order), and then you compete to see who gets the most points. This makes the game entirely skill-based, as the "luck" of the deck is completely taken out of it, since your opponent uses the identical cards as you. (More on that later.)

Anyway, that's how the game works and the basic strategy. Now time to talk about the real money element to it.

You are allowed to play for free, but you can also deposit real money and play other (supposedly) human players in real money matches.

The company makes money by taking a substantial (20-40%) rake off each match.

Still, despite such a brutal rake, could you make decent money by simply getting really good at it and crushing ploppies, perhaps by mathematically solving the game?

The answer is no.

Why?

Because the game "matches you based upon skill", meaning that if it observes you're very good, they will place you with other very good players. If you suck, they will place you against crappy players.

The question:

I wonder if it's possible to trick the game by playing really badly in the practice rounds, and even in the lowest real money rounds, and then playing the highest ($20) rounds and suddenly playing better?

Like, if you throw the match against five $1 opponents, will you get placed with a bad $20 opponent?

In case you're wondering, the reason for matching similar skill levels is to basically make it to where everyone loses over time to the rake. The ideal for the company is that everyone wins exactly half the time, which would leave everyone with less money than they started with. This is similar to how online poker sites don't like pro players, because they prefer everyone is at the same skill level, and keeps the same money on there with the rake dwindling away everyone's bankroll until they redeposit.

My first question: Is this game solvable? I think it probably is, and at that point, it becomes a matter of who plays perfectly in the shortest time.

Second, I wonder if there's a way to game the skill-matching algorithm, either through intentional poor play in low money (or practice) matches, or through multi-accounting.