Ni No Kuni: Playing Blackjack Inside the Tombstone Trail Casino, Strategy and Suggestions
Last Saturday, Chris and I ventured into the casino in the video game Ni No Kuni, and saw that you could buy rare familiars there (but could only purchase them with casino chips). As a result, we spent a lot of time playing the slot machines and Blackjack, grinding and trying to build up our chip stack.
Each chip costs about 5 guilders (the global currency in the game), so it’s a bit pricey. We learned late in our gaming that the casino exchange works as a one-way street: you can purchase chips, and you can cash the chips in for prizes… but you can’t exchange the chips back for gold.
Overall, we felt like Blackjack offered the easiest path to get more money. To play, it’s standard Blackjack rules, and you can make an initial bet of 10, 50 or 100 chips.
Each time you win, you get 3x your bet. If you get a Blackjack (21), you get 4x your bet. In terms of betting, there are no additional rules to remember: doubling down and splitting your cards are not allowed.
The one thing that’s unique about the Blackjack table in the game: you can roll your winnings onto the next hand. So if you bet 100 and win the hand, you have 300 chips. If you continue on with that amount, you bet the full 300… and if you win, you have 900 chips. Do that again, and you could end up with 2,700 chips.
Lose once during that sequence though, and you lose all your chips. And you have to start the betting again at 100.
On Sunday, I spent a ridiculous amount of time just grinding away, trying to earn more chips. There are a few rare, high-priced items at the casino that cost around 99,999 and I was determined to try to get our bankroll high enough to afford it. The above photo is me betting 10,800 (and eventually winning).
Outside of regular Blackjack strategies, I would offer this advice: when in doubt, let the dealer draw and bust. In watching a lot of hands unfold, I’ve found that oftentimes I’d stand on a low hand. And then dealer would have a better hand than me, only to continue drawing more cards until she busted.
This isn’t 100% of the time, but seems to hover around 17. I’ve stood before with something as low as a 12, and the dealer had me clearly beaten… but kept on drawing more cards. More often than not, she would go over 21 and I’d win by default.
So if you’re in the 12-15 range, I’d say play it conservative… and if it looks like the dealer has less than 17, she’ll likely keep drawing. Keep in mind this is a general thing, and doesn’t happen all the time – but happened enough that I noticed.
I’m also with Chris in that it feels like the odds are rigged, a little bit. There were enough close calls and scenarios that magically worked out for the dealer… that it made it feel like the game was rigged. But maybe that’s what everyone tells themselves, when they sit down to play games of chance.
So far, so good though. I started with 7,000 in chips, and I’m now somewhere around 79,000. Almost there.
And yes, in the bottom right corner of the photo… that would be the Bunny IQ Treat Ball.
Related:
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
The High Is Always the Pain and the Pain Is Always the High
There are some significant differences between Ni no Kuni blackjack and the real thing:
1) Dealer will, at least sometimes, stay on hard/soft 16.
2) Dealer will occasionally hit on hard 17 (I don’t know how it decides when to do this).
3) Any 21 you or the dealer make is considered a “blackjack” (ex. 8-3-10).
4) A blackjack (even an honest 10-A) is not an instant payout.
5) You and the dealer can push on a blackjack.
6) A regular win pays out 3-to-1. A blackjack pays 4-to-1.
Compared to casino rules, blackjacks are seriously devalued, and the randomness of the dealer’s behavior on 16-17 makes it much harder to determine whether to stand with a low hand and hope for a bust. The 3-to-1 payout for a win is extremely generous, and should stack the game in the player’s favor despite all the rest. The game seems to try to compensate partly by influencing the dealer’s luck. I noticed a string of 30+ hands last night during which the dealer didn’t go over 22 (and I didn’t bust either – I gave her every opportunity to do so).
If you limit yourself to short win streaks (2-3 hands) before cashing out, you can lock in a lot of winnings thanks to the 3-to-1 payout. Since you’re (seemingly) less likely to be able to win each individual hand, you’re taking a big risk by aiming for longer streaks. The payout potential in holding out for a 6-win streak may be huge, but I don’t think that, mathematically, it’s the smart play.
Brian Dunne (March 4, 2014 at 12:22 pm)