It's Blackjack, except before each round starts, you get to see the upcoming cards in the deck and rearrange them as you see fit to produce the best possible outcome. Once you're done rearranging (or if you hit the time limit), the cards are hidden from view and the game proceeds like a normal Blackjack game.
The order of play can always be determined in advance -- it's just you vs. the house:
1. 2 cards are dealt to the dealer
2. 2 cards are dealt to the player
3. The player performs simple actions (hit, double, split, stand) -- repeat sequentially for each hand if playing multiple hands or splitting hands
4. The dealer draws as necessary
The initial difficulty comes from remembering this sequence and ensuring that cards get distributed as intended -- just like a classic mistake in Tennis is to hit the ball into the net, a classic mistake in Hardkore is to set up the cards in the wrong order!
Also, as the level increases ("level" as in "Tetris"), some cards will be locked, hidden, or even worse; force you to pay before you can move them!
A simple way to win is to give yourself a Blackjack, or get the dealer to bust... But naturally, that will not yield a whole lot of points. What you want to do is bet on multiple hands, split hands several times to acquire "combos," etc. The more combos you try to make, the harder it is to figure out the order of the cards -- and of course, you have to remember what actions you had planned once the cards are hidden from view!
Special bonuses occur in some instances -- multipliers if all cards within a given hand have matching colors, if multiple hands have the same values, or if you manage to draw 4 cards or more on a given hand. The higher the dealer's hand, the higher the payout -- giving the dealer a 20 and getting a Blackjack is considered a nice move, while making him bust or making him stand at 17 is an easy way out.
Some possible game modes:
1. Classic mode
Plain old game of Blackjack -- nothing special. This is the mode I'm working on first, and the only one with a classic "casino" theme:
2. Hardkore
The "regular mode" -- can be compared to Tetris's infinite play mode. Every few rounds, the level increases, your time limit decreases, the base price of rearranging cards increases, and the number of randomly locked/hidden cards increases. How far can you go without losing all your money? How hardkore can you get?
3. Race
How many rounds will it take to transform $1000 into $1,000,000?
4. VS mode
Player VS player or Player VS AI -- all players are given $,1000 and the same deck each round. The winner of a round is the person who makes the most money. Play instant, best of 3, best of 5, etc... Also the basis for a possible campaign/career mode, and perhaps online multiplayer.
5. Puzzle mode
Haven't tried this yet, but it would consist in decks with many locked cards, a pre-set number of hands/bets, and a target earning minimum. i.e. earn 5x from this deck, moving only 3 cards.
The big issue with this concept is that game balance can be hard to achieve -- sometimes, it's way too easy to win, and sometimes, it's all about luck.
So... What do you think?
