Vingt-et-un
The game which is called in France Vingt-et-un, or Vingt-Un, is first recorded - as a Spanish game - in a Cervantes short story from 1601 or 1602 and in a 1611 Spanish dictionary, and was obviously well-established by then. The game was fashionable in Britain, France and Germany by the mid 18th century. Some later developments show a game which became named Pontoon. When Vingt-et-un was introduced to players in the US (possibly in the 19th century), they developed variants which attracted extra payouts, one premium payout being for having a hand which held an ace of spades plus a black jack; the game became known in the US as Blackjack.
