The motherland of blackjack card game is considered to be France though Italy also does not want to give up: two Italian games aspire to be the predecessors of modern blackjack as they had the same objective and common features with it. Anyway, it is clear that blackjack history started in the 17th century when the French game of Vingt Et Un and the Italian game of Seven and a Half were very popular and loved.

As well as it is known, the game of blackjack was noticed even before the 17th century:

• In 1440, the anti-gambling sermon took place in Italy where the game of Thirty-One was mentioned by a priest (the objective and rules of that game reminded blackjack somehow);
• 1500s showed blackjack in the books of the famous writer of that time - Francois Rabelais;
• 1600s described blackjack game in the books of Miguel de Cervantes: he called it "trentuno" then which could be translated as "twenty one" from Spanish.

Vingt Et Un

"Vingt Et Un" can be translated as "twenty one" from French; this card game was highly popular in France in the 17th century and believed to be the predecessor of modern blackjack. The objective of the game was the same with blackjack's one - to beat a dealer by getting more points without exceeding 21, but the rules were different of course:

1. Only dealer had a right to double
2. If a dealer had 21 (Natural) players paid him triple
3. A player could bet on each round of Vingt Et Un
4. An Ace was counted as 1 or 11 too

Seven and a Half

This Italian game of Seven and a Half also aspires to be the predecessor of modern blackjack game; as well as Vingt Et Un, it was popular in the 17th century and had many features in common with a traditional blackjack we have today though the differences between these two games were bigger than between blackjack and French Vingt Et Un for example:

1. The game was played with 2's - 7's and Face cards (8's-10's were absent; Aces were present)
2. An Ace was counted as 1; Face cards - as 0,5. A player which had more than 7,5 points busted at once
3. The objective was to get 7,5 points
4. A dealer could hit and stand when s/he wanted