Play Blackjack on Twitter using ChirpBot

Let the games begin! If you thought ChirpBot was all business – rebooting web servers, sending weather forecasts, sending sports scores, etc. – think again. ChirpBot’s got the visor on and he’s dealing blackjack right now. It’s the first of many Twitter-based games you’ll see from ChirpBot.

The game itself is pretty simple. You don’t need to do anything to configure the BlackJack channel. When you’re ready to play send a direct message or an @reply to ChirpBot using the bj-deal chirp. Your tweet should look like this: @chirpbot bj-deal

Or, if you don’t want your message and response to appear on Twitter, send a direct message like this: d chirpbot bj-deal

This simple command tells ChirpBot that you’re ready to play and he will deal you a hand of cards. Within seconds, you’ll receive a tweet from ChirpBot that tells you the cards you have been dealt, as well as the card currently showing for ChirpBot.  It should look something like this:

You ($0): Q,8 Dealer: A,?

The dollar value in parenthesis is your running total of how much you’ve won/lost playing blackjack. The betting value for a hand is $10 (of course, no real money is involved), so you’re starting at $0. Next you’ll see the cards you are holding, in this case a Queen and an 8. In blackjack scoring, a Jack, Queen, or King are worth 10, so the total value of your cards is 18, pretty close to the perfect score of 21. You can see that ChirpBot is holding an ace, valued at either 1 or 11 as per blackjack rules. The dealer’s other card is hidden.

At this point, you’ve got two choices: hit or stay.

If you want another card, use the bj-hit chirp (e.g. @chirpbot bj-hit). If you don’t want to risk adding another card, use the bj-stay chirp (e.g. @chirpbot bj-stay). Using our example, let’s do that. ChirpBot then responds with another tweet:

You ($10): Q,8 Dealer: A,2,K,Q Dealer bust…you win!

For anyone who’s played blackjack, this is pretty straightforward. ChirpBot (the dealer) drew cards that totaled over 21, and therefore lost the hand. The running total of your winnings is up to $10. Keep it up!

Now let’s say you lost track of a game and want to see what cards you’re holding. Use the bj-status chirp for an update on your current hand.

If you ever want to reset your totals (hey, who doesn’t want to start over after a bad run at blackjack?), use the bj-reset chirp and you’ll be back at $0.

Have fun!