Blackjack Royale Review [2024]: Is it Worth Your Time and Money?

What I learned from playing

• You don’t need to deposit any money to play and win cash. This was good for me because I had trouble registering my account and making a deposit.
• Aces can equal either 1 or 11, and the value will change if you hit your hand with another card.
• The game matches you with others at your skill level, so it’s a little easier to win.
• Bonus cash differs from the actual cash you can remove from the account.

Is Blackjack Royale legit?

Yes, Blackjack Royale is a legit game that enables you to make money on your phone. You aren’t going to get rich or be able to pay your rent with your winnings, but you can win enough to continue playing in cash tournaments and maybe put a little extra change in your pocket. Plus, depositing money to play in higher prize pool tournaments is entirely optional.

On the Apple App Store, the game has a rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars based on the over 29,000 people who have rated it.

What is Blackjack Royale?

Blackjack Royale is one of four games that Lucky Day Entertainment, Inc. offers. It’s one of the many available cash games for the iPhone. The app is a simple blackjack card game where the goal is to get to as close as 21 as you can without going over.

In each tournament, you get two minutes to play 12 hands against the dealer, which will deal two cards to you and two cards to itself. Both your cards are face up, so you know their values. The dealer doesn’t show its hand until the end of the round.

You have the option to “stand” with the cards in your hand or “hit” for the dealer to give you another card. For example, if the value of your cards is 19, you may want to stand to avoid going over 21. However, if your cards equal 10, you’ll want to hit to see if you can get closer to 21.

You can win the hand by getting 21, having more points than the dealer (under 21), or having the dealer’s hand go over 21. The game uses the term “stars” for points earned.

Here are examples of some other ways you can win on each hand.

• 21 Jackpot: Win the hand with any combination of 21 points (60 stars)
• Blackjack: Have an Ace and a 10, Jack, Queen, or King card (90 stars)
• Win: Score more than the dealer (30 stars)
• Push: Tie with the dealer (10 stars)

At the end of a tournament, your winnings will come in the form of cash (actual or bonus) or hands, both of which you can use to enter other tournaments.

Splits

If your hand has two of the same cards (a pair), you get the option to play the hand as you usually would or to split the hand so that you’re playing two hands against the dealer’s one. This is a good way to increase your chances of winning the hand. You can also win 120 more stars if you get a Lucky Double, where both hands have the same value.

You can even split a hand a third time if your split yields another pair. If those three hands all have the same value, you’ve earned a Lucky Trio, which is worth 210 stars.

Insure

When the dealer’s face card is an Ace, you’ll have the option to “insure” your hand. If you do this, you can still win the hand and earn 30 stars even if the dealer’s hand equals 21. However, you can still lose the hand if the dealer’s hand is higher than yours (but under 21) or you bust.

My gameplay experience with Blackjack Royale

I enjoyed playing Blackjack Royale and will likely continue to play it even after this review. I started out playing for free and earned hands and cash to keep going. I even earned a little actual cash (versus bonus cash). Admittedly, I had no clue why I received some of the rewards. New gift boxes seemed to pop up and reveal rewards periodically throughout my playing.

One of the biggest skills I learned by playing Blackjack Royale was to always choose to hit and take another card when I had an Ace in my hand. Aces are worth either 1 or 11 points, and that value can change depending on the other cards in your hand.

For example, if I had an Ace and a 7 in my hand, the points would equal 18 (the Ace being worth 11). While this is on the high end, I could still lose if the dealer has 19, 20, or 21. In most cases, I would hold at 18, but I took a hit since I had an Ace. The dealer gave me a 5, and then the cards in my hand totaled 13 because the Ace dropped in value to a 1 rather than an 11.

My biggest frustration with Blackjack Royale was with registering and adding funds, which the app said you can do via Apple Pay, PayPal, or a credit card. While I wanted to deposit money to play in the higher prize pool tournaments, the game kept sending me errors every time I tried.

I submitted a support request but didn’t receive a response within a week. It was frustrating, but it also saved me from wasting any of my own money.

Tips for scoring more

At the end of each two-minute match between you and the dealer, you’ll see your score. It includes the stars you earned during the match plus a 1-star time bonus for each second remaining when you finish the last hand. Completing the tournament more quickly can help maximize your score.

The game then ranks your total score against the other players in the tournament. Players ranked in the top two or three spots on the leaderboard will win the hands or cash for that tournament.

There are numerous other ways for you to earn hands, cash, and XP (experience points). Truthfully, I don’t know how I earned some of the rewards I received. Gift boxes just suddenly appeared on the screen and gave me points when I opened them. I once received 1,000 hands and am still trying to figure out what I did to earn them.

The more obvious ways to score more winnings include:

Scratchers

You can earn a chance to win hands, bonus cash, or XP with a Scratcher. To earn Scratchers, you must play at least three cash tournaments within the first three hours after opening the game for the day. You can earn up to three Scratchers daily.

Daily Rewards

You’ll receive a Daily Reward each day you play the game. The reward can be hands, cash, or XP. After you claim your Daily Rewards, you have eight hours before you can claim them again.

Level up

As you play the game, you progress up the different levels and earn points each time you do. Once you’ve reached Level 10, you unlock the Pro tournament, where you can win up to $65.

Quests

With certain milestones within the game, you’ll progress up a different leg on the Quest Ladder and get various prizes. Here’s how to earn Quest items.

• Get a tournament score of 5,000 or higher – Four Quests
• Win first place in a tournament – Six Quests
• Do a cash tournament – Three Quests plus five times the cash entry fee

Watch videos and invite friends

You can also earn points and cash by watching videos or inviting friends to play the game. The videos are usually for other game apps, but if you are willing to watch them, you’ll earn 10 stars. When you invite your friends, you’ll get $1 when each one joins.

How much money can you make?

Blackjack Royale has ongoing tournaments that pay out as much as $65 in cash, but the real money is in the limited-time tournaments. As I’m writing this, there’s one with a $90 prize pool. However, the entry fees for these larger prize pool tournaments are usually higher. For example, the entry fee for the $90 tournament is $30.

You should know that the prize pool isn’t the amount you get if you win. Tournament prize pools are usually divided between two or three different winners. The $90 prize pool is actually divided up as $60 for first place and $30 for second place. You can see how the prize pool is allocated by tapping on the prize pool area of each tournament.

Another important thing to note is the difference between actual and bonus cash. Whenever you win cash from Daily Rewards, Scratchers, Mystery Boxes, Quests, or tournaments requiring hands to enter, you get bonus cash. While you can’t withdraw this money, you can use it to play cash tournaments and win actual cash.

Actual cash is the money you deposit into your account, win in tournaments using your own money, or win in tournaments over the amount of bonus cash used to enter. For example, if you use $3 bonus cash to play a cash tournament and win $8, the extra $5 you won is considered actual cash. The most I won over several days of playing was about $3.53, of which only $1.75 was actual cash eligible for withdrawal.

If you want to know how much actual versus bonus cash you have in your account, click on your profile icon in the bottom-right corner of the game and select Withdraw. The game will show your current balance and your withdrawable balance, which is your actual cash.

There’s also a feature that lets you earn gift cards to places like Dunkin Donuts and Target. The game occasionally rewards you with puzzle pieces used to build a gift card reward. Once all the pieces are in place, you win that gift card.

Withdrawing your winnings

You can withdraw your winnings once you’ve earned $21 in actual cash. Withdrawals are through PayPal, so you must have a valid PayPal account to access the money.

When you’re on the withdrawal screen accessed through your user profile, you’ll enter your withdrawal amount and PayPal information and then tap Submit. You’ll pay a $1 fee for each withdrawal request, which is usually processed in 2 to 14 days.

What are other users saying?

Overall, Blackjack Royale gets a decent rating in the Apple App Store of 4.7 out of 5, and a couple of users claim they’ve even cashed out about $50. However, several users complained that the game is rigged and teases you by letting you win a lot at first and then making it harder to win the more you play. I’ve actually seen this tactic in several gaming apps.

The user Banchan808 commented, “My first 100 games, I placed top 3 at least 70% of the time. It was a fun game and enjoyed it at that time, so much so that I made in game purchases. But suddenly, they turned on a switch because my last 100 games i am literally 0 for 100 in placing top 3…”

Other users criticized changes that occurred through updates to the game. The user Bturn3839 wrote, “Personally, I like the old version so much better…I gave the app 5 stars because I didn’t submit a review prior to the update and well deserved that rating. This new version, not so much. 2 stars at best.”

A couple of users also complained that the game froze on them while they were right in the middle of a tournament. Plus, I’m not the only one who had an issue with trying to deposit money into the game. Bturn3839 ran into the same issues I did.

Alternatives to Blackjack Royale

If Blackjack Royale doesn’t interest you or you don’t have an iPhone, there are other legit game apps you can play to earn extra cash.

Solitaire Cash

I’m addicted to Solitaire Cash. I originally downloaded it as something to do on my phone instead of doom scrolling through social media. The most I’ve ever really won in a tournament is $2.90, but I still enjoy playing. If you’re a fan of the card game and want to earn a little cash, Solitaire Cash is a good option with several ways to score points.

Download Solitaire Cash | Read our Solitaire Cash review

21 Blitz

If you like to play Solitaire and blackjack, then try your hand at 21 Blitz, which combines both popular card games. Like Blackjack Royale, 21 Blitz matches you against opponents at the same skill level. It offers a variety of tournaments you can enter with real cash, bonus cash, or the in-app currency called Z coins.

Read our 21 Blitz review to learn more.

FAQs

Bottom line

Blackjack Royale is an enjoyable game app you can play to earn real cash without much upfront cost. This makes it a solid option if you’re a casual gamer looking for entertainment with potential rewards. The game has some drawbacks, such as registration challenges and limited withdrawal options. However, if you’re looking for a fun way to pass the time and make a little money, Blackjack Royale might be worth a try if you don’t mind some quirks.