Blackjack in Assembly (8086 TASM 16-bit)

Final project for 10th grade computer science class

Author: Eyal Raifler

Project Overview

This is a fully functional Blackjack game developed in Assembly language (8086 TASM 16-bit), designed to run in DosBox. It was built as part of a final project at school, with the goal of practicing low-level programming and better understanding computer architecture.

Only file: base.asm

Development environment: VS Code, Notepad++

Assembler: Turbo Assembler (TASM)

Runtime environment: DosBox

How to Play

The player is dealt two cards, and the dealer is dealt one open card and one hidden card.

Player Options:

Hit (H): Take another card.

Stand (S): End turn and let the dealer play.

Winning Conditions:

Blackjack: Two cards totaling 21 immediately wins the round (2 points).

Closer to 21 than dealer without busting wins 1 point.

The first to 5 victories (player or dealer) wins the game.

Card Values:

Number cards (2-10) = face value.

Face cards (J, Q, K) = 10 points.

Ace (A) = 1 or 11 points depending on the situation.

Controls

Action Key
From start screen to instructions Enter
From instructions to game Space
Hit (take card) H or h
Stand (end turn) S or s
After winning/losing screen, back to start Enter
After winning/losing screen, replay Space
Exit game (after winning/losing) Esc

Screenshots

Title Screen

Instructions Screen

Main Game Screen

Win Screen

Lose Screen

Procedures Table:

Procedure Name	Purpose
PRINT_PLAYER_CARDS	Print the player's chosen card.
PRINT_DEALER_CARDS	Print the dealer's chosen card.
WAIT075SEC	Introduce a short delay.
MAKE_RANDOM_NUMBER	Generate a random number (1–13).
EVALUATE_PLAYER_HAND	Sum player's hand and evaluate.
EVALUATE_DEALER_HAND	Sum dealer's hand and evaluate.
print_gif	Helper for printing gifs.
hit_gif, won_gif, lost_gif, tie_gif	Display gifs for game events.
Print_Line_On_Screen	Print a line for screens.
INSTRUCTIONS_SCREEN, Title_Screen, Win_Screen, Lost_Screen, Main_Game_Print	Display different screens.
PRINT_LINE_ON_SCREEN_FOR_CARD	Print a card line on screen.
DRAW_PLAYER_POINT, DRAW_DEALER_POINT	Draw number of round wins.
DRAW_PLAYER_TENS_HAND_VALUE, DRAW_PLAYER_UNITS_HAND_VALUE	Print tens and units digits of hand value.
DRAW_PLAYER_WON_ROUND_SENTENCE, DRAW_PLAYER_WON_ROUND_WITH_BLACKJACK_SENTENCE, DRAW_PLAYER_LOST_ROUND_SENTENCE, DRAW_TIE_SENTENCE	Print winning/losing/tie messages.
wait_for_key	Wait for user input (Enter/Space).
DRAW_HIT_OR_STAND_SENTENCE	Prompt player for action.
Reset_Everything	Reset all game variables.
RESET_AFTER_ROUND	Reset round-specific variables.
PLAYER_WON_ROUND_WITH_BLACKJACK, PLAYER_WON_ROUND, TIE_IN_ROUND, DEALER_WON_ROUND	Handle different round outcomes.
OVERALL_PLAYER_CARD, OVERALL_DEALER_CARD	Card dealing and evaluation.
WAIT_FOR_ENTER	Wait for Enter key.

Variables Table:

Variable Name	Purpose
main_game, lost_screen, win_screen, title_screen, instr_screen	Arrays that store different screen layouts.
gif variables	Arrays for gifs (hit/win/loss/tie).
card variables	Arrays for displaying cards.
screen_number, num_of_row	Helpers for managing screen rows.
TEXT_PLAYER_POINTS, TEXT_DEALER_POINTS	Player and dealer victory counters for display.
PLAYER_POINTS, DEALER_POINTS	Actual player and dealer points.
clear_sentence, clear_the_hit_or_stand	Empty sentences to overwrite old text.
player_chooses_hit_or_stand	Prompt asking player to hit or stand.
won_round_sentence, won_round_with_blackjack_sentence, lost_round_sentence, tie_round_sentence	Different outcome sentences.
Clock	Stores time.
Counter, counter_of_card	Counts card usage frequency.
player_card_counter, dealer_card_counter	Number of cards player/dealer has.
player_hand_value, dealer_hand_value	Value of player/dealer hands.
text_player_tens_hand_value, text_player_units_hand_value	Tens and units of hand value for player.
was_game_over, was_1_round_over	Game state flags.
player_ace, dealer_ace	Number of aces for each hand.
blackjack_color_sentence	Color of the blackjack message.
collum1	Column position for printing text.

How to Run

You can work on this project and execute it in several different ways. I highly recommend using TASM together with VSCode and the following extensions:

Assembly 8086 (TASM) v1.0.1

MASM/TASM v1.1.1

VSCode DOSBox v0.1.8

Make sure your files are located under the TASM directory. Then, in VSCode, right-click the .asm file and select "Run ASM code".

DosBox should be opened automatically inside VSCode, and your program will be run.

I know Writing and executing Assembly code can be very challenging, especially in the beginning. If my explanation is unclear, I encourage you to check out other online resources or tutorials for additional guidance.

Known issues

There are currently no known bugs or issues.
If you encounter any problems, feel free to open an issue or contact me.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.
See the LICENSE file for more details.