Blackjack Coach app icon
chase@localhost:~/blackjack-coach ❯ cat README.md

Blackjack Coach

Android · closed beta

A free blackjack trainer. Realistic 6-deck table, and after every hand a coach tells you whether your play matched basic strategy. No real money, no ads, no purchases, works offline.

Blackjack Coach splash screen: the Blackjack Coach title beside an ace and jack of spades, a gold Tap to start button, and the line Practice only · No real money.
01 · Tap to start
Blackjack Coach table mid-hand: the dealer shows a 10 with one card face down, you hold a pair of 8s for 16, with Hit, Stand, Double and Split buttons and a dealer statistics panel on the left.
02 · Play a hand
Coach Review panel over the table after you stood on 9 and 7 against a dealer king: you stand — basic strategy says hit 16 vs dealer K.
03 · Coach reviews it
Basic strategy chart on its Soft tab: a colour-coded grid of hit, double and stand calls for soft hands A,2 through A,9 against dealer 2 through ace.
04 · Check the chart
Before you start You'll need an Android phone and a Gmail address. Use the same Gmail that's signed into the Play Store on that phone — this is the #1 reason people get stuck at step 3.
  1. Step 01

    Join the testers group

    Sign in with your Gmail and join. It's a plain Google Group; I use it only as the tester list.

    Link not working? Search Google Groups for this address:blackjack-coach-testers@googlegroups.com

  2. Step 02

    Opt in to the test

    Open this on the phone you'll install on and tap Become a tester. You have to do this before Google will show you the app at all.

  3. Step 03

    Install it

    Once you're a tester, the Play Store page works normally. Tap Install.

Then: play it now and then

Google counts 12 testers who stay opted in for 14 straight days — and when I apply to launch, they ask how much testers actually used the app. So two asks:

  • Leave it installed the full two weeks. Uninstalling or leaving the group resets the clock for everyone.
  • Open it every couple of days and play a few hands. If you can, poke at all four tabs at least once — Table, Chart, Stats, and Settings.

Ten minutes total across two weeks covers it.

Found a bug?

Settings tab → Send feedback. It comes straight to me.

I'm on an iPhone

Then you can't test the Android build, unfortunately. The browser version works on any phone though: blackjack.chasecrawford.dev

Stuck?

Play says the app isn't available. Almost always the wrong Google account, or the opt-in hasn't propagated yet. Check that the Play Store on your phone is signed in with the same Gmail you used in step 1, then wait a few minutes and retry.
There's never an update to install. That's expected. Most updates ship silently and are live the next time you open the app — there's usually no Play Store update prompt.