Author: Ray
Be sure to check out part 1!The Fundamentals of my ProgramEvery game has tons of rules, and Blackjack was no different. Blackjack includes many seemingly basic rules such as making the dealer always hit before reaching 17, but beneath the physics based card dealing, different casinos had different rules, such as when the dealer hits on 17—sometimes soft (H17), or otherwise standing (S17)—and these variations would require me to design different menus that are responsible of toggling rules. Other rules include the number of decks the casino plays with, the blackjack payout, the insurance payout, the expected cut card placement,…
Blackjack, one of the most popular casino games, is often associated with greed or reckless gambling. While this perception can sometimes be justified, a closer look at the game’s fundamentals reveals that blackjack closely resembles any other strategic game. Unlike many casino games in which players compete against one another, blackjack pits the player against the dealer, whose simple yet rigid algorithm creates a surprisingly formidable opponent. Because blackjack rules are largely consistent across most casinos, success in the game is primarily about maximizing probabilities rather than exploiting rule variations. Even so, this only scratches the surface. In practice, casinos…
Tennis Video The match had dragged on for an hour and a half already. The game was a first-to-two-set format, with each set composed of four games. On paper, this short-set game would appear rather undemanding—but it felt like the sun itself was waiting for the game to conclude before setting. 3:16 PM: All the other games were far over, and this one was the one that was going to determine the 1st and 2nd placements. Not only that, this was one chance at redemption—my opponent had already beaten me once before this match, while also taking the first set. My…
https://youtu.be/tmCkbTp10RYPersonally, I like creating cartoons and drawing imaginative animals, futuristic buildings, and unworldly creatures. I dislike it when people take unoriginal ideas—instead, I prefer to imagine and manage my own world of different characters. I rarely color my drawings—I tend to focus on the detailed bits. I enjoy designing different foods and buildings—drawn from deep within my visions of this unique world—because it always makes the canvas feel more meaningful to me. I imagine that somewhere in this universe, my sketches are as important to other people as they are to me, and even the detail and odd shapes can distract from how life…
Archery Video I was watching the archery finals of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when I got a notification from my latest archery regional tournament. This was not one of my best scores, and I ended up placing in the top 50 of my division. I was filled with deep despair as I realized the nationals were only a few weeks away. If I performed unsatisfactorily in this tournament, it would leave a stain on my passion for archery. Starting a few years after the pandemic, I had picked up archery as a hobby. Since then, I have grown fond…
Swim Video A typical day in 2023. I arrived at the Onelife pool already dressed in proper swimwear. Coach Rod informed me of the warm-up routine, which in this case was fifty-meter butterfly, fifty-meter backstroke, fifty-meter breaststroke, then fifty-meter freestyle. I jumped into the pool and waited for my body to adjust to the water temperature. While I was completing the warm-up, Coach Rod went over the warm-up procedure with later arrivals. “Swimming is a sport of details. The smallest adjustments can make the biggest difference.” UNKNOWN As soon as I finished the warm-up, I noticed that on the schedule…
Afterschool Practice It was a beautiful day in the spring of 2024. The school day had just ended, but my journey towards becoming part of the basketball team had not yet begun. My friends and I waited in the cafeteria, anticipating our weekly practice. This was an important day because we were going to be awarded our jerseys. We headed toward the playground of our elementary school. Our coach, Mr. Steven, was waiting there with a package of our new jerseys. He had a list of names and called us one by one. After a few names, I heard…
I enjoy playing different types of strategy card games, including games by Unstable Games (a studio’s name), such as Casting Shadows, as shown in the featured picture above. After gaining experience playing card games, I decided to make my own game. I started off by choosing a specific type of game play. I want this card game to mainly revolve around different abilities and dice. For its theme, I chose a historical episode from ancient China, the Three Kingdoms. I wanted this game to include historical figures from this important period of Chinese history, so that the game is not…
This book is an autobiography by Tara Westover, mainly to share her life stories, her course of education, and how education transformed her. She starts off by introducing her father who had been collecting tools and supplies for the upcoming event called Y2K. Y2K was the time when the computer calendar had to change to the year 2000. Many people believed that doing this would be impossible, and all the computers would malfunction and deprive people of many basic necessities. This is why Tara’s dad, Gene, collected supplies to last through the chaos that might ensue. Tara’s family is Mormon,…
The objective & how I designed the dragster In my engineering class with Mr. Buckley, we were asked to design the fastest car possible that meets the following requirements: we have to use the piece of wood that we are given, but it also has to have a certain weight (so that no one is getting an advantage by designing unrealistically small dragsters). I designed my first version taking inspiration from many Formula 1 cars, but I soon found that I was going in the wrong direction. This is because, unlike the F1 cars that are driven by the wheels,…