How to play Afterhours
Win hands to earn chips. Spend carefully. Pay all three creditors before their deadlines.
1. Read your hand
Get closer to 21 than the dealer without going over. Number cards use their printed value; jacks, queens and kings count as 10. An ace counts as 11 unless that would bust the hand, in which case it counts as 1. An ace and a six total 17; adding a nine makes that hand 16, not 26.
Each round uses a freshly shuffled six-deck shoe. Cards from an earlier round do not change the next round’s deck. The normal dealer stands on all 17s, including a soft 17. Mr. Gold changes this rule during his fight.
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Hit | Take one more card. You can keep hitting while the hand remains playable. |
| Stand | Keep your total and move to the next hand or the dealer. |
| Double | On a two-card hand, pay another matching bet, receive one card and stand. You need enough chips for the extra bet. |
| Split | Separate two matching ranks into two hands, paying a matching bet for the new hand. You can have up to six hands. |
2. Understand your payout
With a 100-chip bet, a normal win returns 200: your 100-chip stake plus 100 profit. A natural blackjack returns 250: the stake plus 150 profit. A tie returns the stake. A loss returns nothing. The page glow reflects the net result of the whole round, including insurance and round bonuses.
A natural blackjack is an unmodified, unsplit two-card 21. A split or changed 21 pays the normal 1:1 rate. The dealer checks for blackjack before normal play. If both sides have natural blackjack, the result is a tie.
3. Splits and insurance
Matching rank is required: a queen and king cannot split even though both count as 10. Double after splitting is allowed. Split aces receive one new card each and stand automatically; they cannot be split again. Split hands share one progression round, even though your session hand counter records each hand separately.
If the dealer shows an ace, insurance costs half the original bet. On a 100-chip bet, insurance costs 50 and returns 150 if the dealer has blackjack, for 100 insurance profit. Otherwise the 50 is lost. This is a separate side bet, not protection against every loss. You may decline it.
4. Prepare for the boss
You begin with 1,000 chips and seven preparation rounds on each floor. The minimum preparation bet is 25. Shop between rounds to buy permanent-for-this-run upgrades or pocket items. Keep enough chips for another bet. Encounters appear after rounds two and five; choose an offer or walk away to continue.
Run upgrades disappear when you start a new run. Powers described as “per floor” refresh after you move upstairs. Pocket items stay in your inventory until used, with a maximum of three of each type.
5. Pay the debt
After seven rounds, select Face the boss. Entering the fight does not deal a hand. The shop closes and you can deposit chips between hands. Deposits are final and reduce both your wallet and the remaining debt.
A partial deposit must leave the next minimum bet available. You may pay the whole debt immediately. After your last boss hand, you get a final collection opportunity if you can cover the balance. If the deadline arrives and you cannot pay, the run ends. Running out of betting chips without enough to cover the debt can also end your run.
6. Keep your progress
The game saves the current run and active hand in this browser. Return to the same domain and browser to continue. Clearing site data removes the save. Start a new run resets the run; leaving the page does not. The opening rules overlay is a quick reminder, not a new-game button.