MindPlay

MindPlay is a new technologic advancement in the monitoring of blackjack players' actions while playing in a casino.

Monitoring a person's play traditionally is done visually, by the dealer, the pitboss, and the eye-in-the-sky, the overhead security cameras that feed video back to the casino security office. If one of these observers notices something unusual in a person's play, they will do what they can to either (a) identify if the person is a cheat or a card-counter, or (b) change the game to turn the game odds back in favor of the casino, via more frequent card-shuffling or other methods.

MindPlay takes monitoring to a new level. It's a specially designed blackjack tabletop that incorporates many features to monitor players' actions:

• Blackjack played at MindPlay tables use specially encoded playing cards, using invisible ink and barcodes.
• 14 tiny cameras are built into the dealer's chip tray (which is now slightly elevated to account for the cameras). These cameras can read every card in play by reading the invisible ink printed on them.
• Special chips are utilized at the MindPlay table, so that sensors embedded in the table can automatically calculate each player's bet more accurately than a dealer or pitboss could visually.
• As MindPlay monitors every card that has been played along with players' betting habits, it is also counting cards just as a cardcounter would do while sitting at the table. If MindPlay notices that bets are changing dramatically at the same time that a card counter would typically make those bets, MindPlay will notify casino officials that they may want to investigate further.

MindPlay tables cost around US$20,000.

When MindPlay was first released in 2003, it was truly revolutionary for its time. However, since then a number of newer generation systems have been developed for chip tracking and card tracking.

For instance, RFID for chip tracking seems to be gaining ground with casinos. A couple of companies offer chip tracking systems - SenSysNet (www.sensysnet.com), Progressive Gaming (www.pgicorp.net) and GPI (www.http://www.gpigaming.com/). The advantage of RFID seems to be that it can be used for games other than Blackjack and also for more comprehensive tracking of chips throughout the casino.

Two other companies offer automated card recognition capability - Tangam Gaming Inc. (http://www.tangamgaming.com) and ShuffleMaster Gaming(http://www.shufflemaster.com). Tangam Gaming's solution tracks cards as well as player decisions using covertly placed overhead cameras, while ShuffleMaster only tracks cards by using a special electronic shoe.

Currently MindPlay still remains the only product with a complete solution. However, other industry players have been consolidating with a view to offer a better complete solution.