Card shoe for holding playing cards

Abstract

A card shoe that includes a housing forming a receptacle sized to receive a plurality of playing cards, the housing having a sloped front face, an opening formed in the front face sized to allow the withdrawal of playing cards, a card support surface proximate a bottom of the opening. At least one protuberance may extend upward from the card support surface, proximate the opening such that playing cards pass over the protuberance when withdrawn from the receptacle. An anti-backsliding protrusion may extend generally downwardly from at least proximate the top of the housing and positioned within the receptacle proximate the front face. A lever may be positioned to selectively disengage a wedge from a locking mechanism that retains the wedge toward a rear of the housing to facilitate loading.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 782,492 filed Mar. 15, 2006.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]This description generally relates to the field of table gaming, and more particularly to card holding devices, for example card shoes that hold a number of cards during a playing card game and allow cards to be extracted from the card shoe one at a time.[0004]2. Description of the Related Art[0005]Conventional card shoes are typically sized to receive two to eight standard decks of playing cards, with fifty-two (52) playing cards per standard playing card deck. Such card shoes are used during professional card games (e.g., casino blackjack, poker, Texas Hold'em etc) so as to allow a dealer to readily extract cards during a fast paced card game.[0006]U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,142 shows one card shoe configuration that includes a housing having an ope...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The patent text describes various aspects of a card shoe that can hold playing cards and prevent them from rolling back into the dealer's hand. The technical effects of these features include improved handling of cards during shuffling and dealing, as well as more efficient and accurate card reading."

Problems solved by technology

This makes it difficult for the dealer to establish sufficient friction or “purchase” with the playing card to remove the playing card.

This also disadvantageously tends to push the playing cards into the housing.

This makes it difficult for the dealer to establish sufficient friction or “purchase” with the playing card to remove the playing card.

This also disadvantageously tends to push the playing cards into the housing.

The lack of gripping surfaces and the close proximity of the wedge to the back of the housing when in the locked position such that fingers cannot be inserted therebetween makes this task exceedingly difficult and time consuming, particularly during a fast paced card game.

An additional problem typical of conventional card shoes is withdrawal of more than one playing card at a time.

This may be accidental, for example, due to adjacent playing cards becoming stuck together, or may be intentional where a dealer is attempting to cheat.

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