SHUFFLEMASTER QUESTION

http://ggbmagazine.com/issue/vol-9-no-8-august-2010/article/mission-impossible

Sorry, too computer illiterate to post a link. Here are a few highlights,

Roger Snow, executive vice president of Shuffle Master, Inc., the market leader in table game development in the industry, says his company is often approached by table game inventors. Often, however, it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.

“We treat every game submission from a third party as if it were a combination of a bomb threat and a blind date,” Snow says. “We take them seriously and we hope for the best. Of course, most of the time it turns out to be a false alarm and it goes nowhere. Look, there’s a bit of art and science in this field.”

Snow says Shuffle Master has specific parameters when it considers these games.

“We look for games that, first and foremost, are fun to play. Is it relatively easy to understand and does it have any interesting nuances? We tend to market games that are derivatives of blackjack or poker. We have dabbled a few times outside those realms, and it never amounted to anything. Players seem to like blackjack- and poker-based games, so that’s what we like to see from outsiders.”

Webb agrees that unless the game is a derivative of an existing game, it has virtually no chance.

Snow says it’s not necessary for an inventor to have anything more than a simple idea for a game for Shuffle Master to be interested.

“Sometimes the germ of an idea is enough for us to make a deal,” he says. “That way, I can sit down with the developer, the way I guess a record producer would sit down with a singer, and try to make something that has commercial appeal. However, it’s likely that we would offer more money for a completed game than for one that is just a loose concept.”

Snow says there are definite advantages to working with Shuffle Master.

“The most obvious advantage we have is in the area of sales,” he says. “We have salespeople all around the world with contacts at every casino. It’s relatively easy for us to call up a casino and say we’re coming over to show a new game. It’s not quite that easy for someone working on his own to do that. But we can also present the game in the best light possible. We have graphic artists on staff who design logos and layouts. We have player instruction cards that are high quality. We have done so many games over the years that we know, from a presentation standpoint, what works and what doesn’t.”

NOW HERE IS MY QUESTION ?? Does anyone know how to submit a new game to Shufflemaster ?? They used to have a way on their website, but I no longer see it there. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

If you are worried about posting such info, please PM me. Thanks in advance. Am 71 years old and have neither the time
nor money to go any further with product development on my own.

Submit game to Shuffle Master

Quote: teliot

Submit game to Shuffle Master

Thanks sir. you are both a gentleman and a scholar !

I had talked to someone last year at Shufflemaster and was told while they would prefer you be patent pending at least for your own protection, but you can put any random number on patent pending line to satisfy the computer program. I will be patent pending when
I get my student loan in August and hope to post my successful submission or lack there-of. Thanks everybody.

Quote: buzzpaff

I had talked to someone last year at Shufflemaster and was told while they would prefer you be patent pending at least for your own protection, but you can put any random number on patent pending line to satisfy the computer program. I will be patent pending when
I get my student loan in August and hope to post my successful submission or lack there-of. Thanks everybody.

Buzz,

You must not submit the game without some form of protection. I'm assuming that you will wait until August before submitting the game to them?

If you are considering submitting your single deck game to them then I doubt it will 'float their boat' as it is a limited market and already contains a game that produces a high house edge (6/5).

I will wait until then. As for floating their boat, the fact that players are willing to pay such a high premium
for a SD game is my best selling point. I hope to compete by offering besides liberal rules and jackpots, but
something not offered before. A game in which 2 separate players, betting the same amount on a hand, will
face different house edges.
Once I am patent pending I will post my game here for constructive criticism. My only problem is that the
posters here are not reflective of the general public. Before anyone disputes that fact, when was the last time
a regular poster here played 6-5 Blackjack ?????

I spoke with Roger a while back about a single deck game that I was working on. His immediate response was that the market was too limited. Super Fun, I think, had around 80 installations at one time but I'm sure that 6/5 hurt the progress of that game.

I agree - very few visitors of this site would play 6/5 blackjack.

Quote: teliot

Submit game to Shuffle Master

That's an old form. It looks similar to the form they used to have, but it's different.

The page doesn't match the regular ShuffleMaster website. The News page it links to doesn't go beyond Nov. 2009.

I.E. If you use that form, it *may not* go anywhere.


On the regular website, they list a lot of email addresses and phone numbers. Figure out which one seems most appropriate, and use that to get more info.

Thanks Teddy I hit the submit button and went nowhere. Help anybody . PLEASE

Quote: buzzpaff

Thanks Teddy I hit the submit button and went nowhere. Help anybody . PLEASE

I'll PM you the email address you need. :-)

Quote: Switch

I spoke with Roger a while back about a single deck game that I was working on. His immediate response was that the market was too limited. Super Fun, I think, had around 80 installations at one time but I'm sure that 6/5 hurt the progress of that game.

I agree - very few visitors of this site would play 6/5 blackjack.

I do not find Super Fun to be much fun. I hope to compete against all BJ games. In a SD game protected against counters.
House edge can be as low as that of a 6 deck shoe 3/2 or as high as SD 6/5. All depends on the casino offering and/or the intelligence of the player. That intelligence or lack there of is already evidenced by the growth of 6-5 BJ games.

Quote: Switch

I'll PM you the email address you need. :-)

I will reply with a detailed and cohesive form of my game in return. CrystalMath has been helping me crunch the numbers,

Buzzpaff: Thank you for creating this thread. This is exactly the question I have. I have just gotten the provisional patent of my table game but I know nothing, and I mean nothing, about the casino industry inner workings.

Your opening post gave me encouragement to know that ShuffleMaster actually considers third party ideas, however, as I excitedly read down through the thread, I didn’t see any specifics on how to even contact ShuffleMaster, much less submit an idea.

Does anyone out there have a name, address, phone number, or email that would allow communication with someone that might possibly be interested in a new game at ShuffleMaster? ( I feel like a 98 lb. squire with a wooden practice sword standing before the mighty stone fortress of the gaming industry and all the gates are guarded by large, indifferent guardsmen with giant steel axes.)