Patent Publication Number: US-8109514-B2

Title: Card shuffling device and method

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/121,484, filed on May 15, 2008 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,854,430, which claims priority to U.S. provisional application 60/931,646, filed on May 24, 2007, each of said applications being which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This application relates to an apparatus and method for preparing playing cards for use in a game of cards. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Various games are played using playing cards, where a typical game uses one or more decks, which may have 52 cards of various values and suits. Examples of such games that are popular in the United States are poker, blackjack, bridge, and canasta. In other countries, different games of cards are similarly popular, and may use decks of cards having more or less than 52 cards, and having different markings. Players of games of cards have an interest in ensuring that the playing cards are dispensed for the game in a random manner, giving no one player an unfair advantage. Preparing a deck of cards for play of the game may be accomplished either manually or automatically. In the case of manual preparation, the cards may be cut, riffled and stripped. The process is performed multiple times. It is believed that performing a cut-riffle process approximately 7 times will result in a sufficiently random distribution of cards within a deck. However this is time consuming and it is common to perform the process only 3-4 times. 
     SUMMARY 
     A device for shuffling cards is described, including a compartment sized and dimensioned to receive a plurality of cards, each card of the plurality of cards having a height dimension and a width dimension parallel to a face thereof, a thickness dimension orthogonal to the face thereof; and, edges around the periphery thereof. A forcer facing an edge of a card of the plurality of cards exerts an intermittent force on a group of cards of the plurality of cards. 
     In an aspect, a device for shuffling a deck of cards includes, a compartment having the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, sized and dimensioned to receive a deck of cards, and having first and second dimensions larger than a first dimension of a face of a card of the deck of cards, and a thickness of the deck of cards, respectively. A forcer applies an impulsive force to a group of cards of the deck of cards so as to eject the group of cards of the deck of cards into a third dimension, the third dimension being greater than the twice a second dimension of the face of the card. 
     A method of shuffling cards is disclosed, the method including the steps of providing a container having interior dimensions of a rectangular parallelepiped; inserting a deck of cards into the container; orienting the container so that a plane coincident with a face of a card, and an edge of the card, are parallel to a gravity vector; and propelling groups of cards of the deck of cards in a direction parallel to the face of the cards. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows front and side views of cross sections of the shuffling device, positioned vertically; 
         FIG. 2  is a side cross-sectional view of the device of  FIG. 1 , positioned horizontally, and with an access door partially opened; 
         FIG. 3  is a side cross sectional view of the device of  FIG. 1 , positioned vertically, and with the cards being shuffled; 
         FIG. 4  shows the view of  FIG. 3 , with the device positioned horizontally after the completion of a shuffling operation; 
         FIG. 5  is an exterior view of the device of  FIG. 1 , having (A) an access door, and (B) having a sliding drawer; 
         FIG. 6  is a simplified functional schematic of a pneumatic pressure source for a forcer; and 
         FIG. 7  shows partial cross section views of a pneumatic forcer. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Exemplary embodiments may be better understood with reference to the drawings, but these embodiments are not intended to be of a limiting nature. Like numbered elements in the same or different drawings perform equivalent functions. 
     When a specific feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example, it will be understood that one skilled in the art may effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other examples, whether or not explicitly stated herein. Embodiments of this invention may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof, and may include instructions stored on a machine-readable medium. 
     The act of randomizing a deck of cards prior to use in a game of cards is intended to make the order of the cards in the deck of cards unknown to a person playing the game of cards, even with the state of the deck of cards being known prior to the randomization. This is considered to place all of the players of the game in a state of equal knowledge of the situation which obtains at any stage of the play of the game. In common parlance, this process is called “shuffling the deck,” and may include the steps of cutting, striping and riffling as described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/706,707, filed on Feb. 15, 2007, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     Herein, the term “shuffling” the deck is used to describe an apparatus and method which distributes the cards of a deck of cards so as to achieve an effectively random distribution of the order of the cards. The details of the operation of the shuffling device and method may not correspond to the traditional steps of cutting, stripping or riffling; however, the result may be that the deck of cards has been placed in an effectively random order state. An “effectively random” ordered deck of cards would be understood by a person of skill in the art to, for example, defeat a strategy of card counting as a betting strategy in a card game. Such a shuffle would be accepted by players of the game as to be fair to all of the participants, so that the game may be played according to an accepted strategy where each card distributed is not known a priori. Of course, in games of cards where the cards are exposed during the play of the game, a player may use knowledge of the exposed cards, and cards held by the player, to deduce the remaining cards in the deck, but not the explicit order of the cards. 
     A card shuffling device  1  is shown in side and front cross section views in  FIG. 1 . The device  1  illustrated may be intended for, and dimensioned for use with, a single deck of cards, two decks of cards, or less than a deck of cards. It will be appreciated that a device capable of shuffling multiple decks of cards may also be capable of shuffling a single deck of cards or less than a standard deck of cards. The subsequent discussion will be in terms of a single deck of cards for clarity, however unless otherwise excluded, the operations are equally possible for a stack of cards comprising more or less than one standard deck. 
     Playing cards may be rectangular sheets of material, having a durable surface and the values and suits of a deck suitable for playing a game of cards displayed thereon. Often, the playing cards have a plastic surface, or are made wholly of plastic, although paper playing cards are known. Although the deck of cards may have more or less than 52 cards, for convenience in discussion a deck of cards is considered to be comprised of 52 cards. The dimensions of a single playing card may vary depending on the game of cards for which the deck is intended. For example, bridge and poker cards typically have different linear dimensions, however, a particular deck of cards may be used to play a game of cards for which the dimensions are not optimal. 
     Generally, playing cards are rectangles of flat material having dimensions less than about 3.5″ by 2.5″ (about 62 mm×88 mm) in the plane or face of the cards, so as to be held comfortably in the hand. Each card of the deck of cards is marked with a suit and value on one face thereof. For the purpose of discussion, the dimensions of the face are termed are the height H and the width W, respectively, so as to encompass decks of cards having other than the nominal dimensions. Each card of the deck of cards has a thickness, and the plurality of cards making up a deck of cards has a thickness T, the thickness being a dimension orthogonal to the height H and the width W of the cards. The periphery of the face is comprised of four edges, and the corners of the faces, where the edges meet, may be rounded. 
     The shuffling device may have a rectangular-parallelepiped-shaped interior compartment  70  having a first dimension  30  slightly greater than the card height H, a second dimension  35  at least twice the width W of the card, and a third dimension  40  greater than the thickness T of a deck of cards  15 . The first dimension may be approximately 4 inches; and, the second dimension is not less than approximately 5 inches. In an alternative, the deck of cards  15  may be rotated by 90°. 
     A deck of cards may introduced into the interior of the device  1 , for example through a lid  20  (shown closed), and the device  1  may be stood on an end  10  or base thereof. The second dimension of the interior compartment  70  may be oriented in a vertical position so that edges of the cards of the deck of cards  15  are parallel to a gravity vector g. The cards in the deck are acted on by a forcer so as to eject a contiguous group of cards  15   a  from the deck of cards  15  so as to be introduced into a space above the remainder of the deck of cards  15  in the second dimension. For this purpose, the thickness of the deck T may be considered to be divided into a plurality of volumes  15   a , each volume  15   a  including a portion of the deck  15 . The volumes  15   a  may not each contain the same number of cards. When the deck is in a static position of repose, and the device  1  is oriented as shown in  FIG. 1 , the cards are urged against a bottom surface  120  of the interior compartment  70  by the force of gravity. 
     A forcer or launching device, for example, a piston  27  and a kicker  25 , which may be a cam, a piston, an electrical solenoid, a pneumatic cylinder, or the like, acts on a card volume  15   a , at the lower surface thereof, so as to eject the card volume  15   a  upwards. Card volumes  15   a  may ejected upwards in a sequential manner, until substantially all of the cards in a deck of cards have been so ejected. The volumes sequentially ejected may be arranged a physically contiguous sequence, or may be ejected in another order. The ejection sequence may repeated rapidly for a plurality of such sequences. It may be imagined that the cards are in a somewhat chaotic state, with some cards being in contact with the bottom surface  120  or the piston  27 , and some cards in varying dynamic positions, displaced with respect to the bottom surface, depending approximately on the time since the last ejection of the particular card or groups of cards. The pistons  27  may project above a surface  120  when actuated, which may be the surface that the cards rest upon when the device is not ejecting cards. 
     The ejection of a volume of cards  15   a  may be characterized as having a number of states: for example, repose, ejection, upward free flight, and free fall. In repose, the cards of the volume may be at rest with respect to the bottom surface  120 , and in contact with either the bottom surface  120 , or a piston  27  projecting through the bottom surface, or both of the structures. When the piston  27  is actuated, so as to eject the volume of cards  15   a , the piston  27  moves rapidly in the second dimension of the interior compartment  70 , and the volume of cards  15   a  being in contact with the piston  27  is accelerated in the second dimension until the piston  27  reaches the end of a travel distance. The piston  27  is constrained so the overall linear motion is limited, however, the volume of cards  15   a  may continue to move in the second dimension, with an initial velocity equal to the terminal velocity of the piston  27 . The motion of the piston  27  is arrested by a stop or other mechanism, and the piston  27  may return to the repose position by action of the force of gravity. The return may be assisted by a spring, a double acting solenoid or pneumatic device, or other mechanism having a similar effect. The volume of cards  15   a , however, continues in an upward direction, and may be said to be ejected from the remainder of the deck  15 . The initial velocity of the volume of cards  15   a  when the piston  15   a  reaches the end of the stroke is sufficient that the minimum height reached by a lower card edge of the volume of cards  15   a  is greater than the dimension of a card in the direction of motion. 
     As the volume of ejected cards move in upward in free flight, the cards experience deceleration due to the force of gravity, and the velocity decreases such that, after a period of time, the vertical velocity of the cards is zero, at the maximum height of the cards above the surface  120 . The cards then begin free fall, accelerated by the force of gravity, such that the motion of the cards is towards the repose surface  120 , and the velocity of the cards increases with time, until the cards return to contact with the surface  120 . The cards of the volume of cards  15   a  that was ejected now remains in repose and contact with the surface  120  until again ejected. 
     Due to the cross sectional dimensions of the base of the interior compartment  70  of the device  1 , the individual cards have a limited ability to rotate about an axis perpendicular to the face thereof. The cards may rotate slightly so that the edges or portions of the face contacts a wall, and the motion of the card is affected by such interactions, by face-to-face contact with cards of the ejected volume, and with cards of previously or subsequently ejected volumes. Hence, while the cards may translate in the thickness direction, the cards are constrained to land on the bottom surface  120  or the piston  30  in the same rotational orientation as with which they were ejected. But, individual cards may be interchanged, or groups of cards urged to move in the thickness direction T. Movement in the thickness direction T may also occur for cards in the repose state, when acted on by other cards being ejected. 
     The value of the second dimension should be sufficient for the bottom edge of the ejected card to rise above the top edge of a card in repose. The value may permit the ejected card to reach an apogee of the trajectory without contacting the far end surface  90  of the interior compartment  70 , or the value may result in some or all of the cards contacting the far end surface  90  during the ejection sequence. 
     In the example, providing that the second dimension  30  is less than the diagonal dimension of the face of a card of the deck of cards  15 , the card may not be capable of rotating so as to change the rest or repose orientation of the height dimension H of the card with respect to the bottom surface. That is, the height and width dimensions of a card are not interchanged during the shuffling process, even if the card undergoes some rotational motion during the ejection process. 
     Where the deck of cards  15  is disposed in the alternative configuration, where the rest position of the deck of cards  15  has been rotated by 90°, an additional constraint on the second dimension  30  may be that the center of gravity of the card may need to be disposed such that it lies above the projection of the narrow dimension of the face of the card onto the bottom surface  120 , in order to prevent rotation of the cards between the start and end of the process. 
     As may be seen in  FIG. 3 , when the sequence of ejections is being performed, various volumes  15   a  making up the deck of cards  15  may be in differing states with respect to the bottom surface  120 . 
     The inventor has experimentally demonstrated this aspect of the operation of a shuffling device by using a cigarette carton as the rectangular parallelepiped compartment and a can of compressed air having a straw-type extension, such as is used to blow air into an electronics assembly for cleaning purposes. The end of the straw emitting the compressed air was directed at the base end of the carton through an aperture so that the pressurized air stream impinged on the bottom edge of cards and the nozzle rapidly moved back and forth in the thickness direction of the deck. The cards were observed to be ejected upwards in groups or individually and to reorder themselves in the somewhat chaotic environment where the cards are in various stages of flight. As the air pressure was either diminished or removed, the cards settled back into a deck of cards, resting on the base. 
     In the experiments, cards were placed in a deck so that the cards were ordered by suit and value, and the result of the operation above described was that the ordering of the cards in the deck of cards was observed to be effectively random after completion of the shuffling operation. A typical duration of the shuffling process was about 15 seconds. 
     In this manner, the ordering of cards in a deck of cards may be arranged in an effectively random manner. At the conclusion of the “shuffling” process, when the forcer sequence is terminated, the cards will be in the form of a randomized deck of cards. The shuffling device may then be rotated such that the second dimension is horizontal. This places the cards in the shuffled deck on top of each other, so that the lid or door of the shuffler can be opened, or a tray slid out and the cards removed. 
     The device  1 , may further comprise a motor  42  turning a shaft  28 , connecting to a cylinder  45 , which may be termed a kicker, having projections  25  disposed at intervals along a length thereof, the projections  25  being disposed so that each of the projections  25  may come in contact with a piston  27  during a rotation of the cylinder  45 . The projections  25  may have the shape of cams, or an equivalent projection may be present on a facing portion of the piston  27 . The distribution of projections  25  may be such that adjacent pistons are actuated, or such that pistons  27  are actuated in some other sequence. Although the pistons  27  are shown as being contiguous across the thickness T of the deck of cards  15 , the pistons  27  may have a spacing between them, and depend on the movement of cards in the T direction to move cards into position with respect to the pistons  27 . 
       FIG. 2  shows the device  1  disposed in a horizontal position, such that a surface  5  thereof is in contact with a horizontal support. Typically this support may be a table where the game of cards is being played. An interior compartment is formed by a first surface  80 , extending in the second dimension, a second surface  60  also extending in the second dimension and disposed parallel to the first surface  80 , separated by a distance  40 , where the distance  40  is greater than the thickness T of the deck of cards  15  to be shuffled. A top end surface  90  of the device  1  is disposed opposite the base end  10 , and at a distance such that a space of at least one card face dimension is provided between an inserted deck of cards  15  and the top end surface  90 . 
     The interior surfaces  80 ,  60  of the compartment  70  are shown as being flat, however there may be projections  125  that extend towards the volume into which the cards are ejected, the projections disposed so as to convert some of the vertical motion into horizontal motion to further mix the cards. For convenience in discussion and description, the interior configuration of the compartment  70 , while generally having the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped, should not, by being so described, be interpreted to exclude such mixing aids. 
     A compartment  100  may be provided so as to house batteries (not shown), a controller (not shown) which may be a microprocessor or other electronic or electromechanical device, and one or more motors, an air supply, or the like. The interior compartment  70  may be closed when the lid  20  is rotated or slid into a position to substantially fill an aperture through which the deck of cards  15  may be introduced into the interior compartment  70 . 
     A compartment dividing bar  55  may rotatably project through an aperture  110  in the surface  80  so as to restrain cards of the deck  15  from inadvertently moving into the area to the right of the bar  55 . The position of the bar may be changed by using a motor  50  or similar mechanism. Alternatively, as the bar is intended to be rotated with respect to the device  1  when the device  1  is moved between the vertical position of  FIG. 1  and the horizontal position of  FIG. 2 , the motor may be replaced by an eccentric weight  50  on a shaft, and configured to maintain the bar  55  in a vertical position regardless of the operational orientation of the remainder of the device  1 . Other mechanisms for positioning the divider  55  may be used. 
     The deck of cards  15  may be inserted into the device  1 , with the device  1  in the horizontal position of  FIG. 2 , and the lid  20  is closed. The user rotates the device  1  to the vertical position shown in  FIG. 1 . In the vertical position, the deck of cards  15  slides so as to rest on the pistons  27  due to the force of gravity, and the bar  55  may have rotated to remain in a vertical position through slot  110 , opening the remainder of the compartment  70  to the cards. In the front view, the compartment  70  is seen to have a first dimension  30 , which is slightly greater than the height H of the cards. 
     The arrangement of the motor  45 , the kicker  25  and the piston  27  is one of a variety of mechanical, electromechanical or pneumatic forcer mechanisms that may be used to transmit a substantially impulsive force to the edge of the cards now resting on the pistons  27 . For example, the pistons may be electrically actuated by solenoids, or air pressure may be used. In an aspect, the piston may be an armature of the solenoid. A spring mechanism may be used to ensure adequate contact between a cam and the piston, as is known in a cam follower arrangement, or a spring may be provided to assist the force of gravity when the piston is returning to a condition of repose when operated by a forcer mechanism. 
       FIG. 1  shows a portion  15   a  of the deck  15  lifted with respect to the remainder of the deck  15  by one of the plurality of pistons  27 , indicating the motion that may be imparted to portions of the deck  15  by a piston  27  when the motor  42  is rotating, and contact between a projection  25  and a piston  27  occurs. Alternatively the piston  27  may be coupled to, for example, a solenoid. As shown in  FIG. 3 , when the motor  42  is actuated to rotate the shaft  45 , the kickers  25  may actuate the pistons  27  in rapid succession, so as to eject portions  15   a  of the deck  15  towards the top surface  90  of the apparatus  1 . The sequence of ejections may become substantially asynchronous with the motions of the groups of ejected cards, so that the cards tend to mix together and migrate to other positions in the thickness direction T of the deck  15 . In this manner, the cards of the deck are effectively randomized with respect to the sequence of cards in the deck  15  which obtained when the deck  15  was initially inserted into the compartment  70 . The time duration of the mixing process may be based on a timer, or the user may have the option of turning the device on and off at will. In another aspect, a pressure switch may be disposed on the base surface  10  so that the motor  42  is activated when the apparatus is in the upright position and resting on the base surface  10  as shown in  FIG. 3 . Other sensing means such as an accelerometer (not shown) or the rotation of bar  55  may be similarly used to determine the orientation of the device  1  with respect to the direction of the gravitational vector. The shuffling operation may proceed for a fixed period of time, or the user may terminate the shuffling with an on-off switch, or by beginning to return the apparatus to the horizontal position shown in  FIG. 2 . 
     Near the end of the shuffling process, the speed of the motor may be reduced, and the cards may begin to settle back into a substantially resting position, in contact with the surface  110 . To the extent that one or more cards have not yet moved into a position that generally conforms to the full deck  15 , as shown in  FIG. 1 , the slower motion should cause the remaining cards to slide into position. A sensor (not shown, but positioned at S) may be used to confirm that the cards are back in the form of a deck of cards  15 . This sensor may be optical or mechanical, or may be omitted. 
       FIG. 4  shows a near-end-state of the shuffling process. In this example, the bar  55  has been rotated into place by a motor  50 , so as to enter the compartment  70  through the slot  110  in the surface  80 , and the device  1  may still be in an orientation where the surface  5  is vertical. The device  1  may now be rotated to a horizontal position: that is, with surface  5  in a horizontal plane; and, the lid  20  may be opened to remove the deck of cards  15 . Where an eccentric weight has been used in place of a motor, the bar  55  will rotate into the position shown in  FIG. 4  as the surface  5  rotates into a horizontal position. 
     In yet another aspect, the lid  20  may be disposed that a hinge is positioned at the upper end of the aperture for insertion of the cards, and the lid  20  may extend further towards the top surface  90 , so that when the lid  20  is rotated to an open position, the lid extension is rotated into the compartment  70  so as to perform the function of the bar  55 . 
     In still another aspect, a surface of the apparatus  1  may be wholly or partially transparent, or have an aperture therein, so as to permit observation of the mixing action. 
     In another example, the automatic card shuffling device may be segmented at a height above the base such that the cards may be inserted or removed while the device  1  is in a vertical position (as in  FIG. 1 ). In such a configuration, the interior compartment  70  may be formed by a lower portion and an upper portion: the lower portion being that extending from the base  10  to a location approximately that of the upper edge of a deck of cards inserted therein; that is, at or below the location of the compartment divider  55  in  FIG. 1 . The compartment divider itself may not be present. A relief or slot may be provided in the surface  60  so that the user may grip the cards in order to remove the cards from the lower compartment. The upper portion of the compartment may be attached to the lower portion of the compartment by a hinge, so that the upper portion of the compartment may be swung away for insertion and removal of the cards, and closed for the shuffling operation. The lid  20  and the compartment divider  55  may not be needed, since the cards may be inserted along the long dimension of the shuffler, and the device  1  may remain in a vertical position after completion of shuffling process. 
     In an alternative, the upper portion of the compartment  70  may be a separate structure and be joined to the lower portion of the compartment by a sliding connection so as to form a complete interior compartment  70 , as in  FIG. 2 . The upper portion may be detached from the lower portion for the purpose of inserting or removing a deck of cards  15 . The shuffling action may be initiated by a sensor determining that the compartments have been assembled, a switch, or other mechanism. The shuffling action may be dependent on the presence of cards in the compartment. The shuffling may be performed for a fixed period of time, or be controllable by the user. 
     In another aspect, the device  1  of  FIG. 1  may be configured so that the lid  20  is replaced by a slidable drawer  140  in a side  150  of the device  1 . The lid configuration  20  and a drawer configuration are shown in exterior views in  FIG. 5A-B , respectively. 
     In another example, shown in  FIG. 6 , the ejection mechanism may be pneumatic. A pneumatic pump  200  is used to charge a cylinder  210  to a pressure P, the pressure being above that of the ambient environment. The cylinder  210 , may be a simple volume, or may have a piston and spring arrangement so that the filling of the cylinder involves the air pump  200  acting to fill a variable volume against the resistance of the spring. In this manner, the volume of the pressurized region increases at approximately a constant pressure. Similarly, the pressure is maintained substantially constant as the air in the cylinder  210  is discharged from the cylinder  210  so as to eject the cards  15   a  of the deck of cards. Near the end of the cycle, the piston in the cylinder  210  may reach an end of travel, so that the pressure decreases, having a similar effect as the slowing of the motor in the first example. 
     The cylinder  210  may be charged by the pump  200  for a fixed period of time, and then a valve  220  opened so that the air at nominal pressure P may flow from the air reservoir  210  to the forcer mechanism  240  to eject the cards. The air pump  200  may be shut off at this time, or continue to operate for some or all of the shuffling operation. After completion of the shuffling operation, the air pump  200  may be operated to charge the air reservoir  210  so as to be ready to perform another shuffling operation. Alternatively, the air pump  200  may charge the air reservoir  210  at the beginning of a shuffling operation. 
     In an aspect, the air pump  200  may supply air to the air reservoir  210  until a desired pressure is reached. This state may be sensed by a pressure sensor or a pressure actuated switch, and a valve  220  actuated to supply air to the forcer  240  so as to shuffle the cards. Alternatively, the air may be supplied through tube  220  so as to actuate one or more pistons  27 . 
       FIG. 7A-C  show side, front and top views, respectively, of a forcer using pneumatic actuation. The deck of is positioned as in the example of  FIG. 1 , however the bottom surface  250  of the compartment  70  is slightly sloped toward the center of the deck  15  in the deck thickness direction, rather than being a flat bottom  120  as in  FIG. 1 . The central portion of the deck of cards  15 , shown in  FIG. 7B  is positioned above an orifice  240  having a larger linear dimension in the direction  30 , than in the direction  40 , so as to apply the air pressure P delivered through the tube  220  to side edges of a group of cards of the deck of cards. The dimensions of the aperture  240  are sized such that the force applied to the edges of the group of cards is sufficient to eject the group of cards into the void above to the top of the deck of cards. The air flow may be intermittently interrupted or pulsed, and the remainder of the cards in the deck of cards  15  may tend to move towards the center-of-the-deck region, so as to be positioned above the aperture  240  to be ejected by the next air pulse. The pulsing may be controlled by an actuated valve, a rotary valve or other method of interrupting the flow of the air. 
     In another aspect, the bottom surface  250  may be flat such as the surface  120  in  FIG. 1 , and a plurality of apertures  240  spaced apart in the deck thickness direction  40  so as to applied the ejection force at different times to groups of cards at different distances from the center of the compartment  70  in the thickness direction T of the deck of cards. A slight slope in the bottom surface  250  may be provided between the apertures  240  of the plurality of apertures, so as to encourage the migration of cards in the thickness direction. 
     Other methods of lifting the cards may also be used. For example, a continuous belt running between the base and the top of the interior compartment and having a bar or shelf projecting therefrom, where the length of the projection is about half of the thickness of a deck of cards may lift the cards. The structure may have an arched path of the belt neat the top portion so that the cards will be encouraged to move from the side where they were lifted to the other side of the compartment, in the thickness direction. 
     It will be understood that this recitation of elements and functionalities is intended to convey an appreciation for the types of elements and functionalities which may be present, however not all of the elements and functionalities may be found in a specific embodiment, and other elements or functionalities may be used multiple times. 
     Ancillary equipment such as a power supply, which may be batteries, a AC-DC converter (battery eliminator), an AC power supply, a controller, or the like, are not shown as they are well known to persons of ordinary skill in the art, as are the various types of motors, displays, solenoids, control interfaces and the like. 
     Although the present invention has been explained by way of the examples described above, it should be understood to the ordinary skilled person in the art that the invention is not limited to the examples, but rather that various changes or modifications thereof are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention shall be determined only by the appended claims and their equivalents.