CARDCO
Your connection for Video Casino Card Games
Video Poker Evolves
A computer programmer teams up with a Las Vegas company to produce
new, state-of-the-art machines.
October 19, 1992 * Las Vegas Review-Journal * By Jeff Burbank
When Jim Bridgeman traveled to Las Vegas from California in 1985 as a
real estate broker for the Park Hotel property, the rows of computerized
video poker machines he saw got him thinking about a new line of
business.
Bridgeman, 55, a former computer programmer and systems designer at
Jet Propulsion Laboratories for the Mariner space probe in the 1960's,
decided he could use his know-how to build a better video poker
machine.
"He looked around and said, you know, I could make some different,
unusual games," said Stephanie Bridgeman, his 34 year-old daughter.
"He thought of putting opponents' cards on the screen because no one
seemed able to do that. He came back home and just started
working on an Atari (ST computer)."
What followed, after seven years of research and development in
Bridgeman's Huntington Beach, Calif., home, was a line of new, much
higher resolution video gaming machines patented by Bridgeman and
his family.
Bridgeman's CARDCO gaming machine design company, made up of
himself, his wife and four grown children, invented and patented
video versions of Five Card Stud, Seven Card Stuf, Texas Hold'em,
Omaha, Pai-Gow and a variation of video poker called One At A Time.
To manufacturer and market the machines, CARDCO teamed up with
J & T Inc., a small Las Vegas slot company at 2607 S. Highland
Drive to construct and market the high-tech machines as
alternatives to ordinary, single-hnd video poker machines.
Howard Scott Warshaw, a writer for The Card Player magazine in Las
Vegas, called the CARDCO games, "the first 'new' poker slots since
poker slots started."
"We're putting fun back into the game," said Stanley M. Reekes, sales
manager for J & T. "No one's got a Texas Hold 'em game, no one's
got a Pai-Gow game, no one's got a Seven Card Stud game."
The Cardco/J & T machines sell for about $5,500, which is about
$1,000 more than most regular video pokers. Reekes said that's because
the machine is much more powerful than older video pokers.
While most games by video gaming giants, International Game Technology
and Bally Gaming Inc. use older IBM 8088 computers, CARDCO/J&T
machines consist of more advanced IBM 386 computers with VGA, high
resolution screen graphics.
The VGA resolution is twice that of average poker machines in most
casinos, and the 386 has a 640 kilobyte memory, compared to the
64K memories of most video poker machines, Reekes said.
Each CARDCO game is a departure from the average video poker game.
One At A Time video poker permits players to discard each card
in a five-card poker hand individually, giving players several
chances to win, because a hand can change with each new card.
The pay table is the same as most video poker machines, except the
minimum hand to win one coin is two pair. It has a "9-6" payout;
with one coin in, flushes pay six coins and full houses pay nine
coins.
However, in the One At A Time game, because high hands are easier to
get with the discard factor, there are three times as many straights,
flushes, and full houses, Stephanie Bridgeman said.
With other games, players play against four other hands on the
same screen, with the payout based on the quality of players' cards.
In Seven Card Stud, for example, the coin player can continue to
bet up to five coins for five deals.
If the player wins, he or she is paid the value of the hand, as in
video poker. If the player loses, the coins are lost.
CARDCO, based in Bridgeman's garage, is definitely a family affair.
Bridgeman does the programming work. His wife Nancy, 54, and Stephanie
handle graphics for the games. His son, Bob, 32, does computer
hardware work, while sons Jerry, 29, and Lance, 26, work on software
and hardware.
All of them have come up with design ideas for the CARDCO gaming
machines, usually during family get-togethers, said Stephanie
Bridgeman. They work on several family-owned IBM personal computers
in the family garage, she said.
"Sometimes we stay up late at night and work on our own projects,"
she said. "We go out to dinner a lot. We'll start talking about a new
game we're working on, then we come up with a new idea and we have to
go work on it."
Seven years of rewriting game programs, drawing up pay tables and showing
prototypes at gaming expositions in Las Vegas and elsewhere have paid off
for the Bridgemans.
Texas Hold'em and One At A Time were approved for casino play by the
Gaming Control Board in March, and the CARDCO/J&T games are
expected to be in 32 casinos within 90 days, Reekes said.
Other games are in field trial, one of the final steps before
final approval by Nevada gaming authorities.
In Las Vegas, the Seven Card Stud game will be field tested at Harrah's
and Circus Circus hotels, and the video Pai-Gow is set for field trial
at the Golden Nugget Hotel and The Mirage.
Orders for games have been placed by the Edgewater and Harrah's Del Rio
casinos in Laughlin, the Hilton, Plantation and other casinos in
Reno, and Harvey's, Harrah's and other casinos at Lake Tahoe.
Sam's Town on Boulder Highway already has six of the One At A Time
games, placed next to the casino's poker room.
It's a new game that makes you think a little, but it's better than the
standard game," said Rich Lehman, assistant slot machine manager at
Sam's Town.
The regular game, you just push the buttons to get a hand without further
options," he said. "With One At A Time, you can go card by card to end up with
your final hand."
"There's a lot of player appeal," Lehman said of the One At A Time machine.
"A card player would want to play this. The average player would be a little
confused. Lehman said the games will catch on with average player, many of
whom are becoming more and more used to computers at home and at the
workplace. But there will be a transition period.
"Casinos have to be slow paced so that people accept (new machines)," he
said. "People will end up teaching each other, especially at the local
houses. As soon as someone plays and enjoys it, they become a winner, and
others will notice they're winning."
For the out-of-Nevada market, CARDCO and J&T work through a third company,
Gamma International Ltd. Last month, J&T shipped 50 One At A Time
video poker machines from the Las Vegas factory to clients in Louisiana,
Reekes said.
The company has obtained a gaming license in Minnesota, and licenses are
up for approval in New Jersey, Colorado, Wisconsin and Canada. The J&T
factory has the ability to put out 500 machines a month.
We'll be a force to be reckoned with" in the video gaming market,
Reekes said.
Return to the Cardco Home Page.
For more information about the
Web Mill Business District,
please contact The Leasing Office.