Mindplay failed immediately because
It never delievered what the greedy and paranoic buyers were told by the salesman.
Pits and eye personel quickly found out that the main purpose of Mindplay was to reduce those jobs. There have been rumors of sabatoge but other problems may have caused pits to just let it self destruct.
Breakdowns and slowdowns: The thing is slow, if it catches an amatuer cardcounter, that counter could never take off the table the amount they missed by not dealing as many hands as they could of.
Reduction of comps: Another main selling point of Mindplay is that it would track the exact amount a player bets. So throw Max Rubin's book away, you will get nothing extra on your bathroom break and less in fact because the game goes slower, but that will save the average player money money.
Most importantly: No one from Alliance Gaming or any of the casinos that bought their sizzle without steak, every considered the player. They just took it for granted that if they put it on the table the players would throw their money at it. Blackjack players, non AP's, do not like strange things on the table, CSM's and Mindplay fall into that category. They are superstitious and feel that somehow the house will use these devices to win more and sometimes they are correct. Also, some players actually figured out that the thing was cutting their comps or knew that their favorite pit who would put them down as a $50 bettor when they usually only bet $25, could no longer do this. So what happened, the players played elsewhere.
The casinos that bought into Mindplay lost, the company that sold it has now lost, and the casinos that picked off the old players from those casinos have won.
Finally, it is not over. The next generation of complete, all knowing, table game systems will soon hit the market. I do not know if they will work or not, but I do know the game between casino and player continues.
ihate17
