Shuffle Tech was founded in the summer of 2005 by Chicago area poker players building tables and responding to a simple request:“Can you build in an automatic card shuffler like the casino?”That seemingly simple request started a 3-year chain of events leading to the world’s first fully-automatic card shuffler designed for home use. At the time, automatic shufflers used in casinos cost $16,000 to $20,000 and weren’t available to anybody without a gaming license. Shuffle Tech’s founders began by shuffling a deck by hand and creating the mechanisms required to emulate hand shuffling. By December 2005, Shuffle Tech had a semi-functional model, retained a patent attorney to confirm that no such machine already existed, and then began engineering and design development. In contrast to the mechanically elaborate “black boxes” used in casinos, Shuffle Tech machines are simple and transparent and do not require professional weekly maintenance.