AARON HARRIS/TORONTO STAR
Toronto waiter Kosta Trichas shows off the Wheel-R-Dealer, a hand-held device that he and co-creator John Siambouris are hoping will come up aces in gaming circles worldwide, as a way to remove the fuss and tomfoolery from card dealing.Quest for 'big idea' leads to card-dealing gizmo that's turning heads in gaming circles
Sir Isaac Newton was allegedly sitting under an apple tree when he discovered gravity. And the Greek philosopher Archimedes was in the bathtub when the proverbial light bulb flashed over his head.
For Kosta Trichas, 40, and John Siambouris, 54, that eureka! moment happened while they were hunched over table 4 at their diner.
That's when they discovered a way to possibly revolutionize card playing, by devising a fraud-proof, hassle-free, automatic card dealer.
As on other nights after work, the two waiters leaned their elbows on a small two-seater near the entrance to Sunset Grill, a Queen St. E. breakfast institution.
This was in November four years ago. They were tired and sweaty, cigarette smoke curling through their matted hair, when Siambouris got up and started pacing.
"I got it," he said quietly after a moment. "I got it."
Now, it's no theory of relativity, but for the two would-be-entrepreneurs, his idea was tantamount to dreaming up Google.
"I stood up and yelled 'Yeah! yeah!' " Trichas said. "It was late, we were tired and this idea comes."
Today, their Wheel-R-Dealer is on its way to becoming the apple of every card player's eye, the partners say. It's a device only slightly larger than a deck of cards that eliminates any dealing errors or hand-eye trickery, they say. With a quick flick of a thumb, it deals out one card every time – no fuss, no muss or manual dexterity required.
A dealer's hands never touch the cards and once all 52 are securely inside the device, no one can manipulate the order, the partners say.
It's ideal for recreational poker players or bridge aficionados, or anyone else who finds dealing cards to be a chore or intimidating, the partners enthuse.
After only a month on the market, they say 20,000 units have been sold to Native Casinos, an association of aboriginal operated casinos in the U.S.
And Dave Snider, marketing director at Prairie Knights Casino and Resort in North Dakota, said he just received delivery of 1,000 units emblazoned with the company logo. They'll be given to VIP customers as a New Year's Eve gift.
"They're really cool," Snider says, noting the casino learned of the device at a Nevada gaming conference last month and had to have them.
"Guests will appreciate having something to deal cards ... The concept is really good."
While casinos typically use a six-deck shoe at blackjack tables, largely to inhibit card counting, the Wheel-R-Dealer founders hope their one-deck device can also find a place in gaming meccas.
One U.S. casino has expressed interest, and Las Vegas operators are also looking at the device, their business partner Paul Mailing adds.
That kind of acceptance would make Trichas and Siambouris' years of struggle all worth it.
"It's an almost rags to riches story," Trichas says over coffee at Sunset Grill, where other customers have taken their now famous table.
"Right now, it's more like 'rags to riches, question mark!' "
Trichas met Siambouris 30 years ago, when the two were working at his uncle's Yonge St. deli, Benny's, across from the Brass Rail.
Trichas was a busboy and Siambouris a waiter with John Travolta hair and a glint in his eye – "like a movie star," Trichas says.
The two discovered they shared a dream to strike it rich with a chain of restaurants or a big idea. But after Benny's closed in 1986, they lost touch for 20 years as Siambouris moved back to his native Greece.
Trichas went to work at Sunset Grill, an unknown eggs and bacon place when his uncle bought it in 1989, and spent two decades in an apron slogging it out over a hot stove.
He says his eyes lit up seven years ago, when Siambouris came back into his life, taking a waiter job at the Sunset.
"We were back to trying to think how we could become millionaires," Trichas says.
At coffee breaks or after work, sitting at table 4, the duo would bounce ideas off one another.
For three years, nothing stuck. Until that eureka moment in 2004.
Card players all their lives, they both hated having to stand up to deal cards and even more, the possible sleight of hand.
For two years the pair, both married with young kids, spent countless hours in their basements to create a working model.
Once they did, they needed a financial backer and approached Mailing, a Sunset regular.
He has invested more than $70,000 in the Wheel-R-Dealer, which is being made in Shenzhen and marketed worldwide.
"I saw an opportunity," said Mailing. "I'm a gambler. I'll take a chance."
As for Trichas, he flashes a smile at a Sunset waitress who offers to refresh his neglected coffee.
"You can't quit. I believe in that now."
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment