Poker Surface beautifully weds multitouch table, cellphone interaction and illicit gambling

It's the first poker table we've seen since the enviable X10 surfaced in 2008 that would fit appropriately in the new Aria (read: Vegas 2.0), and given that we just left the halls of CTIA ourselves, we couldn't be drooling any more heavily over this gorgeous creation. Designed and built by students at the University of Duisburg-Essen, the Poker Surface magically combines a multitouch surface with an interactive mobile application that enables users to see their cards when they tilt the phone upwards towards their face. Then, users can complete a play by sliding in their bet(s) and flipping their hand once they're all-in. There's no word on when (or if) this gambler's dream will be available for shipment to man caves everywhere, but you owe it to yourself to peek the video after the break, regardless.

See more video at our hub!

[rwalrond Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:24PM]

Dam it, was just prototyping this exact idea with some other popular devices. I guess the idea isn't original.

[BigKing Posted Mar 26th 2010 3:45PM]

@rwalrond Me too. Well, we had the idea for a 42" multitouch LCD screen using Flash. Didn't think about mobile phones though.

[Mister Warmth Posted Mar 26th 2010 4:15PM]

"Can't read my, can't read my, no he can't read-uh-my lobster face..."

[AckbarsFist Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:27PM]

There's gotta be a Lady Gaga song hidden here somewhere.

[paezbak Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:32PM]

Crapgadget.

[Edobe Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:32PM]

Strange that he had the king of spades and 7 of spades and folded before the flop.

Very interesting concept and well thought out with the being able to split your chips and all. looking forward to seeing this in bar/casinos or whereever it lands

[MattJ Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:36PM]

@Edobe If you believe that was a bad fold then you are invited to my home game anytime...

[mkflush Posted Mar 26th 2010 3:59PM]

@MattJ
If the donks in your home game always fold K7s pre-flop then please invite me to your home game.

[Coptician Posted Mar 26th 2010 4:57PM]

@mkflush
If you use a single fold, raise or call to measure a player's ability to play or not play poker well enough to be a donk at your homegame, then you all deserve to come to my weekly tournaments.

Just like everybody else who wants to play. You're all invited to Holland.

[Edobe Posted Mar 26th 2010 6:07PM]

@Coptician It's safe to say that if you Always fold K7's suited before the Flop you're a donk.

[bgphoenix Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:34PM]

Just get an awesome WiFi/bluetooth hack for the game, n ur awesome rich in no time....

[dimithra Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:34PM]

that pretty cool.. but a waste of time?

[nabberuk Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:40PM]

@dimithra

to you maybe.. But this may be there idea of fun.

[dimithra Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:45PM]

@nabberuk yeah your probably right..

[DTJ Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:44PM]

P-p-p-poker sur-face

[viper24 Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:46PM]

@DTJ My pa pa poker surface.

[BigD145 Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:45PM]

I guess it's time to bring out the packet sniffer when going to the casino.

[ky Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:54PM]

Oh, so is this at all related to Microsoft Surface?

[Paullll Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:54PM]

Almighty N95(8gb) again showing the magic.

[N900 Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:56PM]

@Paullll Man, that phone takes me back.

[jascop Posted Mar 26th 2010 2:57PM]

holy crap that is the annoying song from deer hunter 5. arrgh it is stuck in my head

[DTJ Posted Mar 26th 2010 3:03PM]

There's a deerhunter 5?can't believe there's enough material for so many sequels to a movie about Russian roulette in vietnam.

[jascop Posted Mar 26th 2010 4:00PM]

@DTJ deer hunter 5 the game it played the whole time you were in the menus and when u drove or walked around

[Captain Hodge Posted Mar 26th 2010 3:12PM]

I remember when they were talking up the Wii and DS at launch they said that this was the type of thing that would would be able to do when pairing the two. Guess they abandoned that

[Meekermoloko Posted Mar 26th 2010 3:50PM]

I would've liked to see you be able to pinch the corners of the cards on the table to peek at them like you do in real poker. The phone thing is a nice option, but I'd rather just use the table.

[Wallyum Posted Mar 26th 2010 4:40PM]

I don't really understand the point of this. Having a dealer shuffle and distribute cards is a far better experience than doing it digitally. Besides, cards are cheaper and easier to play with. They will never freeze or run out of batteries.

I like handling real cards and reading real books. I appreciate technology (why I read Engadget), but I think sometimes people take it to far.

[Coptician Posted Mar 26th 2010 5:01PM]

@Wallyum
The same dealer (I am one at my local poker tournament) does make the game slower, a dealer makes mistakes (I do), and cards can get marked, get sloppy, fall open, get lost, etc.

I do enjoy live poker more, but that's because of the people, not because of the real dealers etc.

[Pedro0792 Posted Mar 26th 2010 9:23PM]

This would save so much time in a tournament like the WSOP

[juanvaldez Posted Mar 27th 2010 12:36AM]

OK, this is miserable compared to electronic tables. So much slower, don't need multitouch on everything. Single tap, resistive is the way to be in this, yes this might have more of the nostalgic imitation of the real thing going on, but the point of electronic tables is to speed the game up. This is like the worst of both worlds (poker lover who prefers live games to internet, willing to play at electronic tables but don't want them to take over every casino).

[teco221 Posted Mar 27th 2010 12:39AM]

There are some upcoming games for iPad use this idea already, iPad as the table then iPod/iPhone as controllers.

[Steafan Posted Mar 27th 2010 8:19AM]

i was thinking about building this and then i tought let's just buy a pokerset

[GlobalCop Posted Mar 27th 2010 6:16PM]

For the first time I'm going to sound like a total Lumpen, but there is nothing more fun and tactile than clay chips and quality KEM cards. I'm all for virtual experiences, but 95% of poker, for me, is being at the table and interacting with the objects.

This thing has no place in my life at all.

I built an 8 person oval table and spent $2000 on clay chips (and oiled each one by hand one at a time). The only thing electronic on our poker league is the laptop that runs Tournament Manager and times our rounds.

[conyeje2 Posted Mar 29th 2010 4:11AM]

Gambling just got cooler!