Early blackjack counting systems development
In the toe of each shoe there were two “switches”, or buttons - one above each big toe and one beneath - for a total of four switches. The computer itself was about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but thinner. By using a series of toe taps, kind of like Morse code, the player could relay to the computer everything it needed to know in order to make a decision in blackjack games: which cards had already been dealt, what cards the player held, and the dealer’s upcard.
During the early 70th, Dr. Keith Taft began developing the first concealed blackjack computer, and by 1972, Keith had started using a computer in the Nevada casinos to play “perfect” blackjack. Nevada had no laws at that time prohibiting the use of devices at their tables. Each switch conveyed a different code to the computer, which was a small epoxy-encased device that was strapped to the calf beneath the trousers. Keith’s first computer weighed fifteen pounds. He went on to develop dozens of concealable computers and other electronic devices over the next two decades, ever smaller and more powerful. By the mid-’70s, Keith and his son, Marty, had met Al Francesco, and they would be putting together teams of players using computers to beat the blackjack tables.
