There is provided an article, the article being moveable between a first position and a second position and biased to the second position. The article is retained in the first position until a predetermined condition is met, and wherein when said predetermined condition is met the article moves from the first position to the second position.

To prevent a loss or replacement of card packages while operating casinos using packages of multiple cards in the casinos or other card game facilities using card game tables, a management system for managing packages of shuffled playing cards is provided. The management system including a management control device (7) stores ID codes (4) attached to a plurality of packages (2) brought into a management/storage box (10), constructs a database, reads the ID codes (4) of the plurality of packages (2) brought into the management/storage box (10) at predetermined time intervals, confirms existence of each ID code (4) registered in the database in the management/storage box (10), and manages the ID codes (4) of the packages (2) before use and the ID codes (4) of the drawn packages (2).

A linked sequence of mechanically encoded puzzle pages is disclosed. Each page is comprised of multiple planar layers interconnected to implement the puzzle design of the page. The puzzle of each page must be solved to disengage a latching mechanism enabling the player to turn the page and begin solving the puzzle in the next page. Similarly for the next page, and each succeeding page until the last page, solution to the puzzle by the player will disengage a latching mechanism. The latching mechanism holds the active page being solved by the player to the next page. In the implementation of the invention described in this disclosure the latching mechanism comprises a hooking piece protruding in a perpendicular direction from the planar front surface of the next page, where the hooking piece fits into an opening on the planar back surface of the active page and a blocking piece on the active page is aligned between the hook portion and the exit to the opening, thereby preventing the hooking piece on the next page from disengaging from the active page.

There is provided an article being moveable between a first position and a second position and biased to the second position. The article is retained in the first position by retaining means until a predetermined condition is met, wherein when that predetermined condition is met, biasing means exert a biasing force to move the article from the first position to the second position. The predetermined condition is met when at least one formation, located on at least one face of the article, is moved from a first position to a second position, thereby releasing the retaining means and permitting movement of the article from the first position to the second position. Also provided is a group of at least two articles provided to interact with one another, with one article meeting the predetermined condition for moving the other from the first position to the second position.

In a puzzle toy having a plurality of push buttons, a mechanism for latching push buttons to a rotor, where rotation of the rotor sets a predetermined order for pushing buttons to solve the puzzle, and a chance mechanism for rotating the rotor, an improvement that partitions a rotor shaft and the rotor into two segments that rotate independently, responsive to separate weights affixed to each shaft segment. A reset mechanism operates by shifting the rotor along the shaft axis.

A system and method for detecting colored objects and decoding messages are provided. A light source is operatively coupled to a power source for emitting light on a colored object. A light receiver is configured to receive the emitted light from the light source as the light reflects off the colored object and is further configured to detect color of the reflected light. Further, a processor is operatively coupled to processor readable media and is configured to receive, via a communications module, information representing the color of the reflected light. A housing is included for supporting the light source, the light receiver, the processor and the communications module. The processor is configured to process the information representing the color of the reflected light and provide at least partial message information corresponding to the color.

A computing system of an electronic puzzle includes a memory, an electronically controlled lock, and a plurality of sensors to generate sensor data. The computing system controls the electronically controlled lock to regulate access to an inner chamber of the electronic puzzle and monitors the sensor data generated by the plurality of sensors. The computing system generates an input password based on the monitored sensor data, compares the input password to a puzzle password stored in the memory, and unlocks the electronically controlled lock to permit access to the inner chamber in response to a determination that the input password matches the puzzle password.

To prevent a loss or replacement of card packages while operating casinos using packages of multiple cards in the casinos or other card game facilities using card game tables, a management system for managing packages of shuffled playing cards is provided. The management system including a management control device (7) stores ID codes (4) attached to a plurality of packages (2) brought into a management/storage box (10), constructs a database, reads the ID codes (4) of the plurality of packages (2) brought into the management/storage box (10) at predetermined time intervals, confirms existence of each ID code (4) registered in the database in the management/storage box (10), and manages the ID codes (4) of the packages (2) before use and the ID codes (4) of the drawn packages (2).

Systems, devices, and methods for a system for a 3-D combination puzzle cube. A game device may include: an outer shell defining a set of guide channels, an inner shell housed within the outer shell, a tumbler system housed within the inner shell, and a set of cube components configured to slide across the set of guide channels, where the set of cube components are arranged to form a 333 cube, and where at least four cube components on each side of the formed 333 cube have an imprinted chess piece.

A system and method for detecting colored objects and decoding messages are provided. A light source is operatively coupled to a power source for emitting light on a colored object. A light receiver is configured to receive the emitted light from the light source as the light reflects off the colored object and is further configured to detect color of the reflected light. Further, a processor is operatively coupled to processor readable media and is configured to receive, via a communications module, information representing the color of the reflected light. A housing is included for supporting the light source, the light receiver, the processor and the communications module. The processor is configured to process the information representing the color of the reflected light and provide at least partial message information corresponding to the color.