The Beginning of Realize Gaming, LLC

Realize Gaming, LLC started approximately twelve years ago in the middle of the night in a hotel room at the Green Valley Ranch in Las Vegas.

My yearly vacation with my wife involved going to Las Vegas to spend time playing the latest and greatest slots and video poker games, in addition to taking in all the fascinating entertainment and eating at all the great places Las Vegas has to offer. I enjoyed playing all the different casino games, but most of them had a hard time holding my attention.  I was always thinking about how to improve the current game or I would think about a ton of cool features that could be added to the existing game to keep me entertained. After playing a number of different slots and video poker games in the casino throughout the day, I felt that there were other ways to makes those games more exciting and entertaining. My mind was swimming with ideas.

I remember going to bed at a relatively early time and then waking up and laying in bed with my mind spinning with a plethora of new ideas and things that could. I remember staring at the dark ceiling which became my imaginary paper as I dealt the poker cards onto it. All my ideas were very clear as I started to think about the game play and the features that would separate this game from so many others.  It took me about thirty minutes dealing out my imaginary cards and convincing myself of how the game would be played before I became really serious about what I was doing. I remember getting up and sitting at the table in our hotel room and drawing out my examples and rules for the game that I had in my mind.  After a short amount of time, my entire idea for the next great video poker game was written down on a small piece of stationary from the hotel. I went back to bed….my mind could relax and actually sleep now that it was clear.

When we woke up the next morning, I nonchalantly told my wife that I woke up in the middle of the night and created a new video poker game.  I briefly described it to her and she kind of shrugged it off.  She didn’t quite understand my very clear vision of the game I had created.

Upon our return to Toledo and within two days, I had two other games that I started to put down on paper. I became very excited about where this was going. Somewhat reluctantly, my wife agreed that we should meet with a patent attorney to protect our ideas.  Our first provisional patent was filed within a few weeks after our initial meeting and Realize Gaming, LLC was born.  Twelve years later and a number of issued patents, countless provisional patents, and an endless file drawer of potential new gaming ideas strengthens my company and my dream of creating the next best video poker game.

To this very day, I still have the stationary that I used to create my first video poker game.  It is very ironic that when I created the game it was very clear to me, yet it is still in the patent office awaiting further action.  It is a very diverse and complex game and a few of my other gaming patents developed from that very first gaming patent that was born in a hotel room in Las Vegas twelve years ago.