Master of Illusion
I have a game for my trusty old Nintendo DS – yes I still have mine, don’t judge! – that puts the player in the role of magician “having” to learn tricks. Of course I own that game, I wouldn’t expect anything else from me. You can read all about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Illusion_(video_game)
One of these days I will finally tell the story of why I think the u
niverse has been dropping hints I should have been a magician and not a product manager, or radio host, or journalist, or bartender, or software developer, or CTO, or musician (all jobs I have held) but I digress
The game comes with its own deck of card, and I also still have that. In near perfect condition, I might add. It was actually the very first marked deck of cards I ever owned. I forgot all about that feature! The marking is what is called a reader system, so the values of the face are simply written on the back. If you don’t know it, you will not see it. Once you do, you can’t unsee it.
The cards are made by Tenyo who also produced the game. It’s ironic that Nintendo didn’t produce this themselves as (I was reminded recently) the company got started as a producer of playing cards. In 1889, Japanese businessman Fusajirō Yamauchi founded Nintendo as Nintendo Koppai, a card manufacturer on Shōmen-dōri street in Kyoto. From these humble beginnings, it grew into one of Japan’s largest playing card companies, before pivoting into other products like toys and electronics. So in essence this game brought them full circle.
About the cards
There is otherwise remarkably little to say about these cards, which I guess is really something you want in cards used to perform magic. They shouldn’t be the star of the show, should not draw attention to themselves (especially when marked). It’s cheap stock like you get in dollar-store cards. They are bridge sized which is not everyone’s cup of tea, but fairly standard outside the US.
That’s all she wrote, really. It comes in a nice Nintendo branded box and they have held up well in the 16 years I owned them, especially considering they moved from the United States to Australia. Let me know in the comments if you can decipher the markings!
