I like (am obsessed with) playing cards. I have said this before, I don’t know that I recall what came first magic or cards… Doesn’t really matter, I guess. I really like playing cards and I really like magic. The “pick a card” kind, not the “I am going to have you possessed by the spawn of my demon child” kind. The latter might come in handier than being able to guess someone’s card, but it’s so messy. You need cauldrons and the toe nails of the pope’s bastard son…

One of the things I have been playing with lately is stacks. That is the concept of being able to perform certain feats by virtue of knowing the order the cards are in. That sounds simple enough but it’s goddamn hard! In order to not have a spectator cotton on to the fact that the card are in a specific order, you have to make that order hard to recognize. So no, red-black-red-black-red-black. Or all the odd cards on one side and the even cards on the other. Actually, that may work… never mind. Problematically the harder you make it for a spectator to figure out, the harder it becomes for you to remember. Here is a random part of a stack I am trying to commit to memory at the moment: 6S, KS, 9H, 2S, 3C, 6H 10H, 4S, JD

See, there is no discernable pattern there. And there is 43 more where that came from. Granted there are quite a few magic effects created that require a stack but don’t require the performer to memorize it. That same stack I am studying now has two royal flushes built into it and you would never notice. All I have to do is remember where they start and how many hands to deal (The royal flush in hearts is for a 4- and the one in spades is for a 5-handed game). There comes a point though that you would want to use that stack for the ultimate trick. You think, just think of a card. You tell me what it is, I shuffle and *BOOM* your card is at the top. To do that I need to know the location of all 52 cards. 

And I suck at remembering things! There are certain facts that I can easily remember… The fact that three out of four nines in this particular stack are preceded by a two. Great! But they are not the same number of cards apart and because I don’t know that distance, it doesn’t help me. No, there comes a point where I just have to commit this to memory. But how? I have been starting at these cards for a week and didn’t get much further than knowing that the JS is the first card. What we need here is mnemonics!

Luckily I stumbled upon a 2014 book by Geoff Williams. It’s called “The Aronson Stack For Everybody” – There, now you finally know what card-order I have been talking about.  Simon Aronson devised this stack sometime in the 1970s (Geoff says 1976) a short time before Juan Tamariz came up with the infamous (among people into card tricks anyway) Mnemonica stack. Which, incidentally isn’t any easier to memorize than the Aronson stack, despite its name…

Geoff, in his book, describes a simple mnemonics system to more easily memorize the order of the cards. It isn’t particularly revolutionary but it was designed specifically around memorizing cards and the Aronson stack in particular. And in 70-odd pages he does a brilliant job of putting you well on your way to doing the impossible — Memorizing 52 cards in seemingly random order. Given that a large portion of the essay is dedicated to actual pictures of the mnemonic “peg words” he came up with (and some of them are truly nightmare inducing) this is about the quickest introduction to memory systems you can hope to find.

So how does it work?

For each card in the deck there are 2 word. One word describes the position in the stack, the other the value and suit of the card. The first card in the stack, “TOE JET” is the jack of spades. The practice and study aids in the book all use Geoff’s list of words, but you can come up with your own (as I did) if certain words don’t resonate with you. As Williams describes, it’s your brain! It needs to work for you!

You assign consonants to numbers and use these to represent numbers/positions in the deck. Single digits get one consonant, and double digit numbers get 2. T stands for one, N stands for 2, M stands for 3, R for 4. You now add vowels to make a word. For single digit numbers there is no second consonant and that is how the first card of the deck is “Toe”. This is followed by No, Me, Ray, Eel, Goo, Key, Fay, Pee – And there you have 1 through 9.

In Geoff’s book “No” was “Knee”. I found this to be extremely confusing. K is the letter that represents 7, but appears in the peg word as a silent letter for 3 values  — Knee (2) , Knob (29), Knife (28). I replaced these with No, Nap and Naff. All these break Geoff’s rule that peg words need to be a tangible object. 

Numbers and Letters

Now you have the places in the deck, you do the same for value and suit. The letters for values are T=1, N=2, M=3, R, L, G, K, F, P, S, J=Jack and H=Queen. That’s one through 12. The king is simply represented by its suit. So the king of spades is simply “SPADE”. Suits are T=Spades, N=Hearts, M, Clubs and R = Diamonds. For each card you take the consonant for value and the one for suit and make up a word with those. Ace of spades thusly becomes: Ace = 1 = T, Spades = 1 = T, combined this becomes TT. make a simple word with that and you might get “tit”. If body ink instead of a vulgar word for a woman’s breast is more your thing, you could use “tat”. If you are into Egyptian history, perhaps “tut”. The ace of spades in the Aronson stack sits in position 6 in the deck… “Goo Tit”

Each card gets two words. “Mom Jam” is the jack of clubs in position 33. 3 = M, so MM for 33. J for jack and M for clubs. With the letter combination MM JM you get “Mom Jam”  but it could equally be “Mime Jim”. A few more… Nap rain, Man Sore, Mug Jar, Muff Sin, Tag Foam, Tick Mat.

Bit weird, huh?

There are a few oddities with the suggestions from “The Aronson Stack For Everybody”. I already mentioned the use of the silent K. I replaced all those words. Nap used to be Knob (29). That also had the issue of being the only word using a B instead of a P for 9. Nap, removing that silent K also removes the need to memorize an exception to P = 9. The book also uses K and C interchangeably because, as the author argues, they sound the same. I guess Geoff has never traveled to Cincinnati or used cinnamon in his baking. I just write all words starting with a C with a K instead… Because that’s what the kool kids do. I left words ending in CK alone.

Lastly I replaced most words that had multiple syllables in the original essay. 

Does it work?

This is most definitely better than trying to brute force memorizing things. Within a few days of playing with the peg words I am really beginning to see a big difference in being able to memorize portions of the stack. I am nowhere near proficient, but I can get (however slowly) to a card value from a stack position or to a stack position from a card value for about half of the deck. There are still word combos that just don’t work well for me. “Nose Light” (Position 20 – 5 of spades)  Just doesn’t want to come to me… But overall the method in Geoff’s book has been a great help. And to think this has been around since 2014. Goo tit see for yourself! 

Look what I just ordered! I don’t think I need 12 packs of the same exact cards…
But wait, maybe I do. Yeah I do!

 

Amazon decided that they would start selling Bicycle playing cards by the brick-load. It’s what other people that are not into cards call a dozen. Also, they are not 12 of the same packs… They are six and six, you know… Six to one, half a dozen… like that. Anyway!

That link above is NOT an affiliate link. I just want to pass on the news. If you reside in Oz, you can now buy (for however long Amazon decides) GOOD cards at a the price of crappy K-Mart brand paste-boards. 

$47.87 (weird exchange rates be damned) for the brick is $3.99 per deck of cards.

Honestly – Go buy now! Free next day delivery with Prime!

Cards are the ultimate fidget toy… And because you will destroy them (it’s just cardboard after all) as soon as you take them from the box… You DO need 12 packs! You can fanx me later! These are not collectors items of any sort. To be honest, it’s probably just stock from the old factory that USPCC is trying to get rid of. So, if you destroy them, oh well!

She knows she got everythingThat a woman needs to get a man, yeah, yeahHow can she lose with the stuff she useThirty-six, twenty-four, thirty-six oh what a winning hand

 

 

CardCutz – Now double the shipping cost!

Perth!

In case you hadn’t noticed, I live in Australia (but not in Perth). Shit is expensive over here. That’s because we are a country full of convicts, we have no infrastructure, and people don’t want to business with us. Oh and we are on an island.

CardCutz, the company that makes my much hated Worx deck, but also the much loved Neoteric (naming products is not their strong suit – haha, suit… See what I did there?) was started in Perth, Western Australia.  I like their cards. their originals are printed on (what I think is) the same stock as Bicycle Elites  – That would be USPCC Crushed retail stock. That shit handles beautifully.  And because they are in Australia, their stuff is cheap. Yay!

NOT ANYMORE! They decided that they got too big for their own back yard. So they packed up and moved to the US. They could better serve their customers from there, they said. 

While that might be true for a large portion of their buyers, us here in hot and dusty Oz are royally screwed. Where I used to get flat rate shipping for $9.95 I now have to pay at least 20 bucks! 

You now get free shipping if you order over $60! Awesome! But that’s 60 dollaroonies US. So that would be a whopping 85 bucks where I am. Never mind though. That offer is only valid for shipping to the United States. 

Speaking of the US… All prices (except for the no longer available 9.95 shipping) are in US dollars. Because why in the hell would an Australian company allow their customers in Australia to select local currency on their web site? That $20 shipping… Make that $29.95!

FOR A SINGLE DECK OF CARDS!

Way to alienate your loyal, local customer base. Well done! CardCuntz!

By the way, this is their Facebook page, if you want to get in touch. Last post is from July 2021 though, so I wouldn’t hold my breath.

So what to do if you need cards and happen to be in Australia? Well, there is a local business called Shuffler who have a good collection of playing cards and offer reasonable shipping. You will be supporting a LOCAL business. 

In a pinch, I guess you can always order from Penguin who offer FREE shipping to Australia – unlike the Australian CardCutz… What??

Did I tell you I was on VERO yet? Oh yeah, I did! Photos are so hard though. It’s surprisingly difficult to get good photos of playing cards. I’ll get there I am sure, meanwhile though the poor people on VERO (and sometimes Instagram and also Facebook) will have to sit through efforts like this. Yeah that is #batman in the middle there. Taking his rightful spot as the center bitch. Playing with your queens of hearts, you know that it ain’t really smart….

I am a feminist. No really! 

Actually I am not so sure that I know exactly what a feminist is. I do know this. I have 2 sisters. I also have 2 daughters. And a wife. And many female friends, and co-workers, and people I see at the grocery store. And… I quite frankly am weirded out that a certain (large) percentage of the world’s population has to go through more trials and tribulations than us guys. So I was extremely happy to find out that magician Rosemary Reid has decided to create a deck of playing cards that specifically addresses issues that female performers face… Yes in 2022, some 25% of female magicians surveyed reported being groped during a gig! WTF guys? Nobody is squeezing your balls while you perform an ACAAaaaaAaaAaaaNNNnn (sorry, nerdy magician joke).

 

 

Go support this initiative. Each court card in the deck (which has awesome artwork)  encourages the adoption of open, honest, and respectful communication around a theme, From experiencing sexism to not having access to equal education opportunities, women around the world face issues that men simply don’t… and this is 2023 for crying out loud! Find all the deets HERE

VERO is one of those apps that gets it. It’s #insta without the crap from Zuckerburger. No advertising and promoted shit and data-mining you didn’t ask for (or so they say). It’s awesome! Were it not for the fact that its founder, one Ayman Hariri, is a billionaire businessman of French-Lebanese origin with ties to Saudi Oger, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest construction companies, primarily known for not paying their migrant workers. If the name Hariri seems familiar, its likely because Aymen is the son of Rafic Hariri, the former prime-minister of Lebanon who was involved in some high profile corruption scandals while in office. In February of 2005, Rafic was assassinated  in Beirut when explosives equivalent to around 1,800 kilograms of TNT concealed inside a parked vehicle were detonated as his motorcade drove past. 23 people died in the blast.

So you know, VERO has good pedigree! Needless to say, I am on VERO.

For the most part it’s just a nice way of not bothering my Instagram folks with all the insane card stuff. Only my playing card stillfies (still lifes for the Zoomer age) are on VERO. Look for the pseudonym Jay Zondervan. One of my latest concoctions is a pic of a very cool deck of cards by #ellusionist. It’s called Pioneers. It was designed to resemble a pack of souvenir cards from the Chicago World Fair of 18 hundred something.

 

What is the deal? What is so special about playing cards anyway?

You need to know a little bit of history to fully appreciate this. My father was a graphic designer. Actually he was an illustrator, but there are only so many agencies that will hire you as JUST an illustrator, so that morphed into graphic design, especially when he went solo. And as he would point out, most designers can’t do illustrations if the health of their first-born depended on it. You have to actually know how to draw…. But most people that can do illustrations are perfectly equipped to do design.

Anyway, the point is I have been beaten around the head with the rules of good design from an early age. And playing cards, the well designed ones, are marvels of the universe in both function and artistry. They are at once, works of art (portraits), signage (you should be able to instantly recognize which cards you are holding), an indexing system (I don’t need to explain that one, do I?), and a lot more… Bookmarks, business cards, 52 sales people in a box…

And it’s my appreciation for design (look at this site, I said I appreciate it, not that I was good at it) that got me here. Designing playing cards is a skilled craft, an art form almost. Or maybe entirely.

If you throw card magic in the mix… Now a spectator in the 10th row also has to instantly recognize which of 52 three and a half by two and a half  inch pieces of cardboard you are holding up…

Good design is good bad design is bad… Yeah no sh*t, Sherlock! I have some of the most beautiful playing cards in my small collection. See the Paisley cards in an earlier post, but also the NPH deck by Theory11 comes to mind. But when design goes bad… Oh boy!

Have a look at this crap! This is the 2 of Spades, 2 of Hearts and 7 of Spades out of the Worx deck by Cardcutz. For your viewing pleasure, I turned all 3 cards upside down. Spades normally have a stem, but some buffoon decided to take it off. 

That stem is actually important. It makes the Spade stand out from say a Heart. Some smarty pants is going to say something about the color now… Hold your breath. I deliberately took this photo in a dimly lit room. Believe it or not, that’s where a lot of people will play games. I mean, you are not going to play strip poker with the overhead fluorescents on full nuclear blast strength, now are you? 

So with the ambiguity of the shapes you have to rely on color. Only the outlines are an actual different color! Who decided this was a good idea?

Don’t get me wrong, Cardcutz makes some excellent cards. See for yourself. But Worx certainly isn’t it!

I am going to say one more thing, the grouping of the 7s (and the 6s for that matter)… That’s it, no more! 

LOOK HERE INSTEAD!

Paisley

Also Paisley

This is Paisley!


After the fake news playing cards created by AI (awesome graphics huh?) I thought it was time to show some real stuff. This is the Paisley deck by the Dutch Playing Card Company. I am Dutch, my daughter’s name is Paisley. I couldn’t very well NOT buy these. 

These come with a marking system that is pretty genius. Don’t try to enlarge the image and figure it out. You will not be able to. Not in the least because the backs you see in the photo are the jokers, which don’t contain the markings! Ha Ha!

In other news, people keep telling me that Bicycle Riderbacks handle better than Bicycle Standards. This article has stuff to say about that.