Penguin Magic - Screams at Midnight Playing Cards

 Among my playing card collection, this deck is definitely the first of its kind.

It comes with 3D glasses! But it's really only the box art and backs of the cards that pop when you wear them. The court cards have a little something extra but they're not really 3D. It's kind of like that weird 3D when you go through a haunted attraction with 3D glasses on and the "3D" things look a little out of sync? Anyway...

When I read the name and saw the box art on the deck, I was really expecting more B-movie art on the cards than just the Ace of Spades and Jokers. The numerical cards are standard and the court cards are similar to what you'd see in a normal deck but with green and yellow coloring which is what gives them the weird "not quite 3D" look when viewed through the glasses.

But this deck isn't about flash...it's about magic tricks! You can see above, one of the vampire Jokers is holding a two of Clubs which could be a fun way to reveal the card someone chose, if you knew how to make them choose it.

What makes this deck good for magic tricks is that it's a marked deck!

Once you know the trick, you can tell what any card is just by looking at the back of it, in theory anyway. See if you can figure out which card this is. 

"How it's done" spoilers after the pic!

 

 

I'll admit, it takes a keen eye and even knowing the secret, most of the time I can only get the suit right 100% of the time. The border around the card art has hidden text that tells you which card it is.

 

Like I said, it's not an easy thing to see even when holding it up in front of you. I laid the Joker over a card back to focus on the border where the secret lies. Above is the King of Hearts. Can you see it in the top left in green? Imagine the words King of Hearts and then cutting them in half horizontally and leaving only the top half of the words showing. 

Can you figure out what the first card is?

Okay, that's enough of me spoiling magic secrets before a mysterious stranger shows up to take me away. Be sure to visit the other Countdown blogs at the link below!