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!

Halloween Hot Wheels 2024 - Madfast

 I'm thrilled to be back with another year of new Halloween Hot Wheels! I was starting to get a little worried as the 2023 line was juts a repackaging of the 2021 line. I'm an opener, not a carded collector, so the repacks steal a little Halloween joy from me when they happen.

I did order this year's wave online because I never know if I'll find them locally. A few weeks after they arrived, I found them all in two different supermarkets. You can never be sure though so I'm glad I secured them when I did.

Let's get to it! We'll start off with a nice closeup of this year's card art.

As usual, the card art is killer. I think the only thing missing would be a few bats. The two cars racing through the haunted forest are numbers four and five so you'll see them here in a few weeks. Our first creepy car this year is Madfast.

Madfast debuted in 2008. The engine piece is plastic now but up until 2013, it was metal. This release is the 13th version, how lucky!

 In 2013, it was part of the Holiday Hot Rods series although that colorway doesn't quite scream holiday season to me. I like this Halloween design quite a bit, it's not overly busy and the orange bubble is a nice splash of color with the black and white of the body.

 

But here's the really cool part: a skull and bones along the...front? I was going to say hood but it's in front of the engine. Is that still the hood? Would that part of the car even open?

 

Because the skull is kind of elongated, I'm thinking it's some kind of demon skull. I didn't even notice until I was taking the pics that the skull says Halloween on it!

Don't forget to visit the other Countdown to Halloween sites!

You can find a list at the link below.

Countdown to Halloween 2024

 Happy October and welcome to the Countdown to Halloween!

 

If you're new around here, every day this month I'll be posting fun stuff relating to the Halloween season. And it's not just me! If you head over to the Countdown to Halloween blog, there's a whole list of people participating in the daily celebration.

To help get your spooky season in gear, click the art above to check out the new collaboration between LVCRFT and David Dastmalchian for what's sure to be the next Halloween dance craze! In the grand tradition of the Time Warp and other tunes that explain a dance, Halloween Hop is destined for greatness. This song is so much fun, I can't promise it won't get stuck in your head!

Click below to visit the Countdown site for a list of all the participating blogs and come back every day for more Halloween goodies!