Some thoughts about the standard bicycle deck
 

So...
Since I am new to this forum I thought I would start immediately by sharing some things I have come up with.

I guess you are all familiar with the standard bicycle decks. I've noticed a couple of things about the faces of the court cards. Firstly they are meant to look symmetrical, but they are not entirely symmetrical. Take a look for example on the queen of spades. She has some kind of ribbon over her shoulders with crosses on. But if you look at the top cross on her right shoulder you can actually see that the crosses mismatch. One cross has a shorter top since it goes over her shoulder. And this kind of small discrepancies I have found on almost all the court cards. I shall leave a list below.

"So what?" you may ask... Well... since you can determine if a card has been turn 180 you can use the court cards in many trick instead of a one-way-back-deck.


The other thing that I notice is this: take a look at the queen of hearts. Look at the flower she holds in her hand. See that there is actually a diamond in it? Also look at her hat/crown (or whatever that is). Looks like three clubs, huh? And if you look at the black part of her dress you can find something that looks like a heart or if you turn it over it looks like a spade. And these kind of references can be found on many of the court cards.

"Soo... What?":confused: you may ask... Well... Let me give you an example of how this could be used:
The magician lets the spectator choose a card. He says that the selected card will reveal two other cards. He then lets the spectator jab it into the deck while the magician riffles down the edge of the deck. Now he turns over the card and sees that it is the queen of hearts. He points to the queens hat/crown (or whatever that is) and tells the spectators to notice the three clubs. This represents the three of clubs. He then points out that there is one diamond in the flower. This represents the ace of diamond. He now turns over the cards on top and under the queen. They are indeed the three of clubs and the ace of diamond.


Is this stuff that you already have noticed? What are your thoughts on this? Is it useful? Do you have any other ideas?


List of discrepancies:
JH: In the red triangle in the middle of his shirt. On one side there is a small white heart that isn't found on the other side.
QH: Haven't found any clear discrepanies on this one. :thinking:
KH:The yellow part on his swordholding wrist. One small line is missing on one side.
JS: There is a spade-shape in the exact center. It is of course assymetrical.
QS: The top crosses on her black ribbon on her right shoulder. One one side the top of the cross is longer.
KS: The two black-striped, yellow triangles in the center. On one side it is bigger.
JC: The red ribbons with yellow diamond-shapes on. The diamondshape closest to the middle. One one side a larger part of it is covered.
QC: The doodle is the middle to the extreme right and left. On one side it is thinner.
KC: Haven't found any on this card either.
JD: The yellow ribbon on his shoulder with diamond-shapes on. On one side more of one of the diamond is covered.
QD: Under her flower, a little to the right, there is a black, white and blue circle-segment. The white part is thicker on one side.
KD: On the blue part with diamonds-shapes under his hand. On one side a white dot is missing.

References to other cards:
JH: Haven't found any on this card.
QH: Diamond in flower (AD). Clubs on hat (3C). Spade/hearts-shape in the black part of her dress (AS and AH).
KH: Four clubs on crown (4C).
JS: Spade shapes on blue ribbons and one in the center(3S, 6S, 7S, QS or KS).
QS: Diamond-shape in flower (AD). Clubs on hat (3C). Spades on center ribbon (QS (self-reference :eek:)).
KS: Clubs on hat (5C). Spades on black ribbons (6S or QS).
JC: Diamonds on ribbons (3D).
QC: Diamond in flower and in center (AD or 3D). Clubs on hat (4C).
KC: Clubs on crown (4C). Spade looking shapes (nah... looks more like a ray-fish! :D) on black part and red part of dress (AS, 3S or 4S).
JD: Diamonds on yellow part of shoulder (4D). Also note the 16 diamonds on his collar.
QD: Clubs on hat (3C).
KD: Clubs on crown (5C). Diamond on blue ribbons (3D, 6D or 9D)
Also remember that if the same pattern is on the other side of the card you can count them both to double the value (KH for example you get 8C instead of 4C).

wow... that's quite detailed... you must be either really observant or really bored to have noticed those... i used to love those kinds of tricks, where you reveal the spectator's card(s) using other cards... until i finally realized that forcing is boring... and using vague things like reading minds or "the Force have told me..." is much more fun than ink and paper( well, for me it is).

P.S: in no way was the above message meant anything offensively, i'm sorry if you took it that way, but i was just stating my opinion, and i couldn't think of any better way to say what i meant

Hey Rokk, I've just spent some time following up on your research into court cards and such, but to be honest I actually only found about two of the things you mentioned. In fact, your descriptions of the patterns on the court cards are completely different to the ones in my deck. Are you sure you haven't been taking some mild halloucengens, or maybe your deck isn't bicycle, or maybe my deck isn't bicycle, or maybe the USPCC print some decks differently to others, or who knows..? Still an interesting post, thanks for sharing your thoughts

Well looking at my red Tally's and "Vintage Design" bikes that are on the table in front of me all of this applies to them, I can see alot of the details mentioned. Very interesting stuff Rokk. I loved it when I found out about the King in the Blaine decks which looks just like the man himself. It made me chuckle.

I also think its great to use these details in the way you have pointed out; i.e. to help tell a story or reveal selections. It's done in novel ways occasionally in some decks, where for instance one of the jokers in the "Black Raider" deck is holding a 4 of hearts.

Not bored... It was just that I noticed this the spade in the center on the jack of spade and then I started wondering if such things could be found on other cards to... And no offence taken. :)


Oops...I don't think I hace used any halloucengens even though it was quite late at night (or early morning :hm:)when I wrote the post. But I did a mistake though. The deck I used was a blue and red bicycle bridge deck. Not a standard deck. But I didn't think the design would be different. And I couldn't check it with my other decks since I'm about to move to a new appartment and most of my decks are already packed in boxes.

I actually do think it's different. The backs are slightly different so I wouldn't be surprised if the court cards were. :thinking: