Holy Poker Card Shuriken!

[Sociotard]

Okay, my friend was watching poker on TV. I normally don't think of that as a spectator sport, but whatever. They start talking about one of the players, named Chris "Jesus" Ferguson, and cut to a video short to demonstrate a talent of his. He throws cards, and he throws them about 70 MPH. He throws them so fast and so well, he can use them like throwing knives. I'm not kidding. As we watched, he threw them straight threw a banana, choping it in half with one hit. Then he did a carrot. With bona fide normal playing cards. Granted, fruits and vegetables aren't the toughest items in the kitchen, but I was still impressed. Even if they couldn't cut through meat and bone, I bet they could give someone a noticeable owwie.

<img src="http://www.homepokergames.com/fergeson.jpg"> Chris Ferguson

On a side note, the foodstuffs weren't, as I would have expected, held in place with a vise, or similar mechanical apparatus. They were being held by a 'lovely assitent'. William Tell would be proud. Can you imagine getting an ace of spades wedged in your knuckles?

[Sociotard]

I just did a quick search. I turned up a few sites on the subject, including this one on technique: http://www.davidslife.com/funstuff/cards/
I even heard a rumor about a Karate instructor who can embed them in planks of wood!
See, now I gotta make a gambler for our fantasy game, with this talent included. I'll call it 1/2 d6 RKA, IAF, reduced penetration, real weapon.

[Steve Long]

Cool. I'll have to go back to that site the next time I try to teach myself card-throwing. Unfortunately, most of my attempts to teach myself neat card-handling tricks haven't worked so well; it's hard to learn from pictures. I can do a pretty nice one-handed cut with either hand, but that's all I got. The riffle shuffle and the card throw as yet elude me.

[Agent 13]

There's always Ricky Jay's masterwork on the subject, Cards As Weapons. (Sadly out-of-print, I believe.)

[Xiawarr]

Mythbusters did a show on card throwing recently - even created a machine that could throw cards. Adam Savage, one of the hosts, has a pretty good arm. I think this is either on Discovery Channel or History Channel if you want to try to catch the rerun.

[Trencher]

Finally we know who cardshark V is.

[Mark Rand]

Mythbusters did a show on card throwing recently - even created a machine that could throw cards. Adam Savage, one of the hosts, has a pretty good arm. I think this is either on Discovery Channel or History Channel if you want to try to catch the rerun.

It was on the Discovery Channel. Jamie Hyneman, the other host, allowed himself to be used as a target and received only two very small cuts. One, thrown by Ricky Jay, did cut through a cigarette that was in Adam's mouth.

[gewing]

It was on the Discovery Channel. Jamie Hyneman, the other host, allowed himself to be used as a target and received only two very small cuts. One, thrown by Ricky Jay, did cut through a cigarette that was in Adam's mouth.

Just a reminder of the resiliency of living skin.


Hunters talk about some animals, for example a weird African antelope introduced to Texas. as "tough skinned." This isn't going to stop a bullet (unless a spent one hitting like a thrown rock) but it tends to squeeze the entry hole shut and it is very possible for a bullet to be caught by the skin on the far side. If the bullet is expanded and NEarly stopped, the skin stretches enough to absorb the energy without being penetrated.

[shem_whistler]

For a good cinematic example of this skill in practice check out Jackie Chan's "Cityhunter". One of the main characters has this ability.

Cheers
Shem

[Supreme Serpent]

Bullseye's been doing that for years!

[Kirby]

When I was in school (either elementary or junior high) we watched a video on storms that showed the effects of a tornado, of which part of the impressiveness was a playing card embedded halfway into a tree.

I've given, and received, paper cuts with playing cards to/from my buds. Not by throwing, but slashing.

[Edsel]

Below is a synopsis of the Mythbuster episode that dealt with the "Deadly Poker Cards."

Mythbuster

Playing cards as weapons (Killer Deck)
Myth: an ordinary playing card can kill you with a powerful throw.

Adam is really good at throwing cards (been doing it since he was 10), so this was a personal mission for him.

Ricky Jay: card throwing "expert," author of Cards as Weapons, a book describing the use of the playing card as a weapon. He can throw cards up to 90mph (Adam can only throw 25mph).

Adam wants to build a machine that can throw a card. He and Jamie face off in their competing designs, and as always, Jamie's simple design (modelled on a baseball pitching machine) wins out. Adam tried to replicate arm mechanics with a spring loaded mechanism and fake fingertips, that he admits was "over elegant." In Jamie's words, "Adam actually had a pretty clever idea. It doesn't work, but it was pretty clever."

Jamie's design was pretty awesome. It flung cards through two spinning wheels at 70mph. I want one. One of the spinning wheels did break apart due to the 30,000 rpm speed. I still want one.

The rebuilt throwing machine (with metal wheel) flung cards at 150mph.
They tested on ballistics gel to measure how it might actually penetrate human flesh.

Ballistics gel experiment:

1/4" with Adam throwing.
1/2" with 150mph card throwing machine
7" with pellet gun
20" with heavy crossbow bolt

After it was pretty clear that even the card throwing machine wouldn't do much damage, Jamie offered to be the target for once. It drew a little bit of blood, but not much more.

Mythbusted

Still I suppose that if you could somehow sharpen the edge of your cards or perhaps use cards made from some non-standard material you might be able to get some more deadly results.

[Kirby]

Still I suppose that if you could somehow sharpen the edge of your cards or perhaps use cards made from some non-standard material you might be able to get some more deadly results.

Well, the Mythbusters, while good-intentioned, don't always go through all their options. I remember seeing the episode on the "urinating on the third rail" where one of them wasn't convinced of it, despite the fact that people were hospitalized (relatively) recently for doing so. That, and their "urinating dummy" dribbled the urine, as opposed to having a strong flow to it.

[gewing]

THin steel cards would be a whole different world...

Below is a synopsis of the M


ythbuster episode that dealt with the "Deadly Poker Cards."



Still I suppose that if you could somehow sharpen the edge of your cards or perhaps use cards made from some non-standard material you might be able to get some more deadly results.

[Captain Obvious]

Well, the Mythbusters, while good-intentioned, don't always go through all their options. I remember seeing the episode on the "urinating on the third rail" where one of them wasn't convinced of it, despite the fact that people were hospitalized (relatively) recently for doing so. That, and their "urinating dummy" dribbled the urine, as opposed to having a strong flow to it.

They should revisit that third rail thing, just so we can see the phrase "pressurized urine container" on TV.