All About Card Throwing
by Alex J. Coyne © Gifts for Card Players
Card throwing just looks awesome. And, since most of us have a deck of cards handy, we had a look at the art of card throwing, the world records, how you can learn to hurl playing cards yourself and just how much damage you can do with a single thrown playing card.
MYTHBUSTERS: CAN YOU KILL SOMEONE WITH A PLAYING CARD?
The Mythbusters team put card throwing to the test for Episode 20 of their 2004 season. You can check out the whole test at Discovery’s official website. Their conclusion to, “can you kill someone with it?” Well, busted. Along with one of the world’s top card throwing experts (there is such a thing) Rick Jay, the Mythbusters built a machine that tossed a playing card at a (likely terrified) Jamie at 150 miles (241 kilometres) per hour, but it did nothing more than a papercut. Lucky for Jamie.
Update Jan 2021 – Discovery had removed this page. but you can find details here ->
THE FURTHEST THROW OF A PLAYING CARD
The world record for the furthest throw of a playing card is held by none other than Rick Smith Jr, who threw it a total of 65.95m – likely further than the author would be able to hurl a deck of cards.
The record for the most one-handed card throws is held by Chris Linn, who managed to throw 114 playing cards in a minute (at a distance of at least 12 feet). Interestingly, he also holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest balloon dog made behind his back – an incredible 5.94 seconds. (I couldn’t make a balloon anything in five hours, let alone that!)
THE ART OF CARD THROWING
If you want to learn how to throw playing cards yourself, get in touch with the record-holder through his website or order some of the teaching resources available: The Art of Card Throwing should teach you everything you want to know. By the way, he also holds the record for the most accurate and highest throws of a playing card, so you know he’s one of the best. Just don’t take this skill to the casino!
More Killer Cards
If that’s not quite enough, or if you want to buy something cool for a card enthusiast who happens to like sharp things, take a look at some of these Aces Wild Throwing Cards “sharpened, of course“ from BladePlay.
YouTube user AceofThrowingCards has put together this video guide to how you can build your own throwing cards at home. Of course, it goes without saying that you should be careful while even attempting to make these, and especially if you’re planning to practice with them. Basic safety applies!
Card Throwing in Fiction
Where would card throwing be without ridiculously exaggerated (but extremely cool) portrayals thereof in movies, cartoons and TV shows?
Some of the cartoon heroes, villains and anti-heroes known to throw their cards around include Gambit, Double Down (also known as Jeremy Tell), Yu-Gi-Oh!’s Seto Kaiba; more recently, you can also spot several references to card throwing during Now You See Me and its sequel, but we won’t give out any spoilers!
Have you ever tried card throwing?
