I have a background in animation, and one idea that I was pondering, was making a court card come to life via the flip book animation such as Dan Harlan's card toon.. You could turn over say the King of Hearts, and say: "is that your card?" and they say no, so then you go and proceed to do the animation, and the King takes his sword out of his head and stabs it out view of the edge of the frame, and retracts it to show the spectators card impaled on his sword. How do you like this idea?

WOW! I like it! I was never much of a fan of cardtoon or II but this idea actually appeals to me.

X

Would you like to tell me where, when, how I can get my hands on one? Let me know!!!

Geoff,
That is good!
Like x-treem, I was never much of a fan of Cardtoon but your idea has real merit.

well, I guess I can try pitching this to one of the companies.. it might be a little too expensive for me to self-publish.. I'll get started on the animation.. at the very least, I can make a prototype for myself on the computer..

Geoff,

A neat idea indeed, but (I could get to hate that word) one thing bothers me. All versions of Cardtoon that I have seen have the animation on the back of the cards. Placing it on the front, as you suggest, seems to mean that you would wind up flipping through a deck containing a whole lot of the same card. Might this be somewhat disturbing.

Sid

well, I don't think that anyone ever suspected cardtoon was an ungimmicked deck either.. I suppose, one option would be to make the cards all double facers....with normal faces on one side... and the animated kings on the other side... would this be any better?

Great Idea Geoff!

Jeff

I have an idea.
Using your example, force the king of hearts and the card you want from a regular deck. then, switch it out at some point with the animation deck. When you take back the king of hearts, you would have the animation deck out, missing the first part of its animation. then, you hold the animation deck face down, put the card on the bottom then flip the animation. hand them the king, then pocket the deck. Then if they want to see another, you can pull out the real deck from your pocket without making it look too awkward. or you can use this to pull out the real deck again and take back the king, as if you forgot it.
Tell me what you think...
-Tropical penguin.

How about animating the jack of spades so it gradually morphs into the queen of hearts when you flip through the deck? You could use morphing software to make it all fit into 26 frames.

The faces with the morphing sequence could then be interlaced with 26 indifferent cards. From there, you can turn it into a Svengali deck.

Display all indifferent cards per Svengali, then force the jack of spades on Bob. Riffle shuffle the pack and then force the queen of hearts on Alice. Give the deck one more riffle shuffle and say you'll find her card.

Give the deck a complete cut, ask her to name her card, and then show her the face of the pack. It's the jack of spades. Without losing eye contact with her, ask "Bob. What was your card?" He'll say "the jack of spades". Tell her, "well I didn't say you'd be first!"

Show Bob the face of the pack and ask "Bob, tell me. Is she just imagining this? Is that the jack of spades?" He'll say "yes".

"You guys have a good imagination. A little TOO good I'm afraid. I could have sworn I cut to the queen of hearts. Take one last look and try not to be so creative this time. Just relax your eyes."

Riffle the end of the deck to animate the cards, morphing the jack into the queen of hearts.

The morphing idea is pretty cool too... You wouldn't be able to riffle shuffle or cut as you suggested unless they were false shuffles and false cuts..

This is an awsome idea! you could get some of the Moon Playing Cards (The world's thinnest deck, I think) and make the animation on your pc print them on photo paper and then glue them to the faces. This would make the deck about normal size. If you come out with a template for pc tell me.

I love this idea. When you get it made up, and if you can successfully pitch it to the companies, let us know.

Yes it is a great idea. But I have a better idea for it, I think. You could show all cards different. No kidding here. To some point. But every card can be seen. No double cards or rough and smooth. Then you put the King of Spades or whatever on top and it's not their card. (but we know better)

You give up and ask her for her card. You get it out and put it on top of the deck, but under the king. You talk a litle and then riffle through all the cards and they have all turned into the animation. There is no force in this.

I will Pm you Geoff when I get this a little clearer in my head.

Ivan

Hey! what happens now? Any news bout this card toon??

Geoff, that idea is splendid. And with all the suggestions being offered, you could hone it into a masterpiece. When you finish it, I DEFINITELY want one. Hope you can keep in touch about your progress.

I have been fascinated by the magic of animation ever since I was a kid. I used to take old books I'd find, and use the borders to draw my own cartoons. For many years it was a consuming passion.

I hope you will PM me and chat about your animation work. I'm all ears.