I just noticed something on a deck of ellusionist Ghost cards... I thought it was a piece of lint under the finish, but it turns out that the king of clubs and king of diamonds on the deck I have open have an (accidental?) one-way feature... the nostril on one head on each card isn't shaded in, but has a thin outline. I'm guessing this is just a misprint. I'm not sure how useful just a couple of one-way cards would be, but maybe you all have some ideas (I am but a rank amateur). Maybe there are other suble one-way features on other cards? I've attached a pic... it's too small to see that there is a faint outline of a nostril on the top head but it's clear that there is an asymmetry. I only have one deck open and don't want to open more to see if they're all like this. Could any one confirm that their decks are like this too? Anyone think of any particularly clever exploitations of this?

Click here to view attached image.

...And the king of diamonds, same thing...

Click here to view attached image.

Nope just looked at mine and they are fine. You must have a misprint. Well there you go use it to your advantage.

Not a misprint. Paisa, make sure you're looking at a normal Ghost deck, not a Gaff deck. Also check both heads on the Kings.

Also check out the Black Tigers, some of the Jacks and Kings in that deck have similar design differences.

Kevin

I think it's a booger!

Yep. Amazingly these were flaws in the first printing. I think we cleared them all up on the next run though, so that should distinguish a rare 'first run' deck for you.

hahaha, didn't you do this with the tigers and vipers too? I can see the meeting with the US playing card company now...
-"Your cards were misprinted."
-"Well, we've already invested the capital... I know, we'll call them First Edition! These kids will buy ANYTHING!"
-"YEAH, Xtreme first edition!!!"

I suppose with the misprinted kings it's not really that big a deal, but with the vipers, the "First edition" handled like old hoyles.

Hey Brad, can I get a free deck of Black Ghosts for being observant in this regard? Are you ever gonna make those decks available for sale, even if they're not identical to the promotional ones and had some modifications?

While I've got your attention can I ask you about the jokers on the Ghost Deck? I gather from your site and the "original joker" wallpaper that the original joker was a rearing skeletonized horse, is that correct? Why was this changed? Looks cool to me. So the jokers that come with the deck... at first glance it looks a bit like a dancing "villiage idiot" sort of character but after closer inspection I assume it's the rider of the horse? He has a whip in his hand, appears to be in stirrups and seems to be holding the reigns. The way his legs are, it looks like he's actively in the process of riding the horse... (A ghost horse? Thus invisible?) I saw a reference to "one joker is standing on the ace of clubs" but I don't think he's really standing, I think he was originally intended to be riding, and after the fact (without the horse joker as a point of reference) people referred to him as standing. I think the ace of clubs was an afterthought because the club actually goes off the edge of the card he's standing on, a bit of an art error there in my opinion.

The fact that the jokers are identical except one is "standing" on the ace of clubs lends them to be used together for a color change/relevation of a forced ace of clubs, but I wonder if originally one joker was going to be the skeleton ghost horse and the other would have been the rider. Is that true?

Why the rear view of the horse's rider? Seems a sort of an inside joke... It's the rider's back, right? Appropriate, since these bikes are riderbacks...

Just my take on things. If you ever do sell the black ghosts, my vote is to put the ghost horse joker back in there.

OH OK well I was worrying then. Mine didn't have them. Enjoy your "FIRST EDITION"

Yeah maybe I'll 'bay them and get rich ;P Actually I bought several newer ghost decks to use as giveaways during home poker tourneys... I may just keep the new ones and pass the "more valuable first editions" on to my guests...