# It's in the cards



## Stormcat (Feb 5, 2016)

Allegedly, my great-grandmother could read cards. Not Tarot cards, regular playing cards. She would predict the future with playing cards, and if the cards spelled certain doom for her grandchildren (My mother, aunts, and uncles) she would refuse to read them. No one else in my family knew 100% how she did this.

Since I'm writing a psuedo-spy novel, I figure this would be a great way to covey information from one party to another in secret. It looks like two people are just playing a game, but in reality, they are delivering intelligence.

Problem is, I can't find sources that point to "Meanings" in playing cards other than "dead man's hand". Can anyone help?


----------



## Ariel (Feb 5, 2016)

Each suit would represent something overall.  The face cards would represent something/someone, and each number would have significance.  Say you wanted to read a love horoscope for someone.  You deal out whatever pattern you wanted then you would read the pattern.  It's a lot like tarot in that sense.


----------



## Gofa (Feb 5, 2016)

In the good old days professionals would mark cards with a small nick with a finger nail or a fold in a corner.  Treat this as a pre arranged code. Pretty easy to infer complex messages being captured   Almost like brail


----------



## Ariel (Feb 5, 2016)

There's also the possibility of messages being hidden in the decorative pattern on the back and it's only viewable with the use of specialized lenses.  I know that in WWII maps were disguised as playing cards.

To use a deck of cards as a message in a "reading" kind of environment would require that the message can survive the shuffling of the cards.  What if a guard stopped the spy and decided to investigate the cards?  A quick shuffling or even dropping of the cards would change the meaning.


----------



## ppsage (Feb 5, 2016)

Try playing bridge--the bidding to your partner part.


----------



## Gofa (Feb 5, 2016)

If you are being recorded not so much a good idea


----------



## Stormcat (Feb 5, 2016)

amsawtell said:


> There's also the possibility of messages being hidden in the decorative pattern on the back and it's only viewable with the use of specialized lenses. I know that in WWII maps were disguised as playing cards.
> 
> To use a deck of cards as a message in a "reading" kind of environment would require that the message can survive the shuffling of the cards. What if a guard stopped the spy and decided to investigate the cards? A quick shuffling or even dropping of the cards would change the meaning.



mmm... I'd rather go with a code that can be played on any old deck. This way, if the cards are searched, they are just plain playing cards. Something any man might carry in his pocket regardless of his affiliation or loyalties.

Now, I figure I need a card game to provide some sort of pretext for bringing the cards out in the first place. I suppose I could invent one, but I wanna see if there are any pre-exsisting ones that may fit.


----------



## Gofa (Feb 5, 2016)

Patience is played as you talk rubbish. Mistakes in placement signify interpretation significators


----------



## Stormcat (Feb 6, 2016)

Hmm... This page I found on wikipedia may be of some use to me. I'll mark it here for future reference.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_playing-card_nicknames


----------



## Jack of all trades (Feb 6, 2016)

By Googling "tarot reading with playing cards" I found several sites. This one looked good to me.

http://howtoreadtarot.com/playingcards.html


The problem I see with your premise is not the code, which you can make up, but the execution. The card player would have to stack the deck and appear to shuffle without disturbing the arrangement. Possible, but not everyone could do it. Still, it's a very interesting and creative premise. If done well, I think it would be quite intriguing.


----------



## Stormcat (Feb 8, 2016)

Jack of all trades said:


> By Googling "tarot reading with playing cards" I found several sites. This one looked good to me.
> 
> http://howtoreadtarot.com/playingcards.html
> 
> ...




Which is why I'm going to make up a game/code where only certain cards are revealed to the other player. Sorta like "Go fish", but you reveal more than one card.


----------



## Terry D (Feb 8, 2016)

Stormcat said:


> Allegedly, my great-grandmother could read cards. Not Tarot cards, regular playing cards. She would predict the future with playing cards, and if the cards spelled certain doom for her grandchildren (My mother, aunts, and uncles) she would refuse to read them. No one else in my family knew 100% how she did this.
> 
> Since I'm writing a psuedo-spy novel, I figure this would be a great way to covey information from one party to another in secret. It looks like two people are just playing a game, but in reality, they are delivering intelligence.
> 
> Problem is, I can't find sources that point to "Meanings" in playing cards other than "dead man's hand". Can anyone help?



Since the mysticism of 'reading cards' is bullshit, your spies wouldn't be using that. They would have a predetermined meaning for each card, or series of cards dealt. For instance, a hand would be dealt at random, and one player would discard the cards which have the code he's trying to convey. Or, he would keep the meaningful cards and then display his message when his hand is shown at the end of the hand.


----------



## Stormcat (Feb 8, 2016)

Terry D said:


> Since the mysticism of 'reading cards' is bullshit, your spies wouldn't be using that. They would have a predetermined meaning for each card, or series of cards dealt. For instance, a hand would be dealt at random, and one player would discard the cards which have the code he's trying to convey. Or, he would keep the meaningful cards and then display his message when his hand is shown at the end of the hand.



Yup, you got it. No mysticism here. I still need to assign a meaning to each card, and a pretense game.


----------



## Blade (Feb 8, 2016)

Jack of all trades said:


> The problem I see with your premise is not the code, which you can make up, but the execution. The card player would have to stack the deck and appear to shuffle without disturbing the arrangement.



They would not necessarily need to be shuffled. You could just take the cards out of the box and get the message over in the first execution.


----------

