How to Spot Marked Cards

Any complex back design may be marked. One of the only two ink colors--navy blue or medium red--will suffice for the well-known U.S. Playing Card brands. The trouble with marking cards at home, however, is that the deck's seal must be broken.

Premarked playing cards, favored by serious players, come from Lous Tannen, Inc., a New York magic supply house. Tannen's marked decks are genuine U.S. Playing Cards decks that have been opened, marked by hand, and resealed with a duplicate U.S. Playing Cards stamp, cellophane wrap, and a white tear-band bearing the brand name. Each deck comes with separate instructions for decoding the markings. Big Secrets ordered Tannen's Aviator, Bee, and Bicycle decks to see how the markings are concealed.

The markings are along the top margin of the back pattern. Ten sprout designs, run across the top.;

On all Bee playing cards, a column of diamond designs runs just inside the right margin.

Find the angel in the upper left corner. His left hand rests on a vine that encircles an eight-petal flower design.

the marked playing cards can be cheak by luminous glasses.