This Playing Card Machine Throws Cards Like the Pros

Card-throwing is a neat talent, and particularly gifted card throwers can throw cards at more than 90 mph with tremendous accuracy. A well-thrown card can cut right through vegetables, cans, and even glass. But, throwing cards that well is a skill that takes an absurd amount of practice to master. That’s why YouTuber Mark Rober decided to build a playing card machine gun instead.

For this video, Rober challenged professional magician and record-holding card thrower Rick Smith, Jr. to a contest that tested speed and accuracy. Smith would be throwing cards the old-fashioned way like nature intended, while Rober would be using his playing card machine gun. Rober’s contraption is built on a C-channel aluminum frame, with a motorized wheel that feeds cards into a chute. After that, they’re caught by another wheel being spun by a brushless DC motor that flings the cards are high speed.

The entire playing card machine gun is battery-powered and handheld, and even has a rifle-style fore grip with retractable bipod legs. You know, for stability and accuracy. In most tests, Rober’s machine gun outperformed Smith’s nearly-superhuman throwing ability. The exception was accuracy; despite having a gun-like device that he could aim, Rober wasn’t able to match Smith’s highly-trained accuracy. However, we wouldn’t want to be in the path of cards thrown by either one.