58. Ninja Card Throwing
class: skill | impressiveness: depends | factors: practice, practice, practice | requires: deck of cards (the newer, the better) | watch full episode
Hurl playing cards 50 feet at a time. Fling them hard enough to break water balloons, or even embed them into aluminum sheeting.
Sound impossible?
It’s not, though it will take a lot of practice.
I’m not the world’s greatest card thrower, but I’m no slouch, either. Check out one of my luckiest throws from this episode of Brian Brushwood: On the Road:
Watch Video (External link)
I’ve learned a few tips to throw cards really far, but first, a safety warning:
At all times be aware that throwing cards can damage any eyes they hit. At all times, make sure that you are taking proper safety precautions and practicing in a suitably safe environment.
There’s really two different ways to get good distance and power throwing cards…
The Hard Way: if you want to become an expert, remember that the key to card throwing is SPIN. The faster the card spins, the more stable its flight, and the farther it will go.
Start by paying attention to your grip: you want to barely clip the very corner of the card between your first and second fingers. The touch should be so light that the card’s own momentum should be able to pull it from your grasp.
Next, work on loosening your wrist. The wrist is where you generate all your spin momentum, so it’s critical that you get the timing and smooth motion down. To practice, try tossing cards with no arm motion whatsoever… only by using the wrist. You’ll be surprised to find you can send cards over 20 feet without even using your larger arm muscles.
Once you’ve got the timing down, then bring in your full arm motion. There are several techniques to the throw, but remember that the arm is where you generate your forward momentum. Remember that spin is much more important than forward momentum.
If you stay focused on that, you’ll continue to improve. Just make sure to give yourself a break from time to time… it’s easy to hurt your arm if you try to hard to fling it all crazy.
“But Brian!!! This sounds like hard work and practice!!! I want to hurl cards like a badass NOW!!!!”
I can respect that. Which is why there’s always…
The Easy Way: If you’re having a hard time getting the throw down, just cheat using a rubber band. Spread a rubber band between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand. Now pinch the rubber band onto a playing card about one-third of the way in, pull back, and let fly. The rubber band will give you the exact right mix of spin momentum and forward momentum, and you should be able to get the card sailing over 30 feet, just like so:
Watch Demonstration (External)