What do Bicycle decks and a golf ball have in common?

Do you know?

Today, you're going to discover one of the reasons why Bicycle playing cards slide so smoothly through your fingers.

I don't know if you've ever held a golf ball, but even though they're small, they've got some serious weight to them, and a hit to the head from a certain distance could be deadly.

The maximum speed ever recorded for a golf ball is 349.38 km/h (Ryan Winther in 2013).

Almost as fast as a Ferrari.

How does a ball that size achieve such speed?

The "secret" lies in its texture—in the tiny dimples that cover the entire ball.

In the early days of the sport, it was thought that smooth balls would have less air resistance, but over time, the opposite was proven.

Those small grooves on the ball are responsible for creating less air resistance, allowing them to travel much farther.

Alright, but... what does that have to do with playing cards?

If you look at a Bicycle card box, on one of the sides it says "AIR-CUSHION FINISH".

It literally translates to "air cushion finish," and it refers to the micro-indentations you'll notice on the card if you look closely with good light.

Playing cards aren't smooth; they have a certain texture (just like a golf ball!).

This causes that when one card is placed on top of another, they don't "fully" touch, allowing air to "flow" between them, creating that smoothness when spreading a fan.

Isn't that amazing?

Here are 3 links if you want to learn more about this world.

Here, I explain how to create your own custom deck:

How to Create Your Own Custom Deck - FREE COURSE

And in these last two, you can see inside a playing card factory; it's incredible everything that happens before a deck lands in our hands.

There's a lot of "technological magic" involved in that whole process too.

How It's Made: Playing Cards

A report on 'Making Playing Cards, Made in Spain' from Spanish television.