I read a little anecdote many years ago about a man ( possibly in the old west) who made a bet with a small crowd that he could cut a hole in a playing card large enough for him to step through. He then proceeded to fold the card and make just the right cuts to stretch the hole out enough for him to squeeze it over his shoulders and “step” through it.
At the time I didn’t give it much thought but it’s really been plaguing me lately. Has anybody ever heard of this? Is it possible? If so, how?
Wish I could show a picture (site anyone?) but it’s very simple. You fold the card in half, then make cuts from alternating sides that don’t quite cut the card in half. When you’re done, the whole thing unfolds in a big zigzag ribbon.
I believe the trick is to start at one corner of the card and cut a spiral. You now essentially have one long strand with a bunch of right angles. Then carefully make a second cut along the centerline of the strand, following the spiral all the way around, but start just shy of one end, and stop just shy of the other. If you’re delicate enough, you should get a large enough circle to step through.
Helps if you’re skinny.
Or what Lumpy said.
I tried this (last week at work) and ended up with an enclosed rectangle and two long, foldy strands. I must be missing something really obvious.
yes.
Fold the card in half, then make a series of parallel cuts from, and perpendicular to, the folded edge, stopping a little short of cutting all the way, then turn it over and make a series of parallel cuts from the the outside edges, interlocking with the other cuts and again, stopping short of cutting all the way.
Unfold the card and cut along the fold, but skip over the first strip and stop short of the last.
Pull on opposite ends of the card and you’ll see how it works - it’s unlikely to open out very large on your first attempt; in order to get a playing card to open wide enough to admit a human, you need to make lots of very fine, careful cuts.
I doubt that you could manage it with a modern playing card. (They used to be quite a bit larger.)
It’s easy with a large card, though.
Lumpy almost has it. Here’s how:
Fold the card lengthwise.
About a quarter-inch from each side, cut from the fold to about a quarter-inch of the edge. You should have two cuts, like this:
___________________________________________
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
|_________________________________________|
Now, make a cut between the two cuts, about a quarter-inch below the fold, like this:
| |__________________________________| |
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
| : : |
|_________________________________________|
Then make staggered cuts in either direction – as many as you can, like this:
| |__________________________________| |
| : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : |
| :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: |
| :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: |
| :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: |
| :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: |
| :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: |
|___:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:_:___|
It should accordian out into one big ring that you should be able to get through.
Hope my bad ASCII pics are discernable. 
Or you could refer to Lumpy’s link.
shakes fist as Lumpy
Simply cut all the folds except the ones at each end. 
Err, don’t ask. :smack:
I just did it with a poker-sized playing card. I can step through it. It’s a tight fit around my belly (I’m a 33-inch waist), and a little tough around the shoulders, but it made it through without breaking. I’m sure if I were more precise and thin with my cuts, I could knock out several more inches in diameter.