ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

John Scarne

Okay, kiddo! Do you know what playing cards are? They're like little rectangles with pictures on them. People use them to play games, like Go Fish and Poker. Well, John Scarne was a man who really liked playing cards! He was so good at it that he wrote books and taught people how to play better.

John Scarne also liked doing tricks with cards - like making them disappear or guessing which card you're holding! He even did tricks on TV and in movies. It was like magic, but it was really just him being really good at cards.

But John Scarne was also interested in making sure that playing cards were fair. Sometimes, people cheat in card games to try to win. That's not fair or fun! John Scarne helped make sure that cards were made in a way that made it much harder for people to cheat.

So basically, John Scarne was a guy who loved playing cards, taught others how to play better, did magic tricks with them, and worked to make sure they were fair for everyone to use. He was a pretty cool dude!