Colonia resident Alex Perricone takes card stacking to new heights

Alex Perricone used 26,352 playing cards - that's 488 decks of cards, jokers included - to build Card City this past March.  It took a total of about 32 hours and a week to construct – before, between, and after classes at Middlesex County College.   No tape, no glue, no adhesives, just free-standing playing cards.

Then, he took about 30 seconds to knock it all down.

Perricone – or as he's more commonly known, "Cardman" – is aware that his work is temporary.  That’s why knocking down something he put hours of work into isn’t that big of a deal.

“Usually there are feelings for it, because I spent so much time on it, but it the end it really doesn’t bother me,” says Perricone, who grew up in Avenel and attended Colonia High School.   “I know that my work is temporary, because after all, it is a house of cards.  By it’s very nature it’s temporary.”  Cardman learns just as much about his structures by knocking them down as he does building them in the first place, he says.  “The destruction is never a waste because I learn from it, the strengths of the structures, that sort of thing.”

So how does he destroy a project he put so much work into?  “I went about it using a small fan – it’s very concentrated.  I learn about my buildings through the destruction.  I think it’s very interesting because it’s not too quick, but it’s not too slow.”  However, for a crowd of college students more interested in seeing a card city knocked down in one fell swoop, the fan was not nearly fast enough.  “People were getting impatient, so I started going Godzilla style.  People loved it, every time I smacked something and the cards went flying everywhere, people went nuts.”

Perricone, who will graduate this May from Middlesex County College with an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts, picked up card stacking four years ago.  “I started building a card house at grandfather’s house, just passing time,” he says.  “I turned on the TV, and I saw Bryan Berg [a renowned card stacker] – he was standing on the news with…these amazing buildings behind him.  I said to myself ‘Wow, I really want to learn how to do that.  I think that’s beautiful.’” 

Berg had written a book about the art of card stacking called Stacking the Deck, which Perricone bought, launching a hobby that has become more than just a hobby for Perricone.  He began working his way through the book, and has even videotaped himself completing each project described in the book.

While the book details mostly generic shapes – buildings, stadiums, domes – Perricone found himself moving on to replicas of specific buildings.  “One of my first ones was the White House,” said Perricone of his first big project in building replication.  “I really like that style of building, with the columns and the sloped roof.  I thought would be a challenge. “

Other buildings that Perricone has built with playing cards include various towers and domes, as well as New York City’s Madison Square Garden, One Penn Plaza, and New York Penn Station.  “That one I did specifically to test really new techniques – building a round, tower-like structure,” said Perricone of his Garden structure.  “I saw that as a real good challenge, because if I could figure that out, that could open up new doors to building a variety of buildings.”

What kinds of structures are still difficult for a guy calling himself Cardman, then?  “Bridges are a very new concept in card stacking,” says Perricone.  “The fact is, cards don’t like to take the shape of bridges because you have this wide span with nothing underneath it.  That’s a huge idea.  It can be done and I play around with it,” but it’s not an easy structure to create.

With domes, stadiums, and other cityscapes mastered, Cardman has his eyes set on the ultimate goal of breaking a world record someday.  In his basement, Perricone built a tower that was limited only by the height of the ceiling in the room.  “It could have easily gone another fifteen feet,” said Perricone of the tower.  “The world record right now for world’s tallest tower is 25 feet, nine inches.  Scaffolding is necessary to accomplish something like that, and about a months’ time.  I do want to challenge that sometime.  That tower could have easily gone taller – the only reason I stopped was because of the ceiling.”

Whether it’s testing the limits of the height of his structures, or through a controlled demolition with the aforementioned fan, Perricone is constantly learning about his creations.  “Sometimes I find out I underestimated the strength of some of these buildings,” Perricone says.  “I’m always trying to learn more about how this works, always trying to be creative and to think of new ways to enhance the appearance of things I make.  Just trying to find out what cards are capable of.”

What cards are capable of, it turns out, is way more than just killing some time on a rainy day or frustrating countless gamblers at a poker table.  “If you make one grid out of cards, three foot long by four foot wide, and placed a piece of wood across the top of the cells, twelve people could stand on that piece of wood and the structure wouldn’t fall,” explains Perricone.  “Theoretically, if everything was built perfectly, one square foot grid would be able to support 660 pounds.”

With Card City now in the past and the world record still a dream (“I’m right at about the bare minimum number of decks I’d need to even attempt it,” explains Perricone), what’s next for the Cardman?  “In terms of actual building replicas, being hired to replicate buildings for events” is something Perricone is pursuing.  “Hotels, that sort of thing – the possibilities are endless.  It would be advertisement for them through my work in some way.”

At Middlesex County College, Cardman began his Card City on March 21, his 20th birthday.  Given two weeks to complete the project, it took him half that time, a feat that ties into Perricone’s overall philosophy on card stacking in general.

“Overall, with the whole card city, I just wanted people to look at that and apply it to their life somehow,” said Perricone about finding a lasting impact in what is ultimately a temporary medium. “Whether it be appreciating things because nothing’s permanent, or inspiring people to pursue their dreams or their talents.  Nothing is a waste of time.  Everything counts.”