A: Shane Burton, a fan, wrote in describing this process for cleaning the peel-off promo cards we used to make. When you put them in your deck, they have a lightly tacky front surface and stick to the card in front of them. It takes some effort, but acetone will break up that layer without damaging the card.

Rub on the acetone by dampening a paper towel with it and then rubbing it on the card. You can then see the glue layer start to come up. Then rub a wet (water) paper towel to remove the acetone reside, and then a dry paper towel to get off the water and start removing the glue.

You can see where the glue is by angling the card in the light. Rubbing at it with your thumb can start flaking it away, but most of the time, it takes several rounds of the above procedure to break up all the glue.

It will probably take about three times of going through that process to get all the glue off. He says, “At first I used a card I didn’t mind losing, but I had no issues with the print on the cards. I just went and checked some of them and they still look fine. I cleaned them three or four days ago. They are not perfect shufflers/non-stickers, but they are much, much better.”

We recommend using the acetone outdoors due to the fumes. Acetone can be found with painting supplies in hardware stores. You can also find it in smaller containers at drugstores as nail polish remover, but in that form it’s usually heavily perfumed. It can also be used to remove permanent marker, but despite his concerns, the cards have all come out fine. “Once done, the promo cards shuffle much better and stick much less when cleaned this way. I have probably done eight or ten with no damage to the cards.”

They will start curling to the face side from the dampness, but after you wipe them off the final time, place them on a flat surface beneath a heavy book and let them sit a few hours; they will come out perfectly flat again.