Item #: SCP-PL-021
Object Class: Safe
Special Containment Procedures: The object should be stored in its original packaging, inside an armored cabinet, secured with a combination lock. Due to the nature of the object, it can be placed both in a separate containment cell and in a properly secured Foundation warehouse depending on the resources at the Foundation's disposal. Employees with clearance level 3 or higher should have access to the object.
(From the right) Object SCP-PL-021 and its package.
Description: SCP-PL-021 is a poker card deck consisting of 52 cards, made in accordance with the guidelines applicable to the equipment used by casinos in the USA. The whole is placed in the original packaging, which cannot be replaced. If such attempts are made, the cards will disappear and return to their original box using an unknown mechanism. An analogous reaction occurs when you try to incomplete the deck or destroy individual cards. If anything outside the object is put into the box, it disappears and after a while appears next to it. The packaging itself is resistant to high temperature, acids and dampness. It also demonstrates high resistance to mechanical damage and in case of their occurrence is able to self-supplement even significant defects in its structure accompanied by the disappearance of detached fragments, if any, at a rate corresponding to the regeneration of the packaging (it was observed that the greater the distance between the box and the detached fragment is the longer it takes). The bottom of the box has been interfused using an extremely strong glue, which has so far resisted all efforts to unfold the packaging.
The object's existence was recorded on 11/09/20██, when Mr. ██████ ████████ found himself in a psychiatric hospital, supervised by the Foundation, claiming that that morning he was the president of the National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski), but he lost it because of the "stupid" game (according to available information, Mr. ████████ never served such a function, nor was he even connected with banking or politics). He also showed all the people he met a deck of poker cards, claiming that they were responsible for it. In accordance with the KSP procedure, the artifact was secured, and Mr. ██████ ████████ was subjected to an interrogation, which revealed the anomalous nature of the subject, later confirmed experimentally (a transcript of the interrogation is available in the attachments).
SCP-PL-021 does not show any anomalous reactions until the cards are shuffled and placed on a table of any parameters that allow comfortable use of it with at least two chairs attached to it (or they may be chairs or stools). After performing this action, opposite to the person interacting with the subject appears, classified as SCP-PL-021-1, about forty-year-old man dressed, according to testers' reports, in an old-fashioned, gray, striped suit, wearing a hat covered with identical material (according to Foundation analyzes this outfit corresponds to the American fashion of the 1950s). According to accounts, it is impossible to see his face because of the shadow cast by the hat, which it never takes off. Conversation is possible with the object, however, he gives information about himself cursorily and reluctantly.
After its appearance, SCP-PL-021-1, will propose a poker game in which the stake is not to be money, but events in the player's life. After accepting the rules, the game begins, where at first low "stakes" occur (minor events, e.g. purchase of new pants). However, with the development of the game, SCP-PL-021-1 forces the player to put more and more important moments. If the interacting player wins the encounter, they will then receive a green poker chip, which will soon be automatically exchanged for an event in the life of the interacting player of the same weight as those placed during the game. When this occurs, the token will disappear regardless of where it was stored or whether the winner had it (the effect does not change if the token is sold or transferred to someone else and applies to the original holder). Events resulting from the "implementation" of the token are usually positive (the exception is incident 021-1, available in the attachements).
Token received in the evidence of victory
Things get worse if the interacting player loses the game. Then, events will be "erased" from reality, manifesting themselves in the fact that no one but the loser will remember them, and in the available documentation (if any exists) there will be no mention of them. Possible effects of such events are also removed, as if they never took place. However, it is possible to recover lost events if you win a game with a stake corresponding to the "value" of lost life pieces.
Regardless of the outcome of the game, after it ends, the interacting player will unwittingly put the cards in the box.
It is worth noting that if the object is removed from the packaging, but it is not shuffled, after ten minutes it will be hidden unknowingly by the person nearest to it. If there is nobody around, the artifact will immediately dematerialize and appear in the package after 2.96 seconds. A similar reaction will occur if the interacting refuses to play, but according to testers' reports it is extremely difficult, because apart from the pressure of SCP-PL-021-1, then one feels an extremely strong need to take the challenge.
Closing Statements: Research on the object is made difficult by the fact that it is impossible to record the course of the game with the help of any equipment used by the Foundation, because for an external observer, interacting, after shuffling the deck, freezes for a time ranging from 1.2 to 3 seconds, after what they start to organize the cards (Details about attempts to capture the course of the game, available in the attachements). SCP-PL-021-1 could not be detected either. Therefore, despite testers' reports ensuring that the room in which they were located was a storage room in which experiments took place, it is assumed that the game takes place in an unknown space, to which the consciousness of the interacting person is transferred. This space, for unknown reasons, takes on the appearance of the place where the manifestation begins.
SCP-PL-021-1 itself is also a mystery, which by testers is described as an outstanding gambler, but seems to have no overriding impact on cards (it sometimes lost because of weak cards). Understanding his past could allow a better understanding of the subject, but for now only a few vague sentences have been obtained (available in the attachments).
Understanding the mechanism used by the artifact is also not easy due to its nature, through which it has not been possible to directly observe the subject's impact on reality, which forces the Foundation to rely on often inaccurate testimonials of the Testers.
Attachements
The interview of ██████ ████████ took place on 11.09.20██ at 15.30 at facility number ██. The interviewed is a white man with typically Slavic features, fair hair, blue eyes, height 173 cm, aged 47 years. He was taken to a psychiatric hospital in ███████████ after getting into a struggle with the guards who refused him the access to the NBP headquarters. He maintains that he is the president of this institution, although the facts deny it. He was diagnosed with worsening neurosis.
The hearing was conducted by Dr. ███ ███. The whole was recorded by external microphones and cameras.
[Start Recording]
Dr. ███ ███ enters the room. The interviewed person looks nervously towards him, but does not take any action.
Dr. ███ ███ - Mr ████████, when we were detaining you, you claimed to be the president of the National Bank of Poland. Do you still support it?
The interviewed responds with a slight tremor in his voice.
Interviewed - That's right. At least it was like this in the morning.
Dr. ███ ███ - However, you do not perform this function. And you never did.
Clearly nervous, the interviewed suddenly rises from the chair.
Interviewed - I know! They tell me that all day!
He looks at the doctor furiously for a moment. Finally he calms down and sits down. He continues in a weak, shaky voice.
Interviewed - I clearly remember. I have been in this position for three months. Is this a conspiracy? Or maybe I really went crazy?
Dr. ███ ███ - What do you think caused your job loss?
The interviewed looks hard at the doctor. Dr. decides to continue.
Interviewed - You will take me for a madman. But all in all I have already been diagnosed so what's the harm.
The interviewed stops for a moment, as if he was searching for the right words.
Interviewed - It's because of a card game. Specifically, poker.
Dr. ███ ███ - I'd like to ask for more details.
Przesłuchiwany - Good. I had some time before work, so I went to the cafe, which I always go to on free mornings and sat down at my favorite table. Then I found the cards in my jacket pocket. I had to put them there and forget about them. Because, surprisingly, there was a lot of traffic, I shuffled the deck a few times for fun. As soon as I put the cards back on the table, I saw an old-fashioned man in front of me, about my age. He did not introduce himself, but he offered to play poker. I've never minded a bit of gambling, so I agreed. Anyway, I felt a great desire to have a small game. When we started, it turned out that he did not accept money. He demanded some event from my life. I was surprised, but I decided to keep playing.
Dr. ███ ███ - You bet your nomination and lost?
Interviewed - Well, essentially I put up the day when despite my mathematics studies I started economics, employing on the stock market. But yes. I lost.
Dr. ███ ███ - And you think that the defeat took your position?
Interviewed - Exactly. After the end of the game, the man simply disappeared and no one seems to have seen him.
Dr. ███ ███ - Did anything strange happen during the game?
Interviewed - No. We sat in a cafe and that's it. But the cards are weird. I think they attracted this gambler. Earlier I sat in the same place more than once and nothing happened.
Dr. ███ ███ - Where did you get these cards from?
Interviewed - I think someone gave them to me at the time of the party. That was the last time I wore this jacket. This is confirmed by the note saying "Congratulations on taking over the position", which I later found in the same pocket as the waist.
Dr. ███ ███ - Do you remember who gave you this present?
Interviewed - No.
Dr. ███ ███ - That's all. Please go with the bodyguards waiting for you outside the door.
Interviewed gets up and turns to the doctor.
Interviewed - Before I go, could you tell me what my current job is if I am not the president of NBP?
Interviewed stares at the doctor. He glances towards the door, then answers the question with a voice devoid of any emotion.
Dr. ███ ███ - You teach math in high school. Now go.
Interviewed - At least something related to my education. Thank you, I will remember.
Clearly depressed, interviewed slowly walks towards the door and then leaves.
[End recording]
Concluding Statements
After questioning, Mr. ██████ ████████ was given a class C amnestics. Despite this, Mr. ████████ was still convinced that he was the President of the National Bank of Poland. The family of the interrogated were told that he had been assaulted and suffered a shock, which resulted in personality disorders.
1st Log
Tester: D-1956
Game time (according to tester): 36 minutes.
Game time (real): 1.2 seconds.
Registration: With usage of timelapse camera, and a small camera sewed in the Tester's clothing. Registration failed.
Game result: Victory. Five days later subject won a new car.
Obtained information about the object and related being:
No new information.
2nd Log
Tester: D-1956
Game time (according to tester): 60 minutes.
Game time (real): 2 seconds.
Registration: Using an encephalograph. Registration failed (No changes in brain functioning detected).
Game result: Victory. A week later Tester won a vacation in an exclusive seaside resort for the whole family.
Obtained information about the object and related being:
SCP-PL-021-1, when asked about its origin, replied:
"Cards have always been my life and it has remained so"
3rd Log
Tester: D-1956
Game time (według testera): 45 minutes.
Game time (real): 1.5 seconds.
Registration: With usage of SCP-PL-051. The words "Private game. Do not spy" were recorded.
Game result: Lost. Subject claims to have two children: a son and a daughter. Meanwhile, he only has a daughter. No material could confirm the existence of the son. (Probably the tester set the day the son was born).
Obtained information about the object and related being:
Asked for name, SCP-PL-021-1 replied:
"No one can control what does not belong to them."
4th Log
Tester: D-1975
Game time (according to tester): 39 minutes.
Game time (real): 1.3 seconds.
Registration: Infrared camera. Registration failed.
Game result: Victory. A week later the tester received a free portion of kebab.
Obtained information about the object and related being:
No new information.
5th Log
Tester: D-1975
Game time (according to tester): 48 minutes.
Game time(real): 1.6 seconds.
Registration: Radio wave recorder. Registration failed.
Game result: Lost. Subject claims to own a house on the outskirts of the city. In fact, he lives in a block of flats with his parents. (Subject put up the moment he found a cheap home purchase offer).
Obtained information about the object and related being:
No new information.
6th Log
Tester: SCP-PL-███
Game time (according to tester): 36 minutes.
Game time(real): 1.2 seconds.
Registration: Using a Geiger counter. Registration failed (No abnormal readings).
Game result Neutral. The game did not take place. The objects were limited to conversation (according to SCP-PL-072).
Obtained information about the object and related being:
After the interaction, SCP-PL-072 said:
"He owes himself, but I feel a little sorry for him."
The object did not want to specify what exactly it meant.
7th Log
Tester: D-1989
Game time (according to tester): 42 minutes.
Game time (realny): 1.4 seconds.
Registration: Using an ultrasound recorder. Registration failed (No abnormal readings).
Game result: Victory. Two days later, the tester received a new computer.
Obtained information about the object and related being:
No new information.
8th Log
Tester: D-1989
Game time (according to tester): 90 minutes.
Game time (real): 3 seconds.
Registration: Using a magnetic field recorder. Registration failed (No abnormal readings).
Game result: Victory. Subject claims to have played for the "highest stake". Despite the passage of considerable amount of time, the token has not been redeemed.
Obtained information about the object and related being:
No new information.
8th Log
Tester: D-1994
Game time (according to tester): 72 minutes.
Game time (realny): 2.4 seconds.
Registration: Using a gravitational field recorder. In the time interval from 2.4 to 2.5 seconds of the experiment, a significant increase in gravitational field strength was noted.
Game result: Lost. Subject claims to have a wife and two children. In fact, he's a bachelor. (Subject set day to meet his wife).
Obtained information about the object and related being:
No new information.
The incident occurred on 13.11.20██, during a standard experiment involving SCP-PL-021.
The tester was Mr. Andrzej Chołdak, working for the Foundation as D-1965, who was once a bus driver. He lost his former job after causing a collision, in which 20 people were killed and 60 were injured, for which he was also sentenced to 15 years in prison, from which the Foundation obtained him. He was assigned to participate in experiments with the subject because of his passion for card games and gambling.
The gameplay itself was standard until the tester set the day of the said disaster. Then, according to D-1965, SCP-PL-021-1 surprisingly surrendered, saying that it is not always worth winning. The standard interaction termination scenario was then implemented, and the tester received the winning green poker chip. The game lasted 1.6 seconds (48 minutes according to the tester).
9 days later, Mr. Andrzej Chołdak died in a collision of a bus with a tram. He was the only victim of this accident.
The incident took place on 09.06.20██. It consisted in the appearance in the storage room of SCP-PL-021 naked, about 40-year-old man. Analysis of the recordings from security cameras did not allow discovering how he found himself in the facility. He was also not noticed earlier by the employees of the site. After finding out that the man did not show anomalous behavior, he was subjected to questioning, the record of which is available below.
[Start recording.]
The interviewed is sitting at the table, opposite Dr. ██████ █████. He is calm and composed, but his look suggests deep depression.
Dr.█████ ████ - What's your name?
Interviewed - Antonii Kołodko, but you called me D-1966
Dr.█████ ████ - You've never worked for us, you don't appear in any documentation. How did you manage to get to the storage room without raising the alarm?
Interviewed - You let me in there and told me to play cards. I had three screenings in this way, all lost.
Dr.█████ ████ - It's impossible. We have a rule according to which after losing we exchange the tester for another.
Interviewed - I don't know what your procedures are. I know that when I lost for the first time, this man said that my children are gone and never were. And he suggested that I come back to play, maybe I can get them back. Then he disappeared and you told me to tell everything. It sounded like a cruel joke, but subconsciously I felt that something had changed and tried to learn from you what it was all about. Then a doctor came to me, the others just called him F and asked if I was ready to risk further losses to recover the children. I nodded and he went to talk to the other researchers. A few days you kept me in a room with a standard of a two-star hotel, and then played again. And in this way I lost my home and my wife.
Dr.█████ ████ - If you didn't leave the site, how did you know that you really lost something?
Interviewed - I noticed that the family photo that I always have in my wallet disappeared. Also, this whole Dr. F showed me some documents saying I was a bachelor and I don't have a home. He even drove me to my house. And there lived someone completely strange to me. He also took me to the florist, where my wife worked. She treated me like a complete stranger. It was enough for me.
Dr.█████ ████ - It doesn't explain why we don't know anything about you and what you were doing naked in the containment chamber.
Interviewed - This is the result of the last game. This man said that if I want to buy such a loss, I have to play for the highest stake. The day of my birth. And what is quite clear, I lost.
Dr.█████ ████ - If you were not born, what are you doing here?
Interviewed - I don't know. After losing, the man I played with said that I basically have nothing to go back to. He stated that I do not exist and there is no trace of me ever being. That nobody remembers me because no one has ever seen me. He added that I have no chance to regain my life in the game, because I can never achieve enough to play a game with such a high stake. He said, however, that I could try to buy myself another way.
Dr.█████ ████ - What?
Interviewed - He said I could work for him. That it may take a long time, but otherwise I will always be literally nobody. When I hesitated, he added that even the most shameful task of bringing redemption closer is better than helpless failure. When he said that, I got the impression he believed those words.
The interviewed stops, thinking.
Dr.█████ ████ - Keep going.
Interviewed - I am sorry. The interviewed focuses on the doctor. Then a decorative wooden door appeared on the wall, with a window in the middle. The man approached them and gestured at them with an encouraging gesture. He said then, and I quote here: "here, everyone, without exception, has their own debt to pay." I was about to accept his offer, but at that moment, a light appeared in the window pane for a few seconds. It looked as if outside the window at night, a car drove by. But it scared me. Suddenly I felt years, maybe even decades of wandering after complete darkness, in search of something other than impenetrable black. I also felt this joy when I found it - a red light pulsating with the rhythm of the human heart. And that pain when the Gambler took it. It seemed to bring me closer to redemption, but also pushed me into the dark again. And I hated him for that. All these emotions poured through me in just a few seconds and made me look at this man differently. I wanted to be as far away from him as possible. And then I refused.
Dr.█████ ████ - Do you think this luminous being has deliberately warned you?
Interviewed - It's hard for me to say clearly, but I think it was just passing by. And I overheard it.
Dr.█████ ████ - Anything else happened?
Interviewed - Not really. The man was clearly upset about my refusal. Or maybe the appearance of this light. Yes, I think it could move him more. Anyway, he quickly calmed down and said that I was not the first to reject his offer. And that sooner or later I will come back to him like the others. Then he disappeared, and after a while your bodyguards caught me.
Dr.█████ ████ - I understand. A security guard waits behind the door. He will lead you to a room.
[End recording]
Closing statements
Despite prolonged attempts, no documents (not even the birth certificate) or information about the interviewed could be obtained, which confirms his version. Therefore, Mr. Antoni Kołodko is currently under the care of the Foundation due to the possibility of revealing new, unknown elements of the SCP-PL-021 manifestation. In the event of their non-occurence, after a significant amount of time has passed, his fate will be decided by the ethics committee.
The gambler is waiting for someone to challenge him. Always ready. - D-1989's commentary on the drawing.
