This is properly a puzzle, rather than a trick, but it will be found an excellent source of entertainment.

The requirement is to place sixteen cards, the four aces and the twelve court cards, in four rows of four each, in such a manner that no one row, whether horizontal or vertical, shall contain two cards of the same suit or of the same value.

This may be accomplished easily enough as follows:

Lay down any four cards of the same value in a diagonal line of the square that is to be formed. Then lay down a second diagonal line of four cards having the same value.

For example, the first diagonal might be composed of four kings, while the second might contain four aces. But here it should be noted that the two central cards of the diagonals must be so chosen that the conditions of the puzzle are observed in the matter of the suits. Thus, with kings and aces for the diagonals, the two central kings must be of the same color, whether red or black, while the two central aces must be of the opposite color. Likewise, the end cards of the diagonals must be of different colors for the different values. The kings as end cards might be either black or red, and the aces at the ends of their line would be of the opposite color.

Having reached this point in the arrangement of the cards, the completion of the task offers no difficulty. But, for convenience, one arrangement of the cards according to the terms of the puzzle is presented below.