Scarne was often proclaimed by experts, magicians and editors of the time as the greatest card manipulator of all time. But he was happiest when inventing (and marketing, through his company John Scarne Games, Inc.) new games, which he did quite a bit. And he was especially proud of one called Teeko, which he invented in 1945 (version withdrawn), re-invented in 1952 and modified in the 1960s. He was so proud of the game that he named his son John Teeko Scarne. Teeko quickly spread around the world. Even Orson Welles was reported to have been playing Teeko. But he never made a profit on the game mainly due to water damage in the warehouse which eliminated the entire stock in one day. Today Teeko is virtually unknown.