talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect
Not an effect as such, but just a review of some cards other than standard Bikes.


Cost

£2.50 per pack from http://www.cards4magic.co.uk/acatalog/U ... Packs.html but mine were part of the USPCC Card Collection (great value by the way) from Magicbox

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

N/A


Review

There's something I like about these cards despite them not having the air cushion finish that we're all so used to. Maybe it's because they are cards other than Bikes. Maybe because they have the weirdest Joker card I have yet seen.
Let's talk about the joker shall we? For a start, the word 'joker' is nowhere on the card. There is a star in a circle in the top left and bottom right corners. There are no clowns, jesters or anything like that. And it's black and white like most jokers are. But what does it have on it?

I'll tell you: a giant egg cracking open with a huge rabbit coming out of it, behind which are male and female pixies/leprechauns/midgets/elves and the male one is brandishing a large acorn on the end of a rod.
I like this a lot!

The rest of the faces are the same as standard (I won't use the word 'regular', I'm English by jove and it seems to have a dual meaning of 'normal' and 'medium' and was only used in this country after McDonald's starting calling things 'regular cola' and 'regular fries', regular reminds me of bowl movements) bikes except for the ace of spaces which does look rather nice with a mystical looking lamp in the centre which has a spade instead of a flame. Nice!

These cards, to a degree, have slight olde worlde feel to them thanks to the bizarre joker and olden looking Ace of Spade. The back has a fancy blue design (which I can't work out whether it's one way or not) but is not as impressive as the aforementioned cards.

How do they feel? Well, I've been playing around and practicing with them for a couple of weeks and they feel nice and smooth (a bit like Aviator cards which have a bit of a glide) and seem to be pretty hard wearing depsite what I have been putting them through.

I performed some magic for an elderly lady who, upon seeing the card box cooed: "Ooooh! Aladdin!" as if the name itself was a portal for the magical entertainment that was to come.

Nice!




Overall
8/10

Cards4magic do have some wonderful alternatives to good old Bikes. I've purchased Alice in Wonderland playing cards which are wonderful and also a pack called "Liberty" which have beautiful pictures on them inspired by the tarot - which obviously makes them a nice alternative to the regular tarot as well.

Speaking of tarot - I now have more decks than I can shake a stick at thanks to the wonderful packs on offer on the cards4magic site.

Anyone who's never visited this site should do so immediately - and take your credit card with you!

Talking of odd card designs, particularly tarot, there some unusual ones here:

http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/

The celeb tarot looks rather enticing.

I received the Aladdin cards as part of the USPCC collection which Magic Box sell. There's some great - and unusual - decks of cards in there. The yellow bikes are particularly retina destroying.

Lord Freddie wrote:Talking of odd card designs, particularly tarot, there some unusual ones here:

http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/

Ooh you swine. I need them all! I don't know why I need them, I just know that I do!

Lord Freddie wrote:Talking of odd card designs, particularly tarot, there some unusual ones here:

http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/

If I were to buy a deck from that site, it would be the Scottish Legends one (not tarot).

I like the look of it, and I can see it adding some atmosphere to an effect such as my altar routine. (However, I can't say it's exactly a high priority.)

Black Hart also do some rather nice tarot decks. The marked one is on my list, you could have a lot of fun with that.

Well, I decided that I really wanted the Scottish Legends cards, so I ordered them. Arrived today. Nice. They seem good enough quality for adding a bit of atmosphere to some magic (however, they are a little bowed) but primarily I intend to use them for playing games. I also expect them to be a pretty good conversation piece.