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Bill Abbott's Octopus Deck

£75

Difficulty: 2/5
Some audience management skills are needed, and you must be articulate, reasonably bold and a good communicator.

THE BLURB

You begin by fanning the deck before two spectators and ask each of them to think of any card. After two questions you instantly name the two freely thought of cards.

Wrapping rubber bands around the deck you toss it to an audience member across the room and ask them to peek at any card. The deck is then passed to another person to do the same. Without any questions you name their selected cards.

Finally you ask two people to join you on stage. Removing the rubber bands from the deck you hand half the deck to each spectator and ask them to place the cards inside their pocket. The two spectators reach inside their pockets and remove any card and place it in another pocket, without looking at it. You write something on a piece of paper and hand it to an audience member. Both of the unknown cards are removed and named out loud for the first time. Your prediction is an EXACT MATCH!

OCTOPUS DECK DETAILS...
The Octopus Deck can be freely shuffled by a spectator between each phase. There is no miscalling of the selected cards. The cards they see are the cards you name. Can be performed close-up and surrounded. Resets instantly for walk-around performances. The Octopus Deck is a complete mind reading act in 3 phases. The Octopus Deck can play to the largest audience, involving as many as 6 spectators in a single performance. Surefire and reliable so you get the right cards every time.


PACKAGE INCLUDES
2 Handmade Decks In Red Backed Bicycle Cards. Rubber Bands. Metal Card Guard to protect your Octopus Deck. A 17 page illustrated instructional booklet with detailed script, routines and ideas along with the complete history of the Octopus Deck researched & developed over the past 7 years. Bob Farmer's "Fishing For Octopus" pumping system. Paolo Cavalli's "Radarama" script & pumping system. Production is limited to 500 decks numbered and signed by Bill Abbott!

WHAT I SAY:

First off, £75 is a lot of money to spend on a trick deck. I paid the money because I had a place for exactly this kind of routine in my stand-up performances.

In that respect, I think I got my money's worth. If I'd bought it in a mad fit of CUPS, hoping to find a use for it somewhere, I'd be feeling the strain on my wallet wuite severely...

The above blurb is pretty much spot on, aside from one significant issue - the deck being shuffled by spectators between phases. I know some performers are bold enough to hand trick decks to their victims, but I'm not. And the gaffed nature won't be hard to work out, should a spectator choose to look closely. So I'd say NO SHUFFLING!

I certainly wouldn't use the deck for table hopping either - largely due to the excessive cost of the deck, and the knowledge that my cards tend to come back a bit grubby after an evening's strolling. Besides which, anyone who happens to see the routine more than once in a strolling situation is sure to feel a sense of deja vu.

Also, when strolling, I don't like taking trick decks with me - having a special deck for this and a special deck for that and a normal deck on top is just too much fuss. My strolling magic tends to use a normal deck just for the sheer convenience.

All that said, the Octopus Deck is nicely designed, and Abbott's routine is first-rate, drawing strong influences from Hoy, Osterlind, Hilford and Maven. I like to li it myself to only one card effect in stand-up shows, and this is definitely the one for me.

Providing money isn't an issue and you already have a place for it, I'll give the Octopus Deck 8/10.

Nice review... looked at this and KNEW it must be good.

Can I just say, there's a slim chance of me getting this, but if you ever want to part with it, I'll be crawling up your leg like a whippet...

I've seen it as low as £50 in the UK, though...

Sounds like a great little act there. But at that price, only suitable for a working pro (who's getting paid) as opposed to the hobbyist (who isn't!) and probably couldn't justify or afford to spend that sort of money on a trick deck. Thanks for the review.