PSIMBOL DECK by Vernet
The Effect
One of the most baffling drawing duplications ever! Here's what the audience sees:
You show forty white cards with all different printed shapes, shuffle, and place them face down on the table. You ask a spectator to cut off a small packet of the deck, look at the shape he cut to and remember it.
Next, ask him to shuffle the packet and then ask another spectator to take the balance of the deck from the table and place it in his pocket. All these actions are made with your back to both spectators. Now ask the spectator to mix his packet face up on the table.
Just now, you turn and explain that you will show the cards from the table, one by one, and at the exact moment he sees his shape he has to think "This is my shape!" Finally, you take a pad and duplicate the chosen shape each and every time!
Cost
£10.50 plus P&P
from The Card Collection
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)
1
...although this might increase to a 2 or 3 depending on the effect you wish to achieve.
Review
Included in the package:
PSImbol deck, consisting of forty symbol cards
Instruction sheet
The first thing I noticed upon opening the package was that the cards come housed in a standard-sized playing card case; as there are only forty cards in the PSImbol deck, the case is about fifty percent too big. This will probably result in the case getting squashed during use when out and about (it was already slightly bashed in transit to me) . It would have been nice if Vernet had produced a custom box that actually fit the deck, as they have done with their ESP Testing deck. No matter, it's no big deal in the grand scheme of things. Onto more important things...
This is a very nice deck. The cards are poker sized and quite thin, but are lightly laminated giving them a very glossy finish; they remind me of Simon Shaw's Director's Cut cards, albeit thinner and larger. The nature of the cards means they have a couple of very interesting properties, which you can read about in Iain's thread if you click here. Some people may not see these "hidden beauties" as an advantage, but I think they come in very handy indeed if you handle the cards appropriately and don't give the spectators any reason to suspect foul play.
The cards feature forty different symbols; actually, there are ten symbols but each set of ten symbols is surrounded by either a circle, a square or a triangle. And they have plain, white backs, which is fab! I wish more decks of this nature had white backs, but there you go. Given the plain appearance of the backs, the spectators have no reason to suspect marked cards, because they are genuinely unmarked. (Although I am sure it is only a matter of time before some bright spark comes up with a clever way of marking such a deck!) There is some very minor memory work that will take you all of five minutes (if that) to get down. You will then be able to stack the deck using a variety of different stacks; or you can just use the one described in the instructions.
I've been playing with this deck all morning and think they will come in very handy for some effects that normally use playing cards. This would give a different spin to the presentation and take the spectator away from the "card trick" angle that I'm trying to move away from. There is wide scope here for the PSImbol deck and as a utility item it is fantastic.
Overall
A versatile deck for the mentalist that goes way beyond the single effect described in the instructions. With a little thought, I'm certain the PSImbol deck can be adapted for use with many effects that normally utilise playing cards, ESP cards, or possibly even Sean Taylor's Symbology deck (to an extent). A very nice little deck that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in this area.
Score: 9/10
