talkmagic.co.uk

I've only played around with the Boris Wild Gamblers deck and haven't used it with an audience yet. It is pretty simple to read in the time it takes to push the card forward from the spread.

I just bought one of these.. Without giving too much away, It's a very nice deck, similar to the Boris Wild version, but.. neater

Just a little gripe - the.. "number indicator" is fine, but in my opinion the "suit indicator" could be a bit bigger..

I have been using the Fournier Deck for some time now and can't fault it. The markings are so clear and yet so invisible if you don't know what you are looking for. It is clear enough to see in the relative low light of a restaurant and I have never been afraid to have people handle the cards, the just don't get it!

Any other marked deck would have to be very, very good to pull me away from the Fournier.

UMD is excellent....see the book L.I.N.T. for a wonderful application of a marked deck,,,,

I agree with Johnny. As much as I like the UMD, the Fournier marked deck is better because it's much easier to read without the spectators being any the wiser. It is also 1/3-1/2 of the price of the UMD, depending on where you shop!

I looked at the prices too and found the Fournier for around £10 and UMD for £25ish. Is the way the UMD works really worth another £15? I could buy two Fourniers and a couple of normal decks for the same money

Wishmaster wrote:Is the way the UMD works really worth another £15?

No. Truth be told, £20-25 for the UMD is absurb, but if people are paying that sort of money for it, then the price will stay as it is. Supply and demand, and all that. I paid about £15 for my UMD but it was on sale at the time AND I used a discount voucher. I won't get another one, even at that price. Once you seen a Fournier marked deck next to a UMD, there is no comparison. The Fournier is better in every respect and I see no reason why most people would choose the UMD unless they 1) have money to burn and, 2) they are Bicycle junkies. I am neither.

Replicant wrote:No. Truth be told, £20-25 for the UMD is absurb, but if people are paying that sort of money for it, then the price will stay as it is. Supply and demand, and all that. I paid about £15 for my UMD but it was on sale at the time AND I used a discount voucher. I won't get another one, even at that price. Once you seen a Fournier marked deck next to a UMD, there is no comparison. The Fournier is better in every respect and I see no reason why most people would choose the UMD unless they 1) have money to burn and, 2) they are Bicycle junkies. I am neither.

I'd have been surprised if they had been worth that much. I'm not bothered about which brand I use either and have taken Iain's advice about trying others. Tally Ho are very nice and I have some others to order. I'm going to invest in a pack of the marked fourniers, but I can't justify £25 for the UMD. It's way too much for one deck.

Wishmaster wrote:have taken Iain's advice

Don't listen to that twonk; no good will come of it.

Fournier decks are nice. I spotted one being used by a famous performer quite recently.

However, it's not merely Bicycle 'junkies' who might want to stick to Bicycle decks. If a performer has a number of gimmicked cards or decks, there is a very good chance that most, or all, of these will be in Bicycle stock. This could cause problems for people who want to use more than one type of deck during a performance, or for keen amateurs who might face questions as to why this particular trick requires a different deck from the one they did last week.

Yes, you can work round these issues, but they are relevant.

Particularly I think this mark easy to see. My Wife identified the mark witch 10 seconds of analysis. (My wife not know marked deck systems)
Interesting, but i prefer my coded marks system.

Wmental wrote:Particularly I think this mark easy to see. My Wife identified the mark witch 10 seconds of analysis. (My wife not know marked deck systems)
Interesting, but i prefer my coded marks system.

Do you mean she spotted the UMD or Fournier marks?

Wmental wrote:Particularly I think this mark easy to see. My Wife identified the mark witch 10 seconds of analysis. (My wife not know marked deck systems)
Interesting, but i prefer my coded marks system.

Under what circumstances did your wife spot the marks? If you handed her the deck and challenged her to find the marks, you shouldn't be doing that. What excuse did she have to scrutinise the deck for ten seconds? This is not what marked decks are about. I think a lot of magicians are missing the point entirely, which is why marked decks are often written off as unreliable. This is not aimed at you, Wmental, but it is often the performer that is unreliable, not the deck.

My mind is made up. I think I will opt for the Fournier marked deck.

Raz

Razzo wrote:My mind is made up. I think I will opt for the Fournier marked deck.

Raz

You will not be sorry. I have been caught just once with this and I use it every time I perform. It is exactly as Replicant says, I left the card just a moment too long and at the wrong angle in front of the spectator.

The markings are incredibly easy to read and incredibly hard to see if you don't know they are there!