talkmagic.co.uk

Ok, not really a review as such, more of a mention...

from: cards4magic.co.uk

price: £5 a deck

there are: e.s.p/number/alphabet

each deck are lovely little things; bridge sized, and complete with 70s austrian looking version of austin powers on the front...

esp - 5 sets of coloured symbols, in 5 colours, plus a black marked set of 5 too...as well as a few double facers thrown in for good measure too...

number - 1-52, in big bold capitals, with indexes, a few gaffed cards, with NUMBER written on it, grids of digits and so on too...

alphabet - a-z X2! yes, for a fiver, the bike versions are at least a tenner for one set...

they all come with a small sheet of paper with a couple of effects and ideas on them too to get ya started...

very good value for money, easy to manipulate, last ages, and just look a little different too...just what's needed in todays modern society...and if the esp decks were good enough for the late great basil horwitz, they're good enough for me...superb...

On the subject of Alphabet cards, you can get Lexicon cards fairly cheap on Amazon which are also a good substitute. Obviously their backs don't match, but in some ways this is an advantage, because it moves the effect away from the realm of 'card trick'.

One nice thing about them is they are thin and you can make DF cards and they still are about the thickness of a single Bike.
Al

abraxus wrote:
esp - 5 sets of coloured symbols, in 5 colours, plus a black marked set of 5 too...as well as a few double facers thrown in for good measure too

Small correction - there are two sets of 5 marked cards, black and red. I've used them successfully in a card match-up effect (included in the instructions). There are also 5 cards with blank backs - not sure what they are for - any ideas?

Barry

A - Z cards are ideal for a ouija board effect when you or your specs are a bit dubious about using the real thing. Make a circle of the letters and use an upturned wine glass. Works a treat on a wooden table, and I actually prefer this to using a proper ouija board.

Steer away from even using the "ouija board" name by calling it an experiment in glass moving.

more importantly, i missed out on a pun in my original description - AUSTRIAN POWERS...

anyway, yeah not got a clue why they're there...some kind of paddle move perhaps and the symbol appears later on? dunno...

you can use a blank backed card to have a card hidden in the card box, but apparantly show it "empty" (blank face is up obviously)

Also, you can use it for single-card "spin" or pirouette type changes to apparantly "print" the card (any color change)