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Deception Deck in Bicycle - Marked Cards

available from the following sources

in Germany where I bought mine
http://www.shop.zaubertricks.de/product_info.php/info/p1930_Bicycle-Karten-Deception-Deck--New-Marked-.html

from MJMMagic
http://www.mjmmagic.com/store/deception ... -5273.html

Cost: 10 - 12 Euros or 14.50$

They Say:

Made in Bicycle
Know which card your spectator selected by only looking at the card backs
Looks like a regular deck of Bicycle Poker cards

Review
I paid a ten bucks euros for the "Bicycle Marked Cards Deck - Deception Deck" which will get you a normal deck of factory printed marked cards in what I guess is normal Bicycle card quality, since I don't own a Bicycle deck I can't say. But I am satisfied with the card paper weight and print quality. The cards are normal faced poker sized playing cards with printed marks on the blue rider backs.
I've not seen any red backed ones, so I can only say that there's a blue backed version.
You receive a card box looking like an ordinary "Bicycle POKER 808 Rider Back" card box, and no way to tell that they are marked in any way. Inside the box you'll find 56 cards, of which are 52 marked playing cards, 2 jokers, which are also marked, and 2 factory printed cards containing instructions on how to read the markings. The two explanatory cards should be removed before performance.

The markings are factory printed and not for people with bad sight, the system is easy to learn, since most of it comes quite naturally but some of the higher cards and jokers are harder to recognize.
The problem is, that the markings of the system can not be read from both sides, well they can, but you'd need to establish ground first. Which means that, if your cards have been turned by 180 degrees you need to find the suit marking to be able to determine the cards original orientation, which only then makes it possible for you to determine its value. The problem here is that those suit markings aren't readable for me from 30 cm's away, so I can find the suits markings and recognize the cards orientation, but I can not tell which suit it actually is. My eyesight is quite ok, though not perfect, but one would need really good eyesight for that I guess. The value of the card is read only once you know the orientation and has another direction in itself, so you need to establish which way the mark is ment, those value markings could be recognized from the right angle from a distance of maybe 60 cm up to a meter depending on eyesight. Maybe more, for me this cards are hard to read.
Subtlety of the markings is quite good for the suits, and not so good for the value of the cards, because the marks for the value are quite big, though hard to read.

The quality of the cards is quite good: 8/10
The system is not to complicated to learn: 6/10
The readability in action is too low: 3/10
Subtlety is ok, if given proper misdirection: 5/10

Won't pass no riffle test. But thats obvious. And everybody I handed them in for examination for tamperings found the markings of the value in like no time. (Well I am a spoiled fan of Beyond E.S.P 2, Never no one found that until the very day, including myself. And those are still readable acros half the room. And prolly pass riffle test.)

Overall Score: 5.5/10

Fazit:
They are good quality, and you can learn with a little bit training the system quite fast. The price is not so high for a factory printed deck of marked cards compared to others I've seen.
The readability makes this deck only valuable for good sighted people, and those that can grasp the information quite fast, and maybe sort out later in their heads. So I would recommend the deck for someone who would like to have cheap priced marked deck of good quality, and has no intention of using it in over greater distances. As long as you can have the deck in you hands at the right time during your effect, I'd like to say, that it works, but if you need to have a deck where you are far off, this won't be the one. One of the best things is, that it comes in perfect camouflage "Bycicle Poker 808 Playing Cards Rider Back" box outfit which in nothing differs from a normal box, even the UPC is the same, which is quite strange.

Note: This is my first review and if there's something to be edited, feel free.

Hope this helps,
Tak

Shan't be buying them then. I have just bought the Fournier Marked deck which is so easy to read even with my poor eyesight.

Raz

For a first attempt, that is an excellent review. Thanks for making the effort. (Makes a nice change from the usual "I love this! Go buy it!" one-liner "reviews" that we get on occasion).

This marked deck is less than half the price of Bicycle's other marked deck - the Ultimate Marked Deck. That seems a bit odd; or am I missing something here? Have USPCC got two, marked Bicycle decks on the market at different price points? I'm confused.

My favourite marked deck is the Fournier one. Excellent.

Replicant wrote:For a first attempt, that is an excellent review. Thanks for making the effort. (Makes a nice change from the usual "I love this! Go buy it!" one-liner "reviews" that we get on occasion).

Thank you

Replicant wrote:This marked deck is less than half the price of Bicycle's other marked deck - the Ultimate Marked Deck. That seems a bit odd; or am I missing something here? Have USPCC got two, marked Bicycle decks on the market at different price points? I'm confused.

My favourite marked deck is the Fournier one. Excellent.

Concerning the question of who prints the cards, or who the actual manufacturer is, I need to admit, that I am as confused as you. The box design is like as original as it gets "The U.S. Playing Card CO. Cincinnati, Ohio 45212" is printed in upper case letters on the right side of the box and I can't imagine that they would let someone use the exact layout of their cards that way. But on the other hand I always was confused by decks like, "Bicycle Shadows Master" and the like, because those too are claimed to be printed by the USPCC iirc but somehow they are Ellusionist cards which is another company, so I guess one company works for the other, I don't know. Concerning this cards, I have really no idea when it comes to who designed it or who markets them.

Strange is, there is a deck or trick marketed with the same or similar name, containing some other content, which is not related to this one. Really confusing.