talkmagic.co.uk

Hey guys,

I see that there is a new site/page up on facebook called "House of Playing Cards", which is an offshoot of "The Blue Crown".

Having never used these sites, my question is 3 fold:

1) What is the general quality of their stuff? (DVD's, Teaching lessons etc)
2) What are the cards like to handle (Says bicycle finish / Bee finish, but I'm unsure if this is true)
3) What do you think of these new cards? http://houseofplayingcards.com/playing- ... -deck.html - 5 colours seems like an AMAZING reason to come up with a mind reading, prediction routine, 5 people pick a card from a selected deck, only to have the cards (and colours) revealed, something like that?

Thoughts please

Cheers in advance,

Dan

I've got their Vaudeville Deck and it's obscenely beautiful. The only visible connection to Bicycle cards is pretty much the physical measurements as the court cards, aces, pips and typeface are bespoke. I'm curious about the NOC because they're marketed as minimalist but none of the publicity shots show the court cards.

Vaudeville handles beautifully, can tell you that. Haven't tried Bee but they're Bike stock I think...

I've also got one of the Vaudeville Decks and it really is very nice. I didn't buy it for performing, but more because the classic era of magic theme appealed to me, but they do seem to handle well.

I hope you will forgive me, Dan, if I ask why these NOC cards would be any better for the trick you describe than the numerous different coloured backs that Bikes can have. Not including metallic finishes (and inverted colour schemes, etc.), I think there have been nine or ten different back colours for Bicycle cards. I am not NOCking, um, knocking these cards, but I can't see why your idea needs them.

I do quite like the minimalist look. They are the sorts of cards that might be used in psychic research (if one were to use playing cards) - very plain, with no opportunity for marks. (Yes, I know about those cards, which have very similar backs!)

It was mainly the CLEAR and BOLD ness of the cards which I thought might come across more as tools for testing, rather than as part of a magic trick - and yes THOSE cards are a prime example of when you'd want to draw suspicion away from the "cards" which you are using, to put the attention more onto your mental powers

Did you mean that you would have the five different decks and each person chooses one of the decks and then takes one card from it? I originally thought there would just be one deck used and it would be a mix of different colours (which could be interesting - five decks, each with a unique mix of colours and cards), but I reread what you put and think I might have misunderstood your intent.

If my second go at understanding is the right one, then yes, these might be better than Bicycle cards.