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Hi guys, im just fishing around the internet looking for playing cards to do card tricks with. Im totally new to magic but have heard a little about bicycle playing cards.

Basically i would like to know if there are any decks of cards out there used for card tricks i am not sure whether the deck is rigged in some way or whether it is just skill, but if there are any special decks used can you advise me on the types.

I have been to a website and they have bicycle cards which they said had something like 40 possible tricks available but im not sure if they were specialised and i cant find the website again to find out, so if anyone has any advice please can you help, cheers.

get some regular bike decks and the royal road to card magic book for many effects with regular cards.

If you are new to magic then you really want to avoid any gimmicks, props or packet tricks. You will end up spending too much money on stuff you can't or won't use. Much better to start with learning the basic skills and go from there. If you want simple tricks then the self-working series by Karl Fulves are also a good starting point.

Also see this thread http://www.talkmagic.co.uk/ftopic11561.php

Firstly, welcome to the forums!

Second, I recommend you getting 1 or 2 decks of bicycle cards and also get this. I think this is all you need to get you started with card magic.

Steve

Yes buy the royal road to card Magic book, and a brick of bicycle playing cards, total = £25, cheap considering what you will learn.


And Welcome to Talkmagic

Don't get ahead of yourself. You don't learn 40 tricks at once. Start slowly and practice.
...and how about introducing yourself in the Introduction forum?

In agreement with previous posts, get a couple of decks of Bicycles and Royal Road to Card Magic.

In my opinion, books are your best investment, if fo no other reason than you can spend £25 on a single trick or the same money will buy a book with 10-20 effects.

Also, Gunnar provided some good advise, work slowly. Don't try to learn too much at one time. If you try to learn 40 tricks at once it will take you longer than learning them one at a time. I can certainly understand wanting to know enough tricks to perform a set for friends but taking your time to learn them well will be well worth it. You also do not need to know 40 effects to perform. When I did table-hopping at parties I usually only did about 5-6 effects, and would not perform all of them for each table. You will probably need about twice that if you plan to perform for a larger group.

Wow, 40 tricks. I don't know 40 tricks.

If you live in a country with Cost-co stores, you can buy nine packs of Bicycle decks, five blue and four red, for a very good price. These are regular decks (not magic trick decks, so skill is involved), but high quallity. You will want a few decks of both colours for effects where the cards change colour. There are such things as trick decks, but don't get these while you are starting out. If I were you, I would buy two books: Royal Road to Card Magic and Scarne on Card tricks. You can get these from www.penguinmagic.com . Royal Road will teach you the sleights (skills) And a few effects. Scarne on Card Tricks is a great way to start because you need no sleights to perform the effects. It will also teach you other important parts of magic, like patter. If you need any more help, send me a P.M.

Good luck and have fun learning the art of magic!