talkmagic.co.uk

Hey all,

What do you guys think of plastic cards? I mainly use Royal plastic cards (it's made in Taiwan if I'm not mistaken). It's elastic, bendable, and not easily torn. The best thing (personally) about it is that double lifts are pretty much impossible to see.

What do you think?

get a real deck of cards

keymaster wrote:get a real deck of cards

Well punctuated, well structured and extremely helpful of you.

And now to actually answer the question...

On the face of it, any cards you can get your hands on at the time are the best kind of cards to use. Especially if it's a deck that isn't yours.

However, buy yourself a pack of Bicycle Poker Cards from the USPCC, and see how they compare with your Royals... Bicycles, amongst others, are recommended by many magicians.

I would say definitely go for bicycle cards. mainly for two reasons-
1- these cards are of a great quality
2- Most tricks involving gaff cards seem to be printed on blue back bicycles

Again only my opinion but definitely my recommendation.
Hope it helps,
Mark

Got to agree. GO for bicycle cards.
I would add though, that it is also worth using bridge sized cards in England as this is the type of cards that people here are used to. There are times that I have been in the pub and done a few tricks to regular card players ( a few poker scams), and used bridge cards. If i pulled out a pack of bicycle cards, they might have got suspicious. Using bridge cards reinforced the fact that they were normal cards (which they were).

Bicycle: Excellent card brand for magicians. It has a nice back design, known to almost the whole America, gimmicked decks are made by this brand and its Air Cushion finish makes it easier for plaming, double lifts, top changes e.t.c. Magician's #1 choice.

Tally-Ho Brand: Excelent for practice! It's Linoid Finish allows you to handle there decks for weeks. It can take-up many use and manipulating and they're thicker then Bicycle Brand. For the reason that they last long, they are better to use for practicing and then use your Bikes for performance. That way your decks will last much longer.

Bee Deck Brand: The finish of these cards are very simmilar to Bicycle but they have a small difference. These cards are best to use NOT for performance of regular card effects. They do not have white borders wich makes many sleights harder (DL for example). These cards are the best brand for the card manipulators out there. Excellent for manipulation, Jeff McBride also used them at his DVD set.

Overall, Bicycle brand is my #1 choice.

Michael

Another thing about the Bee Deck is that it is eminently suited for 3 card monte effects. The "mexican turnover" and the "monte throw" are much more invisible with these cards.

bananafish wrote:Another thing about the Bee Deck is that it is eminently suited for 3 card monte effects. The "mexican turnover" and the "monte throw" are much more invisible with these cards.

Indeed... the Bee Deck can be excellent for many kinds of magic trick where it's good to hide card movement.

For instance, if your Elmsley count is suspect, try it with Bee cards, lol.

The fact that the repeating pattern on Bee decks is mesmerising makes them great for effects using slip cuts, passes or other moves which can be given away by seeing card movement too.

But back on topic: I am quite sure that the plastic cards have their uses, but for many sleights, the actual aesthetics of regular coated cards seem to be ideal. After all, practically all sleights were 'conceived' using regular cards, such as bikes, I imagine.

plastic cards are nice to cascade though.but The white border is very important for many sleights.It will cover up minor or major(not too major) slip ups.

Oh no, by the way, I use normal Bicycle cards myself. I thought I'd like to know what you guys think about plastic cards, since I use them occasionally myself.

bikes all the way.......I find that a slightly less expensive alternative is the "Aviator" decks. They have a similar feel to the bikes, but are not nearly as durable.[/list]

I some yimes use no.1s as I bought them cheaper than Bikes

As mentioned earlier, Bikes in the UK are oversize. I prefer to use Waddingtons although they are getting more difficult to find

Glad I have a hundred or more unopened boxes of the buggers

I also find that the linen finish helps them to last a little longer with the occasional application of a bit of talc.

And, despite the fact that I am a little over 6 foot, I have little hands so the bridge cards suit me better

AND, before anyone mentions, yes I use Bike decks too cos you don't get fake decks in Waddingtons.

Tenko wrote:prefer to use Waddingtons although they are getting more difficult to find

Have you tried Morrisons? They're with the stationary.
Every so often the price goes down to 99p a pack but I think they're usually £1.25

Andy, are they the old linen finish previously manufactured at Leeds or the new smoothie ones made in Tiwan ??