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Here's the advertising words...

As dependable as the Bicycle and Bee decks are, a nice shiny red-backed deck doesn’t quite fit with everyone’s atmosphere and performing style.

So here it is at last, a deck for the serious bizarre magician and mentalist.

Of course, it’s not just a deck. With it, you can perform just about any miracle you might need to.

Marked Deck
A full marking system allowing you to know, with a brief glance, any card your spectator has chosen. Why not add a bizarre touch to your favourite Boris Wild routines?
Fortune Telling Oracle
If you’re travelling light, now there’s no need to carry your tarot too! Each card is printed with a definition based on a Ukranian Gypsy fortune telling tradition. A guide to giving readings with this system is included or you can create your own spreads.
Professional Quality
Printed in Germany using professional playing card stock which will satisfy the finger flickers!
Limited Edition

We’re limiting the print run of The Ouija Deck to just 666 decks. Each deck comes with a Certificate of Authenticity Card, individually numbered and signed.


The Effect

As it says, it's a pack of rather special cards! They're designed for fortune telling primarily, but there's so many things you can do with them!


Cost

£17:99 from http://www.afterworldmagic.com/product/the-ouija-deck/" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank



Difficulty

(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

A bit tricky to rate, as it's not a technically difficult thing to use, but to use it well... maybe a 4!



Review

Now I'm not a fan of special decks. I use Fourniers or Bikes as they look non-descript. I don't want the cards to distract from the magic. But these... these are lovely!
The picture at the top shows pretty clearly what you're getting for your hard earned money... a set of rather natty playing cards. The finish of them feels like a set of normal bikes, and they handle pretty much the same, so if you really wanted to do any knuckle busting sleights with them, they'd be fine, but why would you? that's not what this deck is about.

It comes with a small and simple Ukranian Gypsy spread sheet to get you started reading with them, which is all you need!

Each card has on the face a "fortune" and they all tend to be pretty positive... cutting my deck at random, "You will receive a refusal today, but tomorrow will change everything," followed by "A stroke of luck will fix your income worries," As a guide when doing a reading, these work very nice... there's nothing like the Tower or Death to have to worry your sitter with. And you could combine it with a simple reading system (such as the one in the Little Egypt Book of Ghosts) and produce something very nice for your sitter indeed!

The marking system is pretty easy to read, not quite as instant as on a Boris Wild deck, but not exactly a challenge either... and because of the placement of the marks, can be read from a spread (sometimes! It is a one way deck after all) but not a fan...

If I must criticize this deck, there's two things that stop it from being perfect! I can't say I like the box very much! But maybe that's just my taste... Anyway, I carry mine around in a small suede bag (made for a small camera, but suits these beautifully). I would have loved to have seen some appropriate illustrations on the court cards too... they can be useful prompts/inspiration for readings, and nice and visual for the sitter to. It seems a shame to deny the sitter that.

But these are niggling things! This is a wonderful deck of cards!

Plus, Afterworld just sent an e-mail out with details of a free related e-book out this weekend! What more could we want???


Overall

What more is there to say? I've been wanting a deck like this for ages! I was inspired to do readings with playing cards by a lovely Bulgarian lass I went out with a few years back. She had been taught by her Grandmother and the readings she did were unerringly accurate! I know that I'll be getting a lot of use from these over the years (and the older and more battered they get, the more authentic they'll be!)

I appreciate this product will not be suitable for everyone, but for me, this may just be the most magical product of the year!

I also have one of these (deck number 8 - each one is numbered) and I agree with this review. You get a well-made deck of cards, robust and smooth to handle. The marking is subtle (unlike some Boris W marks) and easy to read - even with my ageing eyes. You could use them for other card stuff but I guess you need to do some kind of fortune telling routine as the deck is likely to prompt questions. i look forward to the free ebook to prompt some ideas.

The only reason I haven't brought one of these yet is because it's a limited run, for god's sake why? Limited runs are designed for packs of cards for collectors, nothing wrong with that, but I don't want to develop routines and ideas using this deck and then find three years later I can't use them any more and they have no more left.

You can't deny, no matter how well they're made, no matter how well you take care of them or use them sparingly, eventually playing cards that are actually used will get damaged and lost, and then what?

I really can't see the logic in making it a limited run other than as a marketing technique (that's not a criticism, I just can't see any other good reason).

Would the creator not consider making a new batch if the first run all get sold?

Thanks very much for the review Chris, glad to hear you're enjoying your decks. I'm genuinely very humbled at the amazing response these have been getting, it's not something I imagined would happen!!

Jean, if I'm entirely honest, part of me wishes I hadn't made these as a limited edition release. I did so initially, as you correctly surmised, as a marketing effect. I expected to pre-sell maybe a dozen or two of these and then have a trickle of orders after release. In the end I pre-sold almost 100 and orders have been excellent since.

Would I re-release the deck? I don't know. People have bought the deck in a happy knowledge that they're a limited edition release. To re-release them, imho, would be a tad immoral and it's not a business practice I want to engage in. That said, you've got an excellent point about the longevity of the decks. If I can think (and if anyone can suggest, feel free) a way to balance both sides then it may well happen. Some kind of Ouija Deck 2 perhaps... I don't know.

Thanks again for all your comments, positive or otherwise!

Ouija Deck 2 perhaps

yes please with a addition of rune symbols and stripped.
technicly there one way so already stripped, perhapse some indication on the markings as to wether the wording is positive or negative and or what rune symbol is present.

I think a second edition with a different design would be acceptable, as it would maintain the rarity value of the original deck. However you should probably put it up to vote. Also a good idea would be to wait a year or two before doing it chances are more people who brought an original deck will want a new one by then.

A second, unlimited edition would be fine. I can't see what the (reasonable) objection would be from people who bought the originals, so long as the second version was sufficiently different (not just a new box). Could you add upright and reversed meanings, perhaps? How about adding letters of the alphabet in the middle (in between the two possible meanings)? It's called the Ouija Deck, but you can't readily use the cards to make a talking board, as far as I can see.

You could add other symbols too, like the pictures on a Gypsy Witch deck, maybe some other things like gems, plants/flowers, substances (not just elements, but perhaps also materials like cotton, wood, silk, marble - although transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life), astrological signs, planets, animals/birds, maybe even angelic beings - lots of points of interest for readings.

I am not sure about runes for these cards (and I love runes). I think these cards work well as a sort of Gypsy Deck, and putting runes on them would look a bit odd - a culture clash. Doing a separate rune deck, however, does appeal to me. I have Thurisaz, and while it is very nice, the cards are large and heavy; not the sort of thing you can just slip in a pocket. I am also not a huge fan of the way the runes have been paired up with letters, but I suppose it's useful for people who don't know much about them.

I think the problem with having these always available is that this is a relatively small undertaking. You want Rider Waite decks? You got 'em. Short of some disaster striking humanity, I can't imagine them ever being out of print in one form or another. The rarer the packs are, and the smaller the publisher that produced them, the harder it is to get replacements further down the line. Mark Lewis is a big fan of the Tarot brought out by Prediction magazine, but you simply cannot get them (new) any more. I'd like a replacement Mandala Tarot, but that's been and gone (and I am not willing to shell out a fortune for one second hand). That's just how it is with some things. I bought four of Scott Grossberg's Deck of Shadows because I wanted to have enough to last me a long time.

666 packs sounds like quite a lot to me, at least for this sort of product.

As artychris mentioned at the end of his review, there is indeed a free ebook on the site now. It details a brief history of the Ukrainian Gypsies along with three reading systems they utilised, cartomany included. This will hopefully prove useful to anyone with a Ouija Deck and wanting to perform readings with it. That said, it's free, so go download it even if you haven't got one (yet).

http://www.afterworldmagic.com/product/ ... e-telling/

Vanderbelt wrote: To re-release them, imho, would be a tad immoral and it's not a business practice I want to engage in.

Mr morals

if you have contact detail for buyers, then you could offer replacements to them privately. So its still limited to a run of 666 initial customers.

There's a video review over on YouTube. I've no idea whether it's good or not as it's in French!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqtr6Tn-AwQ

Vanderbelt wrote:There's a video review over on YouTube. I've no idea whether it's good or not as it's in French!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqtr6Tn-AwQ

It's a good review, the chap reviewing recommends them to anyone who is into mentalism/fortune telling and. Says they are very pretty and well made cards.

Thank you very much soveda!