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Interview on Magic with Collector & Magician Steve Brooks (The Magic Cafe)
Who is Steve Brooks?
In a previous article we already introduced you to Steve Brooks, the man of many hats. In that interview he shared a wealth of information from his experience as a dedicated playing card collector. But Steve is also a magician, and he has been performing magic since his childhood. Furthermore, he's the owner and manager of the well-known forum for magicians, The Magic Cafe. With the tag line "Magicians Helping Magicians", this online forum is open 24 hours a day for magicians to drop in and exchange thoughts, ideas, and even secrets about a wide range of magical topics, as well as ask questions, seek advice, or share reviews.
Steve not only runs The Magic Cafe, but also has a lot of valuable insights about magic to share, based on his own experience and involvement in this performing art. He's even in the process of writing a couple of books about magic theory, which is in itself a testimony to his ability to be a creative thinker. In this follow-up to his previous interview where he talked about playing cards and collecting, Steve answers our questions about magic, and about what is involved in running The Magic Cafe.
Magic
When did you first get interested in magic, and what got you started?
I’ve been studying and performing magic since I was about nine years old or so. I saw a magician on television doing something and asked my mother, "How did he do that?" She said, "He’s a magician. I don’t know." That kind of piqued my interest.
When I was maybe nine or ten, my grandmother took me to see Harry Blackstone Jr., to see a show somewhere in Los Angeles. And Harry did all the stuff he was doing, like the big Buzz Saw Illusion and the Floating Light Bulb, and birds, and more. All this was more than a little nine or ten year old could take at the time, and I just had to know how this stuff works. I wasn’t content thinking, "Well, he’s a magician and it’s secret and you can’t know."
So when the show was over I broke away from my grandmother’s hand in the crowd and decided I would go back stage so I could see how this stuff worked - because if he could do it, maybe so could I. So I crawled under the curtain and got backstage and I was touching and checking out the Buzz Saw Illusion. And I hear this really deep voice, "Can I help you young man?" And I turned around, and it was Harry Blackstone Jr. - who stood like a mountain to a little boy! I was totally scared, because I knew I wasn’t supposed to be back there.
And he kind of knelt down on one knee and he pulled a little red ball (in hindsight I’m sure it was a billiard ball). He just threw it up in the air and it vanished, and he said, "When you can do that, come back and see me and I’ll show you how to do the good stuff." Then he took me by my hand and helped me find my grandmother.
How did you continue to learn magic after first meeting Harry Blackstone Jr?
After I first saw Harry Blackstone in person, a couple of years later or so, I saw a magician on television, Marshall Brodien who was selling his TV magic cards and TV miracle cards and TV mystery cards. And I saved up my pennies and I went to my local Thrifty drug store and I purchased those.
When you got those decks, inside with the instructions would be a little folded catalog, and you could buy more magic tricks by mail. Back then, I didn’t know there was such a thing as a magic shop. So I started ordering tricks, e.g. Fun Incorporated items under the Royal Magic brand. You know, classics like the Ball and Vase, Drawer Box, Crazy Cube, Pentro Penny, etc. As the years went by, I would continue to save up my money and buy even more magic tricks, books, etc.
I also had a neighbor who was in the Boy Scouts and I would borrow his Boys Life magazines and look in the back and they’d have all these ads for magic shops. So I’d send off my quarters or dimes off and get all their catalogs, and look through all the amazing things I might get. So I grew up doing magic.
Did you ever meet Harry Blackstone Jr again?
Around 40 years later, probably in the early 2000s or the late 1990s. Harry Blackstone was doing a show here in Northern California, and I saw him do his show at Chico State University. After the show he and Gay Blackstone came out, selling little magic sets for kids. I was prepared this time, because I had brought a billiard ball and I told Harry the story. I threw the ball up in the air and vanished it, and he started crying. It was a very emotional moment. He had tears coming down his eyes and he says, "I’ll be right back." And he disappears.
He comes back and he brought me a bunch of stuff, including this huge photograph which I still have. I said, "Because you were kind to a little boy who was someplace he shouldn’t have been, that turned out to be pretty much what I’ve done all my life." So it kind of came full circle, I guess.
What should be the goal of a performing magician?
What we’re really here for as magicians is to create that wonder, so that people can say: "For five minutes I can forget about my pain. Maybe I’m losing my house, or my daughter’s pregnant, or I’m going through a divorce, or my father just passed away. But for five lousy minutes, I don’t have to think about that stuff." For a short time I don’t have to think about all the drama and all the craziness. Right now with the coronavirus and everybody panicking and dying, people need laughter, entertainment, and magicians. They need something positive in their lives.
And this is why if you go back and look at the late 1920s and 30s and 40s when you had the Depression and Prohibition and a war going on, Vaudeville was so popular. This is why we needed the Marx brothers and Abbott and Costello and Laurel and Hardy, and we needed the Slapstick and we made fun of things. Back when folks understood what humor was – you know, a joke? A story with a humorous climax. Back before everyone became afraid they might offend someone.
Magicians take you away from pain and make up something wonderful. This is something that we need to keep in mind. Why are you doing magic? Are you trying to impress yourself or are you doing it for your audience? And are they just spectators or are they participants in the moment?
I remember a conversation with Eugene Burger, and I asked him, "Eugene, when you go to perform, whether it’s for one person, two people, a room full or a whole auditorium, whether it’s magicians or it’s lay people, what is your number one goal?" And he looked at me without blinking an eye and said, "To fool them." And I said, "Really?" And he looked at me and said, "Why, what is it you do?" And I said, "To entertain them." If I fool them, that’s great. That’s icing on the cake. But honestly, I’ll take a pie in the face if it makes somebody laugh, if it makes them giggle, if it makes them just have fun.
How should this impact how we approach our audience when performing magic?
I’m actually writing a couple books on magic theory. We need to look at whatever we do - and especially magic - and concentrate on making them have fun.
If your audience likes you, they’re going to stop being confrontational. Every magician I know, at some point during their career or in doing magic, has had this experience: The audience has folded arms and is rolling their eyes backward, saying, "Okay, Mr. Magic Man, fool me, do your trick." You have to turn that moment around because you can’t sit there and fight your audience. And as long as they are there to fight you and confront you, there’s a problem.
We all build this little wall around us, and we don’t allow people into our personal space. In order to connect with your audience, you can’t bust through their wall. Instead you have to let them open the door for you. And once they open the door and allow you into that personal space, now you have an opportunity. Now you can tell a stupid joke and they’re still going to laugh because they like you. And if they like you, they’re having fun and they’re enjoying the moment rather than trying to deconstruct the moment.
This is all about how we approach them. I don’t think you have to be the greatest magician in the world to have your audience walk away thinking "That person was awesome!" If they had a good time and they enjoyed themselves, they’ll remember you.
How important is sleight of hand compared with entertaining?
I know guys that are some of the best "mechanics", you might call them, with cards and such in the world. But some of those guys couldn’t entertain themselves out of a wet paper sack. They can do all these great moves, but when they get in front of an audience, they freeze, or they’re boring. You’d rather watch grass grow than to watch them perform.
For example, if you’re in front of some people and you throw a ball up in the air and it vanishes, they don’t know how you did it. And whether you did it by fantastic misdirection and sleight of hand or whether you use some gizmo is irrelevant to them because all the audience saw was the ball vanish. And that’s what’s important, that moment: the ball vanished.
You have a couple of different schools of thought on this. Some magicians say, "If it’s not done with sleight of hand, then you’re not really a magician." Others say, "If you can use a gaff card and make the trick work, that’s what I’m going to do." It’s like comparing Vernon and Larry Jennings, and how they would sit together at the Magic Castle and somebody would come up with a problem to solve. There are different ways of achieving something, and which one you choose doesn’t matter. So find the things that work for you. Not everybody has great dexterity. That’s okay.
Is it essential to be a good performer in order to be involved in magic?
Not everybody in magic needs to be a performer. There can be people that just collect props, or they collect posters, or books or whatever they collect. Or they are historians.
Just because you don’t go out and perform for audiences doesn’t mean anything. You still can be in magic. You can still hang out with your magic buddies. You can still enjoy everything that is magic. You don’t have to necessarily be a professional magician.
How important is hard work in order to be successful in magic?
There are seminars about how to get rid of a bad habit, or how to create a good habit. Let’s say I want to create a habit like getting more work done in my office. I’m going to condition myself to go to work one hour earlier every day so that I can get more work done. If you do that, after about a month or so, you’ll just keep going in an hour earlier.
Or if you want to spend time writing a book, but your life is a mess. You start off by saying, "I’m going to start at least once a week, on Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I’m going to devote two hours to writing my book." At first it will be tough. You may not even make it every Tuesday. But if you keep doing it, after a couple of months, you will do it and you might even spend more than two hours. In fact, it’ll get to the point where you don’t feel right unless you do sit down and write something on your book.
You can apply that to magic. I want to learn a new trick but it’s really hard, and it’s got a lot of difficult moves. So you start practicing and you put yourself in a habit of practicing.
What can we learn about hard work from performers who have been successful in magic?
People that make it in business, or people who make it in magic - whether it’s Penn and Teller, David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy, David Blaine, Criss Angel, Mac King, any of them - they didn’t get there because they didn’t work at it.
Somebody could say, "Well, they got lucky." Did they now? Maybe the harder the work you do, the luckier you might get, and you place yourself into situations to have the opportunity to be lucky and meet somebody. But you don’t do it by sitting playing video games on Xbox or reading BS on Facebook You do it by actually going out, and because you give something else up.
So you say: "So I want to be the next Criss Angel." So what are you willing to give up? What does Criss give up? I’ll tell you what he gives up. For years he gave up hanging out with all his buddies. He gave up chasing girls everywhere, and going to the parties. He gave up tons of stuff. Why? Because he was too busy trying to be successful.
You need to ask yourself: "How am I going to learn this? How am I going to get into this position? How am I going to meet the right people that will open doors for me to get over here?" I’m not going to do it sitting at home. So you take chances. You invest money that you might lose. You invest time that you may not get back and you try things and you fail at them and then you say to yourself, well that was a mistake, so I’m going to do it different next time, but I’m not going to give up.
Does this change once you achieve a successful career in magic?
You can say "Somebody in Vegas that makes $20 million a year has got it made." Really? So are you willing to do what they do? That $20 million contract is also wrapped in golden chains. Because it means I can’t go anywhere. I’ve got to do two shows at night, whether I feel like it or not.
And I have got to go and hang upside down off the stage whether I feel like it or not, and get in that tank of water and do this trick again and again in front of my audience and smile and be happy whether I feel happy or not. Maybe I just got in a fight with my mom or my brother or whatever, but I still have to be there. It’s seven o’clock, and I’ve got to do my show. I’ve got all this money, but I don’t have any time to really enjoy it. Because most of my time is at my showroom or at the casino I work at.
And who are really my friends? The people that just want to hang out with me because I’m famous? Do I have real friends, somebody that I can talk to and they’ll just tell me the truth because they don’t want anything from me?
Why is magic so much harder in real life than when a famous magician does it on TV?
I’ve seen this on the Magic Cafe. Some person will attempt to do a trick, and say: "I saw David Blaine do this great trick, but I tried to do it, and this homeless guy threw a beer bottle at me."
When somebody like David Blaine or Criss Angel or anybody else is going to do magic on the street, they have a bunch of advantages you don’t have. They’ve got a crew of camera people and grip holders and light people and sound people with them and they walk up and they get to know the guy. They find a guy that is receptive to this. So now we’re going to run the cameras and I’m going to do four or five tricks. And finally we’ll do the trick that we want to show on TV. But by the time we edit the episodes, we don’t have time to show you us getting to know him. We just walk up, do the trick and it’s done. That’s the way it works.
In real life you can’t always do that. It’s tough. You watch videos of how to learn magic and then it looks great on a video. Someone like Michael Ammar or somebody else who knows what he’s doing, and everything just works great. But when you do it, that lady grabbed the deck out of my hand, or that kid ran off with my scotch and soda coins. Yep, that’s the real world.
How important is it to get experience when performing magic?
That’s the thing that’s missing from these videos. It’s not that the videos aren’t good. It’s not that the books are not good. They are good. But they don’t teach you the experience.
Say somebody wants to be a doctor. So they go to medical school for eight or nine or 10 years or whatever, and they come out and they know all the technical stuff. They know all about chemistry and how the body works and what these tools do. But when they start working with real people things don’t always happen the way the book says it might happen. So experience, experience.
I worked restaurants for years, and behind bars alongside bartenders. Some of the toughest magic to do is working beyond a bar because why? Because you’ve got alcohol involved. Alcohol plus humans often equals disaster. People will do things when they’re drunk that they wouldn’t do otherwise. And they’re not paying attention all the time.
So books can get into how to do the moves, and tell you how you might want to dress. But they can’t give you experience. You’re going to have to go up there and fail. You need to fail. You need to get busted a few times. And any magician who says "I’ve never been busted" I say: "Bullshit. Yes, you have. Quit lying. Yes you have."
So learn from that and always be a step ahead of your audience. Always have an out in the back of your mind and say "What happens if this fails on me?" You must be able to adapt. Or do you just say "Oh sorry, it didn’t work." That’s really not a good out. You need to be able to take a bad situation and make it into a good situation.
What has experience taught you about dealing with hecklers?
It teaches you how to deal with a rowdy spectator. For many years it was said that there’s no bad audiences, only bad magicians. I call bullshit on that. There could absolutely be a bad audience. You could like do a show thousands of times and it’s awesome. But then get an audience and it’s just a train wreck. You can have unruly spectators and people who basically aren’t there to have a good time.
You’ve got to understand another thing about magic: some people don’t like it. It’s a psychological thing. If they’re sitting in a seat watching a magic show, somewhere in the back of their mind, they feel that if they get amazed and fooled by this, they must be an idiot, and everyone’s going to laugh at them. It’s almost as if they think the rest of the theater is too smart for this and they would be the only ones getting fooled by it. So they have to be the heckler, the rowdy guy, or the person who knows everything.
When I was younger and did kids’ shows, I learned a couple of little tricks for dealing with kids. Kids can really be a problem. I would set up all my stuff and stand by the doorway and watch the kids for the first two or three rows. Sure enough, there’d always be some kid who is slugging other kids in the arm and pulling people’s hair. That kid’s going to be my problem, so I’m going to deal with that right now.
So you walk up and say: "What’s your name? Come here." And you take him out in the hall and say "Listen, I’m going to be doing this show and I got a couple of tricks which I’m going to need your help. Can you keep a secret?" And you get the kid involved somehow. You make him feel special. You make him feel wanted because a bully at school is a bully at school because he’s being bullied at home where he feels like he has no power. So give him some power in your show and guess what? He’s not slugging kids in the arm, shouting things at the magician, or grabbing things, because he’s part of the show now. So it’s a pre-emptive strike.
What insights about magic have you gained from your passion for science fiction?
I like things like Star Trek and Star Wars and BattleStar Galactica, Stargate SG-1. You could make a movie and put billions of dollars into it and have the greatest special effects. But if it doesn’t have good characters that you care about, it’s not a good story. A series like the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien is good because it has good characters. Similarly Star Trek has always been good - not because of the cool space ships or the battles – but because of the relationship of the characters, and their ethics and ideas of morality. That’s what creates good stories.
That also applies to magic. Magic is more than just making something appear or disappear and standing up there saying, "See how wonderful I am. Aren’t you impressed?" Good magic is about how you can touch your audience on an emotional level.
That’s why I love close-up magic. Most people have never experienced magic in person. They see it on television and they might be impressed with it, but they’re thinking in the back of their heads, "Those people were in on it", or "It was a camera trick." But when you borrow somebody’s finger ring that their mother gave them as a gift and you do something wonderful with it, there’s this emotional connection because, "Hey, that’s my ring," or "That ring belonged to my grandmother. That’s not a camera trick, that was real. I saw it."
The Magic Café Forum
What was your original vision for The Magic Café forum?
I started the Magic Cafe on September 7th, 2001. I lived out in the country at the time and the only internet we had was dial-up, so setting up the Café was a challenge. My original idea was to have a place where magicians could go and talk with each other. And because I knew that magicians, besides doing magic, what else did they like to do? Well, talk about it.
How much does it cost for people to use The Magic Café, and what do you expect of them?
It’s free. It doesn’t cost you anything.
All we do is say: behave yourself. Don’t be an asshole. Don’t use profanity. Don’t say things that are just stupid.
Has the availability of information on the internet been good for magic?
Any tool you’re going to use is subjective. The internet is both a blessing and a curse.
You would think that in 2020 the ability to press a couple buttons and a click of a mouse, you literally have access to libraries of information at your fingertips. I grew up in very poor family, and we didn’t have a World Book encyclopedia set, so I would go next door and borrow my neighbors books – these things were expensive back then. But now everybody’s running around with phones and tablets, and they have home computers, and it’s like: "Wow, I can just press a button and I basically have the library of congress at my disposal!"
But the internet is like the Old West. There is gold to be found in California if you venture there. But there’s also bandits and disease and Indians and rattlesnakes. The problem with the internet is that when you go online, everybody’s a lawyer, a doctor, and an expert at everything.
When I was a kid, if you went into a bookstore and there was a best-selling book, the guy who wrote the book probably got rejected a million times before he found a publisher that thought it was worthy of being printed. Back then there were checks and balances, and even newspapers were held to high standards. You couldn’t just write anything you wanted.
The problem with the internet is that anybody can put anything there. So what you have is tons of information. But is it correct? Is it for real, or as they say, is it fake news? You don’t know because there’s no checks and balances. It’s open and there’s no real laws to govern it.
How does this apply to The Magic Café?
The Magic Cafe is good for a lot of things. If you use our custom search engine, there is a wealth of information to be found on there. If I had a place like the cafe when I was first getting in the magic, I would have been a happy camper, because there’s just so much stuff, e.g. interviews and reviews of products and more.
But the factor that we add in here is human beings and human nature. This is not a political issue. This is not a religious issue. This is a human issue and people are going to fight and they’re going to argue. And when they get on the internet it’s like, especially like if it’s three o’clock in the morning, they get a big red S on their chest and a big cape behind them and they’ll say things to you they’re not going to say to your face. Because they know that if they say it to your face they’ll get a broken nose.
I probably had like four or five simple rules at the time I started. And I soon found out that that wasn’t going to cut it. Because people are there talking about something that they’re passionate about, in this case magic. And when people are passionate about something, they can get very defensive about it, or say "I know more than you know." Debate is good, and even heated debate can be good - until you cross the line and you say to someone, "I hope your mother dies." Now it’s no longer a debate. Now you’ve run out of something to argue about, so now you’re just name calling. So those four or five rules became lots of rules.
How big is the challenge of dealing with people in moderating a forum like The Magic Café?
It’s hard because you’re dealing with human beings. We deal with people who want to kill you. They’ll call you up at your house, and say "We want to burn your house down." We deal with some psychos - why? - because there are psychos out there, and some of them happen to be interested in magic. It’s like that with photography forums and any other kind of forum, just crazy people.
I’ve made a lot of friends. But I’ve also made a lot of enemies, including people I’ve never met in my life. I don’t know anything about them - their politics, their religion, their color. If they’re interested in magic, they’re welcome. But there are people out here that are nuts, literally nuts, and they’re running around loose. You can swear at me and name call me, and I can take all that. But when you call up to my home and tell my wife you’re going to rape her and burn my house down and hang my dogs in the backyard, I’ve got a problem with that. That’s the type of BS I’ve had to deal with. There are people that really need to go see a psychologist – even famous people - because they have issues.
In a normal store, like a magic shop, when somebody comes in, they buy a trick and they leave. Maybe they’re having problems with it, and they bring it back, so the guy helps him out a little bit, and it’s a done deal. But I’ve got to deal with the same person 24/7, all the time.
Most people in magic are good people, really good people. I’ve been in magic all my life, and I’ve made some of the best friends. I would let them into my home and stay with me, and to me they’re family. But like in the rest of the world, there are a few idiots out there that you got to deal with.
I’ve had people helping over the years, but it’s not like they’re getting paid for it, they’re volunteering. Even the most gung ho people who help get burned out. Unfortunately when people get upset, and somebody is breaking a rule or they’re becoming rowdy or whatever, that person becomes volatile. And if one of my moderators handles the situation, they feel the brunt of that anger.
What advice do you have for dealing with difficult people?
You try to do the best that you can. I don’t judge people just on my first meeting with them. If they’re a little curt with me or they’re grumpy, well, maybe they’re having a bad day. Maybe they’re having problems at home, maybe someone wrecked their car. I don’t know. But I’m not going to sit there and judge them by that first or second experience.
Now, if I meet them 20 different times, and they’re still grumpy and they still have got an attitude, I may choose to not be around them anymore. But I still might say to myself "This person’s unhappy. He’s a hurt person and hurt people hurt people."
In my younger days, I worked for the probation department for 14 years as a counselor. Most of the problems in this world are hurt people hurting other people. They’re not evil or bad people as such. They’re hurt people and they have problems. What they’re really saying is "Help me, I need help," but they don’t know how to say "Help me."
It’s all about how you perceive them. When we hear the ambulance going down the street, don’t say, "I wonder who got in an accident?" Instead say to yourself, "Wow, somebody is getting rescued." That changes the moment in your mind.
Anybody who knows me, knows that I’m an easy to get along with guy. I go out on a limb to help people with The Cafe. I’ve seen some really sad circumstances where the people are not only losing their magic shop, but they’re losing their house and their livelihood, and I try to help whenever I can. But you can’t help the whole world, and you can’t fix everything. There’s only so much you can do.
Should negative experiences with people stop people from joining The Magic Café?
The Magic Cafe is what you make of it. If you want to find trouble, you can find trouble. But that’s the way life is. You want to find trouble. You can walk downtown and find troubles. It’s your attitude.
I originally made it so that my buddies and I could get on there and talk magic. The cafe is good for a lot of things if you're into magic.
How important is it to you to treat people equally when moderating a forum?
You’re always going to get people who say things that other people think is stupid. I’ve seen people get on The Magic Café and say to me "You know who I am and how many books I’ve written." It doesn’t matter. I don’t care if you drive a Porsche and this guy over here drives a Volkswagen. He has just as much value as you pal, I’m sorry. If you think he’s stupid and you don’t want to talk with him, don’t talk with him. Don’t waste your time, and don’t waste your breath, but go onto something else.
That probably is the biggest thing I’ve had to deal with sometimes: the idea of elitism. "My group is special, and better than your group." I don’t think that’s true.
So can we enforce all the rules all the time? No, we can’t. There’s too many people. So we count on other members letting us know. If there’s a problem, let us know, and we’ll try to deal with it. We try to deal with each problem fairly on a case by case.
What if people don’t like your forum rules?
Here’s an example. In the beginning I didn’t let anybody put up an avatar, a little picture. Because I was concerned about copyright issues. I didn’t want people putting Mickey Mouse on there and whatever.
And then people were like, "Oh, come on …" So I said, "Okay, put a picture of yourself. But if you’re concerned about that, and if you don’t want to use a photo of yourself because you’re afraid of your personal privacy and you don’t want people to see what you look like, then I’ve got a little bunny rabbit in a hat that’ll be in there instead, and that’ll be the normal little avatar that appears."
Most people understand that and they just upload something. But every once in a while you’ll have somebody who doesn’t read the rules. They join, and then the first thing they do is they upload a picture of a playing card like the Ace of Spades, or they put Bart Simpson on there. And of course we take it off, and explain to them why. Most people say, "I’m sorry I didn’t see that part, no problem," and they upload up something else.
But we get a percentage of idiots who say, "Go screw yourself. I’ll put whatever I want on there. Who do you think you are?" Well, I’m the guy that runs the forum. They say: "Well, I’ve got the right to this!" No, you don’t. This is my forum. It’s like being in my house. I’m going to call the rules here.
I don’t go to Taco Bell and tell you how to make a burrito. So don’t tell me how to run a website that I built. So that’s my attitude. If it makes me an asshole, it does, but I’m not trying to be. I just have very little patience for idiots.
If people say, "Well, I’ll go start my own forum," then I say: "Go for it! I’m rooting for you. By the way, you might want to go to your doctor and get some tranquilizers, because you are probably going to need them." And they’ll run a forum for a month or two and that’s it, and it’s done, because they find out really fast how difficult it is.
How much other work is involved in running The Magic Café?
I’ve put a lot of hours in the Café. Thousands upon thousands of hours.
We get attacked hundreds of times a day from hackers, mostly from China. Once in a while they’ll get through, and they’ll flood the forum with just crazy stuff. And we have go through and get rid of it
I’ve had times where we’ve had server issues, and I’m up for three days with no sleep, running around trying to stay awake while we’re trying to solve an issue. Meanwhile, people are over on other forums, saying "What an idiot Steve Brooks is. I don’t know why The Cafe’s down, and he won’t tell us why." I don’t have time to tell you why. What I have time to do is get my server running, and then I’ll tell you why.
These are armchair quarterbacks. These are the same people that will sit there, drink a can of beer, and watch a football game. And when a quarterback gets slammed to the ground by two 300 pound line-backers, and the quarterback is having a hard time, they say "Look at that idiot, he let himself get sacked." Did he now? Have you ever played football? Have you ever worn a helmet, and understand that you’re blind? Have you ever done this? Are you in the NFL making $20 million a year? No, you’re not. So shut up, drink your beer, and just watch the game.
How would you respond to a newcomer who thinks The Magic Café has too many sub-forums?
The Cafe is almost 20 years old. And Gene and I coded this thing ourselves. I didn’t download any software, but we built this website from scratch. It’s a work in progress. It’s like a big painting that you never finish, and you never actually get to the point where you put a frame on it and hang it on the wall. So you’re continuously adjusting. So occasionally we’re going to add a new sub-forum for one reason or another.
Sometimes newcomers who have never been on The Magic Café say, "There’s just too many forums. It’s too confusing, and I don’t like this place." That’s like going into a library and saying "There’s just too many books and I don’t want to take the time to have to look for the book I’m looking for." I say: Then you’re lazy. Get the hell out. If you don’t like the Magic Cafe, don’t go to the Cafe. It’s pretty simple. Nobody’s forcing you.
What about criticisms that the Magic Café has an old style format?
The Cafe is still alive and going strong. My servers are full every day from people all around the world.
Is it a little old fashion? It is a little old fashion and I like that. I don’t need all this crazy flashy stuff on there. I originally made it so that my buddies and I could get on there and talk magic and that’s what we did. And it grew.
Then Facebook came along and Twitter and Instagram and a lot of people who started hanging out there, just out of habit. But when they want reviews on magic, and when they want to look up something, they’re on The Magic Cafe. And the ones that say they’re not on the Cafe, they’re on the Cafe too. So the Cafe is fine.
What are your thoughts on social media, and how is The Magic Café different from this?
The Magic Café is not like social media. You can go on Facebook, and you can talk to your friends, but mostly you’re going to see a picture of what they had for breakfast. But if I really want to know something about magic, I’m going to go on the Cafe. If I’m looking for a certain cups and balls routine, I’m going to go on the Cafe. If I want to know how to find a certain book about a card routine, I’m going to go on the Cafe. It’s there.
In contrast, social media is all about showing how everybody has a wonderful life, except you. This guy just got a brand new car. This guy just got a brand new house. He and his family are in vacation in Europe. He just got a new illusion for his act. Oh, he’s on a cruise ship. Oh, he just got booked on Penn and Teller.
And pretty soon you start looking at yourself and go, man I must be worthless. Everybody’s got new cars and new houses and new jobs and they got lots of money and they’re doing fine and they got lots of gigs and they’re always working. And I’ve got a house that I’m barely paying for, my car is broken down half the time, I’m having problems and my wife might divorce me, I don’t know if my job is still there, so I must be a loser. And so what happens is you have people that kill themselves over a Facebook post.
Is social media such a great thing? We’re talking about magic and illusion, but isn’t that the biggest illusion of it all - that everybody on the planet is just doing well except you? You must be doing something wrong with your life, and you’re an idiot and a loser. But everybody has value in this world.
As long as you don’t let yourself get sucked into this illusion, I guess social media could be good. There’s all kinds of things that the internet is good for. You could Skype friends over in England, stay in touch with your family. But it’s also a hell hole that could destroy your life if you let it, and if you buy into the BS.
Like I once told my wife once, turn the TV off, and get off Facebook because all you’re getting is negativity - negativity from the news, negativity from social media. You’ll feel better. And sure enough, and you do that for a couple of days, and say "Wow, I feel better." Of course you do, because you’re not being inundated with negativity. No human being can take that.
Given how much work running The Magic Cafe involves, what keeps you going?
Over the last 20 years, I’ve seen everything you can imagine. It’s nuts. It is a job is what it is. But I just do it because I like what I do. I love magic. So I do it.
Running The Café is a challenge. It always has been and it always will be. One day I’ll find the right person and I’ll pass it to them, and then that person’s going to have to deal with it. And how they deal with it will of course be different than the way I deal with it.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed hearing from Steve Brooks and reading his insights and observations as much as I did. He certainly has some real wisdom to share about what it takes to run an online forum. Like all of life, the real challenge is dealing with people. While doing so online can involve aspects that doesn't apply to face-to-face meetings, in essence the basic element is the same: it's about human interaction, and since humans are imperfect, our online interaction is going to involve flaws and challenges.
But that shouldn't prevent us from engaging with others, because there's a wealth of knowledge we can gain from interacting with fellow hobbyists, whether they be playing card collectors or magicians. My own experience with The Magic Cafe has been positive overall. Even though occasionally you can find yourself in the middle of a war of words, it's no different than what you'll find anywhere else online.
More importantly, being on The Magic Cafe has allowed me to learn from experienced magicians, ask questions, share advice, and that's been an enormous help to me in my own development and growth as an amateur magician. So thank you Steve for doing this interview and for sharing your perspectives on magic, and thanks for the blessing you been to thousands of magicians around the world who drop in regularly at The Magic Cafe!
Where to learn more? Check out the official website: The Magic Cafe
- Learn more about the Magic Cafe: Welcome Message, FAQ, Rules & Etiquette, Forums
- The Magic Cafe on social media: Twitter, Facebook
- Steve Brooks on social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
- Our previous Steve Brooks interview: On playing cards and collecting
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
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Popular Builder Solitaire Card Games
Solitaire is the much beloved choice for killing time in the office or at the home computer. The three most popular solitaire card games are Klondike, Spider, and FreeCell, and these enjoy dizzying heights of popularity as a result of being included as part of Microsoft Windows in the 1990s (for more on this, see my article: The three most played solitaire card games in the world). What these three games have in common is that they all fit the "builder" genre. That means that they follow the basic formula of many solitaire games, where the overall objective is to arrange cards in ascending order from Ace through to King, for each of the four separate suits. Typically this is done by placing and moving cards within a tableau of rows and columns of cards, where the cards are often arranged in descending order, sometimes with an additional requirement of alternating colours.
Klondike, Spider, and FreeCell are by no means unique in this regard, and the genre of "building" games is the most popular archetype within the larger world of solitaire card games. Not all solitaire card games are builder games, but builder games are the most common and arguably the most loved. So which other solitaire games of this type should you know about and should you try first? I've explored the world of solitaire card games extensively myself, and also examined numerous lists about the most popular ones, to help you begin your experience with the best of the best, rather than waste your time with mediocre or obscure games. The seven builder games covered in this article are time-tested classics that are most well-known and loved, and represent the best "next step" for anyone wanting to branch out after enjoying Klondike, Spider, or FreeCell.
Each of the builder games discussed here represents a small category of its own, because there are many popular variations and related games for each, which I will cover as well. As with my previous articles on solitaire games games, the accompanying links go to Solitaired.com, which is a website where you can play these games for free. But because these games are so common and well known, you'll find that they are included in most software and websites that offer collections of solitaire card games.
== Games With One Deck ==
Baker's Dozen
Overview: Baker's Dozen also represents a family of games that plays much like Forty Thieves (see below), but with a single deck. While some variations have a stock, in Baker's Dozen and its most closely related games all the cards are face up, so you have complete information to work with.
Game-play: The tableau consists of thirteen columns of four overlapping and face-up cards each, while the four foundations begin empty. To ensure that the tableau doesn't lock up too quickly, Kings are automatically placed to the bottom of each column when they are turned up. Just like in Forty Thieves, only the single top card of each column may be moved, and columns are built downwards, in any colour and suit. Empty spaces in the tableau may not be filled. As you'd expect, the aim is to get the entire deck onto the four foundations, building up each from Ace to King, with each being built upwards by value.
Variations: Portuguese Solitaire makes Baker's Dozen slightly easier by allowing empty spaces in the tableau to be filled with Kings, while Spanish Patience allows building on the foundations regardless of suit. Baker's Two Deck is effectively the same as Baker's Dozen but using two decks, with eight foundations and a tableau consisting of ten columns with 10 or 11 cards each.
My thoughts: Because this only involves a single deck, Baker's Dozen is much quicker to play than Forty Thieves, and the chances of success are also significantly higher, with as many as 2 of 3 games being easily winnable. The fact that Kings begin at the bottom of the tableau ensures that you don't get stuck too quickly, and being able to build down in the tableau independent of suit ensures a great amount of flexibility. At the same time managing the tableau carefully is still important, especially in cases where empty spaces don't get filled. This makes Baker's Dozen a quicker, simpler, and more accessible game than Forty Thieves and its many variants, while still remaining rewarding and satisfying to play.
Related games: Castles in Spain requires building down in the tableau to be with alternate colours, and in most versions of this game all but the top card of each column in the tableau begins face-down. Quite similar is Martha and its harder sibling Stewart, where every second card in the tableau begins face-down. Good Measure is a more difficult variation of Baker's Dozen, since it uses ten columns of five cards each, and has more strict rules for building on the foundations; Canister has only eight columns with even more cards on each.
Bisley: Special mention can be made of Bisley, which is a classic but more difficult game in this family. In Bisley you use a tableau of thirteen columns of four cards each to build upwards on the four Aces, and simultaneously build downwards on the Kings whenever they become available.
Canfield
Overview: Canfield is one of the all time greats among solitaire games, and is a genuine classic. Also known under names like Demon, Fascination, or Thirteen, you'll find that it appears in almost every book with solitaire card games. According to legend, the game owes its origin and name to Richard A. Canfield, a 19th century gambler. For an initial outlay of $52, Canfield offered gamblers a reward of $5 for every card successfully played to the foundations, with a $500 pot for successfully playing all 52 cards to the foundations. Anything more than 10 cards played to the foundations would get you out of the red, but in most cases the game favoured the casino, indicating how hard the game can be to play.
Game-play: Game-play is much like Klondike, with the aim of building up all four suits in order. The key difference is the starting set-up, because there is a single face-down reserve of 13 cards (sometimes called the "demon"), with a 14th card turned up as the first foundation card. The foundations begin with the cards corresponding to the rank of this initially turned up card (rather than the usual Ace), and the idea is to build upwards from there, if necessary "turning the corner" from King through to Ace. Also different from Klondike is the starting tableau, which consists of just four face up cards alongside the reserve. The stock is turned up three cards at a time as in standard Klondike, with as many re-deals as necessary. Any space that appears in the tableau is immediately filled by the top card of the reserve pile, which is always kept face-up.
Variations: Given how challenging it can take to win a standard game of Canfield, a number of variants exist that simplify the game slightly, increasing your chances of playing cards to the foundations. Canfield's gambling house is said to have given players the option of going through the stock three times when dealing three cards at a time, or just a single time when dealing one card at a time, and it has been estimated that most games would only see 5 or 6 cards played. The game becomes slightly easier with Canfield Rush, where the cards are first dealt three at a time, then two at a time, and then individually in a final deal of the stock.
My thoughts: Canfield does have a strong connection to Klondike, but has a smaller tableau to work with, while also providing a much smaller number of cards (only 13) that are face-down in the tableau at the start of the game. The real key is finding a way to make these cards available and get these into the game. Given how hard the original game is, I prefer playing with the rule that allows dealing of cards individually, and cycling through the stock as often as necessary. Some of the related games discussed below, such as Rainbow and Storehouse, significantly improve your winning chances, and can be very satisfying to play. Certainly if you enjoy Klondike, this game is a great next step to try.
Related games: In Rainbow (also called Rainbow Canfield), cards may be built downwards in the tableau regardless of suit (some versions still require alternating colour), making it much easier to manipulate cards and work your way through the stock and the reserve. Additionally, cards from the reserve aren't automatically added to the tableau, giving you more control and adding strategic options. In most versions of Storehouse (also called Thirteen-Up), you get an additional head-start by placing your initial four cards on the foundations at the outset, while cards from the stock are turned up one at a time. The big difference in this game is that you must build down by suit in the tableau, which really changes how the game feels, because playing from the tableau to the foundation usually involves a whole string of cards at once. Eagle Wing (also called Thirteen-Down) is somewhat similar to Storehouse, and has a uniquely shaped tableau. Dutchess (sometimes spelled Duchess), is a Canfield style game that adds a reserve of four fans, while American Toad is an easy-to-win version of Canfield with two decks.
Two Players: Canfield has been adapted for a multi-player game under the common name Pounce, and is also known as Nerts or Racing Demon. A commercial version exists under the name Solitaire Frenzy, and the published game Dutch Blitz is also a close relative. In Pounce, each player uses his own deck and tableau, playing simultaneously and real time onto shared foundations, with the goal is to be the first to get rid of your reserve pile. You can play with as many as half a dozen players or more, and the frenzied action typically proves to be enormous fun!
Fan games (La Belle Lucie)
Overview: La Belle Lucie, also called in English "Lovely Lucy" or "Beautiful Lutecia", is a classic representative of the family of games typically described as Fan games. It's one of the more difficult games in the genre to win, and thus some of its variants and closely related games have arguably become more popular than Lovely Lucy itself. But this classic game of French origin is a good archetype of the genre, and you'll find it included in most books with patience games, and on most solitaire websites and software. Effectively this game is just a tableau of 17 columns of three cards each (plus a column with a single card), but the fan-style arrangement with horizontally overlapping cards that is traditionally associated with this game is a signature feature.
Game-play: A single deck is dealt face-up into 17 "fans", each consisting of three overlapping cards, plus an 18th column with just one card. Only one card can be transferred within the tableau at a time, so sequences can't be moved, and building happens downwards according to suit. Empty spaces in the tableau may not be filled. The aim is to build up four foundations by suit from Ace to King. Under the most commonly played rules, once you are unable to place or move any more cards, you take all the cards from the tableau and redeal them into fans with three cards each; there are two such re-deals.
Variations: Three Shuffles and a Draw (also called Lovely Lucy With a Draw) adds a merci play, where you can move a single blocked card once during the course of the game. While La Belle Lucie is sometimes called The Fan, this is also the name of a popular variation which allows exposed Kings to be played to empty spaces in the tableau, making the game less frustrating and far more achievable. Trefoil is identical to La Belle Lucie except that the Aces begin on the foundations, resulting in an initial tableau of just 16 fans.
My thoughts: This is a terrific single-deck game, because you have perfect information given that all the cards are face-up, and the large number of columns/fans means that buried cards have at most only a couple of cards blocking them. La Belle Lucie is very difficult to win under the original and strict rules, especially because empty fans may not be refilled, and cards beneath an unplayable exposed card (e.g. a King) are permanently inaccessible. The merci rule that lets you unblock one card is virtually essential, and usually a standard way of playing, but even after two redeals the game can still be hard to finish, depending on the draw. Some of the variants and related games that simplify things slightly are more satisfying. This is one of my favourite solitaire games to play with a single deck, since it is less luck-dependent than many other popular single-deck games like Klondike.
Related games: One of the more popular games in this family is Super Flower Garden, where building downward is permitted regardless of suit; with good play under these rules the game can be completed almost every single time. Shamrocks takes the essence of La Belle Lucie, but implements several other changes to make the game much easier: Kings are moved to the bottom of the fan during the deal, and you may build up as well as down on the fans (which are limited in size to 3 cards) and can ignore suits; to prevent it being too easy there are no redeals.
Similar games: Games in the Baker's Dozen family (covered previously above) are sometimes classified as Fan games as well, because the game-play is quite similar, with 13 columns/fans of four cards each, but the absence of re-deals gives them a different feel. Bristol is often played with a tableau consisting of fans as well, but there are only eight fans of three cards each, while the rest of the deck functions as a stock that you deal onto three waste or reserve piles. Despite some hidden information, those who appreciate Fan games are likely to appreciate Bristol as well. Intelligence is a two-deck game in the style of La Belle Lucie, while the relatively easy two-deck game Buffalo Bill relies on reserve cells rather than tableau building.
Castle games (Beleaguered Castle)
Overview: Beleaguered Castle is the most famous member of what can be called the "Castle" family of solitaire games, and is a classic game that you'll find in most books of Patience. This game sometimes also goes under the alternative names of Laying Siege and Sham Battle. It is an excellent example of an open solitaire game, because all the cards are dealt face-up at the start, so you begin with perfect information.
Game-play: With the four Aces placed in a vertical column as foundations, the rest of the cards are dealt face-up into four rows of six overlapping cards each on either side, forming a tableau consisting of two "wings". As expected, the goal is to build all four foundations in order from Ace through King. Cards may only be moved within the tableau one at a time, rather than in stacks, so only the end card of each row within the tableau may be moved, either to the foundations, to another row in descending sequence regardless of suit, or to an empty space in the tableau.
Variations: In Streets and Alleys, the Aces don't begin in the starting foundations at all, but are included in the initial tableau of dealt cards, so that the four rows on the left side of the foundations each consist of seven cards each rather than six. Thomas Warfield's Stronghold adds a storage cell to Streets and Alleys, to give more strategic options for movement. Citadel improves Beleaguered Castle's initial position slightly by allowing you to build straight to the foundations during the deal, while Selective Castle lets you choose the rank of the foundation cards after the deal. Some solitaire sites offer a Beleaguered Cities variant (sometimes simply called Castle), which makes the game much easier by allowing you to build in ascending or descending sequence (still regardless of suit), and this ensures that you can nearly always complete the game successfully.
My thoughts: Despite the unusual signature "wing" setup, strictly speaking the mechanics of Beleagured Castle are like most other solitaire games (especially Forty Thieves, see below), but with a single deck, eight columns of six cards each, and no stock. The strict rules for movement and building within the tableau make this a very difficult game to complete successfully. Ideally you want to be able to get one of the rows entirely clear, to give you more options for manipulation within the tableau. Even so, being only able to move the outside card on each row is quite limiting, and as a result you will often be thwarted by the luck of the draw early on, especially if high cards bury some lower cards, and so this classic game can be somewhat frustrating. You'll often find yourself quickly redealing and starting over, hoping for better luck the next time around; one advantage of a digital version is that you can keep redealing until you get a deal that seems like a reasonable starting draw. The simpler variant Castle is a good place to start with this game, since it increases your chances of success drastically.
Related games: Fortress operates on a similar concept, but there are five rows on each side of the foundations instead of four. In addition, you are restricted to building on the same suit, but you may build in ascending or descending sequence. Aces start within the tableau (thus two rows have six instead of five cards). The variant Chessboard applies the same principle as Selective Castle, by letting you choose the rank of the foundation cards after the deal (building around the corner on the foundations as required), in order to take better advantage of the cards you have been dealt. Zerline is a German game where Queens are high, and helps by adding a four-card storage area.
Sir Tommy games
Overview: Sir Tommy (Old Patience, Try Again, Numerica) is also known as Old Patience, which reflects its origin as the oldest known patience game, and possible ancestor of all others. The average person may not have heard of it, but it deserves a place on this list because this is a game from which so many other solitaire games are derived, including many more familiar ones. It is at the head of a family of games where cards in the tableau can't be moved after being placed, and that's a unique quality that also makes it quite challenging to win.
Game-play: Suits are irrelevant in this game, and the aim is to build four foundations from Ace to King. You deal the deck face-up one at a time, and the tableau has four columns (or waste piles); dealt cards can be played on any column but cannot be moved from one to another. So while it's still technically a building game because you are building up the foundations, there is no packing in the tableau to assist you with this.
Variations: Some variants (e.g. Auld Lang Syne, Tam O'Shanter) turn Sir Tommy into even an simpler luck-based game nearly impossible to win, while others are extremely strategic like the well-known Calculation. Amazons is an interesting version played with a smaller deck that has the goal of building to the Queens (= Amazons), and is best played digitally given the amount of redealing. Other variants make the game easier (and for me, more enjoyable) by increasing the number of tableaus (Strategy, Lady Betty, and Last Chance) or redeals (Acquaintance), or make it more interesting by requiring building by colours (Puss in the Corner, and Colours, Alternate).
My thoughts: Good players can win as many as 20% of their games, and storing cards in the right order on the four columns is critical, because you want to avoid having low valued cards blocked by higher ones, or having too many cards of the same number in one column. Reserving a pile for Kings and another for high cards is often a good strategy. Even so, it's a hard game to win and can be frustrating. I recommend trying some of the easier variants as a way to enjoy this game; there's a good reason so many variants have evolved from the original over time. It's a large family that includes many solitaire variants, and these are well worth trying and exploring.
Related games: Several two-deck games are in the Sir Tommy family, including Fanny, Frog (also called Toad), Fly, and Grand Duchess, most of which involve using a reserve. Several two-deck games use similar mechanics but operate with a larger 20 card tableau in the style of the simple game Carpet, but involve building both up and down on the foundations; for me personally these are the most fun of all Sir Tommy variants, and include Twenty (also called Sly Fox), Colorado, Grandmother's Patience (also called Grandmamma's Game), and Grandfather's Patience - all excellent games.
Calculation: Calculation deserves special mention, and has become a classic in its own right. What makes it unique is that the foundations are built up by one, two, three, and four respectively, and it requires a lot of skill. The variant Betsy Ross is more luck-dependent but is also easier to complete successfully.
Yukon
Overview: Yukon first appeared in a 1949 book on solitaire games, and has since exploded in popularity. This single deck solitaire game was partly inspired by Klondike, which is of course the most popular solitaire card game of all time. But because Yukon has no stock and more flexible rules for movement of stacks within the tableau, it allows a lot more scope for thinking.
Game-play: While inspired and indebted to Klondike, Yukon creates a game with a very different feel by removing the requirement that stacks of cards must be in alternating sequence in order to be moved. In other words, you can move any stack to a legal card within the tableau, regardless of the sequence of the cards in that stack. While this makes the game easier, another significant change makes it harder: there is no stock that you deal. So all the cards are in the tableau at the outset, and you'll have to manipulate the tableau cleverly to uncover face-down cards and build all four suits onto the four foundations from Ace through King.
Variations: To make Yukon slightly easier, a couple of variants alter things slightly to simplify the gameplay, such as removing the requirement that only Kings can be placed in an empty space in the tableau (this variation is sometimes called Great River). Some digital implementations give the option of reducing the number of suits used, such as in Yukon One Suit, which you can nearly always win, while still having to think carefully.
My thoughts: The rules for manipulating the tableau give you more options than Klondike, and thus more to consider and think about. Both Yukon and Russian Solitaire (mentioned under "related games" below) are extremely popular solitaire games, because they are simultaneously more challenging and more rewarding than Klondike style games. Skill plays more of a role, and there are players so dedicated to Yukon that they have played it thousands of times. In regular Yukon you can expect to win as much as 1 in 4 games, but the added level of difficulty in Russian Solitaire reduces that to as little as once in 20 games. The key is to bring the face-down cards into play as soon as possible.
Related games: Russian Solitaire makes Yukon harder by only allowing you to build down in the tableau with cards of the same suit, instead of in alternating colours, and it is an extremely popular game in its own right. This requirement is also in place with Alaska, but may build in ascending or descending order in the tableau, which makes it easier to win than Russian Solitaire. Australian Patience is another popular spin-off from Yukon, and adds a stock which is dealt one at a time, while the entire 7x4 tableau starts face up; however this can feel like it's more about careful observation than decision making. Many other Yukon inspired games exist, including games which add things like a reserve, storage cells, or extra decks.
Scorpion: Special mention should be made of popular game Scorpion, which some categorize as part of the Yukon family, and the rules for moving unarranged stacks in Yukon may even originate in Scorpion. However, Scorpion uses Spider's requirement that stacks from Ace to King of the same suit must be assembled within the tableau before being discarded. Scorpion variants include Wasp, Three Blind Mice, Chinese Solitaire, and others.
== Games With Two Decks ==
Forty Thieves (Napoleon at St Helena)
Overview: Forty Thieves is a popular and classic game played with two decks, and is also included in most books with patience games. It also goes under the alternate name Napoleon at St Helena (not to be confused with a different solitaire game called "Saint Helena" or "Napoleon's Favorite"), and tradition says that this is the solitaire game Napoleon played while in exile on the island of St Helena. The game also goes under other names, including Roosevelt at San Juan. Its simple rules means that many variations exist, many of which are among the more strategic and satisfying versions of solitaire games that you'll find anywhere. Carefully working through the stock pile and manipulating the discard pile are a big element of successful play.
Game-play: A tableau is dealt with ten columns, each with four overlapping and face-up cards. Strict tableau building rules apply, because only the single top card of each column may be moved, and only onto a card that is the next highest rank of the same suit; any card can be placed into a space that becomes available in the tableau. The remaining stock of 64 cards is turned up one card at a time, with no redeals. The goal is to get all the cards onto the eight foundations from Ace through King in each suit.
Variations: In its strict and classic form, even with good play Forty Thieves is difficult to win, so many variants exist that seek to make the game easier. In some of these, the Aces begin as starting foundations ( San Juan Hill). In others, the tableau is not built down by cards of the same suit but by alternating colours (e.g. Streets), or by any suit other than its matching one (Indian). Some variations allow entire sequences of cards to be moved (Josephine, Forty Bandits, Ali Baba), or combine this with having tableau building in alternating colours (Number Ten, Rank and File, Emperor) or tableau building in any suit (Little Forty). In other variations, multiple redeals of the stock are permitted.
My thoughts: Game-play is very tight in the strict form of the game. It's not always a good idea to play a card just because you can, because you may block cards within the tableau that you need. You also need to pay close attention to duplicates, since two decks are in play. As a result, careful planning and consideration is needed. Unused stock typically ends up into an increasingly large face-up discard pile, but in the latter parts of the game skilful play often makes it possible to dig back through this and complete the game. This usually proves most satisfying when playing with one of the variants that makes the game slightly easier, to increase your chances of pulling out a win. Even with these variants, you'll have to play skillfully, making the Forty Thieves family of solitaire games one of the more popular choices for those who like a longer experience that is thoughtful, challenging, and yet solvable, and where skill plays even more of a role than luck.
More variations: Instead of 10 tableau piles, some variations increase this to 12 piles (Blockade, Napoleon's Square, Corona) or 13 piles (Lucas, Waning Moon); or decrease it to 9 piles (Maria) or 8 piles (Forty and Eight, Congress, Parliament, Diplomat, Red and Black), each with different combinations of rules for tableau building. Games with just 6 piles (Blind Alleys, Pas Seul) or 5 piles (Double Rail) begin to feel much like Klondike.
Related games: Many other games take the Forty Thieves style concept and adjust it in more significant ways. In Interchange (more difficult), Breakwater, and Alternations, the initial tableau includes face-down and face-up cards. The very popular Thieves of Egypt begins with a pyramid shaped tableau. Busy Aces is a straight forward game in the style of Forty Thieves that is at the head of its own family, which includes the much simpler Fortune's Favor, a simple game ideal for beginners. For a terrific overview of all the Forty Thieves related games and their different nuances, consult Thomas Warfield's excellent complete guide to Forty Thieves types games.
Conclusion
This is by no means a comprehensive list that includes all builder-style solitaire games. But along with Klondike, Spider, and FreeCell, these seven additional games - Baker's Dozen, Beleaguered Castle, Canfield, Forty Thieves, La Belle Lucie, Sir Tommy, and Yukon - and the many related games that belong to their families, are the most common and popular forms of solitaire games that involve building. They have inspired many solitaire games like them, and have stood the test of time well.
If you enjoy Klondike, which is the most popular version of solitaire in the world, then Canfield and Yukon are natural games to explore next. Beleaguered Castle can be a little frustrating due to the strict rules and dependency on the luck of the draw, and even the other games in its family can be quite challenging. I'd recommend it only for more experienced and dedicated players, and would instead suggest next exploring Baker's Dozen and the games in the "Fan" family inspired by La Belle Lucie.
Their style of play is somewhat similar to Forty Thieves and its many siblings, which double the number of cards in the game by adding a second deck, and also adds a stock pile and discard pile you must manage. Forty Thieves type games are among the best you'll find for those who like a more challenging, thoughtful, and longer solitaire experience.
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Tue Jan 26, 2021 9:17 am
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The Best Digital Resources For Playing Solitaire
Digital Resources That You Should Know About
The classic game of solitaire with playing cards has been keeping people amused for a couple of hundred years. The advent of computers has only helped make this genre of card games more accessible, easy, and fun to play. And as a previous article explains, there are real advantages in playing a digital version of solitaire. But what are some of the options for playing digitally? And of the different software that is available, which is the best?
Factors to Consider
To help figure out which digital resources are best, let's first talk about what you should be looking for in a good program. What features should you look for in a software program, app, or browser based implementation that allows you to play Solitaire? Personally I find that programs which offer an option that provides a "winning deal" much more enjoyable to play, otherwise you can quickly get stuck after a random hand that doesn't let you progress very far. But for you this may be completely unimportant, so a particular feature might be more important to one person than another. But there are general considerations you should keep in mind, weighing up which of these are most important to you.
So here are five key elements you should keep in mind when selecting a digital version of solitaire that is right for you.
1. Games: How many and which games are included?
One of the first things I look for in a program is what games are included, and how many there are. All the special features in the world won't compensate for a poor or minimal selection. Are you the kind of person who is content playing your favourite solitaire game over and over? Or do you want an app or program that gives you a much wider range of games to choose from? And do you want a selection of the classic games, or do you enjoy trying more obscure solitaires? Some programs, apps, and websites only offer a handful of different games, while quite a few offer as many as a hundred, or even as many as more than 500 games, especially when you take into account all the possible variations.
Closely related to this is whether variations are offered for some games. Many popular solitaire games have alternate rules or variants. It can be a little frustrating when your favourite game of solitaire is implemented in a different way than what you're used to, or if it adopts different rules than what you prefer. The best programs include all these alternate ways to play, either listing them as separate games, or giving options within the game to customize the rules.
2. Looks: What is the quality of graphics, and what customization is possible?
Does the program look a hideous remnant from the 1990s, or does it have a sleek and modern look? Some programs do have a distinctively outdated feel about them. Technology continues to progress rapidly, and the latest apps especially tend to take good advantage of hardware and software improvements. The graphics not only need to be clear and sharp, but I personally enjoy having a range of different styles of deck to choose from, which includes a variety of faces, card backs, and backgrounds.
Customization is important, and the best software will often include or make available add-ons which give you this kind of choice, to help personalize your experience. With technology today, there's really no good reason not to offer this. A game of solitaire can have a different feel when playing with a traditional deck, or when playing with cards that have a completely different look. This isn't just about functionality, because it's a given that poor graphics (e.g. stacking cards so that the indices aren't visible) shouldn't get in the way of user experience. Really it's more about personal preference and feel, and developers would be smart to cater to this.
3. Usability: How easy is the software to use, and what is the user interface like?
One developer that I corresponded with indicated that he's learned from user feedback that a good user interface is the number one priority for the majority of users. People want to have a million features, but they also want everything to be just a click away, and the less clicks the better. Anything that gets in the way of enjoying the game, or makes it longer to get to where you want to go in the program, becomes a point of complaint.
Some programs may have the greatest looks, but a poor user interface gets in the way of having fun with the game-play. I can testify to this from my own experience. Unfortunately some apps have very counter-intuitive menus, or a maze of icons, and every time you're playing you're struggling to find what you want. When moving a card in the game takes twice as many clicks as it otherwise could, you will soon abandon that program in favour of something that gets the same job done with only half the effort.
4. Features: What special features and options does the software include?
People have been implementing solitaire ever since computers came on the scene in the 1970s and 1980s, but the earliest forms of software were typically very bare-bones. They had minimalist graphics, and which did little more than run the game according to the rules. In contrast, modern programs tend to have a ton of other special features, including things like saving games, suggesting or marking available moves, as well as incorporating special achievements and/or challenges.
Some of these are almost standard, like the "undo" feature, and can be considered essential - to me anyway. For you it might be a different feature that is a priority. I will expand on some of the different features and options to look for in a separate article. But these are important, and can make a big difference to your digital solitaire experience; after all it's one of the big reasons why playing digital solitaire has advantages above playing with a physical deck.
5. Pricing: How much does the software cost, and is it supported by advertising?
For most people, a game that is free is going to have immediate appeal. But hold on for a moment: if something is completely free, who is paying for it? Is a professional developer really going to invest their time and part of their life into something that they're just going to give away? If something is free, it could mean that it is a half-baked effort from an amateur, and not really worth paying anything for anyway. If something really is quality, you can usually expect to pay something for it, and the cost is often some reflection of the quality of the software.
On the other hand, it's also possible that the software is supported by advertising, as is the case with many apps. In most cases you'll just have to try the app to find the answer to this question. Sometimes ads can be incredibly intrusive, and every time you want to start a new game you're forced to spend 20 seconds watching some promotional clip for some pathetic app that wants your attention (and money), and this quickly becomes tiring. Ad supported games aren't all bad, and in some cases the ads are not intrusive and not problematic at all. How you feel about this will depend on your own sentiments and character.
Other programs give you a fully functional trial version that expires after a month, or a fully functional app with a limited number of games, where an in-app purchase gives you access to more games, or to more options for customizing the graphics. These give you a good opportunity to at least try the program and decide whether or not the upgrade is worthwhile. Ultimately the weight that you'll give to the pricing is an individual decision, and how much you're willing to sink into a good software program will depend on the state of your personal finances, combined with how keen you are to play solitaire, and how attractive a particular program is for you.
Recommended Windows Software
So now let's test-drive some of the best programs available, starting with the software available for the Windows platform on your personal computer in the home or office. I've listed these in my personal order of preference. Note that many of the apps covered in this article also have companion versions for Windows, and those are worth exploring separately.
Bear in mind that making an objective comparison between different programs is difficult, because the number of games they offer isn't always directly comparable. For example, some programs include every rule variation as a separate "game", thus inflating the total number of "games" available, so you'll have to keep this in mind when making a straight-up comparison.
SolSuite Solitaire
SolSuite Solitaire by TreeCardGames ($19.95, current promotional price: $9.95)
SolSuite Solitaire has everything you'd look for in a good solitaire program. It comes with a very large total of 744 games, and you can arrange these by type, length, difficulty level, skill level, or chance of winning. You can also easily keep track of your favourites.
The menus are intuitive, and the interface is pleasant and user friendly. Many extra card sets, card backs, and backgrounds are available, all with very beautiful artwork and polished graphics. I especially appreciated the ability to select "themes", which allows you to change the whole look at the click of a button. So there's a large range of highly attractive visual options, which ensures that the playing experience remains pleasant.
All the premium features like statistics and high scores are included. In addition there are special tools that allow you to customize the rules for individual games, set up series of games, and even switch to a multi-player mode. It's hard to think of anything that isn't included - this program really has the goods all round, and is my top choice!
My rating:
BVS Solitaire Collection
BVS Solitaire Collection by BVS Development ($21.95, 30-day free trial)
Coming in at a close second is BVS Solitaire Collection, which offers a large collection of 535 games (of which 100 are original), which can conveniently be arranged by category, or sorted by your favourites. A written summary with rules is provided for each individual game.
The user interface is very smooth and easy to use, and the graphics are particularly fantastic. Registered customers get access to a "Plus Pack" that includes additional card sets, card backs, and backgrounds, all of very high quality. So visually there is plenty of variety, and the game looks very attractive.
There are many special features, including the ability to save games, and keep track of statistics and high scores. A "show next move" option gives you help if you get stuck. And the ability to easily customize rules of every single game with multiple options will especially be welcome to dedicated solitaire enthusiasts. I can also recommend the companion iPad app very highly. Along with SolSuite Solitaire, this program will not disappoint the dedicated solitaire enthusiast.
My rating:
Pretty Good Solitaire
Pretty Good Solitaire by Thomas Warfield ($24.95)
Pretty Good Solitaire is the work of Thomas Warfield, a dedicated solitaire gamer who has created numerous very popular solitaire games over the years. Versions also exist for Mac, iPad and iPhone. Version 20.0 for Windows is the 25th anniversary edition of this classic and respected software. The latest Windows version comes with a massive 1030 games, which can also be arranged by category, amount of luck/skill, and other criteria.
This program is unfortunately let down by a rather dated look, because the quality of the graphics used for the cards and other elements doesn't match that of the competition. There are additional card sets that can be downloaded, but the quality of these is also somewhat disappointing compared to other software. Once you're in game and playing, however, it's quite straight forward and easy to use. The companion iPad app has similar looks and performance.
As for features, Pretty Good Solitaire does let you create custom solitaire games, and also keeps track of your statistics. There are pre-arranged "tours" that let you easily explore similar games, and daily quests give you the challenge to score as many points as you can in a group of games. Besides your personal high scores you can also submit scores online to compete with other players. The creator is an expert in solitaire, and I especially appreciated the historical notes that are part of the rules and which show how different solitaire games are related. In terms of accuracy and variety, this software is hard to beat, despite its less than glamorous looks.
My rating:
PySol Fan Club Edition
PySol Fan Club Edition by Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer et al (free)
The original Python Solitaire software first originated as PySol in 1998, and was developed as an open-source game by Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer. It had around 200 games when he discontinued working on it around 2004. Several fan groups continued and expanded the project, hence this Fan Club Edition, which has proven to be very successful. It now has 1069 games, and although this number includes games in more obscure categories and played with non-French decks (e.g. the 78 card Tarock deck, eight and ten suit Ganjifa cards, and Hanafuda), it still contains well over 700 solitaire games played with a traditional deck. These are neatly arranged into different categories to make it easy to find your favourites, or games that are similar.
The program works smoothly and easily, although in terms of graphics it doesn't have as much glamour as the commercial versions. But it works fine, and still offers a range of options for card-sets and backgrounds, which ensures that it doesn't have budget looks. Because it is open source software, you can find some additional card sets elsewhere (including a collection of over 150 card-sets here, which include lovely historical decks), although you'll have to figure out how to install these manually.
Special features include the ability to load and save games, use hints, and keep track of player statistics. Rules for each game are included as well. There is an auto-solve feature, but it's not entirely reliable. But for open source software, this is still an impressive package, especially considering the large number and variety of games included.
My rating:
XM Solitaire
XM Solitaire by Petr Lastovicka (free)
Created by Petr Lastovicka, XM Solitaire is a free open source program that comes with around 200 solitaire games. These are simply arranged alphabetically, so you're on your own when it comes down to figuring out related solitaire games, and keeping track of your favourites.
The graphical limitations are really the downfall of this software, because the somewhat mediocre artwork used for the cards can affect your ability to enjoy the game-play. Many of the card sets appear to be based on scans from actual historical decks, but the resolution isn't quite what I'd prefer to see in a program like this. The menus aren't exactly very polished either, and mainly give you the ability to change up the artwork for the cards, card backs, cells, and background. However you can tweak the spread of the cards, so some customization in looks is still available.
There aren't many special features included here, but the essential ones are there, such as the ability to undo a move. For a free game, XM Solitaire still offers something useful if you're after a program for your PC and don't have money to spend, especially in light of the fact that it comes with a reasonable amount of different solitaire games.
My rating:
Recommended Android Apps
PySolFC
PySolFC for Android (free)
This app is a companion to the free Windows software PySol Fan Club Edition mentioned above. Written in Python, it has over 1000 solitaire games, although this number includes a number games with unusual decks. Even so, it's still a massive collection which should give you all the solitaire games you want for playing on your Android device, and it's hard to argue with the price.
My rating:
Other Android apps
I personally don't have an Android phone or tablet, so I can't recommend anything specific other than the PySolFC app. However, many of the apps for iPad and iPhone also have matching apps for Android. Take a close look at the apps I have recommended there, and there's a good chance that any app which interests you in that section has an Android equivalent.
Recommended iPad and iPhone Apps
The market for iPad and iPhone apps is a big one, given the popularity of solitaire. There are hundreds of apps which just offer Klondike on its own, or one of the other more popular solitaires like Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, or Golf. Covering all these small apps would be an impossible project; instead I want to cover the best apps that offer a decent variety of solitaire games.
As it turns out, there's around 30 leading candidates, which offer anything from a dozen different games to those containing literally hundreds of solitaire games. Here is a list of my personal favourites, showcasing only those that I consider to be the best of the bunch:
Large collections
● Allgood Solitaire by Allgood Software ($0.99)
This app has over 200 different solitaire games, conveniently arranged by family or by favourites. With excellent graphics, and a smooth user-friendly interface, it has all the special features you could want in an app.
● BVS Solitaire Collection by BVS Development ($5.99)
This app corresponds to the Windows program, and is an impressive collection of 280 different games (including variations). The ability to completely customize individual games is particularly good.
● Solitaire Forever II by Solitaire Forever ($7.99)
The user interface isn't as intuitive as I'd like, but this app really shows off the graphical possibilities of the iPad. Over 300 games are included, and the creator has carefully researched the rules from many sources, and provided excellent notes for each game.
● Pretty Good Solitaire by Thomas Warfield ($9.99)
Despite the fact that this app is somewhat let down by sub-par graphics, much like its Windows counterpart, it's worth including and recommending by virtue of the sheer number of different solitaire games included (750), and that it comes from respected solitaire expert Thomas Warfield.
Classic collections
● Solitaire Victory HD by P.R.O Corporation (free, or $4.99 in-app for ad-free iPhone version)
The tally of 114 games includes numerous variations of the same solitaire games, but this is still a very solid collection of the most popular ones. The user interface is one of the more polished and professional I've seen, and there's lots of graphical options for customization, as well as fun achievements and challenges.
● Solitaire City by Digital Smoke (free, or $3.99 for ad-free version)
This is one of my favourite free apps, given the strong collection of around classic solitaire games (around 60 if you include variations). I've found the "high score" feature especially fun as an additional incentive when playing.
● Solebon by Solebon LLC (free, or $5.99 for ad-free version)
This comes with 40 classic games plus 10 originals, and the ad-based free version is fully featured, including a welcome feature enabling users to select "winning deals". I also highly recommend Solebon Pro ($4.99), which increases the number of games to 160.
● Solitaire Plus! HD by GamesForOne.com (free, or $1.99 for ad-free version)
This app is beautifully put together with a lovely collection of 30 well-chosen games, a sleek and modern interface, and most of the features I look for in a solitaire program.
Smaller collections
● Solitaire Deluxe 2 by Mobile Deluxe (free, or $9.99 in-app for ad-free version)
I admit to being suckered in by all the flashy extras that this app offers, including an in-game currency you earn by playing, and can use towards adding card-sets and graphic backgrounds. The 16 games included are all classics.
● Astraware Solitaire by Astraware (free, or $2.99 in-app for ad-free version)
This app comes with 12 classic solitaire games, and works flawlessly. The amount of customization for each of these is fantastic, and I especially enjoyed the in-built achievement system that lets you collect cards towards a Golden deck.
● Microsoft Solitaire Collection by Microsoft Corporation (free, or $9.99 in-app annually for ad-free version)
If you only want the most played solitaired games, it's hard to overlook this classic from Microsoft, which has been around since the 1990s. It comes with Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and Tri-Peaks (a variation of Golf), but there's a lot of extras like daily challenges, a star club, and the ability to earn XP, level up, and earn currency towards graphic upgrades.
● Solitaire Collection Fun by WePlay Technologies (free, or $1.99 in-app for ad-free version)
This adds Canfield, Castle, and Yukon to the five games that come with the Microsoft Solitaire Collection app, bringing the total to eight. The graphics are a little smaller, but if you enjoy completing challenges, earning achievements, and changing graphics, it's fun to keep returning to.
For a more comprehensive coverage and full comparison of the above apps, along with others, see my separate article: The best iPad and iPhone apps for playing solitaire.
Recommended Websites
Given the enormous reach of solitaire as a result of the success of Klondike, courtesy of the version that has been standard with Microsoft Windows for 30 years now, it's no surprise to find versions of Klondike solitaire being offered all over the internet. You don't need my help to find some of these, because there are literally hundreds if not thousands of places where Klondike is available for browser-based play.
Instead, I want to focus on sites that offer larger collections of different solitaire games for browser-based play. In other words, not just half a dozen different ones, but sites where you can play a wide range of different solitaire games, besides just the same old classics. Note that in recommending the ones below, I tested them on a desktop computer running Google Chrome, and their performance on mobile devices and with different browsers might vary.
Large collections
If you're a serious solitaire enthusiast, then you don't just want to be playing the same handful of games over and over, but will want the luxury of exploring a wide range of different games. These sites are the places where you'll find the largest number of different games.
● solitairesunlimited.com - This is a massive collection of over 800 different games, organized into categories for 11 different types. You can also search by difficulty and by game length.
● solitaired.com - This site offers over 500 different games (including variations), and is run by two hard-working solitaire enthusiasts, who are actively upgrading the site and improving its features on an ongoing basis. The implementation of Klondike is particularly good, and many of the other games are in the process of being improved as well.
● solitaire.game - This is one of the best sites you'll find, with a long list of over 300 different games, and the ability to select from a number of high quality graphical card-sets. Aside from an initial list of 15 favourites, games are simply listed alphabetically, but this is a very large collection that plays well.
● goodsol.com - This is the home of Thomas Warfield, the creator of Pretty Good Solitaire. You can play from a selection of 140 different solitaire games, which are conveniently arranged according to type. The graphics has a retro look which corresponds to the artwork of the software for Windows and the iOS app, but at least the cards are a good size, and it plays smoothly.
● blacksreds.com - There are around 130 different solitaire games on this site, which can be conveniently arranged alphabetically, by difficulty, or by popularity, and also by type. The cards are quite small and plain, with no real customization possible, but the selection of games is good. If you like Golf style games, you'll appreciate the additional 14 layouts for Golf.
● onlinesologames.com - While this site also offers around 20 other classic board games and card games, the real attraction here lies with the 110 solitaire games that are the main feature. The graphics are somewhat plain, but the artwork for the cards is functional and clear, and it's well-sized and plays smoothly.
● panoidl.com - Also offering around 110 different solitaire games is this site. The cards are fairly small and the artwork on the cards has somewhat of a juvenile look, but the game-play itself is sound, and there's even a `hint' feature. The site keeps track of your time, so that you can record your best scores and see how you do in comparison to other players.
Classic collections
The sites listed here don't typically include as many games as those covered above. But they do include the classic favourites, so if you just want to play the more popular games in your internet browser, these are great places to start.
● worldofsolitaire.com - This site feels like an app, given how it allows you to select games based on the criteria of your choice, and the options for customizing the deck and background. The total of 125 games included sounds more impressive than what it actually is; this number is somewhat inflated as a result of counting small rule variations separately. But the classic favourites are all included, and I love the high quality artwork options. It even includes statistics and challenges.
● solitairenetwork.com - As part of 82 different games (which includes variations), there are 15 original games unique to this site. I especially like how the games are arranged by types. Even though this isn't a full screen implementation of solitaire and the cards are quite small, you can vary the card sets used. Being able to select winning deals is a particularly handy feature.
● solitaireparadise.com - The introductory page of this site has some excellent general information about the main types of solitaire and how they play. There are two additional pages which list all the games available (page 2 and page 3). The pages of available games include some other card games and arcade games, but there are more than 60 solitaire card games as well. Some are just small variations of classic solitaires, but there's some real fun to be had here with the graphics and more.
● classicsolitaire.com - This is a solid collection of 56 favourite solitaires, with around a dozen options for changing the style of the cards to suit your own personal taste. They have a smaller collection of 38 games along with a number of standard card games over on their companion site icardgames.com.
● gotsolitaire.com - They've cleverly mirrored their site at zolitaire.com and xolitaire.com, with a humorous self-description as "the solitaire site that can't even manage to spell the word properly." It has 54 different solitaire games, which are listed alphabetically after an introductory section with the most popular games. It's worth clicking on "preferences" to adjust the choice of deck, because several attractive options are available.
● justsolitaire.com - The 50 solitaire games found here represent a strong collection of all the popular favourites. The graphics can't be changed, but the cards are clear and functional. The addition of daily stats for the number of games played on the site and the overall wins recorded for each solitaire give an additional point of interest.
Smaller collections
I can't possibly include all sites with solitaire games, since some only have very small collections, and only offer the bare basics. But here are a few more sites with less than 50 different games, which still provide strong collections of the more popular games.
● solitaireforfree.com - I love the graphics and interface on this site, which offers 32 of the more beloved solitaire classics. It even enables you to keep track of your win/loss stats for each game.
● solitaire.com - This site relies heavily on ads and is flash based, so it won't be for everyone, because it can take a little longer to get into a game. But there's some fun artwork and ideas, and if you like novelty you'll likely find something here to enjoy in this small collection of just under 30 games.
● greenfelt.net - Their collection of 15 solitaire games is a good set of the most popular classics, with clear cards and functional interface. Their leader-board is a neat feature that shows the top players and times.
● netsolitaire.com - From TreeCardGames, the creators of the excellent SolSuite Solitaire software, this offers around a dozen of the most popular solitaire classics, with very high quality artwork, a range of card-sets, and smooth performance.
● solitaire.ligeria.net - This offers the same set of games as the previous site, but is from creator B6 Games, and corresponds to their iOS app. Like the app it has a very clean and smooth interface that works very nicely.
Final Thoughts
Playing solitaire on computers is hardly a new phenomenon, and we will be forever indebted to Microsoft for beginning somewhat of a revolution in digital solitaire, through the introduction of that now classic solitaire program thirty years ago as part of Windows 3. It was admittedly not the first of its kind, but there can be no debate about the fact that it brought solitaire to the masses, and helped create a demand for software like the programs available to us today.
The digital possibilities have only continued to explode in recent times as technology keeps progressing. Now we have handheld devices that are miniature super-computers, and which let us fire up high-tech apps while on public transit, and access high-quality web sites that implement our favourite solitaire games while on the go. Even most websites offering browser-based solitaire play for free have features and graphics that easily exceed the quality of the first computer programs that solitaire enthusiasts salivated over in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Today we are blessed with a wide array of fantastic options for playing solitaire card games like never before. If you enjoy playing cards, card games, or just have some time to kill, you really have no excuse not to explore some of the terrific digital options covered above!
Disclaimer: The information in this article was accurate around the time it was first published. I playtested these programs and sites extensively over the course of several months from June 2020 onwards; some may have under-gone updates since then.
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Fri Jan 1, 2021 10:42 am
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2020 Ultimate Playing Card Holiday Gift Guide
My favourite decks from the past year
Playing cards make the ideal gift, particularly the many beautiful custom decks available nowadays. Almost everyone can use a deck of cards at some point, so they have an instant and universal appeal, especially if a deck has some customized artwork and is packaged in an appealing tuck box. The average person's experience with playing cards is often limited to a cheap deck that handles poorly, so they're likely to be very impressed with the high quality of the decks seen here. Not only do these look great, but they will prove durable, and most of them handle like a dream, especially compared with the cheap-and-nasty decks that most people use.
A couple of years ago I put together a playing card holiday gift guide, with a list of suggested decks to suit a variety of people and a variety of occasions. It proved pretty popular, but the world of playing cards is a constantly evolving one, so I decided to put together something covering some of the newer decks available. While the original list will give you many great ideas, a number of the decks listed there are now out of print. Plus there have been many releases in the past year that show new bursts of creativity, design, and colour.
In this list I want to focus on some of my favourite decks that have come out in the past year 2020. This year has been a challenging year for many of us in light of the coronavirus that has swept across the world. Along with it came a range of restrictions and lock-downs, financial pressures, and personal crises. But in the middle of all this darkness, there have also been some bright sparks, and that includes a brand new crop of custom decks that have appeared in the marketplace. As they say, hindsight is 2020, so with the benefit of looking back over the past twelve months, I invite you to join me in a tour of some of my favourite decks from this past year.
The suggestions I'm making are very much a matter of personal choice. Playing cards are very much a matter of individual preference, and other playing card enthusiasts might make other choices. I haven't seen each and every deck that hit the market in the past year, and there are undoubtedly plenty of other worthy decks that qualify for a list like this. I've also not included any decks that have haven't yet been produced, even if they have been crowdfunded. This list strictly covers decks that have already been produced and you should be able to obtain from online retailers and resellers. I've also not included so-called "hype decks" that sell out almost immediately at the publisher level (e.g. Fontaines), but only those that enter retail channels and are more widely and readily available.
Popular Series
Several series of playing cards have become brands of their own, and achieved nearly cult status from collectors. This past year has seen some great additions to the line-ups from popular series that include big names like Jerry's Nuggets, Cherry Casino, and NOC.
● Jerry's Nugget Aqua Playing Cards - Jerry's Nuggets are a modern icon in the world of playing cards, due to the cult status of this deck, which was praised by cardists around the world. It was originally printed in the early 1970s, and was so much in demand in recent decades that copies fetched over $500 in the secondary market. A very successful reprinting of the original blue and red decks happened in 2019, and in the past year we've seen multiple reprints in different colours. Among my favourites in this series are the bright colours like orange, yellow, and green, which have all appeared in the past year. But there's also something for those who prefer a more muted look, such as steel and black. For more in this series, see Jerry's Nugget decks.
● Cherry Casino Tropicana Teal Playing Cards - The Cherry Casino decks capture a retro vibe, and are a throwback to the old fruit machines from gambling halls, with their distinctive cherry artwork. For me the real appeal of this series lies in the gorgeous card backs, which have a metallic sheen making them feel instantly different from all other decks. The face cards are all quite standard, so that makes them ideal for card games or card magic. Multiple new colours continue to appear in this series, such as Flamingo Quartz Pink, and most recently McCarran Silver. For more in this series, see Cherry Casino decks .
● NOC 3000X2 Purple Playing Cards - The acronym NOC originally stood for Nothing Only Colour, and in line with this the initial decks in this series were all very minimalist. Many people like to collect and use the NOC decks, and over time the series has evolved somewhat. The most recent releases show some new splashes of creativity, and with the NOC 3000X2 deck we travel into the future, past the year 3000. Vibrant purples and pinks inhabit the landscape of the cards, for a very modern and flashy look that is particularly well suited to cardistry. This particular deck is also available in a matching pink version. For more in this series, see NOC decks.
Popular Brands
There are several big brands that you can count on for quality, and this year was no exception, with big companies like Theory11, Ellusionist, and Art of Play all continuing to contribute wonderful playing cards to the market.
● James Bond 007 Playing Cards - When it comes to glamorous tuck boxes, it doesn't get much better than the luxury of playing card producer Theory11. This wonderful deck is a tribute to agent 007, James Bond. I collect most of the Theory11 decks, and this one is particularly terrific, with a supreme tuck box, and Bond-inspired paraphernalia on the court cards and on the card back. Close observers will find many Bond gadgets and more. Theory11 have put out several stylish releases in the past year, another one being the Hollywood Roosevelt deck. For more, see Theory11 decks.
● Shadow Masters Legacy v2 Playing Cards - One of the companies at the forefront of the custom playing cards movement was Ellusionist and their Black Tiger deck continues to be a modern icon. While they've since been overshadowed by the many custom decks produced in the crowd-funding era over the past decade, they continue to produce some memorable decks from time to time that are worth picking up. The Shadow Masters Legacy v2 is a black deck in the classic Ellusionist style, and represents the kind of thing that made them great to begin with. A jet black background is the chief feature of this deck, and the red and white used for the artwork and pips stands out beautifully against the inky black. This deck compares favourably with any other deck from the modern era. For more, see Ellusionist decks.
● Yellow Wheel Playing Cards - The brand Art of Play is the home of influential cardists Dan and Dave Buck. Their Red & Blue Wheel decks are among my all-time favourite decks, with gorgeous metallic inks as part of a split-pip design. The Yellow Wheel deck is their latest entry in the Wheel series, that retains the original card backs but now in yellow. But the highlight is the card faces, with the split pips employing a stunning metallic silver that complements the cards beautifully. This is a completely custom deck that is certain to impress anyone who sees it. Art of Play produces many new decks each year, and their Henry & Sally deck is a fun novelty release also worth checking out. For more, see Art of Play decks.
Popular Designers
They are a very select group, but there are some notable designers in the playing card industry who have developed a real name for themselves, have generated a large following of loyal fans, and continue to produce high quality custom decks on a regular basis.
● Italia Radiosa Playing Cards - Italian designer Giovanni Meroni is the man behind Thirdway Industries, and his playing cards are in high demand from collectors around the world. His signature style is immediately recognizable in each of his decks, and this one is no exception. Along with its companion Italia Segreta, it's themed around the wonders and secrets of Italy. The unique court cards are the real highlight, showcasing Giovanni's usual creativity and style. The number cards are also fully custom. These are the kinds of decks that will hold their value well in years to come. If you want even more vibrant colours, check out Modern Idols, from the same creator. For more, see Giovanni Meroni decks.
● Postage Paid Playing Cards - Behind the brand Kings Wild Project is Jackson Robinson, who is one of the few professional designers that actually makes a living out of designing playing cards. This deck was inspired by the idea of playing cards functioning as postcards, each with its own stamp and post paid stamp. All 50 US states are represented on different cards, and everything about this deck is fully customized. This deck was produced in only limited numbers, so it will be out of stock in most places. But if you're quick, you can still grab Jackson Robinson's General Admission deck, which applies a similar concept to tickets, with each card representing a vintage ticket stub from the early 20th century. For more, see Jackson Robinson decks.
● Kodiak Playing Cards - From popular designer Jody Eklund and his Black Ink Playing Cards Company, comes this delightful deck of playing cards that is geared to the poker player and collector. The cards have a very classic look, but offer a fresh take on the designs of the court cards and pips. Jody is highly respected for his approach to graphic design, and these cards will prove an excellent choice if you like playing card games, and want to bring something stylish and attractive to the table. For more, see Jody Eklund decks.
Magician Decks
Most magicians can perform their magic with any deck, but typically they prefer to do card magic with a deck where novelty and customization are minimal, so as not to distract from their magic. These decks are well suited to performing magic, and contain bonus gaff cards or other secrets that enable them to produce miracles not possible with ordinary decks.
● Card College Playing Cards - These decks are a tribute to the most outstanding modern teacher of the fundamentals of card magic, Roberto Giobbi. Mr Giobbi is the author of Card College, a series of best-selling books which are the modern gold standard for learning card magic. Available in red and blue, these decks are simple and practical for the working magician, and as a bonus each contains two double backer gaff cards. If you want more luxury, check out the stunning Luxury 3 Deck Set, which has even more stylish cards, individually numbered tuck boxes with unique origami style features, packaged in an attractive acrylic box - the ideal collectible or gift for magicians.
● Remedies Royal Blue Playing Cards - The Remedies decks come from popular creators Daniel Madison and Daniel Schneider, and this is a successor to the Remedies Scarlet Red deck. Many collectors love the Black Roses brand of playing cards, and collect whatever they produce. This blue Remedies deck has a classic and minimalist look with bold blue card backs, and is very functional and practical. The inclusion of a special Angle Zero gaff makes it ideal for magicians.
● DMC Elites Red v5 Playing Cards - Of all the marked decks I own, the DMC Elites is easily my first choice whenever I want a marked deck with cards that can be easily read from a distance, due to the clever and yet almost invisible marking system it uses. This deck has previously been released in several different colours, and now incorporates Tamariz's Mnemonica stack. All you need is the deck, but there is a terrific Passport book available separately, which will give you some great ideas for routines you can pull off with this great marked deck. For more, see Marked decks.
Cardistry Decks
Card flourishing has really boomed in recent years, and especially shines when cardists use a deck that has colourful and striking patterns optimized for cardistry, that enhance the visual aesthetics of cards in motion, as these decks show.
● Neon Orange Cardistry Playing Cards - This deck represents Bicycle's attempt to meet a demand for a relatively low-cost deck geared towards card flourishing. The card backs have a geometric design, and the faces are all identical and completely non-standard, showcasing the latest evolution in playing cards optimized entirely for cardistry. Bright colours ensure that the cards look visually appealing in fans, spreads, and flourishing moves. Alongside this vibrant orange deck is its blue companion, the Neon Blue Aurora deck.
● Autumn Circle Cardistry Playing Cards - Tally Ho is a classic brand that USPCC has been producing for a long time. The circle back design of the typical Tally Ho deck has become iconic, and is especially appreciated by those who enjoy card flourishing. Each year the folks at Bicycle produce some in-house decks for special occasions, and the Autumn Circle Back deck is a lovely result. The colours capture the warmth and glow of autumn leaves and the mood of harvest time, while the pattern on the card backs is perfect for cardistry.
● ArrowDynamix Cardistry Playing Cards - Given the high volume of cardistry decks appearing all the time, it can be difficult to come up with something completely original, but this minimalist deck has accomplished exactly that. Each card features a giant vertical arrow on the card backs, and a giant horizontal arrow on the faces. With carefully choreographed sequences and moves, you can create truly unique patterns and effects that you simply can't achieve with any other cardistry deck.
Animal-themed Decks
Do you love animals, or do you have an animal lover in your life? There are a lot of wonderful custom decks that are tributes to our four legged friends, or depict some of our favourite creatures.
● Woof and Whiskers Dog Playing Cards - The real appeal of this deck is the cute tuck box, which has cardboard ears that fold up, to complete the look of the friendly dog on the front of the box. I would have liked to see some more customization with the number cards, but it's still a very charming deck, with delightful custom artwork on the court cards and aces. This is one of two Zoo 52 decks, so if you like the Dog deck, you'll also want to pick up the Playful Paws Cat deck, which is equally cute.
● Aviary Playing Cards - There are a lot of independent creators that produce Bicycle branded playing cards with the help of industry giant USPCC, but this big name producer also releases its own in-house decks. This is my favourite of their four newest releases that hit the market at the end of 2020, and is a very classy looking deck with artwork inspired by a traditional look, but with adjustments to give it a custom feel, and the presence of several birds carefully positioned throughout the deck. It's one of many decks in the under $5 range. Of the four new releases from Bicycle, the Sea King deck is also proving to be very popular.
● King of Tigers Playing Cards - If you're looking for a deck with bling, this is it. The card backs have a borderless tiger skin pattern, which has been printed with some of the latest technology that makes use of foil for a truly eye-catching look. The tuck box is even more glamorous. While the court cards are clearly inspired by traditional courts, the Jokers bring back the tiger theme strongly, and the tiger skin look recurs throughout the deck.
Food-themed Decks
Recent years have seen some wonderful novelty decks themed around different kinds of food. These are always a great way to whet your appetite for a card game, or to show off to family or friends, and have proved a real hit with collectors.
● Squeezers V3 Playing Cards - Good luck getting your hands on decks from this extremely popular series from Organic Playing Cards, because they sell out quickly. These fruit inspired decks have delightful tuck boxes, and this grapefruit themed deck even comes in a tuck box that looks like a juice box, and is actually scented like grapefruit. The cards themselves are quite practical, but add humorous grapefruit themed elements to the court cards, and new bold colours. OPC's 2020 releases also included the watermelon-themed Carvers deck, while their current release sees the brand go in a slightly new direction with the corn-themed Shuckers.
● Noodlers Chicken Playing Cards - If you like the concept behind the Organic Playing Cards series, you'll probably also enjoy this deck, which has a similarly styled tuck box to the Squeezers decks, but represents a packet of ramen noodles. The orange colour on the card backs and pips has also been inspired by the noodles theme. The artwork on the court cards has a quaint and cute style, with each character depicted in a light hearted style quite different from standard courts, and all holding a bowl of noodles. For a final laugh, the Jokers provide us with the necessary packet of "chicken seasoning" to add to our noodles.
● Citrus Playing Cards - Created by Flaminko, the Deliciousness series has been somewhat overshadowed by the more successful fruit inspired cards from Organic Playing Cards. But I love the Flaminko decks, because they apply customization to all elements of the cards, including the pips. This novelty deck is well suited for card flourishing, card games, and collectors, and cleverly captures all that is juicy and wonderful about citrus fruit.
Music-themed Decks
Music is another evergreen theme, and there's a solid range of lovely decks for the music lover, whether your taste is classical or more contemporary rock-and-roll.
● Composers Mozart Playing Cards - This deck is part of a series that also includes Bach and Beethoven. These decks are true collector pieces, and make a wonderful tribute to some of the greatest composers of all time. The tuck boxes have a very classical look, and metallic ink enhances the gorgeous card backs. Meanwhile completely custom artwork on the faces emphasizes a vintage and classical feel. They are great for music lovers and collectors, but if classical music isn't your thing, then check out the Rock and Roll deck.
● Piano Player Playing Cards - If the piano is your instrument of choice, this is a deck for you. The creative tuck box is available in two styles, one with two black keys and the other with three black keys, which means you can place two decks alongside each other to create a larger keyboard. Fully custom characters inhabit the court cards, with the keyboard motif returning in the details of the artwork. Small touches like this really make this creative deck a thing of unique beauty.
● Soundboards v3 Midnight Playing Cards - Remember the old walk-man cassette players? In the 1980s these revolutionary electronic devices were among the first to make your personal music collection portable. The Soundboards deck replicates the look of a classic walk-man, and the Jokers complete the look by bringing the cassette tape look into the box. This Midnight edition has a dark look, so you might also want to consider the red deck if you prefer a more traditional colour.
Fiction & Film themed Decks
Most of us love a good story, whether it's in the pages of a novel or on our screens. Here are some great custom decks that are loving tributes to some of the best from the worlds of fiction and film.
● Jane Austen Playing Cards - Fans of the classic novel will appreciate the loving treatment that Jane Austen's famous novels have received in this delightful tribute from the Art of Play label. Each suit represents a different novel, with the court cards featuring the lead characters in the story. The design of the characters is inspired by period costumes and reflects the fashions from the time in which the stories are set. The classy tuck case ensures that everything is nicely packaged and well presented.
● Star Wars Playing Cards - Theory11 achieved a real coup by acquiring the rights to bring the Star Wars brand to playing cards. They were the perfect company to ensure that the result was a classy deck that did justice to the world of the films. This pair of Light Side and Dark Side decks begins with a top quality and highly attractive tuck case, as we've come to expect from Theory11. The court cards all feature different characters from the movies, and the design is the perfect blend of customization and playability, making this a practical deck you can bring out for your favourite card game, or to give to the Star Wars fan in your life. A similar pair of decks was produced later in the year in White and Black.
● King Arthur Playing Cards - The result of a collaboration between Riffle Shuffle and Studio Muti, this pair of red and green decks tell the story of the famous Arthurian legend. For me it's a personal and nostalgic childhood favourite, in light of the adventure and imagination it evokes. But as impressive as these decks are, they pale besides the King Arthur Gold deck, which has gold metallic ink on the faces, and gold foil on the card backs, for a truly extravagant look. Inside and out, this is a stunning tribute to a timeless classic from the world of fiction.
Space-themed Decks
So I cheated. I already have a section devoted to cardistry, so I figured I'd sneak in a second category, by including some cardistry decks that all have a space theme. These decks all feature colourful visuals that work well for flourishing, but can also be enjoyed by collectors who appreciate their vibrant colours and exuberant designs.
● Solokid Constellation Playing Cards - This set of twelve decks captures the twelve different star signs. It was produced by Bocopo, a company well known for producing colourful custom decks that appeal especially to cardists and collectors. These decks are typical Bocopo offerings, with evocative colours that are unique to each different deck, to help capture a different feeling for each and every constellation. If you like vibrant colour, you'll certainly find something to enjoy here.
● Stargazer New Moon Playing Cards - Several different decks have now appeared in the Bicycle Stargazer series, but the recent New Moon deck is probably my favourite. The circular moon that appears on all the card backs makes it an ideal deck for card flourishing moves like spins and twirls. The face cards have some truly vibrant colours, and capture well the feel of a night sky bursting with colour and life.
● Sirius B v3 Playing Cards - I fell in love with the style of the original Sirius B deck, so this third edition was always going to win me over. The court cards consist of a blur of colours that look like paints mixed together, and this style has also been applied to the pips. The colours are the real appeal here, and the signature design of the card backs also looks very nice in card flourishes.
Transformation Decks
I personally adore transformation cards, and consider them to be one of the most fascinating and memorable types of playing cards there is. The idea is that you take the pips and incorporate them into a larger picture that forms a unique work of art, for each and every card in the deck.
● Cotta's Almanac #1 Reproduction Playing Cards - This historic deck was first created in 1805 by J.C. Cotta, and was the very first of its kind. Themed on the "Joan of Arc" play by Schiller, the beauty and creativity of these cards will still win over collectors today. Lovingly produced in a high quality modern edition, this recreation is the first of the entire series of Cotta transformation decks that is being reproduced by PCD.
● 5th Kingdom Playing Cards - This deck is possibly my favourite original release from PCD in the past year. It is an outstanding example of the creativity and originality of a semi-transformation deck, where the pips have been cleverly incorporated into the artwork. Each suit represents a different culture, turning each individual card into a work of art that can be admired and enjoyed.
● Pack of Dogs V2 Playing Cards - This transformation deck is the work of John Littleboy, who has produced a number of such decks in his inimitable style, including Pack of Dogs, Kitten Club, Mermaid Queen, and Bag of Bones. The number cards are my favourites, and in this deck each of these represents a larger art piece with a dog. Each suit has a progressive image, so they don't feel totally unique from each other. It's more like a series of consecutive snapshots, and you can use flip animation to tell the story. Littleboy's Kitten Club V2 deck applies a similar concept to cats.
In-House Decks
PlayingCardDecks doesn't just sell playing cards, but Will Roya also uses his wealth of experience to team up with designers and graphic artists to produce high quality custom decks under the PCD label. Here are some great custom decks that were published in-house over the course of 2020.
● Astronaut Playing Cards - This novelty deck is a delightful creation that will please anyone who has an interest in space and space travel, in light of its unique theme. The Kings are all depicted as astronauts, while the Queens and Jacks represent space travellers. The card backs have a futuristic look with neon lights, and this look carries over to the number cards, which are highly customized with unique red and blue pips.
● Beekeeper Playing Cards - There are plenty of bee themed playing cards already on the market, but the artwork style gives this one a truly unique feel. Two decks were produced, one with light card backs and the other with dark card backs. This is a great novelty deck for the collector, because there's especially some delightful creativity to be found with the bee-inspired pips, and the detailed custom artwork on the court cards.
● Testament Classic Playing Cards - This is a Biblical themed deck created by artist Ben Green. It's intended as an art deck, with the images on the cards depicting Biblical characters from well-known narratives. Representing a dual love for playing cards and a love for Bible-inspired art, this deck will especially appeal to the collector.
Out-of-the-Ordinary Decks
I'm a sucker for highly unusual decks with a high degree of novelty, and even though these are not ones I'd typically use for playing card games, they have very unique features that make them stand out from your average custom deck.
● Starry Night Puzzle Playing Cards - Fancy a deck that doubles as a jigsaw puzzle? This clever deck takes its inspiration from Vincent Van Gogh's famous painting, The Starry Night. The artwork on the card faces is all taken from the painting, and all the cards can be pieced together to make a single giant picture, thus effectively functioning as a large puzzle. Yet each card has clear indices so it's still something you can use for card games too. Definitely unique and out of the ordinary, this set of playing cards is a perfect choice for fans of classic art and paintings.
● Falcon Razors Deluxe Throwing Playing Cards - Rick Smith Jr has made multiple world records in throwing playing cards. His baseball background holds him in good stead, but anybody can learn to throw playing cards if you use the techniques Rick teaches (learn more in the interview we did earlier in the year with Rick). These throwing cards were a collaboration with legendary flourisher De'vo, and were featured in one of this year's viral videos from Dude Perfect, which featured Rick and his amazing card throwing. The cards are slightly thicker than standard Bicycle stock, to ensure extra durability and performance for card throwing.
● AQUA Invisible Plastic Playing Cards - If you're looking for something completely different, this might hit the mark. This is a ground-breaking deck that is the closest thing to being invisible. All the cards are made out of completely transparent plastic, after which a high gloss transparent printing is applied to selected areas of the cards to produce the designs and pips. So each card is effectively completely transparent, and yet you can see its unique artwork and determine its value and suit. The handling is surprisingly better than you'd expect for a completely plastic deck, and it's certainly something unique.
Other Gift Ideas
Do you want to let your gift recipient make their own decision about what to get, or are you not quite sure what to buy? Here are a couple of special gift ideas that might help out, even if it is to give your family or friends a convenient way to enable you to select your own gift!
● Accessories - There's a wide range of accessories available for playing cards, like card clips, card cases, and more.
● Gift Card - PlayingCardDecks.com gift cards are available in amounts of $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200.
● Pip Box Club - This popular club has been around for over two years, and subscribers get a selection of decks and goodies shipped to them each month, and offers great value with each box.
Boxing Day Sale: Right now you can take advantage of a special sale at PlayingCardDecks, and save $10 off any order over $30 by using the code box20. This coupon is valid from Boxing Day until the end of 2020.
Happy shopping, and happy holidays!
Want to learn more about playing cards and PlayingCardDecks.com?
● Official: Web Store, Facebook, Instagram
● Related links: Kickstarter Projects, Loyalty Rewards Program, Pip Box Club, Gift Cards
● Further reading: Articles, Blog, FAQ for New Playing Card Collectors
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Sat Dec 26, 2020 6:22 am
- [+] Dice rolls
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10 Important Tips for New Magicians: Do's and Don'ts
I've spent a lot of time around young teenagers and kids learning magic for the very first time. I've helped them get connected with good resources that teach them how to perform tricks. But what advice and guidance should I be giving them more generally?
To begin with, it is important that budding magicians are familiar with some of the ethics of magic. Sometimes referred to as "the magician's code", it's a well-known rule that as a magician you should never reveal your secrets. Why? Because by giving away the method of a trick, you're taking away the very thing that makes magic astonishing and amazing: the unknown. Did you tell someone the secret behind a trick you've just performed? You're actually hurting your magic, and you've stripped it of the ability to surprise and entertain. Now that shouldn't stop you sharing secrets with someone genuinely interested in performing magic. When you have a love for the art of magic, you will want to nurture serious students of magic, and encourage and assist fellow magicians!
But this ethical guideline is common knowledge, and is geared to protect the art of magic more generally, and to ensure that your own magic amazes. Besides this basic rule, what other tips and guidelines would you give a newcomer to magic, to help them improve? Here are 10 suggestions to get new magicians started. Hopefully they'll also serve as a useful refresher for old-timers, and a reminder of what is really important about magic!
1. Do realize that your presentation is as important as your moves
In fact, good presentation probably even more important than technique - important as that is! Magic isn’t about creating a sophisticated puzzle, or challenging your spectator with a mere impossibility. Learning the techniques and moves required to do a particular effect is just the first step to successfully performing it. In addition you need to be able to present it in a way that is interesting and engaging to watch. Never forget that magic is an art-form that has the goal of entertaining, and that's why good showmanship is essential. You you already have some magic experience under your belt, and know a good range of tricks? Then do yourself a favour by reading some books on the subject of showmanship and magic design. Good examples are Strong Magic and Designing Miracles by Darwin Ortiz.
2. Do say something when you perform
Some magicians can get away with silent acts, but for most of us, our voice is another prop that we'll want to make good use of in the course of a magic trick. What you say (in magician speak we call this "patter") is just as important as what you do. So it is important to practice your patter just as much as you practice your moves and sleight of hand. Many magicians will even recommend writing down a script for everything you say, memorizing and rehearsing it. Even if you don't go quite that far, it is important to realize how big a role the words that accompany a magic trick are. Give them careful thought, so that they help disguise the method and enhance the effect. Well chosen words will greatly help your magic be more entertaining.
3. Do focus on simple and self-working tricks
One of the best ways that newcomers to magic can work on their presentation is by starting with simple tricks, such as self-working card tricks. Don't make the mistake of thinking that self-working means weak or boring! Some of the most famous card tricks in the world are self-working, such as Paul Curry's oustanding "Out of This World". Learn tricks that don't require complex manipulation. Then you can really focus on the presentation, and make them thoroughly entertaining. You can always work on building up your sleight of hand later.
4. Do practice, practice, practice
A poorly practiced routine does the art of magic a disservice. More importantly, it's not very likely to amaze or astonish, because your performance will be lacking. A professional going through his routine might look casual and natural. But you can be sure that very little about what you're seeing is being spontaneously ad-libbed on the spur of the moment. A successful and polished performer is exactly that: well polished. You need to be able to do the moves and techniques required without thinking about them. Also, you need to know exactly what you are going to say. If you haven't practiced these things, your mind will be working over-time, trying to remember what to say and do. Good magic has a high degree of interaction and engagement with your spectators. How do you do this while creating a convincing and entertaining illusion that hides the secret? Here's how: you need to have practiced a lot before performing. The more you practice, the better you'll get, and you'll only enjoy your magic all the more!
5. Do make it seem impossible
Ultimately good magic is about creating the illusion of something impossible. The more impossible it seems, the stronger it is. Of course it isn't actually impossible - after all, if it was then you wouldn't be able to do it! But you want to perform a trick in a way so that any possible explanation is eliminated. So think carefully about what might be going on in the mind of your spectator. If they can think of a possible method of accomplishing what they've seen, even if it's not the method you used, they won't be amazed. Do they think that you've stacked the deck? Then let them shuffle the deck first. Do they think the cards are marked? Then let them examine them. Do they think you have a card hidden in your hand? Then show your hand empty. Anticipate their thinking, and deliberately disprove those methods as you go along. That's how you'll create greater astonishment!
6. Don’t learn too much
When learning magic, it's easy to make the mistake of taking on too much. In that sense magic is no different than many other passions in life. When you first discover a passion, the temptation is to buy everything you can, and do everything at once. But to become really good at magic, you need to be disciplined and selective. It is vital to present your material well, so you want to give yourself the opportunity to become a true master of whatever it is that you are performing. The classic book Expert Card Technique offers this invaluable advice: "Those new to card conjuring would do well if, instead of attempting to learn a great number of tricks, they would instead concentrate upon a few good tricks and master them so that their technique and their presentation is so excellent that those who see them will want to see them again."
7. Don't buy tons of tricks
Whenever you're enthusiastic about something, it's easy to indulge your passion by spending money on it. And in magic, it's really not difficult to find things to spend your hard earned money on. Magic creators are only too happy to take your money. Trust me, the latest and greatest tricks might all look good, but they don't always deliver on what they promise. Don't spend your money on one trick after another, but realize that most of these will eventually be collecting dust in a drawer somewhere. In fact, it can be a good move instead to start by focusing on classics that have been tried and tested over time. With a couple of decks of cards and a good teaching resource, you can get a lot of mileage, especially if you're just starting your adventure into magic. In the end it's more fun to master and improve something you already know, and to learn something from what you already have. That's better than to be constantly spending money and trying new things. Magic doesn't have to be expensive, and you may even improve more quickly if you aren't buying the latest and greatest on a regular basis! Of course, once you have a solid foundation in magic, you can explore the latest and greatest effects - but they are usually not the best place to start.
8. Do get some good books or DVDs
As a student of magic, do yourself a big favour and learn from the best. Sure, you can head to youtube, and start binging on card trick tutorials you find there. Unfortunately, a lot of magic on youtube is mediocre. It is often performed by untrained teenagers who have learned what they know from other untrained teenagers. You'll learn bad habits and bad technique. And perhaps most importantly, you won't learn the thing that arguably matters the most: good presentation. Even a basic trick in the hands of a professional magician can look amazing if well presented. But a stunning trick taught badly won't impress anyone. So if you want to progress, learn from a real magician, and get some good books and DVDs that will teach you how to do things properly. It's a small investment, but one that you won't regret. Spending a little money on some good teaching materials is better than spending a fortune on more tricks.
9. Do watch performances by professionals
One of the best way to learn how to present magic well is by watching experts doing their thing. This is something different than the previous tip, because I'm not talking here about teaching materials that explain how to do tricks. But by watching a pro perform, you'll learn a great deal about presenting magic and being entertaining. Only by knowing what good magic looks like will you be able to strive for this in your own performances. The more you watch, the more you will subconsciously absorb different techniques. And you will get ideas for patter, and develop your own ability as a magician. Fortunately you can readily find this kind of material online, and much can be learned from it. Watch shows like Penn and Teller, or dig up clips by master magicians like Tommy Wonder and Juan Tamariz. In the process you'll be growing - as well as being entertained by the best!
10. Don't copy cat
As a beginner, it's easy to make the mistake of copying everything that you see on a magic video. When you're just starting out, this doesn't matter too much. It's a natural thing that happens, because you're learning everything from scratch. But it is important to realize that you need to develop your own persona and style. Not every magician's style will be right for you, and just because it works for them, doesn't mean it will be a good fit for you. So you'll have to adjust your patter and presentation to fit your own personality and style. Rather than just parrot everything you see, by becoming a clone and imitator, try to be comfortable with who you are, and develop your own style.
Finally, remember to have fun! If you’re no longer enjoying magic, take a break. Magic isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay! And if you are getting frustrated because something isn't working or going as well as you'd like, put it away and come back to it on another day. In the end, it doesn't just have to be fun for your audience, but also for you.
Magic can be incredibly rewarding. The more effort you put into honing your craft, the more satisfying it will become for you and for those who have the privilege of seeing you perform. Let me quote again from the Expert Card Technique book, which cites David Devant. "One trick, well done, is of greater value than a dozen tricks performed in a slipshod manner." So go out there and master that trick, and amaze!
Where to learn? If you're interested in learning card magic, I highly recommend the terrific videos from Big Blind Media with Self-Working Card Tricks and Easy-To-Do Card Tricks.
Also see my previous articles on How to get started in card magic and recommended resources for beginners in card magic.
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Thu Dec 10, 2020 11:45 am
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Playing Card Manufacturer: Taiwan Playing Card Company (TWPCC)
In the world of playing cards, there are some big names and recognizable entities like United States Playing Cards and their Bicycle brand of playing cards. Other leading figures in the industry include successful publishing companies like European-based Cartamundi. There are also several smaller Taiwan-based manufacturers that have been making an impact, such as Legends Playing Cards, Expert Playing Cards, and Hanson Chien Production Company.
But even the big names had to start small, and once in a while something small makes some explosive sounds to catch our attention. Today let's take a look at Taiwan Playing Card Company (TWPCC), which is distributed by BombMagic, and first caught my eye with the colourful fireworks of their Casino Royale deck.
Taiwan Playing Card Company
When I first came across the beautiful looking Casino Royale deck, I started crawling down a rabbit hole which eventually led me to Hanson Bomb, founder of BombMagic. BombMagic started in 2007 as a small studio that focused on the study of performing magic, and the slogan they came up with for their tenth anniversary in 2017 gives an indication of their original focus: "Born for Magic, Beyond the Magic." Since their inception they have slowly built up their brand, and have been focusing more on playing cards. They began releasing some playing card products, launched a website, and in 2016 released their Bomber Series Playing Cards as their own branded deck. Eventually they set up the Bomber Playing Card Company in order to focus on the design, manufacture, sale, and distribution of playing cards, which the following year became part of the new Taiwan Playing Card Company.
Today BombMagic is considered the official distributor of Taiwan Playing Card Company, and it includes a large online operation. But besides being a source for magic items in the Asian market and abroad, they also produce a range of custom playing cards, some of which they have created in-house and are featured below. Of special interest is the fact that their decks are printed in Taiwan, which is also where respected playing card manufacturers like Legends and Expert Playing Cards operate from in order to produce high quality playing cards. TWPCC has their own label and specifications, but uses the same factory, so there's good reason to expect good things from this brand. So let's take a look at some of their decks, and talk about what we can expect from this smaller playing card manufacturer.
Casino Royale Playing Cards
The name Casino Royale reflects the fact that this deck is created to be a practical casino style deck that represents the height of luxury. The title brings to mind James Bond's visits to Europe's most famous gambling houses. Similarly this deck is intended to capture something of a quality that is fitting for a classy secret agent and for royalty, while being suitable for an enthusiast playing a poker game at home as well.
BombMagic has produced several different Casino Royale decks, the two main ones being a Spring/Summer Bright editionand a companion Autumn/Winter Mystic Edition. I will focus on the Casino Royale deck: Mystic Edition since that is the one that is still available.
Both decks feature a straight-forward tuck box, which opts for simplicity because it showcases the back design of the deck by means of a well-placed cut-out window.
The Mystic edition takes over the strong diamond theme from the Bright edition, and this theme is evident through all aspects of the deck.
The court cards are traditional in style, ensuring they remain recognizable at a quick glance. But when you look closely, the characters aren't holding the usual weapons or flowers, but are holding diamond accessories.
The back design is made up of small diamonds in varying colours scattered everywhere, with some gaps to create a very interesting and pleasing look. The colour scheme is a soft and mellow palette that makes use of a purple, dull blue, and some grey. Attentive observers will also pick up a one-way design.
The card backs are bordered, so it allows each card or packet of cards to easily stand out from each other and be identified, while the vibrant colours ensure that eye-catching streaks of colour will be produced when using this deck for card flourishing.
Unlike the Bright deck, the card faces of the Mystic deck don't use traditional black and red for the suits, but take over the purple and green-blue colour palette from the card backs.
The number cards are fairly standard, but aspects of the card back design are cleverly incorporated into the explosive diamond styled Aces, and also the court cards.
Two mischievous Jokers complete the deck, with signature bombs that reflect the BombMagic brand.
This is a practical deck that lends itself well to a few rounds of poker or your favourite card game, where it will offer polished and professional look. But it's also well suited for card magic or even card flourishing given the patterned design of the card backs.
Also of interest will be the Casino Royale: Refined Plastic deck, which was released more recently in 2018. This continues the overall graphic design of the first two decks, with some adjustments to the colour scheme. But the biggest change is that it is made out of thin plastic cards geared to casino type settings. This shows that TWPCC is a versatile manufacturer willing to innovate and experiment, and is also capable of producing the kind of playing cards preferred for use in casinos.
My take: a meeting of casinos and royalty
The Casino Royale decks are definitely the most practical of the in-house decks from TWPCC that I'm covering here. The number cards are very functional and readable, and that makes this a deck of playing cards that can perform well for crossover purposes, including at the card table or in the hands of a traditional gamer. They work especially well for casino type games, while having a "royale" look that sets them apart from a typical deck of plain ordinary cards. The touch of royalty is already evident from the tuck box, with its window style die-cut design that gives a glimpse of the stylish card backs. The colourful diamond backed design of the card backs adds a sense of luxury and class, and so the Casino Royale decks will add elegance and style to any card game.
Fujin & Raijin Playing Cards
The Fujin & Rajin decks are a complementary pair of decks named after two Japanese gods. These are Fujin, the god of the wind, and Raijin, the god of thunder. Blue and red being the two colours of focus for this pair of decks. UK illustrator Fionn Jordan did the artwork, drawing on his experiences in living in Japan and Taiwan, and his experience as a comic artist.
For the pips, the Hearts and Diamonds use the standard red, while the Spades and Clubs are blue. The design of these is heavily customized, and incorporates lightning and wind patterns to match the theme.
The indices are smaller than usual, but are still very crisp and clear.
The strong use of red and blue is also evident throughout the deck, including the card backs. The different forces of nature have found their way here, and these depict lightning and wind as the main inspiration for the design.
They both also rely on a monochromatic look that uses two different shades of the same colour. Meanewhile the bordered backs ensure clarity in cuts, as well as attractive fans.
The theme also comes out in the Jokers, which function as diptychs, combining to illustrate the god that each deck is named after.
But for me it's really the court cards that are the highlights of this deck. These all feature unique art pieces in a hand-drawn Japanese style, offering a distinctly oriental flavour.
Additionally, each court card features a bold red or blue circle in the background, which adds more colour to to the black and white drawing, and also helps identify the suit.
My take: a meeting of West and East
The Fujin & Raijin deck pair has a very different visual feel from the Casino Royale decks. While it has a clearly Eastern theme and style, it has been produced by a Westerner who was born in the UK. The Japanese theme will particularly appeal to those who have an interest in Oriental culture and ideas, but the fact that it has been created by a European shows that this theme can have a universal appeal. Most custom decks from the modern era are indebted to Western influences and artwork, so it is refreshing to see some playing cards with a unique flavour. The combination of a garish blue and red that dominates these decks also gives them a very different feel from traditional playing cards.
Cardistry Calligraphy Playing Cards
The Cardistry Calligraphy decks were first released at the 2017 Cardistry Con. The series consists of three decks, a red and blue pair with silver foil lettering on the tuck box, and a more luxurious limited edition gold foil deck with gold accents on the tuck box and on the card backs.
In each case the graphic design of the boxes emphasizes the calligraphic lettering which gives the deck its name. These decks were created as part of a collaboration with the world's first international calligraphy school, Ink Academy. This is a school that aims to bring calligraphy masters and students together, and offers courses and programs to help learn this historically rich art-form.
The card backs have lovely consistent narrow borders in white, which stand out beautifully against the solid red and blue that fills the majority of the landscape of the cards. The word Cardistry appears in a stylish calligraphic font in the very center of the cards, which means that the cards have one-way backs. In keeping with the elegant lettering, ornate decorations with a floral design surround the border.
In the case of the limited edition, the card backs are a simple white with all the artwork and lettering with gold foil, for a truly glamorous look.
The card faces on all three decks are identical, with very recognizable and yet fresh-feeling over-sized pips. The small indices are clear, and ideal for large spreads and fans of cards.
But the standout feature of the card faces is the customized Aces, court cards, and Jokers. The court cards just have a single large letter - K, Q or J - done with elaborate calligraphy.
The Jokers are arguably the nicest of the lot, with the card faces beautifully decorated with calligraphic swirls and lines, along with the word Joker. One of them add a vibrant red to the more austere black to create a more distinctive look.
Meanwhile all four Aces have a large decorative image in the center, which is in the shape of the pip corresponding to its suit, and made up of calligraphic curves and shapes. If you look closely, they appear to incorporate letters from the name of each separate suit.
My take: a meeting of Cardistry and Calligraphy
The graphic design of the striking Cardistry Calligraphy decks favours card flourishing, with a bold colour on the card backs that emphasizes colour and shape. The use of ornate calligraphic letters for the court cards is somewhat unusual, but suits the concept of the deck well, especially when used for cardistry. It means that the card faces have a more consistent look, and don't have images that could distract when the cards are in motion. The graphic design of the court cards and Aces does make these less functional than a typical deck, but that's also what makes it ideal for cardistry. The concept of calligraphy - with its flowing lines and curves - also works very well as a thematic concept that suits card flourishing well.
Hidden King Playing Cards
The Hidden King Playing Cards are one of TWPCC's more recent releases, and the two basic decks that were part of this series were intended to be low-cost decks inspired by the Siberian Tiger. The tuck boxes both feature the same graphic design, with a mono-coloured drawing of a Siberian tiger on the white and yellow fronts.
Especially noteworthy is the artwork on the tiger's forehead, which has often been compared with the Chinese symbol for King (Wang), a clever connection with the deck's theme. The creator's intent is to reflect the fact that having the deck in your hands makes you the King of the cards. As the Hidden King, you release the tiger from captivity when taking the cards out of the box.
The canvas of the playing cards themselves is a beautiful and clean white, which makes the pips and indices really pop. While having a tiger motif on the card backs, the main goal of this deck was to serve as a traditional casino-style deck, and this is why the card faces are mostly standard and instantly recognizable.
The pips are pleasantly oversized and somewhat inflated for a fresh look. The indices are clear and functional, and utilize a smaller font that makes makes them superb for fans.
The thematic concept of the deck is emphasized by the design of the card backs, which are also featured on the back of the tuck box. Two tiger heads are linked together together to create a mirrored two-way design with bold features not unlike traditional Bicycle rider-backs.
A thick hand-drawn border on the card backs evokes elegance and suggests something of the tiger's raw power.
A special Rainbow Edition of this deck has the same design on the card backs, but each of the 54 cards has a different coloured back.
As for the card faces, these are quite standard, the exception being the Ace of Spades, which includes mention of "Taiwan Playing Card Company".
There are also two lovely custom Jokers, one which pictures an adult tiger, and the other which pictures two playful tiger cubs.
My take: a meeting of Tigers and Tradition
The goal of the Hidden King deck was to be a budget style traditional deck, with some style and life added courtesy of the artwork on the card backs, and some small elements of customization. Given how nice and clean and practical the cards look, I'd like to think that this mission was accomplished with style. Super soft cards ensure a very pleasant and satisfying performance to go along with the crisp artwork.
Impressions
Quality
What's going to be of real interest to us as card enthusiasts is the quality of the cards from these TWPCC decks, and how they handle. Card collectors and card flourishers are notoriously fussy about where their playing cards are produced, because it can make a big difference in quality.
The good news is that these playing cards are produced in the same factory that is used by Legends and Expert Playing Card Company. It is located in Taiwan, and reports about playing cards printed there are consistently positive, unlike the mixed reports about decks produced in China. The printing quality of the TWPCC decks seems to be very similar to that of LPCC/EPCC decks. It's very good, with sharp and accurate registration, and clean colours.
Like other Taiwan produced decks, the cut of all these decks is extremely clean, so the edges of the cards don't feel as rough as a standard Bicycle deck; they also faro perfectly and easily. The cards of all these decks are very durable, but don't expect fanning and spreading to remain as consistent over time as what you'd typically experience with a USPCC produced deck.
Performance
The performance does also depend on the combination of stock and finish they use, and this can vary. TWPCC uses their own terminology for paper stocks and finishes, so it doesn't compare exactly with the terminology of finishes used by other publishers. The main stock options they appear to make available at present include their Casino stock and their Luxury stock, although they have also used Artist stock for at least one project, which like the Artist stock used by HCPC, is a stiff stock matching the Diamond/Master finish used by LPCC/EPCC.
Casino stock is used for the Casino Royale decks and the pair of Japanese inspired Fujin and Raijin decks. It has a wide embossing pattern that approximates quite closely the Elite/Damask finish used by LPCC/EPCC. The cards have a slightly stiff feel that ensures a high level of durability, and it is firmer and pleasantly snappier than a typical USPCC deck. The overall handling and feel is much like the Classic or Elite finishes from Taiwanese manufacturer LPCC/EPCC.
Luxury stock is used for the Hidden King decks, and handles and feels very differently. Besides the crisp white colour used for the card stock of these decks, it is instantly evident that this is a thinner than normal card stock, which cardists will love, and which corresponds quite closely to the performance and feel of USPCC's crushed stock. I find that it's almost too soft for some card sleights, because accidental folding can result if you're overly aggressive with your moves. But the soft feel means the deck doesn't require any breaking in, and it handles superbly straight from the box. If you like decks with crushed stock from USPCC, then you'll love these cards also. They also have a more traditional air-cushion style embossing pattern that handles smoothly and evenly.
The different stocks primarily refer to the thickness of the cards and the embossing pattern used. There are also different options for the coating that is added afterwards, which impacts the performance as well. The options for this include Magic Finish, Royal Finish, or Legendary Finish, which is similar to the range that Hanson Chien Production Company (HCPC) also uses when printing cards at the same factory.
Other decks
Of course these are not the only TWPCC produced decks out there. There are plenty more, and cardists will especially want to check out some of the decks with the super soft Luxury stock, such as the Vigor Blue deck and the Flow deck. Meanwhile the Kete Moon Special Edition deck uses the Classic stock. Magicians might be interested in the Elemental Master Red deck and the Elemental Master Green deck, both of which are marked decks, and also incorporate unique elements like astrological signs and ESP symbols. The red and blue Cosmos decks were created to commemorate Horret Wu becoming FISM World Champion of Magic in 2015, and use the Casino stock.
Where to get them? You'll find a selected range of TWPCC produced decks on PlayingCardDecks.com here.
Want to learn more?
- Visit the Taiwan Playing Card Company: Official website, Instagram
- Visit their distributer BombMagic: Official website, Facebook, Instagram
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:15 am
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An Introduction to Playing Cards and Collecting by Veteran Collectors Tom and Judy Dawson
Who are Tom and Judy Dawson?
Once in a while, while traversing the wilds of the internet, you unexpectedly come across an outstanding resource. That's exactly what happened to me when I came across a fantastic video featuring playing card collectors Tom and Judy Dawson, where they talk about playing cards as part of a 40 minute interview.
Before I show you the video, you need to know a thing or two about Tom and Judy, who hail from Toronto, Canada. They are not your every-day playing card collectors. Tom was a former President of 52 Plus Joker, the American Playing Card Collectors Club, and was an active member until his sad passing away in 2016. At the time, they had the unique distinction of being the only members who had attended all 29 conventions up to that point, and Judy was editor of their newsletter for some 28 years. She remains involved on an executive level, and the club's official website designates her as "Club Queen".
They can rightly be considered experts in their field, and their credentials as authorities on the subject of playing cards is confirmed by an important work they co-authored and completed: Gene Hochman's authoritative Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards. This four volume set of books was originally the creation of respected collector Gene Hochman, and was first published between 1976-1981. Very few people would have sufficient knowledge and expertise to revise and expand a work of this sort, but that's exactly what Tom and Judy Dawson did with this impressive series of keystone books.
With a main focus is on American playing cards, as the title indicates, it is a comprehensive guide to various decks of playing cards that were produced in the United States from the late 18th century onwards. As part of its catalogue it includes important information on scarcity, and besides covering individual decks it also covers different producers and brands. For serious collectors, it's an essential reference tool. Lee Asher, the current president of 52 Plus Joker, offers this glowing praise for this book: "This is the best resource on collecting American playing cards, ever written. They took all of long-time collector Eugene Hochman's research, and compiled it into one big volume."
In 2013, Ben Train interviewed Tom and Judy about playing cards, as part of Chris Mayhew's "Series of Unfortunate Effects". In this interview, Tom and Judy share some valuable information about the history of playing cards, different ways that they are used, as well as advice about being a collector, and much more. It was made available online by the current president of 52 Plus Joker, Lee Asher. The video is 38 minutes long, and I highly recommend watching it in entirety. In the material below, I've summarized some key things that you'll learn from this interview, and share some of the material that these two passionate playing card collectors cover.
The Interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOrkv8chxvw
History of Playing Cards
The interview starts with Tom giving a broad overview of the history and development of playing cards. While we can't be certain of their true origins, this is likely in the Far East, possibly as an easier and cheaper way of playing chess-style war games. From here they eventually made their way through the Middle East and North Africa into Western Europe, and that's where the first definite record of playing cards can be found in the late 1300s. Italians, French, and Spanish playing cards weren't standardized like today, but used suits with a variety of symbols such as clubs, swords, and bells, and also had varying numbers of cards in a deck. The French were especially renowned for their playing card manufacturers, and today's playing cards are largely based on old French designs.
The backs of playing cards were originally blank, but over time things were added like images on the card backs, corner indices, double ended artwork for the court cards, and coatings on the paper. Playing cards were at one time called "pasteboards", and were originally thick and bulky. But improvements in manufacturing led to thinner playing cards, with improved quality and handling.
Prior to the adoption of indices, one manufacturer used miniature pictures of the card on opposite corners, which were called "Triplicates", and the indices we use today were developed in competition to these, and were first described as "Squeezers" in light of the ability to hold a larger hand of cards.
I was especially fascinated by Tom Dawson's observation that although many people have tried to introduce innovations to playing cards, these never last, and the traditional style and designs always return. Evidently there is something truly "classic" about the deck we have inherited today!
Uses for Playing Cards
In this section of the interview, Tom and Judy share some of the fascinating ways playing cards have been used throughout their history, besides more obvious uses like card magic, and for playing the thousands of card games that exist. But even decks used for card games come in different sizes, e.g. containing 32 cards, or 40, 48, 52, and even 78 or more. So a deck of cards can mean a lot of different things, and many of the games played with them are very regional.
Playing cards have been used very seriously for fortune telling, sometimes with individual cards having fortune information on them. Tarot decks typically have 78 cards, and each of the 22 trumps in these decks has a different picture and is assigned a different meaning. While such decks are sometimes used for the occult, many of them do have fantastic designs and artwork. This makes them very collectable, and even Tarot decks that are barely 20 years old can be worth large sums.
Playing cards were also used for educational purposes (e.g. to teach math, science and more). Souvenir decks have been popular, because they have a picture on each individual card. When these started being produced in the 1890s, photography was still quite new and expensive, so a souvenir deck functioned as a nice miniature photo album.
Because cards originally had plain white backs, they proved useful for note-taking, indexing, invitations, coupons, IOUs, and more, especially in a time when paper and cardboard was rare and expensive. Besides these secondary uses, there was even a time in the 1700s in Quebec when they were used as money cards.
There are also people who build enormous card houses with playing cards, made out of hundreds of decks of cards. Brian Berg is well worth looking up given some of the unbelievable things he has made out of playing cards.
Card Boxes
In today's market, some publishers like Theory11 devote a lot of attention to producing high end tuck boxes, and it is a big part of the marketing. While today's techniques may be new, the idea of an attractive tuck box is not new, and throughout the history of playing cards there have been manufacturers doing interesting things with the card boxes.
Tom explains that originally playing cards were just packaged in relatively plain paper wrappers, and there was no box at all. As the 1800s progressed, wrappers made way for something more sturdy, which led to the development of all kinds of boxes. Various interesting packaging was used, including boxes that had outer and inner cases, and small drawers. Congress Playing Cards used a packaging that would display the designs of the deck on the outside of the box. I really enjoyed seeing some of the unique ideas for packaging that Tom and Judy showed in this part of the video. One of my favourites that they displayed was a beautiful war deck from 1935 that was housed inside a book!
After showing a lovely custom wooden box for the Circus Transformation Deck that was produced in 1988, Judy explains what transformation decks are, showing some example cards. In transformation decks, the pip cards are transformed into a design, by using the pips as part of the picture. I immediately felt a sense of kinship with the Dawsons at this point, because apparently transformation decks are a favourite for them, just as they are for me.
Collecting Cards
Tom and Judy decided to focus their own collection on standard playing cards (i.e. those with a traditional layout and traditional court cards), primarily older cards that are American in origin. It's not that they don't like custom decks, but the simple matter is that if you're collecting anything you need to specialize in some way and have a focus.
Tom gives an extensive list of different kinds of cards that are available to collect, including comic cards, tobacco insert cards, advertising cards, transformation cards, and war cards. All the wars have been commemorated in playing cards, as are many births and other important events in the lives of royalty. Judy puts it well: "You can actually create a whole history from playing cards." She's absolutely right, and in that respect playing cards are a mirror of life.
Besides people who collect decks, there are also those who only collect single cards. This is usually due to their interest in the card backs, and they might specialize in backs on a particular topic like horses or landscapes. But there also people who only collect a particular card, like a Joker, or the Ace of Spades, in light of its special design and the name of the maker, effectively making it like the title page of a book. Judy considers collectors of Jokers the bane of other collectors, because these are one of the most prized parts of a deck, and a deck that is otherwise complete but missing an unusual Joker drops significantly in value.
The condition of your cards is also important, and this is something Tom and Judy know more than a thing or two about, not just from their own experience, but also as authors of the Hochman book. Obviously the less used a deck is, the more valuable it is. Judy also makes some very good remarks about how a modern deck that is purchased and preserved won't nearly have the same value as an older deck that is preserved. There are plenty of collectors today who have limited edition versions of modern decks, while in contrast vintage playing cards are much more scarce since they were typically bought in order to be used rather than collected. This is one reason the Dawson's own interest is especially in old decks, or decks that were only produced in extremely limited editions (e.g. only 50 produced).
Tom points out that a nice aspect about collecting playing cards is that you get the opportunity to do research and learn about your decks. There's a lot of great books that can assist with this. There are also playing card clubs like 52 Plus Joker, and similar clubs in other countries, so there's a lot of good resources available.
Show and Tell
In the final ten minutes or so of the video, Tom and Judy show us a range of different playing cards to illustrate some of the things they've covered. One deck shown is extremely scarce, with only 50 made. There's even an example of a valuable deck of which only seven total were made; Tom and Judy believe that these decks were withdrawn before going up for sale. You'll also see a card from a deck published in 1950, where the entire deck would be worth $15,000, and you'll see a single card picturing a baseball hall-of-famer that on its own is worth up to $1500.
As well as a range of historic Aces of Spades, a range of old Jokers is also shown, many from different advertising decks. Decks that advertise famous companies like Coca Cola are even more prized, since there are so many collectors of Coca Cola memorabilia around the world. Tobacco insert cards often featured lively burlesque artwork, and because they were released individually, people had to collect these decks one card at a time, making a complete deck of these even more prized. A charming music-themed German deck from around 1850 has cards with spectacular designs that can be placed alongside each other to produce a complete piece of music. You'll even see a card from one of the 1805 Cotta transformation decks, and some other terrific examples of cards from old transformation decks.
Conclusion
Impressions
Tom and Judy's passion for playing cards really shines through in this wonderful interview. From how comfortable they are with the subject material, it's very evident that they are experts who are extremely knowledgeable. They were obviously a great team, and extremely respectful of each other, giving each other opportunity to share from their wealth of knowledge.
Given that the focus of their own collection is on older standard playing cards, not everything they say applies to modern custom decks. Even so, there's still a lot that can be learned from what they have to say, and my own knowledge about collecting playing cards was enhanced by learning about an area that I don't have as much first-hand experience with myself. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to see some rare decks from the early 1900s and some playing cards that even hailed from the 1800s.
I highly recommend that playing card enthusiasts take the time to watch the whole video, and learn from this lovely couple, who are keen to inspire others in the wonderful hobby of collecting playing cards.
Where next?
With their dedication and enthusiasm as collectors, Tom and Judy have left a legacy for us all. Not only can we benefit from the Hochman Encyclopedia they helped write, but we can also continue their passion for playing cards. Especially if you are a serious collector with an interest in American playing cards, here's what you can do next:
● Get the book: If American playing cards are your thing, the Hochman Encyclopedia co-authored by the Dawsons is a must have. It also contains helpful information about grading and dating playing cards. If you're interested in learning more about this, Tom explains the grading system they use in a separate interview clip that you can listen to here. Lee Asher also has two excellent articles which I highly recommend in relation to this. The first is about How to date a deck of USPCC playing cards, and the second is about How to grade playing cards. The grading scale that he presents there is taken straight from the Hochman Encyclopedia, and gives descriptions for how to grade a deck of cards into one of the following categories, on a sliding scale: As Issued, Mint, Excellent, Good, Poor, and With Faults.
● Join the club: The 52 Plus Joker Club has been around since 1985, and was originally created to meet the needs of American collectors of antique playing cards. The scope has since broadened, and what they offer today includes things like a printed and digital club magazine, an annual club deck, and playing card auctions. The highlight of 52 Plus Joker is undoubtedly the club's annual convention in October, which is where collectors, designers, manufacturers, and enthusiasts come together to talk about playing cards, listen to lectures, buy and sell, receive awards, and much more. The Dawson Award is one of the awards given, and is a special achievement award named after Tom and Judy.
● Go to the convention: Attending the annual 52 Plus Joker convention is a highlight for playing card enthusiasts, although in 2020 the convention was held online using video conferencing, due to current COVID-19 restrictions. Check out the Convention page to find out more.
Want to learn more? Visit 52 Plus Joker, the American Playing Card Collectors Club.
● Official links: Official website, Conventions, Instagram, Facebook
● Interviews: Lee Asher (President), Don Boyer (Vice-President)
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Sat Nov 7, 2020 2:15 am
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Designer Spotlight: Karin Yan
In previous articles we've taken a look at some well-known brands and well-known playing card manufacturers. We've also focused on a few well-known playing card designers and creators like Alex Chin (Seasons Playing Cards) and Randy Butterfield (Midnight Playing Cards). In this article I want to introduce you to a lesser known designer, although perhaps you'll have come across her spectacular work courtesy of her beautiful deck designs. So let's go ahead and meet Karin Yan, who is the designer behind Bona Fide Playing Cards.
Who is Karin Yan?
Karin Yan is the creator and designer behind playing card publisher Bona Fide Playing Cards, which she runs together with her siblings. But it's Karin who is the creator and artist who comes up with the playing card designs. She has an enthusiasm and passion for art, and drawing and design is something she has long enjoyed as a hobby. She loves the creativity and versatility that this offers, and is particularly drawn to classic drawings and designs. That's evident in her series of Nouveau decks, for example, which features a design style that goes back to the roots of French playing cards, and is also inspired by the Art Nouveau movement of the late 19th century.
The name of the company is derived from the Latin phrase bona fide, which literally means "in good faith". In the English language this expression has come to mean genuine, real, and sincere. This is linked to their objective and goal: "We put great effort and interest in every single detail because we value the meaning behind an intricate and unique design." As evidence of Karin's success under the Bona Fide label is the fact that one of her designs was chosen by the UnitedCardists forum for the annual deck in 2016.
In this article I'll give an overview of Karin's main playing card designs, and introduce you to her exquisite work and art.
Nouveau decks
Our journey into Karin Yan's world of Bona Fide Playing Cards begins with the Nouveau Playing Cards, which is a set of several decks with similar design features. Nouveau is a French word meaning new, fashionable, newly arrived or developed. The decks of this series are in part inspired by the Art Nouveau style of 19th century France, and as well as the court cards that were typical of the very first French style playing cards.
● Nouveau
The original Nouveau deck is the first and main Nouveau deck. It had the distinction of being selected as official United Cardists 2016 Annual Deck, and this honour is reflected on the embossed tuck box.
This deck has two main influences. Firstly, it depicts the characters that have been traditionally featured in French-style playing cards since the 16th century. Secondly, it uses a style that has its origin in the philosophical and artistic Art Nouveau movement, which was popular in France in the late 19th century. This style can be described as "a style of decorative art, architecture and design promoted and popularized in Paris in the late 19th century and characterized by intricate linear designs and flowing curves based on natural forms."
Designer Karin Yan turned to France in order to choose an artistic style to use for two reasons: firstly because the Nouveau decks are intended as a tribute to the original French deck; and secondly because France has long been associated with the world of art.
The interwoven curves of the Art Nouveau style are a chief feature of the intricate and elegant back design, which also includes the year of publication in Roman numerals and a reference to United Cardists with a delicate monogram in all four corners. The circular shape draws your attention inwards, and magnifies the impact of the ornate designs which emerge from the center of the card in a variety of colours that complement each other beautifully.
Special mention should be made of the beautiful and ornate Aces, which are very detailed and eye-catching. Like the court cards, there is a beautiful tiled background in which the pip shape is a central feature.
In French-style playing cards, there's a long tradition that every court card is associated with a particular figure in history and literature. The Nouveau deck goes back to original images of these heroes and heroines as the inspiration of its artwork. While scholars aren't in entire agreement about which characters the court cards represent, and there is no universally accepted consensus, various names keep returning, and in the Nouveau deck we find the following (in order of King, Queen, and Jack):
● Diamonds: Julius Caesar, Rachel, Hector
● Clubs: Alexander the Great, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Lancelot
● Hearts: Charlemagne, Judith, Étienne de Vignolles
● Spades: David, Pallas Athena, Ogier the Dane
This source material draws on mythology, theology, and history. To add an sense of historical realism and a connection with the past, Karin came up with the clever idea of using for the court card designs actual sculptures and famous art works depicting these characters. As background for her artwork choices through the deck, she's also adopted a common theory about the original French suits, where the Spades are considered to represent nobility, Hearts the clergy, Diamonds the merchants, and Clubs the commoners and the peasantry.
The number cards also feature custom pips and a very elegant design with oval borders that accentuates a long and slender feel, while the indices are deliberately small to emphasize something that is delicate. The Jokers represent two stock characters used in late 19th century Commedia dell'arte ("theatre of the professional") in Paris: the clowns Pierrot and Harlequin. They add an element of playfulness and vibrance, and help bring the time period to life.
● Nouveau Bourgogne
The companion deck to the first Nouveau deck is the Nouveau Bourgogne deck. The obvious difference immediately evident in this companion deck is a changed colour scheme, with a rich burgundy colour now dominating instead of the green, and a more luxurious look courtesy of the addition of gold foil.
The lavish gold foil on the tuck box complements the deep red colour beautifully, and is a striking addition which serves to enhance its beauty even further.
The card backs and card faces are mostly unchanged in design, but feature an entirely different colour palette, which makes for outstanding and beautiful card backs.
The same heroes and heroines are featured on the court cards, albeit in a different colour scheme.
But there are some more subtle changes as well that the attentive observer will notice. The tiled look that serves as background to the court cards in the Bourgogne deck also has changed. It now has a look that reminds one of stained glass or a mosaic.
The style of the pips is also more elaborate and ornate in this version. This is especially evident in the number cards, which have dispensed with the oval background, but have pips with a very exquisite tiled design.
To me, this deck feels even more rich than its predecessor. With a classic look and a fresh design, you will fall in love with the Nouveau Bourgogne deck the moment you start taking the ornately decorated cards from the lavish tuck box.
● Nouveau Bijoux
The next decks in the series all have a jewelry inspired design, with the Nouveau Bijoux deck and Nouveau Perle deck having a matching design in different colours. These decks continue the main ideas of the original Nouveau design, but takes the original concept in a somewhat new direction, with the design now inspired by Art Nouveau jewelry.
The Nouveau Bijoux deck is the main deck, and green and yellow are the dominant colours on the ornately decorated tuck box. As with all the decks, the exquisite looking tuck box is finished with an attractive custom seal.
With very pleasing aesthetics, the Bijoux deck stands on its own as an independent creation, apart from the other Nouveau decks that have preceded it, courtesy of the additional ornamentation that is produced by the art nouveau jewelry behind the design.
The colour scheme is reminiscent of the original Nouveau deck, but the elaborate design on both the card backs and the Aces is entirely different and original.
Once again the court cards reflect the same historical and mythological characters depicted in the original Nouveau deck. But in the Bijoux deck, these characters have been given a white look that makes them look like actual sculptures.
Also the background is no longer a tiled mosaic. Instead there is a lattice in a gold colour, with a colour scheme and style that matches the elaborate pips.
The pips have an extra degree of ornamentation and sophistication, and have been given a jewelled look in keeping with the theme, to make them look like jewels delicately set in gold by a master craftsman. The Jokers are also quite different than those in the previous two Nouveau decks.
The two main colours in this deck are a turquoise green and a burgundy red, which is somewhat reminiscent of the original Nouveau deck, but produces an entirely different look here due to the different design.
● Nouveau Perle
The Nouveau Perle deck is very obviously indebted to its Bijoux sibling for its good looks.
The graphic design and artwork is very similar, but a different colour scheme produces a whole new look.
The Nouveau and Bourgogne pair were effectively differently coloured twins. In contrast the Bijoux and Perle pairing does more than merely change the colours of the objects on the cards, and instead also alters the colour of the background.
The use of a deep ocean blue as the background colour for the card faces and backs results in a whole new look. One of the results is that it emphasizes the white sculptured look of the court cards even more, and I love the "statued" look this produces.
The 19th century Art Nouveau style is often described as being dominated by intricate linear designs and flowing curves based on natural forms, and the colour scheme used in this deck seems to lend itself particularly well to this.
By having a somewhat minimalist colour palette, the details feel even more stark, sophisticated and stylish. The number cards have the same ornately decorated pips as the previous deck, but on a different coloured canvas the result looks quite different.
Of the entire series, the colour choices make this deck feel the most unique. It produces a cold, delicate, and thoroughly beautiful look, and the effect is an artistic impression that brings to mind white sculptures and frosted ornamental glass.
● Nouveau Gemmes
The final installment in the series is the Nouveau Gemmes deck, which is the third deck inspired by Art Nouveau jewelry. This was produced in an extremely limited edition of only 500 decks, so it's not easy to get your hands on a copy of it.
This tuck box is perhaps the ultimate crown jewel of the series, with a very lavish and highly ornate design. The front of the tuck box reprises the gorgeous artwork of the exquisite Ace of Spades, while the back of the box gives us our first glimpse of the lovely patterns that we'll see on the card backs.
All four Aces feature highly detailed artwork, with influences from nature in the form of plants, flowers and birds clearly evident.
The artwork on the card back is absolutely exquisite, with lots of detail to reward the attentive observer, and yet a straight-forward and immediately recognizable overall shape and design.
Like its predecessors, the court cards feature the classical heroes and heroines commonly pictured on French decks from when playing cards first commonly appeared in sixteen century Western Europe, but given a style to fit the rest of the Gemmes theme.
The Jokers are somewhat reminiscent of the ones from the previous decks, but there's a striking new colour scheme that evokes rubies and other precious gemstones.
The large pips on the cards feature a very intricate jewel-inspired design, much like that of the previous versions of this deck, but the Gemmes deck has the advantage of having very clear pips as indices, that helps make this deck more playable and functional than its predecessors.
All the five members of the Nouveau series are excellent, but the exquisite artwork and colours of this deck have made this last member of the set a fine jewel indeed.
Alexandre Dumas decks
French novelist Alexandre Dumas is a literary giant who bears the distinction of being one of the most widely read authors of all time, given that his works have been translated into almost 100 languages. He's known for his historical novels of high adventure, with the two books that are arguably the most famous of his works being The Count of Monte Cristo (1845) and The Three Musketeers (1844). He wrote a large body of fiction, but it's these two works that have stood out over time, and were the inspiration behind these next two decks.
Not only will they please collectors of playing cards, but they will especially be appreciated by those who enjoy literature. The two decks have a complementary style, with different back designs and different colour schemes. More importantly, each of the decks depicts the characters, setting, and theme of the book it is a homage to.
● The Count of Monte Cristo
The Count of Monte Cristo deck honours Dumas' book of the same title. It's a truly monumental and massive work of fiction with a wide array of themes including romance, loyalty, betrayal, justice, mercy, revenge, and forgiveness. It is set against the historical backdrop of the historical events of 1815–1839 in Western Europe, particularly France and Italy.
The main plot concerns the young man Edmond Dantes, who is initially wrongly imprisoned, escapes jail, proceeds to become very wealthy, and then undertakes to wreak revenge on those who were responsible for his imprisonment, with far-reaching consequences. All of these elements have influenced the deck's design, starting with the lush symbolism on the extravagant tuck box.
I am especially smitten by the card backs, which feature exquisite ornamentation and detail, and yet focus on simple shapes.
Each of the Aces is also worthy of close scrutiny, with oversized pips and details drawn from the novel's themes and concepts.
But the court cards and Jokers are one of the highlights, given how they include many elements drawn from descriptions included in the book. As you'd expect they feature the main characters, such as the protagonist Edmond Dantès (King of Spades), shown here along with Mercédès Mondego (Queen of Diamonds). The background artwork on each of the court cards has small details that captures the symbolic elements of each character's traits.
Characters featured from the novel are the following: (in order of King, Queen, and Jack)
● Spades: Edmond Dantès (The Count of Monte Cristo), Haydée, Abbé Faria
● Hearts: Fernand Mondego (Count de Morcerf), Mercédès Mondego, Albert de Morcerf
● Clubs: Gérard de Villefort, Héloïse de Villefort, Edward de Villefort
● Diamonds: Baron Danglars, Madame Danglars, Benedetto (Prince Cavalcanti)
The Jokers feature Bertuccio & Abbé Busoni, and Sinbad the Sailor & Luigi Vampa.
The number cards have an elegant and court-like look, with the stylish pips and minimalist design inspired by actual playing cards from the 19th century. This gives them a sense of historical authenticity, and also makes them very practical for use in playing card games.
● The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers deck is a homage to another Alexandre Dumas novel. In this historical adventure, the young man d'Artagnan heads for Paris to join the Musketeers of the Guards, and gets involved in the affairs of state and court after becoming friends with the three musketeers Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.
This novel is set in 17th century France and England, and has literary themes that include courage and honour, ambition and treason. Just as with the Monte Cristo deck, evidence of these themes already finds its way onto the tuck box artwork.
The card backs have a different design than the Monte Cristo deck, and also a different colour scheme, with the red and yellow combination giving a very plush and elegant look.
By employing over-sized pips for the Aces, Karin could incorporate additional thematic elements into the artwork on these cards.
The historical and geographical setting of The Three Musketeers is reflected in the detailed court cards and Jokers.
In this case the featured characters are: (in order of King, Queen, and Jack)
● Spades: D’Artagnan, Constance Bonacieux, Count de Rochefort (The man from Meung)
● Hearts: Athos (Count de la Fère), Milady de Winter, Cardinal Richelieu
● Clubs: Aramis, Queen Anne of Austria, Duke of Buckingham
● Diamonds: Porthos, The Lover, The executioner of Lille
The number cards have a slightly different design than the Count of Monte Cristo deck, and the pips have a design that was inspired by 17th century playing cards, given that this is the setting of the novel.
The Jokers feature these character pairs: Planchet & Grimaud; Bazin & Mousqueton. Taken together, this two deck set is a superb and fitting tribute to a wonderful writer, and two wonderful books!
The King's Game decks
Few board games have the same illustrious history as chess. This famous game goes back centuries, and in days of yore was especially enjoyed by the nobility and royalty, hence the designation "The Game of Kings". It's remains a popular game today, so it's not just a game of kings, but is truly a king among games.
Karin Yan's next project under the Bona Fide Playing Cards label is a tribute to this royal game, with an elegant custom deck of playing cards inspired by chess, entitled King's Game Playing Cards. Consisting of a White deck and a Black deck, it especially focuses on the figures represented by the chess pieces themselves, namely the King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook, and Pawn.
● Black deck
The tuck boxes have a very luxurious look, befitting the kingly status of the game they are about, with the Black deck using gold and black foil. First impressions are important, and with this deck we are immediately confronted with a look of luxury and sophistication.
Both the front and the back of the box depicts a King playing a game of chess, one with the white pieces and the other with the black pieces. Taken together, both sides of the tuck show a battle between two kings across a chess board, thereby reflecting the concept embodied in the name of this deck.
The Black deck has cards with a white background on the faces and backs, and of the two decks this has the most traditional look. Karin Yan excels at creating highly detailed symmetrical designs that emphasize bold and simple shapes on her card backs, and the card backs in these decks are fine examples of her talent.
The Aces capture several chess-related images and themes, and evoke a military feel that suits the nature of the game. Their artwork is taken from the medieval setting that has inspired other elements of the overall design.
A great deal of thought has been put into incorporating the symbolism of chess into all aspects of the playing cards, including the fact that in an actual game of chess each player gets 16 chess pieces: one King, one Queen, two Bishops, two Knights, two Rooks, and eight Pawns. In this deck of cards, the traditionally black suits of Spades and Clubs represent the black player's pieces, and the traditionally red suits of Hearts and Diamonds represent the white player's pieces.
The different pieces are represented via the court cards as follows:
● Black player King (King of Spades), Queen (Queen of Spades), Bishop (Jack of Spades), Rook (King of Clubs), Pawn (Queen of Clubs), Knight (Jack of Clubs)
● White player King (King of Hearts), Queen (Queen of Hearts), Bishop (Jack of Hearts), Rook (King of Diamonds), Pawn (Queen of Diamonds), Knight (Jack of Diamonds)
Even the number of chess pieces used in an actual game has been cleverly incorporated. The court cards representing the King and Queen both use a one-way design, since there is only a single one of each in each player's army in a game of chess. In contrast the cards representing the Rook, Bishop, and Knight all use a two-way design, since each player has two of each of these in an actual game. Each player gets eight Pawns, and so the card representing this piece uses a two-way design and incorporates eight figures in total.
The artwork for each of these figures has also been deliberately crafted to capture elements of that character's role in a chess game and in medieval society. The result is finished with a minimalist colour palette and a medieval look, which captures well the classic feel of chess.
The number cards all have customized pips, with the red suits customized in a way to highlight that these suits represent the White army. The pips and indices have a very straight-forward design, while still being stylish and original, and this means that they are well suited for practical use in card games, while offering a look of sophistication at the same time.
The assignment of the pieces to the suits and values is also far from arbitrary. Karin has taken into consideration the fact that traditionally each suit had a specific meaning that designated a social class: nobility (Spades), clergy (Hearts), merchants (Diamonds), and peasantry (Clubs). In line with this she has assigned the Spades and Hearts to represent the royal and clerical figures of the King, Queen and Bishops. And since the military were typically made up by the middle and lower classes, she's assigned the Clubs and Diamonds to represent the military figures of the Rook, Knight, and Pawn.
● White deck
Like its companion deck, the White deck features a rich look with foil accents on the tuck box, in this case silver and copper. This was a limited edition version, and only 500 decks were produced.
The graphic design and artwork of these cards matches that of the companion deck, the cards of the White deck have a black background on the faces and backs.
Unique to this limited edition deck is the fact that silver foil is used on the card backs for an extra touch of sophistication, along with a numbered seal on the tuck box.
The coat of arms on the Aces for the Spades and Clubs have similar traits since they represent the royal and military of the Black player. The same is true for the coat of arms on the Aces for the Hearts and Diamonds since they represent the royal and military of the White player.
My favourite cards are easily the courts, which have spectacular artwork. Here are the cards representing the black player's Queen (Queen of Spades) and the white player's Knight (Jack of Diamonds):
The number cards have the same graphic design as the Black deck but new colours. Due to the black background, the colours for the pips are now gold and red, which ensures that they are internally consistent with the colour scheme of the rest of the deck.
From the tuck box to the cards themselves, these are truly spectacular decks that provide a thoughtful tribute to the game of kings!
Impressions
So what can you expect from a deck of playing cards created by Karin Yan and Bona Fide Playing cards?
Classy packaging: The tuck box is your first point of contact with a new deck of playing cards, so it needs to make a positive impression. The tuck boxes from the Nouveau series and for The King's Game decks are particularly impressive. The intricate details of Karin's designs really come to life especially when metallic foil and embossing is added. The all-round look is elegant and classy, and when finished with custom seals, they immediately demonstrate a style that will attract the playing card collector.
Classic looks: The Nouveau decks in particular have a strong connection with the French-style playing cards from the 16th century, particularly the way this has influenced the court card designs. By adopting historical and literary characters, and utilizing artwork derived from how these have been depicted throughout history, these decks receive a classic feel that fits within a long tradition. Even though the overall look is fresh and original, Karin clearly wants to work within the framework of a long tradition that goes back to the roots of playing cards.
Classic style: Karin has made a conscious choice to create artwork in an established style, such as the Art Nouveau style from the 19th century. It's an established and proven style that still gives her the freedom to create original designs that reflect her own approach. The idea of using jewelry from this era to inspire the design is particularly fitting, given the look she was after. Something similar can be said of the literary decks that are a homage to the two famous books by Alexandre Dumas. Not only do these incorporate characters from the novels, but Karin has carefully researched the time period that the novels are set in, and used this to steer the direction and details of her artwork.
Quality cards: The quality of Karin's artwork and design is matched by the quality of printing and card stock. By opting to have her decks printed with Expert Playing Cards (EPCC), Karin isn't going the more well trodden path of using giant publisher USPCC. But Taiwanese-based EPCC is very much an industry leader, and their playing cards are considered to be among the best in the business, with a very clean cut, pleasant snap, and a card stock that proves extremely durable and doesn't show signs of wear very quickly. I own many decks by EPCC, and they are all fantastic.
Recommendation
Karin Yan's decks are beautiful no matter what language you speak, and are clearly the result of a bona fide passion for playing cards, for their history, and for art. Karin excels at her work, and whether her creation is a tribute to the classic French origins of playing cards, to classic works of literature, or to a classic boardgame, the results are spectacular and beautiful. She not only has ability to make ornate and attractive designs, but also incorporates thoughtful symbolism and content based on characters and themes drawn from her subject material.
There's a wealth of creativity, depth of thought, and artistic design that is present in her work, which results in deck designs that are sophisticated and classy in every way, and yet practical and playable. These are the kinds of custom decks that will be appreciated by discerning playing card collectors around the world!
Where to get them? A selection of Karin Yan's decks from Bona Fide Playing Cards is available on PlayingCardDecks:
● Nouveau series: Nouveau, Bourgogne, Bijoux, Perle
● Alexandre Dumas series: The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo
● King's Game series: Two deck set
Want to learn more? Check out these links:
● Official website: Bona Fide Playing Cards
● Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr
● Interview: Q&A with designer Karin Yan
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Thu Oct 29, 2020 9:09 am
- [+] Dice rolls
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The Amazing Colour Changing Card Trick
To start off, I need you to do a quick exercise. Don't worry, it's not difficult, and I promise you're going to love this. I want you to watch this short video clip called the "Colour Changing Card Trick" which starts with a blue-backed deck of playing cards. Some of my readers have experience with card magic, but even if you catch the moves or know how this works, I think you'll enjoy this a lot:
So did you catch the moves? Or were you completely fooled, and did the colour changes completely fly by you? This is a fine example of a psychological phenomenon that we'll explain later. But first, let's try another little test.
A Quick Test About Playing Cards
To illustrate the same phenomenon, let's quickly test your knowledge about playing cards. If you're reading this, chances are you have used playing cards a lot. Perhaps you use them for playing card games, for performing card magic, for cardistry, or you're just a collector. Either way, you've probably shuffled a deck hundreds if not thousands of times. Shuffling, dealing, and holding a hand of cards - it's likely all second nature to you right?
Well, then you should have no problems answering some simple questions about the playing cards that you have seen many, many times, right? Let's assume a normal deck of traditional playing cards, like your standard Bicycle deck produced by the United States Playing Cards. Are you ready? You're going to ace this test, surely! But strictly no guessing - if you don't know an answer, just leave that question blank. Here we go:
1. Including black as a colour, how many different print colours do regular court cards have?
2. How many of the twelve court cards are looking to the left?
3. How many court cards are shown with a side view of the face rather than a front view?
4. Which Queen is holding something besides a flower?
5. Which King is not holding a sword?
6. Which Jack is holding a paddle/mirror?
7. Which Jacks have a fancy moustache?
8. Which Kings do not have a moustache?
9. What is the only suit where the Jack and Queen are not looking in the same direction?
10. How many of the 52 cards in a regular deck have an asymmetrical (one-way) design?
So how did you do? No, I'm not going to tell you the correct answers, because you might just cheat. I know that I would be tempted to do so, if someone gave me a test like this! So write down your answers, and then actually grab a physical deck of playing cards, and see for yourself. Seriously. You might be surprised at the results! And you might notice some details on those cards that you've never noticed before. If you get a passing mark of more than five right, I'll be very impressed. And if you did find that test too difficult, try this slightly easier online pop quiz about playing cards which will instantly give you a score out of ten.
Inattentional Blindness
Going through these questions has likely made you realize how little you've noticed about the playing cards that you've seen many, many times. Strange isn't it?! How can it be possible that you have handled a regular deck of playing cards so often, and yet not know the answers to basic questions like these?
I first came across these questions (which I've modified) in a blog post by Jan Isenbart, who is a magic enthusiast from Germany. He used this simple test to illustrate a phenomenon that psychologists call inattentional blindness, or change blindness. The idea of this is that when our attention is focused on something specific, it is possible for something else that happens right in front of our eyes not to register at all.
Perhaps the most well known example of this is shown in the following video. It shows the results of a Selective Attention Test, that was part of a prize-winning experiment devised and run by two American psychologists, Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris. Many of you may already have come across this previously, but for those who haven't, what you need to do is the following: Count how many times the players wearing white pass the basketball." Stop reading this article and give it a try, and do genuinely concentrate and do the counting as instructed. The final result may surprise you.
Similar to this test is another one called The Monkey Business Illusion. If you're interested in reading more about this, check out the website from Simons and Chabris. It's a companion to their best-selling book The Invisible Gorilla. Some of the videos they have produced to illustrate inattentional blindness make for fun viewing. Daniel Simons' article "Failure of Awareness: The Case of Inattentional Blindness" is also a good read on the topic.
The Princess Card Trick
Inattentional blindness means that something quite significant can happen right in front of your eyes, and yet you can completely fail to register it. If we can miss a chest-thumping gorilla, then how many other things do we completely miss? Magicians have been using this principle to help them in card magic for a long time. One of the most well known examples is "The Princess Card Trick". It can be found all around the internet, including many kiddie websites, and it can easily be reverse engineered, so I'm hardly guilty of exposure by explaining how it works.
But first, try it for yourself here. Typically the online version works something like this. You are shown six playing cards, and you choose and remember one of them. When you click on the screen, one of the six playing cards has been removed - and it is exactly the one that you chose!
This can create gasps of amazement, but the secret is very simple. While you were focusing on remembering the playing card you chose, you tend to ignore the exact identity of the other cards are. So in actual fact all five cards shown afterwards are different from the original ones (if you didn't quite follow this, see a detailed explanation here). This trick can be made convincing by selecting a mix of cards with similar values and suits, but subtly switching some of the suits so that the change isn't as obvious. It's a little harder to perform a trick like this in the real world, but with a good presentation and some sleight of hand, there are ways to accomplish a similar effect (see a version performed by magician Lance Burton here). In one set of tests, this fooled 9 out of 10 people on the street that this was performed to.
The Princess Card Trick is another good example of inattentional blindness. Research has shown that what we actually see is often very different from what we think we see. We can't absorb everything, so our mind has to be selective, and it focuses on specific things, and eliminates other things that it considers to be distractions at that moment, effectively making us "blind" to certain details.
Misdirection in Magic
The phenomenon of inattentional blindness can be a very useful tool in a magician's toolbox. For example, when spectators are preoccupied by counting cards that you're dealing, they won't notice if those cards have been set-up or arranged in a specific order. Or if we take a playing card from the top of the deck and use it to point at another card on the table, they won't notice if we return that card to the bottom of the deck, because their attention is focused elsewhere.
Magicians sometimes refer to this as "misdirection". Good misdirection isn't so much about making a loud noise or sudden gesture that is a cheap shot at directing attention away from something. Rather it's about carefully constructing the plot of a magic trick so that all the attention is directed to something other than where the actual method happens. There must be justifiable reasons for having the attention directed elsewhere, and ideally this should be connected to your presentation. But when you can get all the attention of your spectators on something, then you can use inattentional blindness to get away with murder, if it is outside the scope of their current concentrated focus.
Perhaps we aren't nearly as good at multi-tasking as we normally think! We have cognitive weaknesses, like the ones demonstrated in the experiments above, and identified and discussed by psychologists. But we can exploit these cognitive weaknesses in a clever way to create powerful illusions. It's been well said that magic is not so much about what spectators are actually seeing, but what they think they are seeing. By manipulating their attention, we can manipulate what they think they are seeing, while having chest-thumping gorillas in plain sight do the magic for us, and yet remain completely invisible!
So why don't you dig out that deck of playing cards again, and this time have a more careful look at the details on the cards. There are undoubtedly many aspects of the artwork that have escaped your notice for all those years, due to inattentional blindness. Maybe this will even enable you to appreciate your playing cards in a whole new way!
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Thu Oct 22, 2020 9:33 am
- [+] Dice rolls
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Interview on Playing Cards with Collector & Magician Steve Brooks (The Magic Cafe)
Who is Steve Brooks?
Steve Brooks can best be described as a man who wears many hats, and has a wide range of interests. He makes his living from various sources, including the running of The Magic Cafe, which is arguably the most well-known and highly populated forum for magicians on the internet. Besides that, he's active as a magician performing private shows and restaurant magic, and doing graphic art design work for various projects including the designing of playing cards. He's previously also been involved in creating and publishing his own magic effects, and producing, directing and marketing DVDs for the magic community. In addition to his own artist background, he has a passion for all the arts, including music (playing multiple instruments in various bands) film, and also for history, specifically the American Civil War and WWII.
He's also a real thinker an philosopher, who has a lot to say on many subjects, with genuinely thoughtful reflections. With his breadth of knowledge and a wide range of interests, particularly given his background in art and magic, Steve is well placed to have some real insights on the aesthetics of playing cards. He's even writing several books currently, including a couple on magic theory, as well as a huge historical project about the famous Escape Map deck from World War II.
As it turns out, Steve is a very serious and dedicated collector of playing cards. How serious, you ask? Well, right now he owns more than 26,000 decks! Anybody that has a collection so large it would take a truck to begin moving it has some serious credibility as a collector! Steve is also very active in the 52 Plus Joker Club, the prestigious American Playing Card Collectors Club.
Steve kindly agreed to being interviewed about magic and about playing cards, and I'm happy to report that he was not only generous with his time and with the amount of his words, but he's shared some wonderful stories and reflections about both playing cards and magic. There's a great deal we can learn from his passion and experience. So without further ado, here's Steve Brooks!
Interview on Playing Cards
For those who don't know anything about you, what can you tell us about yourself and your background?
Well, like my mom used to say, I'm a man of many hats. I have a lot of interests and I've learned how to do a lot of different things. My biggest fear was becoming a Jack of all trades, master of none. So I had to focus on just a few things.
Most people probably know I'm into magic, and I run The Magic Café forum.
I've been drawing and doing art all my life, e.g. painting and illustrating. I grew up drawing, and I worked in a print shop for like four or five years. So I ran Lionel types, learned how to set type and ran Windmill Heidelbergs, and Kluges and Offset presses. And so I learned all about printing, which went along with my graphic art. I still do art.
As I got further in magic, I got into different playing cards. Playing cards fascinated me for just a number of reasons, not just magic purposes, but also because of the art. I was fascinated with the different types of designs and how they were printed. So I got into that, figured out how they printed cards and all the technologies that go with that.
And I've always loved music. So I got in the band when I was in school and I played the trumpet for around four years even though I hated the trumpet. Eventually, I got a guitar and taught myself how to play. And then I started playing keyboards and drums. When I got older, I played in numerous bands, country bands, rock and roll bands, jazz bands. I've done that most of my life. Because of problems with my hands on the advice of my doctor I had to quit drumming. That said, I still play guitar from time to time, just to amuse myself.
I enjoy writing and creating. I'm a history buff, and the American Civil War fascinates me, and World War II as well. I collect hourglasses - I've got tons of them. I'm also a science fiction buff, so I'm a geek.
When did you start collecting playing cards, and what got you started?
I've haphazardly collected them off and on since I was a kid, because of the art. The artwork that was on them seemed pretty cool, and I tried to get different variations. Back in those days I didn't know anything really about playing cards like I do now.
I got more serious about it in the last 15 years or so, because of my interest in the American Civil War, where I started seeking out certain decks that were printed in that era, e.g. Faro decks.
How large is your own collection of decks?
Usually when you get into collecting something, it starts off as a hobby, and then sometimes you can go crazy with this stuff. I've often joked I need to get a cheaper habit than playing cards, something like heroin or something. Plus you have to have a place to put all your cards.
I go to Costco and I buy these bins, black with big yellow lids on them. I've got stacks of these jammed full of decks of cards. What's crazy is when you fill one of those up with decks and bricks, and go ahead and try to lift one of those up. "Oh, I need to move these over here." Decks of cards are paper, and what is paper? – wood. So they're really heavy, and you need a couple of guys.
My card collecting is crazy, it's out of hand. I could not easily move my decks. This would take trucks. I've probably got close to 26,000 decks, last I kind of ran through them. I believe the world record is 25,000 decks – but that is individual decks. My collection thus far isn't individual decks, because in some cases I've got a brick, or two or three of the same deck. Now for a lot of people, that's a huge collection. But I know people that have got way more than that.
Do you have any particular favorite decks in your collection?
That's like asking me what my favorite band is. That's a tough one because I have a lot of favorites and for different reasons, for different things. And if I moved some of my stacks, I'd realize "I forgot about this one, and I really like that one." But I like decks that are different, and I've got so many different ones that have caught my eye.
Some of my favorites are decks that are unique in weird sort of ways. Someone put out a deck designed so that the cards look like wood, and it's a pretty cool looking deck. But I have a deck of 52 cards (in a leather pouch that snaps closed) where the cards are actually made out of wood – real wood, like cherry wood. It's one of my favorite decks because it's just so awesome. I have several decks made out of metal – one of them is copper, some are made out of brass, and one's made out of stainless steel. If I could get into Ricky Jay's Cards as Weapons I'd probably hurt you with one of these. Those are unique…and spendy.
The Ornate decks that Randy Butterfield put out are really standout. The Federal 52 decks By Jackson Robinson. There's a really cool looking deck with pinup girls, from the old pinup posters back in the 40s during World War II, where people would paint these girls on the side of their fighter planes. I love transformation decks, because it takes a lot of work to make a transformation and there's not that many of them around.
At one time I had a collection of 3000 different tarot decks. Some of them were handmade and hand painted. I got rid of all of them just because I was focusing more on actual playing card playing cards. But the tarot decks was because of the artwork. The attention to detail is just amazing on some of them. They're like paintings.
What about gilded decks?
I love gilded decks, especially the older gilded decks because they weren't done with computer technology. I remember being inside U.S. Playing Card years ago, and these girls are sitting there with a deck of cards in a vice, and using a paintbrush they were placing gold on them. They handle like crap because they're gilded, and they tend to stick, and they don't fan very well. Modern gilded decks made with computers handle beautifully but the gilding wears off really fast - that's the trade off.
It's like food, and when you were a kid your grandma would be cooking a stew all day long, and you smelled it, and by the time it was done, it was so good. Versus "I'm going to throw everything in there and microwave it, and it's done in 10 minutes". It's good, but it's not as good as grandma's all day stew.
So the old gilded decks. Maybe they didn't have as many colors, and they didn't have green and blue and all this crazy stuff, but the gilding held up. Because I've got decks from the 1920s that are gilded up, and the gilding looks brand new. The decks now that are gilded purple and green and blue, fan beautifully and they look good - as long as you don't handle them. They just don't last if you actually handle the cards.
What's the most valuable deck in your own collection?
My valuable ones are my older decks. I've got Faro decks here that have never been opened. I've got Jerry Nuggets.
How should we judge the value of a deck of playing cards?
I've had people send me notes on Facebook and elsewhere, and they'll say, "Hey Steve, how much do you think this deck's worth? My grandpa had it." I always tell them: whatever the market will bear. A $20 million Picasso is only worth 20 million if somebody's willing to pay you 20 million for it. Will an original unopened, pristine deck of Jerry Nuggets be worth 500 bucks in 30 years? I don't know. It might be worth $5,000, it might not be worth anything.
If people show a demand for it and an interest for it, yes, it has value. But otherwise, it may just have value to you because you liked the design. And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that.
But when we had these fires a year ago up here where I live, the fire was practically in my backyard. So when that fire was out of control, somebody called me and asked, "What are you going to do with your cards?" And I go, "They're going to burn." You know why? Because the only thing I care about is making sure my wife and my dogs are okay. Things, for the most part, can be replaced – although I do have sheets and decks that could never be replaced. But, I'm worried about my family, I'm not worried about some stupid decks of cards.
What can you tell us about your collection of uncut sheets?
I've got a huge collection, but the biggest part of my collection is the uncut sheets. So I'm not trying to have the largest deck collection in the world, but it's my uncut sheets that I really focus on.
I got interested in the uncut sheets, when I knew that they printed the decks out on these sheets. Somebody had given me a sheet of Bicycle Rider Backs for a birthday present or something. And I was like: "Wow, that's really cool!" The next step was: "If I frame this and hang it on the wall, I can only see one side of it. So I should probably find another sheet so I could hang them both on the wall, so you can see what each side looks like."
That's okay if you only hang up two or three sheets. But when you start getting into sheets, pretty soon you need a museum or a castle, and maybe even then you can't hang them all up. Right now, I've got over 1200 different uncut sheets. That's not counting duplicates, because I've got a few extras of sheets that I'll hold onto, and if somebody has a sheet I want that I don't have, I'll offer to trade.
That's a lot of uncut sheets. I don't have them hanging up. I went down to Home Depot and I bought these big square pieces of quarter inch plywood, and I've got the uncut sheets in these stacks. It's ridiculous, and it's almost insidious really.
For some of the sheets, I'm the only person with that sheet. I've got sheets from a creator who says, "I don't even have one. You've got the only one." So I know I have sheets in my possession that literally no one's seen - they might have the deck, but I've got the only sheet.
How rewarding has it been to be part of the 52 Plus Joker collecting club?
I'm involved in the 52 Plus Joker, the greatest card club in the world. We have a convention every year, and we get together, and those people are family to me. We've got some of the best card creators in the world come there every year. And we have a dealer's room, and people trade decks, and there's uncut sheets, and there's things that you didn't know existed.
When I first went into the club, it was older people mostly, and if a deck was newer than 1929, they weren't interested. "Oh, that's too new." Now we've got so many new people into the club. We've got members that are into the old decks, and also members collecting all the new decks. And the ones who were mostly into the older decks have come to appreciate the newer decks, and the ones who were mostly in the newer decks have come to appreciate the older decks. Much of this is due to the efforts of my good friend Lee Asher who is our current club president.
You're going to see decks of cards there you never saw in your life, and you didn't even know they existed. And it is awesome.
What has your experience with their annual convention been like?
For myself, just personally, it is the most important convention I ever go to. I would rather miss a magic convention. They canceled MAGIC Live this year. That's sucks, but it doesn't break my heart. I would be more broken hearted if they canceled the 52 Plus Joker Convention.
We've got thousands of people in our club, but only a couple of hundred people show up. And they come from all over the place, some even from Europe. We see our friends there, and the conversation starts off where we left it last time. These are the sweetest, nicest people you will ever meet.
It's got a different vibe than a magic convention. At a magic convention, you show up, you hang out with your magic buddies, you go to the dealer's room, and you sit around doing tricks for each other. You want to come up with a trick to fool all your buddies, or you want to be the first one who did this or that. Everybody's drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, and telling lies. And you stay up all night. And that's a magic convention.
Whereas at the card convention, nobody sits around talking about others, and says things like "That guy stole his trick" or "Did you see what he put on Facebook?" Instead they're all sitting around, saying "Hi, how are you doing? Did you ever find that deck you were looking for?" Or they'll come up and say, "Hey, I think I found that deck you told me about last year. Let me show you." They are all trying to help each other. If there's some nasty people there, I've never met them. And everybody goes to the lectures and we hang out.
It's a different vibe altogether, it's almost like a vacation. I go to three or four magic conventions every year, but when I go to the card convention, I actually relax more. It's just a night and day difference, it really is. That's not to say I don't like my magic conventions. I do. But it is not the same thing.
Does everyone have the same goal in collecting?
There's different types of collectors. There's people that collect decks because they just love playing cards. And they don't care if they're used, or new, or old, or puppy dog cards, or cat cards. Then there's the people who collect cards, and they collect mostly the new decks. "I've got to get every new deck that comes out." (Well, good luck!)
And then there's the ones who I don't really consider actual card collectors, they're speculators. What they do is they buy decks that they think might be worth money later. So they'll go out and buy a couple of bricks, and they wait, hoping that they have the next Jerry Nugget. People who buy decks just wanting to make money with it, that's a whole different mindset and its certainly not mine.
What other kinds of specialized types of collecting are there?
Some people don't collect decks, but they only collect singles. So they'll have these notebooks, these three ring binders you would have in school, with plastic sheets inside. One guy might have four or five binders sitting on his table, and you'll open one of them, and it's nothing but Ace of Spades. This Ace of Spades, and that Ace of Spades. He might have gotten the Ace of Spades out of six different colored decks. They're the same deck, but they're different colored backs, and he's got all the Ace of Spades. Other people collect nothing but Jokers. Others the Suicide Kings. It's amazing, the different possibilities. Singles are a big deal for a lot of folks.
There are people that do nothing but collect tax stamps that were attached to decks of cards for many years. That's what they collect, and they got quite the collection, with more different tax stamps than you can imagine. Some only collect German playing cards, some only French playing cards, you get the idea.
The hobby is so versatile. If you get into it, eventually you're going to spend money, whether you like it or not. And once you go down the rabbit hole, there's just no way of getting out. It's crazy. And then you start making friends and you start learning things. It's the greatest hobby ever.
What kind of dedication can being a collector involve?
I triy to get decks that have relationships. I'm trying to get sets of certain types of decks from certain companies in certain eras, and then complete those sets. And that's what I work on.
For a while it was all the Apollo decks, and then the older the deck is, the tougher it is to find it intact. Because maybe it's missing a Joker, or maybe it's missing the Ace of Spades, or maybe it doesn't have the original box the cards came in. So you wait, and you wait, till maybe five years down the road you find the deck. Now you've got all the cards, but you don't have the box. But then you find a deck that's missing half the deck, but the box is there, and it's almost brand new, so now you've got the box. That's how adamant you have to be if you're a real collector.
What can you tell us about the book you're writing about the famous Escape Map deck?
As for my own projects, I'm working on decks myself that I want to do, some for other people, some for myself. I'm writing some books on magic. I'm doing some graphic novels on the side. And I'm working on my World War II book, about the history of the escape map deck.
As far as projects go, the map deck book is the most important thing I've ever done in my life. Because it is history and it is things that have happened with real people. And it's the truth versus what's on the internet, like what's on the USPCC website. Because people have got it all wrong and I'm correcting that.
But it's taken me most of my life to do that. And I've had to travel around the world and spend lots of money to gather all the things necessary. One of my inspirations is Howard Carter, the archaeologist who was looking for the boy king. All his peers laughed at him, "You're an idiot," they said, "There is no boy king, and you have no evidence that's worth anything." But he spent most of his life on it. And guess what? He found a British Lord who had lots of money and said, "I believe you, how much money do you need to continue your digs?" He started funding him, and guess what? Not only does he find the boy king, but it is the only tomb in the history of archaeology that had all its treasures intact, and that’s a fact. I find that very inspirational.
That has always been the thing that kept me going on the map deck research. Because whenever I would come to a wall, and say "I can't find any more evidence" or "I can't find this or that", then suddenly a year would go by and I'd get a clue. For example, I would read through dozens of old German magazines that were put out after the war, where they're talking to German prison guards, and when translating these interviews from German I would come across something a guard would say in passing, and it would be a clue to what I'm looking for.
I found the things that I've been needing to find in the places that nobody's looking. In the first Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, where he's looking for the ark, there's a scene where the Germans are digging in the desert, and Indiana Jones realizes that the staff they're using is too short or it's too tall, and they're digging in the wrong place.
That's what all the historians who write books on escape and evasion do. They only mention the map cards in passing, because they don't know the story. People that did have an interest in it, have been looking in the wrong places.
Who are some of your favorite playing card designers?
We have so many talented people in the 52 Plus Joker Club. All the guys are good at what they do, whether it's Lance Miller, Jackson Robinson, Paul Carpenter, Alex Chin, or Randy Butterfield. My two favorites would have to be Randy Butterfield and Alex Chin.
Alex Chin is insanely crazy. I love him crazy, as an artist myself. He doesn't just design a deck of cards or a pair of decks. He'll show something every year to the club, and he'll say, "We're working on these, and there's seven decks. And they all go together, and if you put them side by side they do this, but if you turn them to the left a little bit, and poke through this hole…" He's insane, but I love that kid. He's just an awesome sweet guy.
I consider Randy Butterfield one of my closest buddies. He is like a chameleon, a master of disguises. He can do one set of decks, with a particular style, and then do another set of deck that looks like a whole different person designed them. Most designers kind of have a style, and when you see it, you immediately know who it is.
They're all nice guys, and they're all good at what they do, like Paul Carpenter, and Lance Miller (who I consider like my nephew). All these people are family to me. But Alex Chin and Randy Butterfield, they're off the wall.
How have custom playing cards changed in the modern crowdfunding era?
Those guys I just mentioned have raised the bar. When playing cards really started taking off a few years ago, kids would go on Shutterstock and find some stupid generic design. And they'd go to US Playing Card, put those backs on them with standard faces, and they would run Kickstarters. But once Jackson Robinson hit town with his Federal 52 deck, that was a game changer for everybody. There were kids throwing up generic designs, and Jackson basically said, "Okay, look at this then."
Now the people who were supporting Kickstarter projects have to say, "Look, I've only got so much money. If I really like a project, I want the complete set of decks. And maybe there's four different decks, and one was gilded. And I want at least one or two of each of those, and I want the uncut sheet. Oh, it's got a coin. I want the coin. Well, I'm going to be spending 200 or 300 bucks. But I can't spend 200-300 bucks on a dozen Kickstarters this month."
So now the market has changed because now people are making decisions. "I want to support all these guys because I like all these cards. But financially speaking, I can only support so many. Which ones do I support?" It's good for the card community, now it's a competition. Because not only does it raise the bar, it encourages innovation. This is what's great about capitalism. In capitalism, people don't make a new product out of the kindness of their heart, but they do it because they think they can make money. So every year, every company's got to have a better phone, or a better tablet, or a better computer, or a better game system. And so it makes people have to innovate and make better technologies.
So in the card world, if you want your Kickstarter to fund, and if you want a following, and if you want to get people that support you as an artist, then you better show that you're an artist. You better do something that's more than just "I'm going to use standard faces." For example, these so-called minimalist decks annoy me. Say somebody puts a deck out, it's a white back with a tiny black dot in the center. You can say "minimalist" to me all day long, but I call bullshit, and I say you're lazy.
Are there any other types of playing cards you personally prefer?
Art and food and movies and books are subjective. One man's trash is another man's treasure. As for different styles of decks, I'm more into classic scroll work and that sort of thing. I like the Victorian style.
It's not that I don't like some of the modern decks. Companies like Theory 11 put out some very impressive cards. For instance, foil can look nice, but just because you put lots of silver and gold on the box doesn't mean it's a great deck for me. Sometimes it can be overdone and it becomes too gaudy, and I don't like it.
I've noticed that with a lot of decks most of the effort goes on the box. And often when you get the deck out of the box it is pretty blasé. Maybe it's got a custom Ace of Spades and a Joker, but for the most part it's just standard faces and an okay back. It's just the box that's awesome. I don't know if that's a bad thing or good thing, I just think it's a different thing. Like I said, cards are subjective. If you think the box is awesome, collect it for the box, it's not wrong to do that.
How do you view decks which are printed with a missing card or a misspelling?
I'm the kind of guy that for the most part doesn't open my decks up ever. Somebody could put thousand dollar bills in certain decks, I'd never know it.
One of the things the 52 Plus Joker club does every year is put out a club deck. There's usually a version only the club members can grab right away. One year there was a screw up somewhere. I think we had two of the same card (e.g. two Six of Clubs, and a Seven of Clubs was missing, something to that effect). What they did is reprinted some cards and said, "Here's the missing card." But some people were mad.
I've seen this happen with other projects, and a lot of people get upset. I say, "Why are you mad? That is a screw up, which makes that deck actually more valuable." It'd be like having the upside down airplane postage stamp. Or if they printed a $20 bill and forgot to put the president's face in the center - that would make that bill very valuable.
There's all kinds of decks I try to grab that have problems, like a missing card, or misspellings. And I can understand how a card might get missed. If you're sitting there designing the deck and you're staring at all these Hearts or all these Clubs, I could see that you missed something somehow at the end before you print them. It happens. Sometimes the mistakes that happen have nothing to do with the artist but the company printing the decks.
How do you decide what new decks to add to your collection?
I decide on a case by case basis. I've already realized a long time ago that I cannot get every deck there is. It's just not possible. So what I try to do is grab decks that stand out for me for some reason, and there's something really unique about them.
So not something that is just "another Bicycle branded deck". There's a zillion decks that have the Bicycle logo on them, and some are very pretty, some are very striking, others are blasé. If I miss some Bicycle decks, I'm not going to worry about it. As far as I’m concerned US Playing card has significantly diminished the Bicycle brand by letting so many people use it. True or not, that’s just my personal opinion.
There's other decks that come out which wow me. For instance, last year at the 52 Plus Joker Club convention, I saw two wooden boxes that were sealed with wax. Just the box alone caught my eye - it looked like something out of the 16th century. They immediately stood out for me: "What is this?" It turned out they were two decks from Russia, and I grabbed both of them. When I got home I learned from the internet that the people that made these decks made another version that was just in a standard box, so I'm glad I grabbed these.
I do prefer more classic designs because somebody spent more time with it, I think. But that's not to say I haven't seen some modern designs that were a lot simpler, and that I liked them.
How important is color to you in deciding whether you like a deck?
I think one of the secrets to a modern design that I like - and I'm saying this as an artist - is understanding color.
For instance, Paul Carpenter understands color. I don't look at him as an artist like I do with Randy Butterfield or Alex Chin. I look at Paul Carpenter like an interior decorator who would come into your home and say, "Let's put this type of wallpaper up, and we'll trim it with this, and we're going to put that color carpeting. It'll make this pop and make this room look bigger, and then we can do this." Paul understands color, and if you look at all his decks, his decks pop because he understands the color spectrum, the color wheel, and how to take one color and make it contrast very well with another.
For instance, here's a very simple example that has nothing to do with Paul. If you have black and you were to put orange on it, it pops. Or if you have orange and you put some black on it, it pops. More so that if you put just black on white, or white on black. So Paul Carpenter understands color, and his decks are awesome; they're pretty, and they look good.
Should we just be focusing on new and innovative decks?
I used to say that magicians are like birds - they like shiny things. Make some little gizmo that looks cool, and they'll buy it. They might not ever use it, but they'll buy it because it's cool. With playing cards, cards are like sugar and card collectors are like ants. We're drawn to it because it's sugar, but often too much sugar sometimes is not a good thing.
As far as playing cards go, I look for innovation and new things. But I think a lot of the kids that buy the new decks will start discovering the old decks. It's like the kids at first get into magic who watch all the YouTube videos and buy all the new tricks that Ellusionist puts out. Then they're at a convention and somebody does a trick for them and fools them badly, and they say, "I have got to know how this is done. Is there a YouTube video?" And the guy shakes his head and says, "No, it's in this book here that was written in 1937, chapter four." And the kid goes home and he reads it and he begins to realize that he's looking for stuff that's already there, it's in the books that he's been ignoring. There's also magic to be found in the old decks.
Do you collect any decks that don't fit your personal taste?
I try to get a variety of different decks because of some card books I'm working on writing. So I had to ask myself, "Are these books just written for me, or are they written for everybody?" So I may see a Kickstarter project where as far as I'm concerned the deck is just horrible. But the deck brings in 30 grand and meets its goal. I think the deck sucks, but apparently there's a lot of people out there that like it. So I grab one or two to feature in my book, because other people like it.
It is similar to paintings. I'm not a big Picasso fan. I liked his early illustrations because they're awesome. But once he started getting into the weird shapes and stuff, which made him famous of course, I could not care less. I'm more of a Leonardo da Vinci or Rembrandt fan. But there are people out there who will pay millions of dollars for a Picasso, and not because they want to resell it, but because they like Picasso, and they're genuine fans. And that's okay. So I'm trying to get a variety of things.
But someday I'll die and my kids will look at all these cards and say, "What the hell was dad thinking?" And they'll have no clue because they have no interest in it. That's going to present a problem eventually. They don't know, they're just ignorant. I'm sure they'd walk in and they could pick up a deck of cards that's worth $2,000, but they don’t have a clue. They’ll say; "That's a deck of cards, who cares?" And they would never understand that it's worth $2,000. But it's like that with anything really.
What are some of the factors behind the explosion of the custom playing card decks in recent years?
Ellusionist, like Jason Brumbalow and his Black Tiger design, has helped get it going. They're not the first people ever to print a deck of cards with black faces. That was done back in the 1920s, and I have a deck that has yellow clubs and green diamonds, and was printed on an old Heidelberg when it was really tough to do color. So Ellusionist wasn't the first, but they helped get that whole custom playing cards going. They were a beginning, and the seeds that got the vines growing, you might say.
Crowdfunding has also helped. For crowdfunding, it's mainly Kickstarter of course. Indiegogo does a few card projects, but not many. Most people go to Kickstarter because there's more of an audience and people understand Kickstarter a little better.
Crowdfunding helps because when I was a young man, if you were to go to USPCC and you said, "I want to make a custom deck of cards", you had to get 25,000 decks done, and that was a lot of money. And so most people said "Oh, forget that," and it was just out of their means to do it. But crowdfunding suddenly opened up the door, so they could say "Hey, I could maybe do this." And over the years, places like USPCC have lowered the minimum orders, and have made it a lot easier.
So I think it's a combination of crowdfunding, the trend that started with Ellusionist, and the cardistry movement, that have helped - all of it.
But not magicians. Most magicians do not collect decks of cards. They just don't. They like Bicycle Rider Backs and Tally-Ho's, and that's about it. Card collectors are a whole different animal.
What are some common mistakes that creators of custom decks make on Kickstarter?
SSome of them don't understand anything to do with business. They've never owned a business, and they've never created a product and tried to market it, so they make really, really bad business decisions. For instance, they'll start a Kickstarter project and say, "I'm printing 5,000 of these decks, and my goal is whatever amount of money, say $12,000. And I'm going to offer a t-shirt and whatever.
But here's what happens in real life. Firstly, in the printing industry, in the old days if you were printing, a thousand of something, you stopped the press about when you thought you were hitting a thousand, and you could get pretty good at it. But sometimes you'd go over a little bit and sometimes you'd go under a little bit, so there's an overage or an underage. So if you go to USPCC and say "I want 2,500 decks," you may end up with 2,800 or you may end up with 1,800. And so what happens is they run these Kickstarters, and say they're going to do 5,000 decks and they get all these people pledging. And say they get lucky and they actually get 5,000 decks from USPC. But they don't take into account decks that are going to get lost in the mail, damaged decks, things like this. And so what happens is they get backers saying "Hey man, I didn't get my cards," or "They were torn up", or "They were damaged," and they have no way to make good on that. And they've already spent all their money.
And they don't take into account: how are you going to ship all these decks? Where are you going to put them? The truck's going to show up, so where are you going to put all these – in your garage, or your mommy and daddy's garage? Is there room? Or you're going to stick them by the washing machine or something? Then how are you going to sort through all these? Are you going to do it yourself, or are you going to have your school mates come, and you're going to buy them pizza and help unpack? Where are you going to buy all this packing material? Did you take into account how much that would cost? And did you understand how much it's going to cost to ship these to Europe or someplace else?
They don't think about any of this stuff and they get themselves in over their heads. And so there have been - at least to my knowledge, and they're probably more - eight or nine Kickstarter projects that took the people's money and never delivered the goods. In one project I supported, when everyone asked "Where's my stuff?" the guy says, "Well we reached our goal, but it really didn't make the money we thought it would. So my wife and I went to Europe, and I replaced my computer, and we did this and that, and we really appreciate it. Maybe someday we'll print these." So basically they took everybody's money and went to Europe. How nice of them.
That's the reality of crowd funding. You're taking a chance. It's nothing but a pre order. It's like Xbox Live saying, "The new Call of Duty game is going to be out in November, and if you pre order now you get $10 off and something for free." And so you order it sight unseen, and you hope that Activision is going to deliver the game in November.
What have creators of custom decks learned from this in how they approach crowdfunding?
Kickstarter went through this crazy moment where sometimes a project would have eight different versions of decks, and tee shirts, and bumper stickers, and coins, and a statue, and all this more. Then they realized this was a pain to ship all this stuff, and to have it made. Maybe the fulfillment guy that makes the statute didn't come through for you, so it is three months late and people were getting upset. So most creators have toned it down, and say "I'm making these decks, and these are the colored versions, and here's an uncut sheet."
They've really toned it down, because when you do that, it's not just grabbing a couple of decks, dropping them into the bubble wrap and envelope, and shipping them out. Instead it is like: "So this backer has got a coin, okay, I can slide in there. But oh, he's got a tee shirt, now that's a whole separate thing." So it gets more complicated. For creators it's about crunching the numbers and figuring out how to do it economically in the best way.
And creators will learn real quick that a lot of collectors are very particular. So if they get their two decks in the mail and it's got a little tiny dent in the corner, they're not happy. Because in their mind, they're thinking "You just devalued the deck! It's got a little nick in the corner. And I know technically the cards are probably in mint condition inside, and there's nothing wrong with them. But there is this little dent, and if I were to sell it later, someone's going to say, It's got a dent so it's not worth $50." So you've got to replace those or something, and you've got to make good on it because they're not happy.
Which means the only way to get around that is more packing. And hope that the post office or UPS or FedEx or whoever you're using doesn't demolish your product when you're shipping it to them. Not everybody is in a situation like you [Will Roya] where you have turned this into an exact science. Most of the guys I know who are creating cards are creating on an iPad, or they're in their living room watching TV, and they're designing a deck of cards and they don't have a good setup.
What should backers look for to avoid having an experience with a creator who doesn't deliver their project?
One that always raises a red flag for me is somebody who has never run a project at all. That doesn't mean that they're a bad person, but it does mean that this is their first project, and for everything there's a first time. If you look at their profile, and they have launched a Kickstarter project, but they've never supported a card project in their life, that makes me leery. "Wait a minute, you want me to buy your deck, but you've never supported a Kickstarter project at all?"
Compare that with somebody who has never run a Kickstarter project, but when you look at their profile you see they have backed 87 projects in the past. That's someone who's obviously seriously into cards, because they've backed 87 projects. So you're probably a little safer going with them because this is the first one, versus someone who just comes out of nowhere and he lives in China or wherever. You don't know anything about the guy. I've easily backed over 100 Kickstarters, so if I ever launched a deck, people would say "Oh, it's Steve Brooks. Okay, yeah, I'm going to get my cards."
What I'm saying is it makes it tough though. Maybe the kid who's never backed a project only because he's never thought about it, has got a really awesome looking deck. And you're thinking "It's a really awesome looking deck, and I wouldn't mind getting these." But still, you're kind of leery. Because Kickstarter says "We're the middle man, we have nothing to do with this." I understand Kickstarter's position. It's like with the Magic Café: "I just present the meeting place. It's not my fault if the two of you are screaming at each other. I didn't cause that."
There's a guy whose Kickstarter project I supported who hasn't made good on his project, although he has always delivered before. I don't go on the forums and complain because everybody already knows and everybody's unhappy. And whatever might've happened to him in his life, maybe he should have handled it better and he didn't. But people make mistakes and I'm just going to blow it off. It's a chance you take. Out of all the Kickstarter projects, I've only been screwed on a couple of them and I'll take my chances. But I kind of use my own judgment on that kind of stuff. If a red flag pops up in my head, I just don't.
What other advice do you have about this for creators of a Kickstarter project for a custom deck?
As long as there's good people like you [Will Roya], Randy Butterfield, Jackson Robinson, and other people, and as long as people run Kickstarter projects and they deliver, that's fine. If they don't deliver, word gets around. It's a small community. People will call each other up, so-and-so screwed me, man. And other people are like, yeah man, he screwed me too. And pretty soon it will affect him because word gets around.
It is the same way in the magic world. You can go around stealing other people's tricks, but word gets around, and pretty soon nobody trusts you anymore. It takes years to build up customers, even in a grocery store. If you screw one or two of them, those people will go around and they will tell everybody that you screwed them.
People generally don't say something when they're happy. If someone goes to a restaurant and they're really happy, they may not necessarily even mention it. Unless someone asks "Have you ever eaten there?" then they might say "Yeah, they've got really good food." But otherwise they never say anything. But if they get screwed and get food poisoning, they're telling everybody, "Don't eat at Bill's Cafe, it's horrible."
So, I would say to anybody contemplating doing a Kickstarter for a card project, do yourself a favor, support some other projects first, get to be known a little bit in the community to establish a little bit of trust. And if you do promise something, deliver what you promised. If something unexpected happens and there is a delay or you can’t deliver as expected – Be honest with your backers.
What should creators do if they can't deliver their project?
Say something bad does happen, because disaster can happen to the best of us. If something horrible happens, say maybe you got the cards and your house burned down for real, and you lost everything and you didn't have any insurance or whatever, then be honest with people. Just tell them, "This is what happened. By the way, here's the link to the article in my local paper and I'm going to do my very best as soon as I can to make good on this somehow." People may not be happy with that, but they will at least understand that you were honest with them and hopefully you'll make good on it.
Years ago I produced a lot of magic DVDs. I spent a lot of money on my own cameras and editing, and I did good on them, and I'm proud of them, they're awesome. But then the DVD market died out and there was no money in it, and I was getting screwed. So I was losing money on every project. There were times that I would ship DVDs to England, or Japan, or Canada, and somebody might not get it. They'd send me a note, "Steve, it's broken, or it doesn't play right, or it never got here." I never told them, "Well send it back to me or prove it to me." I would just replace it and I would always drop in another DVD or two and say, "I am really sorry about that. Here, have a couple of these titles as well." It doesn't cost you that much money to make good on something for somebody.
Where do you see playing cards going in the future?
I can only speculate. It's like music, which goes through stages. And so do movies and TV. For a while, it is sci-fi movies/TV shows, and medical shows, then there's detective shows, and it's martial arts films, and eventually it goes back to this. It goes through cycles and music does the same thing.
When I was a kid, my grandparents would sit around and play Cribbage and there was always decks of cards in the house. Times change. With the advent of video games and everything, playing cards and board games were not so popular. Before everything went crazy about 8 or 10 years ago, I would do shows and sometimes people didn't know what their chosen card was. They would say, "It's a little guy holding a sword" or "It's a puppy dog" and I would say "Are you seeing Clubs?" They didn't even know what they were.
Then when World Series of Poker, Texas Hold’em and other shows came on TV, playing cards became popular again. And you've got small companies making board games and card games, whether it's Cards Against Humanity, or Dungeons and Dragons and different fantasy games. And that's good.
Do you expect the current boom in custom playing cards to continue?
It used to be that magicians would always say with an odd looking deck, "I can't use that in my show because people will think it's a trick deck even though it's not, so I only want to use red or blacks Bicycle branded cards. " But nowadays you're seeing custom decks appearing in Walmart and Barnes & Noble and Walgreens and all over the place. So the general public is starting to see decks other than Hoyle decks and Bicycle decks, and the different crazy decks.
I don't see the card industry disappearing. I hear people all the time – not serious card collectors – who say, "It's a phase, a fad, and it's going to die off, it's going to go. My sales have dropped in the magic shop, and I don't sell that many." I say: maybe in your shop, but what are you choosing to sell? I don't see the enthusiasm dropping in the 52 Plus Joker club. And there are several new Kickstarters every week with playing cards. Not all of them make it, and I've seen ones that were unfunded - somebody tries six times, but on the seventh time he finally makes it.
And the market will decide the fate of playing cards. It depends on the economy, and how much extra spending money people have. Do I put milk in the refrigerator, or do I buy a new deck of cards? That in some cases might be what it comes down to. For kids living at home who have no expenses, this doesn't seem to be a problem. There will be a few people that get out of it. They just lose interest, maybe because they discover girls and they get away from it. But even some of them will come back to it.
As long as there's this interest, and the interest is partially the economy, and as long as the artists themselves try to innovate. I don't see it ending anytime soon.
How is the market going to play a role in whether new custom decks keep appearing?
There are going to be producers who were making decks by hiring artists, when their sales aren't what they were, they might drop out. They may say, "Well, I'm only making a $3000, $4,000 a project now and it's not worth my time." The guys that are in it for the quick bucks and for the short term, they might stop. They'll stop and it's a money issue.
But plenty of other producers won't stop. Murphy's Magic isn't going to stop. The Buck Twins, Ellusionist, Theory 11 - they are not going to stop. And they're selling decks outside of the magic community. They'll produce decks where they run off 100,000 decks at a time. That's a lot of cards, versus little Joey who ran his little Kickstarter with his spotted owl deck, and he ran off a thousand of them. Maybe he had fun and that's great, and maybe he'll go on to do better things, but he'll probably be a one hit wonder and you'll never see him again.
So it's combination of the designers and the economy – that's just the facts. Because I don't care how much you love cards and love designing them, you can't do it for free. The reality is you have to at least be able to pay for the cards you're producing.
What role do artists play in keeping people interested in custom decks in coming years?
Do they want to get lazy? Because if they get lazy and they produce crap, I'm not going to buy crap. I refuse to. It's like in the retail market for anything - if you put out a crappy product, word gets out and people quit buying. If it's a video game and it sucks, nobody wants it. Even if the graphics are really awesome, if it's got a lot of problems and bugs and doesn't work the way it's supposed to, then nobody wants it.
Some people think "It's the magic community that collects playing cards", but it's not the magic community that is the cards community. With playing cards it's all about the art. So it's up to the artists – including any up and coming artists that maybe nobody knows about yet. As long as there's innovation in the art. I have noticed cards went through this weird thing where everyone's doing cards about Vikings, and then pirates, and then something else. So they're using easy themes. It's like movies that keep doing remakes. There's millions of books out here, but you've got to make a movie that's a remake, really? So if the artists themselves keep coming up with unique things, there'll be that interest. If it becomes where all the decks just look the same, you might have a problem.
And I don't see these creators stopping anytime soon. And I don't see their imaginations ending anytime soon. Let's say someone wants to make a deck based on Vikings but there has already been two or three different Viking decks out there. That doesn't mean another one can't be done differently. How many people have painted paintings of the ocean, of the beach and the rocks and the waves? There's thousands and people keep buying them.
I don't see real artists following trends. Designers like Lance Miller don't say, "This is popular right now, so I'm going to do a deck on the Coronavirus because everybody's talking about it." I don't see these guys doing that. Maybe some opportunist from China might try to cash in on it and make Coronavirus decks. But the serious designers and the people that buy decks think that's stupid. If it's in a dollar store, maybe I might grab one just to throw it in there because it's stupid.
How can artists keep innovating?
Not everybody is Alex Chin, who's the Einstein of playing cards. But even Alex Chin, in my opinion, has to be careful, and here's why. It's like being David Copperfield. Once upon a time he had a new special every year, "I'm going to vanish a jet" and "I'm going to walk through the Great Wall of China" and "I'm going to float over the Grand Canyon" and "I'm going to vanish the Statue of Liberty." In each special he attempted to outdo himself, "I did that last time, so now I'm going to do this." Much of this is pressure from the television networks, But it gets to a point, how do you outdo yourself now? "I'm going to vanish the moon." Okay, now what?
Alex never ceases to amaze me - he's out of control! But I think even at some point Alex will change direction a little bit. So it won't be seven or eight decks each time, but it might just be two decks, and it goes a different direction.
It's like writers who write certain books. Most people think of Stephen King as the guy who writes creepy stories. But he's also written stories like Shawshank Redemption, which is a prison story, and has nothing to do with monsters or creepy things in the hallway at night. So he's able - as a writer - to go into a different direction. Most of these artists that I know personally have the ability to go off into whatever direction they want to go off.
Conclusion
Steve Brooks is certainly a fascinating individual, with a wide range of interests and abilities, and he's has definitely immersed himself deeply into the world of collecting playing cards. Being able to take a look into his life as a collector has been a very interesting exercise to say the least, and he's also shared many valuable perspectives about the playing card industry and the hobby of collecting. His project on the Escape Map deck is going to be well worth looking out for when he finally completes and publishes it.
But the above interview only captures one of Steve's many passions, and there's a whole other side to his life, as a magician and as owner of The Magic Café forum. So we have another treat in store for you, with a follow-up interview that focuses on that - look for that to appear shortly!
Where to learn more? Check out the official website: The Magic Cafe
- Learn more about the Magic Cafe: Welcome Message, FAQ, Rules & Etiquette, Forums
- The Magic Cafe on social media: Twitter, Facebook
- Steve Brooks on social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.
Fri Oct 16, 2020 8:48 am
- [+] Dice rolls
