The essential part of any magician’s or illusionist’s arsenal is playing cards. The best-marked playing cards are essential if you want to master the art and science of card manipulation. To ensure they are safe to use on stage and not mistaken for trick cards, the cards must be normal in appearance.
There are many options for marked cards for sale. They come in different sizes and styles, with different reading systems. For example, the most recent luminous technologies make the markings difficult to see with special contact lenses.
Magicians and cheaters can quickly identify which value or suit is on the other side of a deck of marked playing cards. This allows them to steer the cards into a favorable position.
The most common way to mark a deck of cards is to add lines and patterns to the back design. You can add markings with needles or nail or crimp the backs of the cards.
There are a few more ways to mark cards, including block-out work and cut-out work. In block-out, small white areas of the back design are added. Some of your back colors can be scraped with a razor.
Shade and tint techniques are also available. This is where the card’s ink color can be changed to a lighter, or darker, shade. You can also create special markings with the ink.
Video-luminous marked decks are another popular way to mark a deck of cards. They are marked with a combination of inks and a special solution, which makes them hard to detect by a poker player without the aid of poker glasses or special contact lenses.
Ultimate marked cards are also popular among poker players and magicians. These decks do not need to be marked in invisible ink. However you can still see the small markings on the back patterns of these decks with a little practice.
Bicycle ultimate decks offer another option for magicians who are looking to impress with their deception and sleights of hand. Diamond Jim Tyler has designed these decks that allow you to perform a variety routines in card magic.
You can’t go wrong with a Copag 1546 deck of double decks for your card tricks. The Copag decks come from the finest stock and have an acoustic finish. The Copag cards are great for poker or sleight o’hand magic.