The latest in the Karnival range of cards from BBM is the Karnival Death Heads (Armour Edition). In a radical change from form, they are printed by Fournier on plastic playing card stock – as used on the World Poker Tour.

And first impressions are good. Once you’ve taken off the outer cellophane, and the inner cellophane (this double layer of cellophane will come as a shock to anyone more familiar with Bicycle Cards!), you will find a surprisingly versatile deck.
The Fournier syle large-pip index is bold and very clear – you will read these from a mile off!

The Jokers? Skulls, blood, the usual sort of Karnival style. And do I detect some extra hair in the ’scroll’ pattern – a subtle tribute to their hairy artist?! There’s a bar code reveal on the case, and an extra advertising card is also included.

So they’re made of plastic – that means they are very hard to tear or crease by accident. They wipe clean etc. etc. But do they handle like ‘normal’ cards?

Well I couldn’t do a perfect FARO with them… but then I couldn’t do that beforehand But they do fan and handle extremely well. A quick run through some of the standard sleights didn’t expose any obvious problems – they just feel a bit funny! But you would get used to that. And they really ought to last a long time – no need to replace them as often as normal Bicycle Cards.

You’re paying a bit more for the privilege of plastic – £11.99 for a pack. But if they last 3 times as long then you’re quids in!

Available exclusively from BBM – get them while they have them…

But I’m conflicted.
Let me come clean about a few things. I have had this nagging suspicion with some of the other Karnival decks that they might not appeal to every audience. This is probably a sign that I’m not cool enough – and I guess with any special design like this you are going to find some people who won’t like it. But the dragon design on the Ryujins seems to me a bit more classy and more widely appealing.

On the other hand, the rather tastefully designed new Joker is not going to suit some people. It is elegantly done, and in no sense explicit, but it does feature nudity. So that will put some people off. Although it must be said that most of the magic I do with cards could be done without any Jokers in the pack – so you could always remove them if you were bothered by this.

The ace of spades is very striking with intertwined dragons and the rather classy gold ink used for the back design. You also get the apparently obligatory ‘prediction’ card (‘you will choose the 5 of diamonds’) – which I feel is rather spoiled by the advertising on the back of it. Rather nicer is the 9 of hearts ’spiked’ under the sword of one of the Jokers. There’s also a barcode reveal on the tuck case if you like that kind of thing. A matching blank-faced card is also supplied which is always useful.

The Ryujins are printed on regular USPCC stock and so handle as well as you would expect them to. There does seem to be quite a lot of ‘border’ on the back design, and on my deck these are slightly unbalanced leaving a pronounced ‘one way’ effect. I am not sure if this is intentional or is just a USPCC printing problem – you see it on normal Bicycle Decks from time to time. However, I don’t think a layperson would notice.
Ed note: having checked with BBM – there is a subtle one-way effect in the actual design; the off-centre printing is a bonus!

Bottom line – this is a nice and visually striking deck which handles well. But pick your audience carefully…

BBM are still doing their pre-order deal (buy 3 or more decks and get a free Renegade chucked in) – head over to their pre-order page for more details.

If you loved the Karnival Deck, then you better get yourself over to BBM quickly before their limited edition Uncut Karnival Sheets sell out. Apparently only 100 being sold. Yours for £25 + P&P.

Some shots of the new Karnival Deck from BBM

Well, the sample cards arrived this morning, and the montage above was all I could get done before the call of the bed. First thoughts…

When is a Bicycle Card not a Bicycle Card? There is not a Bicycle in sight on this deck! But of course they are printed by USPCC on classic Bicycle stock, so they handle well and familiarly.

The design is certainly striking. The wife’s verdict is ‘a bit morbid’ so maybe not a design for the ladies. I’m intrigued by the way the design drifts into ’specks’ and overruns the borders – somehow giving a slightly ‘aged’ feel to the cards.

As the pre-advertising has said, there are some reveals on the cards – see pic for zoom on 3 of Hearts reveal on one of the Jokers. There is also a barcode reveal (seven of spades) on the box. The double-backed gimmick will be useful for many effects, and the advertising card – well, its an advertising card.

If you’ve got to have every new deck, you’ll want one. If you like to perform slightly more unusual (darker?) magic, you’ll probably want one too. Maybe you just want a change. They’re here in time for Haloween (just) which is probably no co-incidence.

And did I mention they’re only available from www.bigblindmedia.com.

The folks at BBM are trickling out info about this new deck. Completely new artwork (so is it still a Bicycle Deck?) on high grade USPCC stock. Includes a free double backer, and there are two card reveals built in to the card case and one of t he jokers respectively.

Launch date now looks like late October. But as usual, if you sign up for the BBM mailing list there are likely to be special offers and more information as it is available. We’ll let you know what we think when we get are hands on a deck.

You can see a teaser video at: http://www.bigblindmedia.com/karnival.htm

Expected Autumn 2008 – I’ll let you know if we hear any more details…