Flash Cards

THE BLURB:
Disguised as simple children's alphabet cards, yet printed
and cut to the high standards of the U.S. Playing Card
Company, these decks are a must have for kids show
performers, mentalists, gospel magicians, or even a close-up
magician looking to add some innocence and creativity to his
repertoire.

Not only can you still perform all the classics with a twist
(ambitious card, card on ceiling, torn and restored cards,
and so on) but utilizing the kid's alphabet cards aspect of
Flash Cards opens the doors to creating new routines, new
jokes, and new tricks altogether.

Flash Cards were over a year in the making to maximize the
possibilities. The cards are divided into 4 "suits" with 13
cards in each category (animals, plants, things, and people)
and they are color-coded. There are two of each letter and
many of the objects were selected because they are objects
that could easily be tied into other magic props and
routines (Rabbit, Rose, King, Lemon, Umbrella, Magician...).

Again, these are printed and cut by the same company that
makes Bicycle® brand cards and they come in a custom
designed box that looks like the box the cards would come in
(no mention of magic tricks anywhere).

Quite possibly the easiest to learn memorized deck ever!

Can you detect an order form these cards? Kangaroo,
Strawberry, Astronaut, Policeman, Ball, Dog, Rabbit,
Baker.....

We bet you can't and neither will your audience.

Comes with a specially designed deck of cards that makes
learning all 52 cards in order a snap! Using Kerry Summers'
clever system, you should be able to have these memorized in
under an hour (usually more like 30 mins). Plus, you get a
DVD and cheat sheet making it even easier to learn the order
and some great bonus material showing you everything from
handling tips to routine ideas, including a killer new
version of the invisible deck using flash cards!

MY COMMENTS:
This is a very cool idea. At least, it is for those who
don't mind using these cards. In order to memorize these
cards, you are creating twenty-six phrases consisting of one
adjective and one noun. And it is pretty easy to learn.

Unfortunately, the way it's described, it's not a true
memorized deck. It's really a stack. With a true memorized
deck, it's not enough to know what card precedes or follows
each card. You need to know the position. If I'm looking
for the astronaut card, it's nice to know that the
strawberry card comes before it or that the policeman
follows it, but I also need to know that the astronaut card
is the fifth card down in the deck. The mnemonics are
alphabetically based and arranged so it's not that difficult
to learn the positions, but it's not explained on the
accompanying DVD instructions. The other consideration is
that these flash cards are in English, which would be a
factor to those who work outside the U.S., or in countries
and areas where English is not as prevalent.

It's an interesting idea for a product and there certainly
is potential for many strong effects, if you can justify the
use of this deck. With four different categories of
thirteen cards, and four different colors, it's definitely
an alternative to a regular deck of cards. However, if all
you want to do is have someone select a picture for a design
duplication effect, I tend to think Richard Osterlind's
Osterlind Design Duplication would serve you better because
the words were carefully chosen for the purpose of drawing
duplication. Several of the choices in FCMD are not easy
for the artistically-impaired to draw.

The package comes with the cards, a bonus crib sheet to help
you memorize the deck, and DVD instructions. Though a few
ideas for routines are mentioned, there is not the in-depth
discussion on effects you can do with this that I would've
liked to see. On the other hand, professionals who get this
utility prop will probably come up with three or four strong
ideas before they even play the DVD. If this sounds
intriguing, then you'll be pleased with this and I'm sure
you'll have loads of fun coming up with ideas for its use.