And that’s what this occasional series is about.  Re-visiting some of those things you had completely forgotten about – and hoping to unearth some gems.

So I’ll kick it off with an almost literal blast.  Last week I needed to perform something out of my ordinary set and whilst rumaging around I re-discovered the Smiling Assassin – an effect put out by Meir Yedid years ago and now available on Bicycle cards (still with the smiling back design – but now on nice air cushion Bicycle stock).

The effect is simple – a card is selected from the deck of a bright yellow deck of cards with a smiley face back design.  The spectator then fires a toy gun at the deck and the chosen card is found to no longer be smiling and to have a gun-shot whole in it!  Simple and direct.

To take you on an even older blast from the past – one of my first ‘pro’ card tricks – given to me by an older magician when I was still a boy – was called (if I recall correctly) Sharpshooter – and had the same effect – thought without the smiling back design – and using a different method.  The Smiling Assassin is in some ways cleaner and the back design certainly makes for a pleasing visual – and gives scope for a variety of presentation options.

It is very easy to do, and with a little bit of effort put into presenting it, seems to go down very well with a lay audience.  It comes with four different ‘victim’ cards allowing you to have different selection if you used it in a walkaround setting (with only minor reset).  In fact I almost performed a variation on the basic effect with two spectators and selections and assassinations – which should be an obvious variation if you think about it. And if you really can’t work it out, buy the Forces Project (you can read our review here) to learn how – and lots of other useful things!

Which is quite a rambling way of saying I was quite pleased to re-discover this.  Easy to do and an entertaining little effect.  If you haven’t already got it you might like to consider it.  £20.50 at the time of writing at MagicShop.co.uk.

Let us know if you have any blasts from the past you’d like to remind us about!

The post Blast from the past – Smiling Assassin appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

We haven’t looked at too many Bee decks but these ones just ooze class from the very beginning.  The tuck case itself is printed on really elegant blue card with gold ink – its the tuck case equivalent of high quality cartridge paper – and it is really special.

An advertising card included suggests these are designed for Chinese playing card enthusiasts – and design elements of a Chinese coin have been included throughout, in addition to the ‘imperial colours’.

The back design is the classic ‘Bee’ lattice – with gold pattern on a dark blue back.

The card stock feels heavier than most Bicycle decks – though they are all produced by the USPCC.  But it is the same kind of air cushion finish so there are no problems with handling.

As you can see on these spot cards – the ‘hole’ from a Chinese coin makes its appearance in the centre of all the pips – perhaps it will bring you luck!

The same pattern can be seen on the spots on the court cards and has been featured in the centre of these cards too.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but it is not unattractive.

If you are a fan of the continuous back designs which are one of the trademarks of Bee cards, you will enjoy the effect of spreads and fans – which are very pleasing to the eye.

This is a very usable deck of cards and to our mind is full of class.  A great deck to play cards with or to wow your friends with magic.

Special Deal!

We can’t find too many places stocking these at the moment, but JP Playing Cards (who kindly supplied our review copy) have them at the very competitive price of £10.99.  (we’ve seen them for £20.99 at another well known supplier!) And they have arranged a very special deal for our readers.  The first 10 readers who use the code “GOLDEN” will get an extra 5% off!

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