Simple gaff cards have a way more dramatic effort than I imagined

Feb 24, 2021
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16
I got one of these $11 "Chic Decks" from Penguin. From what I can tell, they were made by a Chinese magic company had them mass produced from USPCC at some point and it is basically the only standard Bicycle Gaff deck that anyone still has left for sale. It comes with a barely readable sticker that has a code to get an eleven minute video by a guy with a thick Chinese accent. None of them have altered backs. I don't know when they were printed, but maybe Bicycle is allowing this deck, because they only have altered faces and no altered backs.

You get 52 gaff cards, three of which appealed to me. One King of Spades with a five of hearts impaled on his sword. A card with lips on it, and a card with a cat's paw on it.

The past three weeks, I've used the impaled card reveal and the card with lips on friends at local bars. I always say "You want to see a comical joke card trick." The forces and sleights I'm using are very basic stuff. But the reactions I get keep exceeding what I expect.

I guess because the average person has never seen cards like this before.

I wish I could get an entire deck of the King of Spades with different cards impaled on the swords. That is definitely the coolest card in the deck. Five of the cards are a set of Zener symbols, those old school psychic powers tests (seen in the beginning of the Ghostbusters movie). There is probably something cool that could be done with that.
 
Im very tempted to ask people what the "BEST" single gaff they've come across is, now that you mention it lol The lips one sounds interesting to me.. If you did want an entire deck of those gaffs you might be able to get it done on your own at MPC?
 

JoshL8

Elite Member
Aug 5, 2017
408
393
WA state USA
Some of those gaffs look cool, some fun visual ideas. That deck has some standard gaffs for things like the Princess card trick, fallen pips card, blurry, etc. and a few unique ones. If someone wanted a decent set that one looks good. The LOVE cards have potential! Sadly many things like that type of gaff ends up in a drawer for me.
I do kind of lean towards more utilitarian gaffs. For instance I’ve gotten far more use out of a R/B card than I initially expected. A version of Chicago Opener made a believer out of me. Now I prefer to get decks that allow me to include that gaff.
 
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Feb 24, 2021
27
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Im very tempted to ask people what the "BEST" single gaff they've come across is, now that you mention it lol The lips one sounds interesting to me.. If you did want an entire deck of those gaffs you might be able to get it done on your own at MPC?

Last night I went to see some local bands at a bar near my house. I took a deck of cards and the lips gaff in it. There is a woman that I've been doing card tricks for for a while as a sort of running joke. I always say, "hey I got a new card trick for that you that you'll actually like this this."

So I told her to think of her card inside the deck and blow a kiss to it. I had to coax her for a while to do it. Then when she looked at the card she screamed and threw it. She said she thought it was real lipstick and came from someone else.

First reaction I ever got from her and it was a big one. I guess people just have no frame of reference when it come to gaff cards.

My favorite single gaff is definitely this King with another card impaled on the sword.
 
Mar 15, 2018
247
97
boardgamegeek.com
There's a number of good videos on youtube that give ideas for tricks you can do with the Super Gaff deck. While some of the cards in that gaff deck are different from the ones in the Chic Gaff deck, there is some overlap, and these will give you some really good ideas for presentation.

10 Quick Tricks With Bicycle Gaff Deck by SH Magic


Super Gaff Deck Top 10 Favourites by Dean Magic


SUPER GAFF Playing Cards review and ideas by Disfunkshinal Reviews


Incredibly Visual Card Magic & Gaff Effects by Rick Lax


Gaff Cards by Chris Ramsay


Gaff Deck Performance by Howard Krames
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR0FbwPKJZ0

All Magic Tricks from the Supergaff Deck by James Cullen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJS1kpZZR-I
 
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Feb 24, 2021
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That super Gaff Deck has a lot of the exact same cards as the Chic Deck, but it cost way more. Only difference is that Chic Deck has no cards where the back design is modified (I assume it was printed more recently).

Unfortunately, a lot of the Gaff decks you can find now go with decks that are out of print. I wish you could still buy the Ellutionist Army of 52 deck, which was regular Bicycles.

I watched some of the tutorial for Lloyd Barnes Red Cohorts on magic stream. With the first few tricks, he did a lot of stuff that he basically concedes is for "social media" magic. It is not practical for close up, because your using cards that have for cut in half or otherwise going to have a visible line when close up unless you just happen to have perfect lighting conditions.

It does have two mirrored court cards for doing a basic cellphone mirror image thing, which you can do close up.
 
Feb 24, 2021
27
16
Are there any vendors who still have the bicycle weapons gaff deck? It is on the Murphy's Magic website. I found it listed on multiple websites, but all say Out of Stock.
 
Feb 24, 2021
27
16
I'm pretty sure that the Bicycle Weapons Gaff Deck has been out of print for quite a while.

The are people selling old Ellutionist Gaff decks on Ebay, but some of them you need decks that you can't get any more. There are some Tiger Gaff decks on Ebay for $30.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
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What I have been told is that the USPCC tightened their rules regarding copyrighted material, which means they don't allow any form of alteration to the Ace of Spades, Joker, or back design. That eliminates a lot of gaffs.

That's why designs like the Mandolin back and such have been created.
 
Feb 24, 2021
27
16
What I have been told is that the USPCC tightened their rules regarding copyrighted material, which means they don't allow any form of alteration to the Ace of Spades, Joker, or back design. That eliminates a lot of gaffs.

That's why designs like the Mandolin back and such have been created.

Yeah, the Copyright on the Bicycle Rider Backs is considered a highly valuable asset for the company, and their legal team decided that if they print altered versions of it, then it weakens their copyright claims. The Chic Gaff, which Penguin still has, contains no cards with altered backs. However, there are still a lot of really great gaffs to be made even without any back alterations.
 
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