"Talking Deck" by Rodger Lovins
Suggested Retail USD$49.95
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 8 Out of 10

"Talking Deck", the latest effect by the creative Rodger Lovins, is a strange, entertaining piece of magic that has the potential to really set those who work with it away from the pack just because of the weirdness of it alone.

The effect is really simple: a spectator chooses a card from a deck and a spectator reveals the chosen card. But it's the details of "Talking Deck" and what the spectator says afterwards that make this much, much more than a simple card revelation.

The performer has a playing card chosen and placed in their pocket for safekeeping. This card is not seen by anyone other than the spectator who chose it. The spectator concentrates on their card while the performer holds his hands close to the spectator's head, "capturing" their thought. The performer then holds his hands close to another spectator's head. This second spectator names the chosen card (you can check out the demo video here).

Now comes the weirdness. As soon as the performance has finished, the spectator who reveals the card starts in, claiming to have actually heard the thought. Sometimes they'll say the thought just popped into their head. On the rare occasion they'll simply say they don't know how they knew, that it simply just came to them. It's that, that uncertain result of an immediate post-mortem of the revelation, that makes "Talking Deck" a powerful, entertaining piece of magic and one of those things you'll love performing.

As to details, well, we're grown-ups and we know -- from the title of the trick and the ad description -- what we're dealing with here. What Lovins did, though, was make this an extremely easy and very well disguised way of getting the electronics into play while still giving the performer total control over it. The device itself is easy to maintain -- the batteries have lasted over a hundred times, between practices and rehearsals and performances, and are still going strong; when they do give up the ghost, they are simple watch batteries that are easy to replace. If there's anything that needs to be taken care of, it's the method Lovins uses to get the device into play. Eventually that will need replacing but it's a very easy thing to do and won't take longer than a minute.

Lovins chose the right device here in terms of performance, too; it's constructed so that the effect can be repeated with a different card with no set-up to worry about. Also, in a move that folks working out of their pockets will appreciate, the deck itself is not gimmicked; you can use it for any routines requiring a normal deck without a problem. Simply get the "Talking Deck" gimmick into the deck (Lovins' way of doing this is easy and good enough) and you're ready to go and when you remove it you're back to a plain old ordinary deck of cards. This nice feature, along with the small size of the gimmick, the lack of set-ups and no reseting (unless you want to do this more than a couple of times, in which case you'll need a privacy and quiet), gives "Talking Deck" a lot of reasons to be used.

The biggest one, of course, is the reactions. "Talking Deck" gets those in abundance. There's a reason performers used the whole "spectator cueing" method for so long; it works and it packs a punch. Lovins idea, essentially taking that method from the visual and into the aural, makes "Talking Deck" so much weirder and plays so much stronger. Also, it's sometimes just plain fun to hear spectators try to explain how they knew what the card was (yes, that's my mischievous streak coming out).

There are a few things you need to be aware of, though. As you can expect, ambient noise is going to be an issue for this one. Performing it in most casual situations will not be a problem, but if the noise around you is too much, you're going to run into issues. You can pretty much gauge it this way; if a whisper directly in the ear could be heard, then "Talking Deck" will work fine.

The other things are a bit more esoteric, namely audience management and cleaning up. The effect of "Talking Deck" is so unusual the spectator who does the revelation may react in such a way things get exposed; that has to be controlled. Also, while Lovins gives his method for getting the gimmick into play, he doesn't explain how he gets rid of it. A lot of heat is generated with this one and you'll need to figure out a way you like which gets rid of the gimmick.

That leads to another issue to be considered: the documentation. Lovins documentation is scant in many areas, making this unsuitable for beginners. This is not a large problem since, for the most part, Lovins puts together what amounts to tools for experienced performers. Such is the case with "Talking Deck". Lovins spends a lot of time going over the forces he likes to use, the care and operation of the device, and how his presentation goes, but leaves gaps in things like the clean-up and the specifics of handling the gimmick. For those that have been around the block, this is not a grievous oversight -- one look at the gimmick and ideas for virtually everything about "Talking Deck" comes to mind -- but for those without that experience, they can quickly find themselves in a position to get busted... repeatedly.

With those issues in mind, "Talking Deck" still remains one of the slickest card revelations on the market today. The way it plays -- sometimes, more the way the spectators make this play after it's over -- make for a piece of work that is so unusual, so delightfully weird, that it can creep into reputation-maker territory. Give it some work, figure out some issues, and this one will -- sorry in advance for the pun -- have them talking.

"Talking Deck" by Rodger Lovins
In a Blink: 8 Out of 10

Practicality: 9
No real reset to speak off (throw the gimmick into a deck and you're good to go), set-up is as simple as the aforementioned adding of the gimmick, it can be easily repeated twice (more than that will require a trip to the bathroom), and it's as small as you could ask for. Add in the fact the deck is normal and can be used for anything else once the gimmick is gone and you're talking about an extremely practical piece of work. The only drawback is the environment -- obviously, working places with too much noise will work against this.

Workmanship: 10
Lovins always does a fantastic job with his work; this is no exception. With proper care, this one will last a while. One piece of this will need to be replaced eventually, but it's a very minor thing you can do yourself.

Documentation: 6
Lovins documentation is enough to get the job done, though you'll find yourself spending a lot of time putting together your own handlings (Lovins is on the shy side here). A big plus is Lovins offering of the different forces he uses to accomplish things. All in all, the documentation is satisfactory, if a bit lacking.

Effect: 8
This plays extremely well. The aural component in magic is wonderfully done here. The only problems are the heat dissipation you'll have to figure out and audience management. Solve those and this one will floor them.

Presentation: 10
The presentation is a simple one and it works beautifully. The entertainment value is high here, owed mostly to the weirdness of the thing. This gets high marks all the way around.

Shane