Magic Tricks

We head to the chicken coop, with a charming and playful deck, entitled Chicken Playing Cards.

This entertaining deck was designed by artist Susan Krupp, and features a chicken theme that is evident already from the brightly coloured tuck box, which has an oversized spade pip with intricate artwork featuring a colourful feather.

The light blue colour of the tuck box is the feature colour throughout the deck, with the card backs and faces also employing this colour - a wise move so that reversed cards don't clash with the overall colour scheme.

The highlight of this deck has to be the delightful court cards, which feature our fowled friends in all manner of exalted poses. These are really well done, and real pleasure to study and enjoy.

But the superb qualities of the court cards have carried over to the number cards as well, with detailed artwork forming a background panel to the pips, which are heavily customized with brightly coloured feather-inspired artwork, similar in style to what was evident on the back of the tuck box.

The indices are given their own white oval-shaped backgrounds - unquestionably egg shaped - which helps set them apart from the rest of the artwork, and also ensures that they are very clear and usable. Despite the heavy customization of this deck, this ensures that the cards can easily and quickly be recognized when fanned, and so they are still very practical, and ideal for card games.

The Aces are among my favourite cards as well, with a gigantic pip matching the suit, featuring colourful feather-inspired interior decorating.

The card backs have a very whimsical design, with what appears to be three mischievous roosters playing a game of poker. I only wish that the canvas of standard playing cards had larger dimensions, enabling us to appreciate and admire better the beautiful detail here!

The deck also comes with two humorous matching Joker foxes, one having an empty cage, and the other having an identical cage with a young chick inside, giving magicians potential for some fun with colour changes. Magicians will also like the 8 of clubs reveal on the Jokers, as well as the fact that the tuck box also has an Ace of Spades reveal on the flaps. Since this is a quality USPCC produced deck, it also comes with two extra cards, one being a third Joker, the other being a double backer.

While the practical indices ensure that this can be used for playing card games, and even for some card magic, this deck will especially be appreciated by collectors. - BoardGameGeek reviewer EndersGame