Magic Tricks

The World Tour Set of playing cards is a lavish collection of five decks that celebrate exotic places around the world. If you are prepared to drop a wad of cash to get the official and complete World Tour Deck Set, you'll even get a miniature travel trunk which houses all five decks. It's a lovely piece of creativity that enhances the thematic concept behind this collection of decks, and even comes with some separate decals corresponding to the exotic lands that these cards have visited on their way to reach you, the collector.

These decks aren't just a set of playing cards, but they tell a story. The premise behind them is that Ezra the Great is travelling the world, performing his show in 1902. Along the way, Ezra buys decks of cards, which he sends to us. So the suitcase which holds the five decks also includes a compass, plus reproduction letters from 1902 that commemorate where each deck came from. Apparently the collectible pieces that are part of this set were manufactured all over the world, to help give it an authentic international flavour.

Each of the five decks corresponds to a different country: France, Switzerland, Mongolia, China, and Egypt. Each deck is also available individually, and has been cleverly crafted with artwork and a design that reflects different elements of the lands, cultures, and time period that they come from. One nice thing about all five decks is that when you place them alongside each other, they create a map of the world which includes all the above-mentioned countries.

I'm very impressed with the World Tour Set from Vanishing Inc Magic. It's hard to pick a favourite deck, although I find myself particularly drawn to the Egypt deck, due to its colours, patterned card backs, and Egyptian themed court cards. The France deck is a close second, due to its unique beauty and appeal. The China deck stands out as a rather unusual entry in the series, especially since its back designs make it mostly unsuitable for use in playing card games or performing card magic, so it seems more geared as a novelty item for the collector. In contrast, the Mongolia deck has a much more standard look, and along with the France deck is probably one of the ones that is the most ideal for practical use; although the Egypt and Switzerland decks have their unique beauty and appeal as well.

After the success of their stylish Dapper decks, with their World Tour decks the team at Vanishing Inc Magic has contributed another classy product to the playing card industry, and I look forward to see what they come up with next! - BGG reviewer EndersGame