Rally Playing Cards: AKA “This one goes to eleven!”
Where to buy: Penguin Magic
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=S8991
Price: 2.63
Initial Impressions: Well I have stated from the beginning that the scores I give cards are meant as an indicator of a particular “characteristic” of a card as it compares to a Bicycle 808, and not as a “better than worse than” comparison. As I set Bikes as an OOB 7, for all except Fanning and Dribbling which both got a 9, I knew that sooner or later there was a chance that a card would score over a ten. This review will serve as a great example of how to read and interpret my own particular brand of card reviewing. First it demonstrates that my scale is an open ended scale. In theory a card could score a 20 in a particular characteristic. Second, and more importantly, it will demonstrate that you will have to determine for yourself what range of characteristics you like in a card. A high scoring characteristic is not necessarily an indicator that you will prefer one card over another. As indicated in the title, the Rally cards do indeed go to an 11, specifically in the spring energy characteristic. That said, and please keep in mind this is my personal opinion, they SUCK!
The Look:
The look isn’t terrible. The court cards are different than USPCC courts but still traditional. The Ace of Spades is pretty basic looking with nothing notable to mention either pro or con. The joker is a dancing, or perhaps prancing, medieval looking jester. It actually has some nice skin tone and shading added to it that gives it a more “real” look to it than you will find with most USPCC jokers. The Ad card mentions nothing about the cards or the company but merely lists the rules for Texas Hold’em Poker. The backs are actually pretty cool; A classical blend of designs that surround two mini images of an old Rally race car and driver.
Card Construction:
Here is where the problem begins. These things are BIG. They weighed in at 96-98 grams(808s weigh about 90-91) and the width was about 16mm! To put that in perspective, that is about 2 cards thicker than a UV500 deck and 4-5 cards thicker than an 808. This is a smooth finish card and when you consider that most smooth finish cards are thinner than dimpled finishes you get a sense for just how thick this stock is. When you look at these up close you can almost see what looks like a wood grain pattern as if these were sliced along the grain of a piece of wood. That makes perfect sense to me since they feel less like card stock and more like thinly sliced pieces of Oak cut to look like cards!
Handling:
Fanning: 7
It’s possible that these might improve with a little break in time but for now they don’t clump but they are not particularly smooth either.
Spring Energy: 11
These are significantly stiffer than Fournier, Anglos, and Piatniks. That is saying a lot since all of those cards are pretty burly. If you are strong enough to actually do a card spring flourish with these do so with caution. One mistake and you could cause serious injury!
Dribble: 6
There are probably six people in the world with hands strong enough to get a decent dribble out of these. This might actually lead to some new Rally specific sleights….such at the “Ice water Anaconda” and the “Clump Pass.”
Crimp Hold/Recovery: 7 hold/ 8 Recovery
Okay a 7 and 8 isn’t bad in this characteristic but with a stock this powerful I would expect more.
Single Card Glide: 8
The glide isn’t bad at all. Top card glides carry a few extra cards with but the bottom card glides are pretty secure.
2 + Obfuscations: 7
Usually a stiffer stock helps in this category but this one just seemed to perform these moves averagely.
Gaff construction and availability: No known gaffs currently exist for these cards. See the attached photo shoot for some Tools you may need for card splitting. Joe Porper made a Lippincott box out of steel so if you have access to his shop you might find the tools necessary to make a double backer.
Who Not Should Buy: ….magicians and flourishers.
Who Should Buy: I suppose a collector might like these for the artwork on the back. Poker players might like these to have a durable card that can survive a few spilt beers and Cheeto stains. I suppose that with sharpened edges Ninjas and Ricky Jay might be able to use them as throwing stars.
Final Thoughts:
I’m sorry guys but there will be no longevity review on these. I have been surprised in longevity reviews before, I liked the Massas OOB but hated them in a week and I hated the S&M v.4s OOB but loved them after a week, but these guys are just to big and clunky for me to want to mess around with at all. That is saying a lot from me because, as some of you know, I really like stiffer card stocks. Perhaps if you have hand size and strength similar to Jason England you might find something to love in this deck but I will wager that the vast majority of us will just find these to be TOO MUCH CARD! I honestly hate trashing these as I am a big supporter of independent deck manufacturers but these just don’t seem to deliver what a magician or flourisher is looking for.
Where to buy: Penguin Magic
http://www.penguinmagic.com/product.php?ID=S8991
Price: 2.63
Initial Impressions: Well I have stated from the beginning that the scores I give cards are meant as an indicator of a particular “characteristic” of a card as it compares to a Bicycle 808, and not as a “better than worse than” comparison. As I set Bikes as an OOB 7, for all except Fanning and Dribbling which both got a 9, I knew that sooner or later there was a chance that a card would score over a ten. This review will serve as a great example of how to read and interpret my own particular brand of card reviewing. First it demonstrates that my scale is an open ended scale. In theory a card could score a 20 in a particular characteristic. Second, and more importantly, it will demonstrate that you will have to determine for yourself what range of characteristics you like in a card. A high scoring characteristic is not necessarily an indicator that you will prefer one card over another. As indicated in the title, the Rally cards do indeed go to an 11, specifically in the spring energy characteristic. That said, and please keep in mind this is my personal opinion, they SUCK!
The Look:
The look isn’t terrible. The court cards are different than USPCC courts but still traditional. The Ace of Spades is pretty basic looking with nothing notable to mention either pro or con. The joker is a dancing, or perhaps prancing, medieval looking jester. It actually has some nice skin tone and shading added to it that gives it a more “real” look to it than you will find with most USPCC jokers. The Ad card mentions nothing about the cards or the company but merely lists the rules for Texas Hold’em Poker. The backs are actually pretty cool; A classical blend of designs that surround two mini images of an old Rally race car and driver.
Card Construction:
Here is where the problem begins. These things are BIG. They weighed in at 96-98 grams(808s weigh about 90-91) and the width was about 16mm! To put that in perspective, that is about 2 cards thicker than a UV500 deck and 4-5 cards thicker than an 808. This is a smooth finish card and when you consider that most smooth finish cards are thinner than dimpled finishes you get a sense for just how thick this stock is. When you look at these up close you can almost see what looks like a wood grain pattern as if these were sliced along the grain of a piece of wood. That makes perfect sense to me since they feel less like card stock and more like thinly sliced pieces of Oak cut to look like cards!
Handling:
Fanning: 7
It’s possible that these might improve with a little break in time but for now they don’t clump but they are not particularly smooth either.
Spring Energy: 11
These are significantly stiffer than Fournier, Anglos, and Piatniks. That is saying a lot since all of those cards are pretty burly. If you are strong enough to actually do a card spring flourish with these do so with caution. One mistake and you could cause serious injury!
Dribble: 6
There are probably six people in the world with hands strong enough to get a decent dribble out of these. This might actually lead to some new Rally specific sleights….such at the “Ice water Anaconda” and the “Clump Pass.”
Crimp Hold/Recovery: 7 hold/ 8 Recovery
Okay a 7 and 8 isn’t bad in this characteristic but with a stock this powerful I would expect more.
Single Card Glide: 8
The glide isn’t bad at all. Top card glides carry a few extra cards with but the bottom card glides are pretty secure.
2 + Obfuscations: 7
Usually a stiffer stock helps in this category but this one just seemed to perform these moves averagely.
Gaff construction and availability: No known gaffs currently exist for these cards. See the attached photo shoot for some Tools you may need for card splitting. Joe Porper made a Lippincott box out of steel so if you have access to his shop you might find the tools necessary to make a double backer.
Who Not Should Buy: ….magicians and flourishers.
Who Should Buy: I suppose a collector might like these for the artwork on the back. Poker players might like these to have a durable card that can survive a few spilt beers and Cheeto stains. I suppose that with sharpened edges Ninjas and Ricky Jay might be able to use them as throwing stars.
Final Thoughts:
I’m sorry guys but there will be no longevity review on these. I have been surprised in longevity reviews before, I liked the Massas OOB but hated them in a week and I hated the S&M v.4s OOB but loved them after a week, but these guys are just to big and clunky for me to want to mess around with at all. That is saying a lot from me because, as some of you know, I really like stiffer card stocks. Perhaps if you have hand size and strength similar to Jason England you might find something to love in this deck but I will wager that the vast majority of us will just find these to be TOO MUCH CARD! I honestly hate trashing these as I am a big supporter of independent deck manufacturers but these just don’t seem to deliver what a magician or flourisher is looking for.
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