Snaps

This is a great product. There are other similar products on the market, but I can say this one is the best. It comes with two decks that are printed by USPCC, and the images are very beautiful. You get more than one card for each letter, so that you can use them for any meaningful words or names. Dan Harlan and David Jonathan teach a lot of tricks you can do with the decks. Basically, they are card tricks without using playing cards. There is nothing weird that you need to do. Everything looks natural and makes total sense. All tricks in the tutorial are easy and good. You just need to figure out which one you want to do. The best way to reveal is to wait and let your audience realize the meaning of the images. The reaction is just amazing! Sometimes, you might need to guide them to see the words. Once they get it, they go crazy! I am so happy that I bought it! Thank you Mr. Harlan and Mr. Jonathan for releasing such a great product. No wonder it is the Trick of The Year in 2020. If you haven’t bought it, hit the buy button now.

This is a real quality product and for me well worth the price. There are many routines explainend in the instructions in a very good clear way. The techniques used are very easy and very easy to perform, also for beginners like me. I mostly perform the spelling trick, and the reactions you get from the audiance is amazing. It really hits them like you see in the video. That moment they realize the pictures are actually letters is very very powerful moment.

There have been photo decks before, Marc Spelman released one, Patrick Redford also, and I considered buying each as they came along but never did. With "Snaps" I finally pulled the trigger (opened my wallet - rare for a Yorkshire mentalist). Obviously the different decks allow for different routines because they have some different built in features, but to be honest the mentalist is simply buying it as a utility item and probably has his own thoughts for use before purchasing. Having said that, the routines taught with the Snaps purchase are a bonus, I'll discuss some in a moment.

No-one should be disappointed in this product, well produced cards and packaging, plus a meeting of the minds with the collaboration of David Jonathan and Dan Harlan, both very creative people. A lot of thought has gone into the specific images so that many can be shown to represent letters of the alphabet (not obvious at first glance) or show number combinations. Some are cleverly marked too, if you want to go in that direction.

I was familiar with or had used the source material for the better routines detailed. An item based on Cameron Francis's "Coat" where it turns out pictures actually spell out the selected item. Cameron's used drawings on business cards which gave it a more organic feel. Here, both David and Dan have more direct forces for the selection from the entire photo deck and lead to the same conclusion with the photo cards. Of course I'll be using the Snaps cards for this, it's like meeting an old friend who dressed up in a new outfit. The plot is a winner.

Another routine demonstrated by David has two spectators assisting who each take five cards and select a picture for the other person, swapping them into the other piles. David's presentation gives great motivation for the initial procedure. Obviously the performer can reveal the selections, one a direct mind read. This is really an improvement on L. Vosburgh Lyons's "Mental Rescue" which can be found in "Annemann's "Practical Mental Effects". Some nice touches here, and the very clever markings come into play.

The third really good item(s) are the variants on Stewart James's "1984 Book Test" though I'll not use this as I have my own variant. Basically a word of something that can be pictured appears to be selected at random by sticking photo cards into the pages (you really have to see it to appreciate it). The force fooled me completely. Eventually the card left matches the image someone is thinking of, and the discarded picture cards (apparently selected at random) are seen to spell out the same item. It's a mind blower. Dan suggests for larger stage shows the climax could be projected onto a drop down screen, I'm not 100% convinced about that but it doesn't matter because that's not the venues I work. For a parlour show it would be a good closer.

Other ideas taught include using some of the cards for a "Will The Cards Match" routine, which is a neat idea although I think there are other versions that are better, as here the cards in pairs are 'similar in shape' to each other rather than being identical. Obviously some might prefer having to point out the match rather than it being instantly apparent, personal preference I suppose. Pretty much a self working classic (thank you T.A Waters and Larry Becker). Another uses the photo on just one card for a variant on a very old spelling routine, not that I'd use this but you could carry it in your wallet. There's another mental spell routine with animal photos to reveal a thought of animal (unfortunately literacy is not too good these days :) ) . Of course it doesn't mean you can't use the animal photos for something else. I recall previously combining animal photos pulled from a Nat. Geo playing card deck with my "Fortune Force".

I did say initially that if you bought this deck you probably had ideas for it anyway and there are plenty of card tricks just waiting for you to adapt them to the "Snaps" deck. This is a good investment that shouldn't end up in a drawer, well worth the money, but consider it more valuable for close up use.

OK, straight to the point. Great deck, that's "not" a "deck of cards". So, I make my money from parlour and stage shows with very few props. They need to be able to be seen, etc... that is the reason I didn't grab this item when it first came out. Huge mistake. My main reason for getting it was all about hitting them with their name. Let's face it, the most important word to someone is their name. It goes along with Dale Carnegie's - “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language”. When you can have them mix up the cards (I use the version taught on the video but also use other principles for more random mixing) and have their name spelled out, it completely hits them - hard, emotionally, unexpectedly! I've had people tear up, yell, and jump.

The day I got the cards I had a Corporate event that night at a restaurant. I practiced with them for about an hour and took them along just in case. As I was setting up, a family walked in and saw a deck of cards and asked, "Are you a magician? Are you going to perform?"
"I am for a private event a little later."
"You need to practice on anyone?..." (He laughs)
"Possibly... I'm Mike."
"I'm Drew."
The whole family freaked out. The daughter (26) said, "That just gave me chills!"
Five minutes later, I booked her Wedding Reception in April. My Corporate rate.

Just Excellent !!!!! A lot of possibilities and another way to do card tricks without cards but pictures. Just love it !

I am just a hobbyist magician, but love Snaps. The video download that accompanies this product explains in detail over a dozen routines. These two decks of cards are so versatile and give you so many different options. The concept is very clever but it did take me quite a bit of time to learn all the secrets. Great value for money.

Great Deck and great instructions.
Used this to close deals with clients. It shows you are creative and smart.
Smart becasue you know a persons name or a company's name is a big winning theme.
And it's personal. Peopel do also remember the trick done. So do it good :)
It's not just about the pics as well. The routines are great. Good instructions.
Good marking on the cards. People love things. Good enough for Blaine - good enough for me.

This deck is amazing for all ages! It’s so unique and gets so many great reactions! Thanks again!!