Rick Long’s Review of Rockets by Regal

This review was written by Kerrick “Rick” Long, who is both a magician and my husband.

This is a review of Rockets by Regal, their “Premium” poker card offering. These distinct from Monaco by Regal, their “Standard” plastic-coated cards. I haven't used Monaco, only Rockets.

For how inexpensive these cards are, they're surprisingly great for magicians. I'm impressed! Their linen finish means they glide well against one another, against the table, and against a close-up pad. It's not the scratchy, cheap kind of linen finish you get with most budget cards, either. Rockets’ “Soft Grip Linen Finish” compares well to the famous “Air-Cushion Finish” of Bicycle cards. I'm into card magic, not cardistry, so that's my bias. But for what your average amateur card magician (or professional conjurer for whom card magic is a small part of the repertoire) needs, these are great. I have no idea what a professional card-only worker would think about these cards, but I'd love to hear!

The appropriateness for card magicians is even more important when you consider the value (and cost) of practice. If you're practicing your card magic or cardistry regularly, you know just how often you find yourself opening a new pack of cards. Whether you're destroying cards perfecting your Mercury Fold, blunting the edges by working on your Faro Shuffle, or simply wearing them down quickly from the sheer number of shuffles and sleights you do, it's not hard to build a pack-a-day habit. With a gross (144-pack) available for such an affordable price, that's no longer a scary proposition.

These cards are great for dribbles, ribbon spreads, pressure fans, card springing, the g*mbl**'s c*p, b*ck*e, d***** l***, and more. And for those wondering about card splitting, these cards split just fine. If you're already good at card splitting, it's possible to consistently split your chosen side as the “thick” one, and to keep it consistent as you split. They also make great Svengali decks. You can bend the top to touch the bottom one way and then the other, and not a single crease shows up in the card--it looks as good as new once you bend it back to straight.

These have the same drawbacks for magicians that Bees do: no border. That means, for example, that any kind of inverted card effects become difficult-to-impossible. But that's no surprise--it's advertised in the photographs.

The back colors aren't what I expected from the photos. The red back isn't as garishly bright as the photos depicted. It's definitely a darker red than red Bicycle rider backs, for example. The blue back is a navy blue, almost black color. It's nice, and it definitely contrasts well with the red for Brainwave effects, but it doesn't read as blue on its own from a distance.

The faces are not the usual USPCC faces you're likely used to. (Gaff-lovers: you'll need arts & crafts. Regal Games: make gaff decks!) The faces are perfectly ordinary-looking to folks who may not spend hours a day with playing cards, though. The court cards have a classic-style illustration in an inset box as most people expect, with a different illustration for each. That is, there are twelve illustrations: four Queens, four Jacks, and four Kings. The Jack of Hearts and Jack of Spades are One-Eyed Jacks, and the King of Hearts is the Suicide King. The court illustrations and borders only use red, black, yellow, and white--no blue. The spot cards have the suit pips in the usual layout and orientations, and the non-Spades aces have a standard-sized (not oversized) pip. The Ace of Spades has the huge spade pictured on the front (and back) of the box.

In addition to the standard 52 cards in 4 suits, you also get two jokers and a Poker Hand Rankings card. The jokers both have an illustration of a jester holding four Aces and a Joker on them that look like identical mirrors of each other at first glance, but they're subtly different poses. Also, one joker is just the black-and-white line art while the other is colored in with red, yellow, black, and dark red. Finally, the line art joker has red index text, and the colored-in joker has black index text. The Poker Hand Rankings card has an ordinary back that matches the rest of the deck.

If you order a dozen decks, you get a thick cardboard ”sled” that holds your dozen decks, which is convenient and surprisingly durable. But if you're this far into the review, you're probably only ordering a dozen once, to make sure I'm not a crazy person and that the cards really would work for you. The real value here is in ordering them by the gross, which saves a LOT of money.