Who Killed The King ??

[VictorS]

Hi guys,

How long have you been playing with a deck of cards ? Here is a very good routine by Kostya Kimlat who explored and created a story of the Kings and the Queens. Very interesting murder story indeed.
http://www.murphysmagic.com/Product.aspx?id=54370
Just watch the demo and I believe you will be surprise and love it.

Have a great day guys !

Vic

[David DeTenyo]

What a wonderfull piece of story telling magic! Thanks for sharing Victor, I really like these kind of routines

[VictorS]

You`re most welcome David. I love the simplicity ot the trick and I was quite surprise when I look into my own standard bicycle deck. It`s just like finding an untold history...but now....THE CASE IS CLOSED !!
It reminds me also to the movie National Treasure by Nicholas Cage. Mannn...I love that movie so much. It`s just like a modern Indiana Jones series.

[SimonC]

This is a lovely story, I went straight to my cards and was really pleased to see the mystery is true!
And yes national treasure is a great film, really exciting, I may watch it again tonight now you've reminded me

[Brett H]

I think storytelling is one of the most powerful forms of magic out there. And 'Who Killed the King?' nails it. Completely takes your mind away from the fact that it's a card trick and immerses you in the story. The attention to detail on Mr. Kimlat's part is brilliant.

I will admit, I did telegraph something fishy with the 6 of spades right away, but he makes quick work if it at the end with the deck reveal. I cannot complain.

Thanks for the show!

[Rob Rand]

Really great routine! Just by observing the cards we have seen so often... But have we really looked at them?!

[Rob Rand]

PS This reminds me of a song about a deck of cards where all cards had a meaning. It was a bit of a lame story, don't remember the name of the song or the singer, was it called Het spel kaarten?

[FredA]

Excellent presentation! I love it!

[SimonC]

There must be a real story behind the court cards, Id love to know it. there has been a wee bit of tweaking to the cards but really not that much, the spades have been made a bit more spadey on the queens card and the sleeve on the KOH has been made exactly the same whereas the real one is slightly different. this will make no difference to the audience tho as we all know cards have slight variance in design anyway so when they go home and check their cards the impact is still there. the 6 of spades bit is a little random, i think theres some scope there. could you bringin the jacks too? only two of them have both eyes showing and the jack of clubs is the only one facing the other way to its respective king and queen.
the plot thickens.....

[VictorS]

Did you guys realize that King of Heart is the only King who shaved his mustache ?

[SimonC]

now we're cooking! I thought that rather than it being the queen who killed the king, a more tragic/romantic story would be that the king did kill himself, if you look at the queen of spades it looks like the king of hearts' hand coming in from the side, offering her a rose. perhaps she turned him down and he couldn't take it?
also the two jacks with one eye, don't have weapons, one has a leaf and the other some sort of lollipop (ok it's not a lollipop but it's non-lethal whatever it is )

[SimonC]

I did a bit of research and found that the odd thing the jack of spades is holding is probably the handle of some sort of staff/spear. He's actually looking at you over his shoulder, hence the one eye

[John B.]

There must be a history of these card designs written out somewhere.

[VictorS]

now we're cooking! I thought that rather than it being the queen who killed the king, a more tragic/romantic story would be that the king did kill himself, if you look at the queen of spades it looks like the king of hearts' hand coming in from the side, offering her a rose. perhaps she turned him down and he couldn't take it?
also the two jacks with one eye, don't have weapons, one has a leaf and the other some sort of lollipop (ok it's not a lollipop but it's non-lethal whatever it is )

Interesting Simon...I believe there should be written history for all of the cards as JohnB said.

Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_(playing_card)

The king of hearts is sometimes called the "suicide king" because he appears to be sticking his sword into his head. However, it is debated[by whom?] whether or not the sword and hand holding it actually belong to the king, due to a different design pattern that could indicate someone else stabbed him. The king of hearts is the only one of the kings without a mustache, whereas the king of diamonds is the only king not depicted carrying a sword, wielding an axe instead giving him the card playing nickname "the man with the axe." Additionally, the king of spades is the only king looking to the right, and the king of clubs is the only one with his weapon's tip on the ground.

But I think the most horrible one is King of Clubs...he can make himself disappear in half....no wonder they called it Ghost Card. Now this is getting more complicated

[SimonC]

man i spent ALL night staring at the cards! I have a new routine now though, Who Killed the King 2, the case re-opened...
Ill type it up tonight. One thing i found from researching this is that the designs started out much more realistic and not symmetrical/mirrored. They just got simplified several times over the years and in the 1830s began being printed in thousands so the pattern/colours were simplified to allow ease of printing.
nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd!