Juice Marking Kit by Walt Noon

Effect: A flat, honest review of “The Juice:”

The Juice has been one of our most popular and sought after products over the years. The availability of the REAL stuff comes and goes. There have been times when we could get our hands on a small supply, and also many times that we could not.

Juice recipes that work tend to be closely guarded secrets. It’s the type of item that when you can find it, it’s on the back shelf of the magic store and not advertised or shown to the general public. (Which is partially WHY we love it!)

I’ve been very surprised at magic trade shows to find out how many magicians carry Juice decks, since no one seems to talk about them. Yet, invariably, I’m shown (with great pride) the Juice decks of a number of magicians every time we’ve been lucky enough to have Juice to demonstrate.
Usually I’ve been shown these decks with a wink and a nod out of sight of the others at the show.
Because it’s a near PERFECT system for cheating at cards (unlike the more positive uses like doing magic) there will probably always be a little cloak and dagger element about The Juice. I’ve heard MANY funny stories from gamblers about “security experts” being stumped by their Juice.
So how does it work?

The juice is a liquid that you dab on the back of playing cards. “Bee” style cards work best, but others will work as well. (Though you only get a true Juice mark with a Bee deck.)
The Juice is exceedingly easy to apply. Depending on how long you leave the liquid in place, you can create darker or lighter Juice marks. Time tables are given in the manual, as well as the marking system.

There is a true skill to be learned in seeing the lightest marks. The look of these marks is hard to describe. I think the best example were the 3D posters of a few years back that looked like just a jumble of paint until you unfocused your eyes and relaxed. Then, suddenly a picture would jump out at you.

Juice marks are somewhat the same, though less sophisticated. The harder you look at the back of the card, the harder they are to see. Bright lighting actually makes the marks harder to see! Yet, once a card is treated, and you’ve learned to see the marks, you can spot them from anywhere in a room.
It took me several days before I learned to see the marks. Up till then I thought the friend with a Juice Deck was putting me on. But, once I saw them, I couldn’t stop seeing them!
The Juice we currently have is pretty good. On a scale of 1 to 10 of formulas I’ve seen I’d give it a solid 7 or 8.

It is consistent, and the booklet that comes with it gives the best system I’ve seen for remembering the marks easily hands down.

Draw backs in the current formula are that sunlight or temps above 100 can fade the marks over time. I had a deck in my car during the last summer and found that after several months the marks had become harder to see. Of course, just about any ink or marking would have done the same fading under those circumstances. It was no problem to reapply Juice to the deck and fix them up, and, I wasn’t worried because a performance deck has a very limited lifetime anyway. But, in my mind, this impermanence has to cost a point or two.

Also, I’m taking a point off for the simple fact that you have to apply The Juice yourself. Some magic stores sell the decks already prepared which is of course nice. Though, you’ll pay at least twice what The Juice costs for such a deck. You are also stuck with their system of markings, which is frequently counter intuitive to say the least.

There is enough Juice included to mark at least 5 or 6 complete decks of card. In fact, you could even sell your own Juice decks!

Expect to put in some time learning to see the lightest marks, and be aware that bright lighting and odd angles or handling can make marks a bit harder to see,( just like any system for marking cards). But, being able to spot a card by markings no one else can see is a real rush.
Enjoy The Juice, and be good!

Found something wrong? Help us improve things by clicking here!