Hello, beginner question here.

I just bought a pack of Bicycle playing cards from Kroger that had unicorns on them. My daughter loves unicorns.

Upon opening the pack, I discovered that they are the slipperiest cards I've ever touched in my life.

Are there any effects/tricks/slights/techniques etc. that exceptionally slippery cards are particularly conducive to?

Thanks in advance,
TheMetalMagician

Would you say that you open a new pack of cards fairly often? The reason I'm asking is that most people use cards that have been around the house for quite a while and have lost their finish. They are often surprised at how slippery new cards are.

Truth be told, I have not opened very many new packs of cards recently. With that said, I do not remember the new packs of cards I HAVE opened to be anywhere near as slippery as the unicorn cards. Also, I used to play a lot of poker in casinos to whose tables brand new decks of cards are consistently brought, and I don't remember the cards I handled being that slippery. Hope that helps.

Cards have changed over the years. Some of the changes were necessitated by modern-day VOC regulations. A lot of manufacturers are having to revise their processes to incorporate more environmentally friendly materials. While that is a good thing, it creates a lot of headaches at times. I used to work for a global chemical manufacturer and was in the middle of many instances where products had to be reformulated to eliminate or reduce VOCs. It can be quite challenging.

So this is to say that USPCCs finishes have changed over the years. Either by design or necessity. Also, the way they finish the cards has changed. The texture of cards used to be an embossing of the finish, now it is an embossing of the paper. The end result looks similar but the process is distinctly different and the feel can vastly different. There is also the possibility of variation. Some cards, even from the same manufacturer and the same style can have variation. Variation in the printing and yes, variation on the finish.

As far as what slippery cards are good for? I would say for fanning and tabled spreads, slippery cards are great. For most magic, not so much. It really depends. If the slipperiness bothers you, just shuffle and spread them around and get some oils from your hands on them and they should behave better.

It is true - I was surprised by the slipperiness of the cards by USPCC as well. But it is something that has to do with practice. I'd recommend you to practice with different decks. New decks, old decks, Poker card decks and decks with more and with less cards. It helps you a lot if you are able to do any card trick with a whole range of different decks. After some riffle shuffles or (maybe unperfect) faros they are much easier to handle.

This is correct. See the section on "Texture" in this article:

Factors That Affect the Handling of a Deck

To the original poster: do the playing cards from your unicorn deck have any embossing (tiny dimples on the cards - see image below), or do they have a smooth finish?

Note that the addition of a coating can affect the slipperiness and handling too, as also covered in the article.