The Effect
This trick is actually DESIGNED as a closer and my God does it make a good one! The spectator chooses a card from the deck. The spectator rips up their card into quarters. The spectator keeps one of the quarters and gives the other three back to the Magician.
The magician palces the three quarters into his hand and explains that he will try to connect the quarters together, but, as fairly as possible, with hand in full view the whole time, opens up his hand and reveals the three quarters to be missing.
He then asks the spectator if he has a wallet, to which the spectator promptly replies 'Yes' and removes his wallet from his pocket, opens the wallet, and finds three quarters of the exact same card! Not only that, the card has been restored! The other quarter of the card which the spectator has been holding the whole time can be seen to be the exact quarter ripped off. AND IT REALLY IS THE SAME QUARTER!
Cost
Ten quid from http://www.peter-harrison.com/connected.html or £7.50 if you buy it with his other download.
Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
I'd say a 2. There are a couple of moves. But to call them sleights is an overstatement of the century.
Review
In short - WOW. This effect is totally amazing! It can be done in the street, walkaround, table hopping, weddings. It's so versatile!
Peter goes into such depth in this effect. I think it was 43 full pages of writing and pictures. Now, I know what you're thinking. 43 pages is a bit long but let me tell you this - I hate reading long articles, but this, this held my attention for the whole time. You can see the amount of thought put into this effect. It has been tested with 9 different magicians and tweaked around until its perfect.
He even states that he is a perfectionist, and you can tell. For example when he is explaining one of the "sleights", you think you could just perform it one way. But he starts explaining why he does it that way and the psycology behind it. To make it look CLEANER! But, I can't think of any part of this effect which may have the spectator thinking a move looked suspicious, even the parts where he explaining how to make it look clean, you can do it an easier way, and it will still look as clean as Mr Muscle.
What you read is true. The spec rips their selected card into peices. The pieces vanish at the magicians finger tips about 3 seconds after they are placed in the hand, all by a natural movement. And, if you feel uncomfortable with the vanish, he even tells you what to say for the perfect misdirection! And finally, the 3 quarters of the same card are restored in the SPECTATORS wallet, without the magician ever touching it.
Unfortunately, the card cannot be signed easily. But, Peter does explain a way to have the card signed.
Also, this is not impromptu, and it does require a setup. It cannot be done infront of the spectators but all the things you need are what EVERY magician WILL have (ie. Cards
)
Overall
This is a totally killer effect. And for only £10, it's more than a steal. Most of the "sleights" used are designed for this effect and are mastered within about 15 minutes of practise.
He said he wanted to make it as risk free as possible, and my God has he done it! This IS the official closer I will be using for all my performances now. Hell, he even tells you a full routine that goes perfectly with Connected. And, he even teaches you the routine aswell.
It's no understatment that with the right practise, this trick is easily the one that will stick in the specs mind and WILL make your reputation.
I would give it a 10/10 but everyone gives them out willy nilly. So 9.5/10.
C.U.P.S sufferers: 10/10
Price: 11/10
If I missed anything please feel free to ask. Or you can email Peter. He is a very decent bloke indeed. Thanks for reading!
