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Alright, let's see what all the fuss is about...

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EDIT: Similar to other routines I have learned but a very worthwhile purchase and something I look forward to expermenting with. I think this needs a solid presentation to make it all it can be. Anything with thoughts (even if one a small addition) inspired by Lorayne's work is always going to be quite special.

My booklet arrived today so, for what it's worth, here are my thoughts.

The Infinity aspect is not really for me. That whole, um, 'pool' of techniques is too hit and miss (except for a few effects where the presentation allows me to be invisibly laborious and blatant about it) for my not-sensitive-enough fingers. However, this is no real problem with this effect as you can use any number of other methods to achieve the same end: the Infinity aspect is more to fool magicians, I reckon. And I don't spend much time trying to fool magicians.

The clocking I had come across previously in, I think, Scarne. But I'd had a quick bash at it in the bath and moved on with a dismissive sniff. This was certainly because it wasn't either so lovingly and repeatedly covered, nor used so thoughtfully, in the effect being described. Here, tried again, it provokes a grin that won't leave your face all day.

Reading a spec's mind is powerful, but those effects where they read yours are nuclear. To be able - through clever thinking - to achieve this with a borrowed, shuffled deck, pretty easily, and with certainty (even if you 'get it wrong' you know in time and can correct it before the revelation) is so lovely that I know you'll forgive me for hoping that no more of these booklets are sold and those of you who already own one die before Monday.

So, basically, though there's nothing wildly new or unknown here (which has been mentioned), the thing is constructed so intelligently, craftily and beautifully that, before my girlfriend arrived and I put it away in a locked drawer, I secretly kissed it.

Well, my booklet finally arrived yesterday and to be honest I was a lil' disappointed .
You would have thought that all the typos would have been sorted out, rather than just sticking a sheet entitled, "appendum", in the middle of the booklet - makes it feel a tad tacky in my opinion. Apart from that I love it .

I sometimes wonder if there are really only 100 booklets being released - I would have thought that they would have been snapped up instantly. Mine's number 43, so if anyone else claims to have a number 43, there's gonna be trouble lol .

moonbeam wrote:I sometimes wonder if there are really only 100 booklets being released - I would have thought that they would have been snapped up instantly. Mine's number 43, so if anyone else claims to have a number 43, there's gonna be trouble lol :roll: .

Mine's #42. That means I'm a #1 better magician that you, right? I think that's how it works.

Meh. I personally like the touch of paper: you can't fondle and stroke bit of code on a hard drive, so it's somehow less magical. However, I'm sure the 'Only 100 Booklets! Ever! Yes, that's right! Ever!' is merely a promotional ploy. They absolutely don't say that they're going to stop selling Dippy after the booklets are gone; they'll sell it by download for as long as there's an Internet, I'm sure.

Just got my copy today. #59. Suprised it hasn't run out yet. Fantastic little trick

Well, I thought this gem was worth bringing back from the ashes, for anyone who has not yet had the pleasure of purchasing it; I've just paid £7.91 for the PDF and what a beauty it is - I love this. The Infinity principle is pretty good but I agree with Sexton in that I will probably end up using other methods to achieve the desired result.

I have come across clocking before, but possibly in a slightly different form to the one described in Diplopia. I pretty sure I've seen it in a book by Scarne or Fulves. It is, quite simply, superb and the principle can be used in other effects.

I've been undecided for ages on whether or not to get this (I already know and perform what seems like dozens of card tricks), but after reading this thread a few times and watching David Regal's review on Reel Magic, I decided to take the plunge. And very glad I did, too. This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill card trick and I would highly recommend it (but only if you're happy to put the required practice in - this is certainly not easy or self-working!)

Downloaded this earlier this week. The only problem I can see is when under pressure the count goes wrong. Does anyone have any outs ?

Awww blast! It seems every-time I log in to the forum to have a scout around, my credit card takes another bashing.

Although just a wee newbie to mentalism, I found this took me about 30 mins to get the moves worked out thanks to some good clear photo's. I can foresee this taking a while longer to get the patter just right, but for a tenner, you get an impromptu, seemingly impossible effect, that I think can be tailored to suit most performing styles...just throw in a bit of imagination and your away! Well worth the money and the effort you need to invest into this.

storm01 wrote:Downloaded this earlier this week. The only problem I can see is when under pressure the count goes wrong. Does anyone have any outs ?

Just give it some time until you're near perfect with it. I was thinking of some outs as well when I began...but when I finally got to the 25 second mark with ease, I decided not to.

I purchased this effect some time ago and immediately shelved it as being beyond my capabilities!

Am I missing something? Everything was fine until I read about "clocking" which then required a Faro shuffle! Can everyone else who posted here do a perfect Faro? I can hardly do a totally imperfect one!

AFAIK, there's no Faro required. One of my magic buddies also conceived a method that totally removes clocking but requires a stacked deck. Of course, the apporach would differ.

TerryC, the Faro you are probably thinking of comes about only in the booklet's suggested method for practicing the clocking. I had my own practice scheme when I first started clocking: Use blue-backed black cards and red-backed red cards, and shuffle normally. You then can know the color of the selected card without knowing its value. (These days when I practice the technique, I usually just take any card and if I need to run through twice, then no big deal.)

But, again, in the actual effect, no Faro is required.

And for another plug: I highly recommend Diplopia. It's (in my opinion) a wonderful effect with a variety of presentation possibilities.

Storm01, although your post is a year old now, I'll comment anyway. I'm assuming you are looking for outs when you know the count has gone bad (which should always be possible since you can look for the identified card explicitly.) In this unfortunate situation, you just have to buy yourself time. If your presentation involves thoughts being sent across the air or somesuch, you can talk about how you forgot to instruct the spec on the proper transmission methods (and then proceed to instruct, of course without making them look bad for your mistake.) You could also keep a stone or trinket in your pocket, one which ostensibly helps the mind reading process. Have a good story developed ahead of time, finishing by giving the spec the stone and saying that that should help things work better. (Of course, either of these could be incorporated into your default presentation, but then you'd need something else for backup.)

A practice tip: always rerun the same sequence when you mess up. You'll find that your mistakes occur only on a couple of specific patterns (like a 3-count followed by two kings, or whatever happens to get you), and it's important to rerun and correct those specific patterns. If you otherwise always shuffle even after a failure, you might have another twenty sequences before you hit your problem pattern again.

Also, to anyone looking for banter ideas during the count, I'm currently trying this mild bit of humo(u)r: I run about a third of the count and then complain about not getting a strong signal. I then get the spec to do a sort of arms-spread-out-wiggly-fingers antenna-type thing, which gets chuckles and buys me the next third of the count. If needed, I can stop again at the two-thirds mark and get some other audience members to help with the wiggly-fingers thing (since they've all seen the card). This is plenty to get me through the count.

Pasta wrote:the Faro you are probably thinking of comes about only in the booklet's suggested method for practicing the clocking. .

Oh dear, so I just wasn't reading carefully enough! I recall practicing the Faro some years ago and decided that this was not for me; so when I came across it in Diplopia I got intimidated and just turned off.

I shall go back to it tomorrow..also, I did appreciate your thoughts on banter during the count. Finger wiggling .. I love it!

I love this one. Have amazed a lot of people with it I did some real work with the count before I went out in the field, really helps me stay confident when I know the count is no problem.

So tonight i performed Diplopia for someone. One of my favourite effects, it's a barn storming planet destroyer.

When it came to the reveal of the two thought of cards, i revealed the spectator's thought of card - she claimed i was one out....obviously it was her mis-remembering....but before i could build up the presentation and reveal the card i thought of and the one she'd hopefully pulled from the deck.....she just reached on down and turned it over.

This rendered the whole trick the wrong side of pointless.

Now, i know a lot of magic is about handling your audience, but the people i've performed Diplopia to usually wait and see if they've been right about the card they pulled from the deck. As those familiar with the trick know, the only way they can see if they've been right is to WAIT FOR ME TO REVEAL IT FIRST.

I was in disbelief. It really threw me off for a few seconds. I then said "Yeah, that was it, the 3 of Clubs"........and she STILL freaked out.

Lesson learned......kinda.