Sneek A Peek

Review area devoted to tricks and effects where props are involved.

Moderators: nickj, Lady of Mystery, Mandrake, bananafish, support

A web site set up to sell my book, THE STRIPPER DECK, and future magical/mentalism titles. Aeternum Servare Secreta Web Design for Magicians World-Of-Magic, Suppliers of quality Magic Worldwide Visit Magicbox for all the latest and best effects! Manufacturer of modern & unique magic apparatus!

Sneek A Peek

Postby Jordan C » Nov 18th, '03, 12:16



The Effect

The magician displays a BLUE BACK deck and shows that ALL the cards have DIFFERENT FACES!! Now the spectator stops the magician as he genuinely and slowly riffles through the cards. YOU STOP EXACTLY WHERE THE SPECTATOR CALLS STOP! The spectator peeks at the chosen card.
NOW with your magic jokers, you now cause the following to happen:

ALL the cards change to the freely selected card.
The complete deck now has a RED BACK!!

Cost

£12.50

Difficulty

2 - No sleights required but care must be taken in the handling of the pack

Available From

http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=4643

Review

I've received my pack this morning and I have already been able to test this out on 2 laymen to good effect.

Lets start with the good points. The good points are that the effect is very visual. You clearly appear to hold a blue backed deck of cards in your hand and when you spread thru them they are all clearly different cards. After they have "sneeked a peek" at their chosen card the manoeuvre to change the entire deck to the selected card is a very simple one and is HIGHLY EFFECTIVE as is the punchline when the entire deck changes to red backed.

On the good side then it is very easy to perform and learn and so long as you take care when handling the cards you shouldnt get busted. It is also highly effective visually.

On the bad side. The instructions are.........reversed! I have had to switch nearly every instruction to do something with the RIGHT to actually doing it with the LEFT simply because to follow the instructions to the letter feels like a very un-natural way to handle the deck and is very cack handed. I also found that by following the directions explicitly I was prone to exposing the secret due to my fumbling (more a case of me not being too card proficient). So rights and lefts reversed it became easier to handle the pack and perform the effect. (I'm naturally right-handed)

Another gripe is the fact that these cards cannot be shuffled or changed from the order they are currently in the deck. Not being able to shuffle them before a routine always indicates that they are staged to me. But then having said that it is only a personal gripe and not a slate on the quality of the effect.

One final gripe, they are not Bicycle backed cards which makes a deck switch (so spectator can look at cards after, something I'm always asked for after performing anything like this effect, Svengali for instance) that much more difficult.

Getting back to the good stuff. Whether you have to reverse the instructions rights and lefts OR whether you manage to handle the pack exactly as described the actual effect here is fantastic & easy to perform and as I have found out from my 2 laymen this morning has a very definite WOW factor.

Overall

A fantastic, full on visual experience with 2 unexpected punches. Anyone familiar with seeing Svengali routines (as my friends have become) will be blown away when the second punch hits home as you reveal the backs to be RED. I received the comment "Oh, I see, you've bought another one of those packs of cards again" only to watch those words completely fall out of his mouth 5 seconds later when I revealed the colour change also.

My gripes are minor really, the instructions could've been better thought out and presented more clearly but then even in my relatively short magical life this is something I have found to be quite common.

This is definitely worth getting. Emagictricks are the ONLY ones in the UK to supply this trick and when they're gone, they're gone. Whether amateur or professional you will stun with this and providing you have a good "OUT" for not showing them the deck to examine you will walk away leaving somone feeling like they have truly witnessed the impossible happen.

8/10 - the instructions prevent this from getting a 10.




PS: Any tips on OUTS for non-examination of deck would be greatly appreciated.

User avatar
Jordan C
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1828
Joined: Oct 22nd, '03, 12:00
Location: Cambridgeshire, (38:AH/SH)

Postby Charles Calthrop » Nov 18th, '03, 12:29

When you say the deck can't be shuffled is this simply down to the arrangement of the cards (as opposed to being R&S or something like that)? What I mean is can they be false shuffled/false cut? If they can then that's not too bad.

When it comes to examining the deck...
Do an effect that uses a totally normal deck and let the spec examine/shuffle to their hearts content when performing this effect. Put that deck away in the pocket containing the gimmicked deck and say 'Hang on, I've got another one to show you...'. Take out gimmicked deck. Simple deck switch and all the heat is now off the deck. They shouldn't want to examine it again.
Or you could do a deck vanish so that there isn't anything to be examined! (If you're sitting down at a table a quick deck-to-***, or even a t*pp*t would do the job).

What you call heroism is just an expression of this fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots
User avatar
Charles Calthrop
Senior Member
 
Posts: 545
Joined: Nov 14th, '03, 11:12
Location: Paris(38:AH)

Postby Mandrake » Nov 18th, '03, 12:33

Thanks for the review - from the Penguin vid and your comments it's not hard to see how this works and, assuming you handle it carefully, it ought to be a worthy effect. As the deck is non-Bike, perhaps this would be best used as a starter before anyone gets used to seeing which cards you use - they can be ditched on the grounds that you started with a blue deck, then they became red so are now totally unreliable. There's a strong possibility to use the old Socialists versus Tories thing where someone changes from Blue to Red by crossing the floor from one Party to the other - it depends on how comfortable you are with crticising politicians (yeah, right on!) If the deck is by a known manufacturer - they look like Carta Mundi from the vid - perhaps a deck switcher from emagictricks might be one way of ending with a clean deck?

Re the changes you made to the routine, I'd be surprised if some changes weren't made - most of the effects I have come with the routine laid down very solidly but I usually end up making a few changes and doing them 'my' way' as I'm more comfortable with them after a touch of the Mandrake influence!

User avatar
Mandrake
'
 
Posts: 27494
Joined: Apr 20th, '03, 21:00
Location: UK (74:AH)

Postby Charles Calthrop » Nov 18th, '03, 12:44

Oh, yeah. I was making the assumption that you can get a deck with the same backs.

Mandrake: Do you have a URL for the video of this effect?

What you call heroism is just an expression of this fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots
User avatar
Charles Calthrop
Senior Member
 
Posts: 545
Joined: Nov 14th, '03, 11:12
Location: Paris(38:AH)

Postby Jordan C » Nov 18th, '03, 12:46

It would be very difficult to do any kind of shuffle with them because of the nature of the cards. Purchasers will quickly understand the reason behind that.

I'm not very proficient at cards at all and TBH this is probably the last card effect I will buy. If I tried a deck to *** they'd go everywhere, as regards t*pp*t's, I've never learnt much about cards because I'm not comfortable with them so have no idea what one of those is!! :? However, if I managed to locate a similar design pack of cards I could use my Exit 51 I suppose

User avatar
Jordan C
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1828
Joined: Oct 22nd, '03, 12:00
Location: Cambridgeshire, (38:AH/SH)

Postby Jordan C » Nov 18th, '03, 12:48

Charles - follow the link for AVAILABLE FROM, at the bottom of the page you should be able to click for a video preview.

User avatar
Jordan C
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1828
Joined: Oct 22nd, '03, 12:00
Location: Cambridgeshire, (38:AH/SH)

Postby Mandrake » Nov 18th, '03, 12:50

Charles - have a look at the emagictrcks page on this item (http://www.emagictricks.co.uk/product_i ... ts_id=4643) and the link to the Penguin vid is at the top of the page.

User avatar
Mandrake
'
 
Posts: 27494
Joined: Apr 20th, '03, 21:00
Location: UK (74:AH)

Postby bananafish » Nov 18th, '03, 13:05

Funilly enough I don't get asked much to look at the cards afterwards - and even when I do and I have a normal deck I try and discourage it.

But switching the deck and showing another trick with a normal deck is normally enough to put off the septics.

I mean its kind of obvious that this isnt a normal deck, as lets face it you have just shown them all to be one card. Something I would never do with a svengali btw, but with this it doesnt seem so bad - as there is another gotcha still to come.

Doing a deck switch after this may actually be better to switch to a one way forcing deck with a red back - mainly because thats how the cards ended up. The question is how easy is it to get a one-way deck in those cards. Incidentally they look more like aviators to me (I may be wrong) - in which case we may be in luck as card collection do quite a range of aviator gaffed decks.

Talking of deck switches - there are some really good ones about, certainly there are a couple I know that I never get questioned about. One is from one of David Regals new DVD's (Premise, Power and Participation) - which will be reviewed in due course, and the other - well I cant remember where I saw it. anyway - deck switches are for another topic at another time.

Nice review btw. I can see emagictricks selling out of this one quite quickly.

User avatar
bananafish
Veteran Member
 
Posts: 5821
Joined: Apr 22nd, '03, 09:43
Location: Simon Shaw. Suffolk, UK (50:SH)

Postby Charles Calthrop » Nov 18th, '03, 13:31

Thanks for the link Mandrake.
If a deck switch is practical then Blizzard is also a very good option. Needs a table though.

What you call heroism is just an expression of this fact; there is never a scarcity of idiots
User avatar
Charles Calthrop
Senior Member
 
Posts: 545
Joined: Nov 14th, '03, 11:12
Location: Paris(38:AH)

Postby Mandrake » Nov 18th, '03, 13:33

OK, if you need a table - check out MFI! :twisted:

User avatar
Mandrake
'
 
Posts: 27494
Joined: Apr 20th, '03, 21:00
Location: UK (74:AH)

Postby support » Nov 18th, '03, 17:58

With regards to shuffling the deck, really the only feasable shuffle is a faro which doesn't have to be perfect.

they can be ditched on the grounds that you started with a blue deck, then they became red so are now totally unreliable


Love it mandrake, I'll use that!!!

Although there are minor issues with the effect (the most major being that there is no matching deck) - if you use it as a closer or take mandrakes advice (or both!) - it really is one of the most stunning visual effects with a pack of cards! As visual as Flash Card but with a routine of effects instead of just one with, of course, the added bonus that the routine is complete and no sleight of hand is needed to compliment it.

User avatar
support
'
 
Posts: 359
Joined: Apr 20th, '03, 21:00

Postby Jordan C » Nov 18th, '03, 18:05

Hear here!

Minor glitches and minor problems are exactly that. MINOR!

I have now shown this to about 6 people now and every time I get a WOW. Absolutely brilliant. I am so in love with this effect!!

Get one before they're all gone.

User avatar
Jordan C
Advanced Member
 
Posts: 1828
Joined: Oct 22nd, '03, 12:00
Location: Cambridgeshire, (38:AH/SH)

Postby Mandrake » Nov 18th, '03, 18:10

I won't say too much but will leave you folks to ponder individually on the following comments and whether you think you'd get away with using them!

I was talking to a mate of mine at lunchtime and we got onto the subject of the regular blue deck changing to red and the possible derogatory allusion to politicians 'crossing the floor'. Then I said the whole bunch turned out to be all Queens - you can imagine the rest of the conversation! :shock:

User avatar
Mandrake
'
 
Posts: 27494
Joined: Apr 20th, '03, 21:00
Location: UK (74:AH)

Postby support » Nov 18th, '03, 20:28

Mandrake - you need to write a book on comedy lines - I'll sell it for you!!

User avatar
support
'
 
Posts: 359
Joined: Apr 20th, '03, 21:00

Next

Return to Reviews - Tricks 'n Props

Best prices around! MagicWorld Magic Shop for Magic Tricks Dude That's Cool Magic UK's Online Magic Tricks and Jokes Shop offers kids and beginner magic tricks and jokes. Sorcery Shop - Home of the ITR Best prices around! Playing Cards for Magicians

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests