Phil Plus! by Trevor Duffy and Phil Goldstein

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

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

Visit Magicbox for all the latest and best effects! Best prices around! MagicWorld Magic Shop for Magic Tricks Web Design for Magicians Best prices around! Manufacturer of modern & unique magic apparatus!

Phil Plus! by Trevor Duffy and Phil Goldstein

Postby Replicant » Mar 20th, '08, 22:55



Image

The Effect

New and Improved Phil Trick!

A spectator merely thinks of a card and the magician names it! Surprised? Now the kicker - the magician thinks of a card and the spectator names it!

- Self-working, no sleight of hand
- No Svengali
- No Rough and Smooth
- Instant Reset


Please note: See seige's detailed breakdown of the effect in this thread for a step-by-step guide.

Cost
£12.90

I got mine from Magic Nevin but Phil Plus! (PP) is available from most of the main dealers. Prices vary from £12.50 to about £14.50. I would just like to say that I have purchased a number of items from Magic Nevin in the past and they have always offered an excellent service. They even give free postage and packing (by 2nd class) or you can pay a bit extra for 1st class post if you're in a hurry.

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)

1
PP could not be easier to perform. The description above is accurate - it is pretty much self-working and requires no sleight of hand at all.

Review
PP is by no means a new trick and has been available for several years now. I purchased it a few days ago and seeing as no one on TM has written a review yet, I decided to write this in response to the review request that I linked to above. As seige has already written such a detailed account of the effect, I won't repeat it here.

Right, enough preamble! (I am somewhat prone to waffling when the mood takes me....)

The first thing I noticed upon opening my parcel was the deck of cards (as you might expect). They are not Bicycle cards or, indeed, USPCC playing cards. The PP deck comes on red backed Protea cards, a South African brand. (I understand Trevor Duffy's Magic Products is based in South Africa). Whilst the quality of the cards is not up to USPCC standards, they are perfectly adequate for the job at hand.

Image
Note: I have included this photo simply to show what the cards look like. I have no idea why it shows about eight Jack of Spades; be assured that the actual PP deck contains just one of these cards!

As far as I know, it would be impossible for this deck to be produced on Bicycle stock. You'll see why this is the case if/when you buy this! In any case, it works perfectly well on Protea stock so don't get hung up on it.

It took me just a short while to get used to the feel of the cards and to get the method down. It really isn't difficult to perform at all, but needs just a bit of time to get the routine smooth and flowing. This is time well spent as it will mean you don't hesitate or stutter during the performance. Actually, I guess this applies to pretty much any effect you care to mention.

After practicing for a while, I showed this to my wife (bless her, she is my magical guinea pig) and she was quite impressed which is always a good sign! I have also performed this for a girl at work and she absolutely loved it; in fact, she was rendered speechless which, I can tell you, is a considerable achievement on my part! PP is fantastic in that it involves spectator participation to a slightly higher level than is normal for your typical card trick. I think this serves to heighten the sense of wonder and astonishment, especially after the second phase of the routine when the spectator names the card. And it is this second phase that is what makes PP such an improvement over the original Phil deck; it basically ensures the spectator will not back track on the presentation and possibly work out the method. This is, essentially, built-in misdirection and requires virtually no conscious effort on the part of the magician to misdirect the participant. As long as you present this well, the trick works itself and will come to a natural, absolutely bewildering conclusion.

Overall
Quality of the deck aside, PP is a superb trick and judging by the reactions it has elicited, your spectators will love it, too; mine certainly did. Simple to perform, gets great reactions and is great fun for all concerned; and reset takes a matter of seconds - you really can't ask for much more than that. Suitable for the beginner as well as the more advanced magician, I would highly recommend this little gem. (It's also worth noting that PP is available as a blank version so you can personalise the cards and are not limited to girls names).

Score: 9/10

User avatar
Replicant
Elite Member
 
Posts: 3951
Joined: Jun 7th, '05, 13:46
Location: Hertfordshire, UK (36:AH)

Postby Magical_Trevor » Apr 25th, '08, 20:36

I recently saw this get performed at a dealer dem (from Merchant of Magic) and was BLOWN AWAY by it, to be honest, didnt even realise that they werent bike backed cards - neither did most of the other 25+ magicians in the room.

The effect is amazing, and in a crowded room / group of people its great - especially if you can use the spectators name (or partners name, childs name etc)

Would be interested to see a numbered version though (more mentalism style I feel) - I have seen one similar, but not sure if it would use the same mechanism.

Great review anyways, I 100% agree :D

Dan

User avatar
Magical_Trevor
Senior Member
 
Posts: 418
Joined: Aug 16th, '06, 18:03
Location: Kidderminster, UK


Return to Reviews - Tricks 'n Props

Sorcery Shop - Home of the ITR Dude That's Cool Magic UK's Online Magic Tricks and Jokes Shop offers kids and beginner magic tricks and jokes. World-Of-Magic, Suppliers of quality Magic Worldwide A web site set up to sell my book, THE STRIPPER DECK, and future magical/mentalism titles. Playing Cards for Magicians Aeternum Servare Secreta

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests