talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect:

A playing card is selected, shuffled into the deck and then...the impossible happens! The performer points out the dog tag chain hanging around his neck. The chain is completely solid and ungimmicked. Holding the deck in his hand, he waves it over the hanging chain, suddenly the selected card jumps out from the deck and impales itself onto the chain.

Get a load of this:

There are no breaks in the chain and no slits or tears in the card. The selected card visibly impales itself onto the chain, leaving it in an impossibly linked condition. Everything is completely examinable! You can even give it away as a souvenir!

Key Points:

Use any deck
Use any dog tag chain
Everything is totally examinable
Angle-proof penetration
The perfect closer to any card routine
Package Includes:

36" Custom Dog Tag Chain
Special gimmick
Full training DVD that will guide you through every step of this effect, including method, performance, variations, handling tips and all the subtleties that make this effect so devastating!
Running Time Approximately 55min



Cost:

The cheapest I found it was £19.99 at: http://www.magicmagic.co.uk/store/index ... ductId=479

Feel free to post links to cheaper places if you find any .


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 like to give this a 1, but there's a couple of very basic sleights (and I mean basic) and a "move" to perform. The move is not a sleight per se, but it's still a move nonetheless. The "move" follows a natural progression of moves and is just a natural move - the spec won't have a clue that you've just done the dirty on them .

I give this a difficulty of 2 .



Review:

Well, what more can I say. How many times have you got all excited over a new product ?? You've got caught up in all the hype ... you rush out and buy it ... only to be let down by some very misleading advertising.
Well let me assure you that this is definitely NOT the case with this. This does exactly what it says on the tin.
The spec chooses a card and you shuffle it back into the deck. You wave your hand (with the deck of cards in your hand) over your dog chain and their selected card impales itself onto the chain. You can see where the chain penetrates the card. You remove the chain and card from around your neck and hand it out for examination. That's it, you're done and you're clean.
The chain and card are 100% examinable. There is NOTHING to be found. I cannot stress this enough - the spec will find nothing. They will not be able to find anything that gives them an inkling as to how their card has just penetrated a solid chain.

The DVD is absolutely top class . It shows you, from start to finish, precise handling tips, from different angles with lots of detail.
It shows you how to make the gimmick, offering lots of tips and advice and offers excellent performance techniques.

This could be used for table hopping as the reset is almost instant - you just need 5 seconds on your own to set up ... and that's it. You couldn't perform it to the same people twice - I don't really want to say more on this ... but with a trick like this, once is enough in my opinion .

You can either rip the card from the chain and hand it out as a souvenir, or hand out the dog chain with the card still attached as a souvenir. If you decide on any of these, then the reset is going to take quite alot longer than the 5 seconds or so, previously mentioned.

With regards to the claims that "you can use any deck and use any dog chain", this is slightly misleading. You cannot, for example, use a borrowed dog chain or deck of cards. Without going into too much detail, when you initially make the gimmick - you need the cards and chain as well .

Overall:

I haven't bought anything new for probably close to 12 months or so now and all I can say is, I'm glad that I bought this .
If you're going to buy anything this year - then put this on the top of your list.

This gets 10/10 from me.

Okay, so it's a one-trick pony, but hey ... what a one-trick pony to have in your arsenal. This is well worth every penny in my opinion.

I can do noe more than agree,

A very good review.

Nice review Moonbeam.

Can we assume that the chain is examinable before the trick begins? I'm sensing that it isn't but would like to just clarify this.

dat8962 wrote:Can we assume that the chain is examinable before the trick begins? I'm sensing that it isn't but would like to just clarify this.

The spec has no idea what's about to happen - so there really is no need to examine the chain beforehand.
The fact that it can be fully examined afterwards, with the card impaled onto it, makes the spec feel that everything is in order.

Thanks for this - the answer was expected.

I'll wait and read a few other reviews before deciding if I get this. My CUPS isn't half as bad as it used to be

Just for the record - when I ordered mine from http://www.magicmagic.co.uk/store/index ... ductId=479 ..... I also received a free VHS video of Daid Roth's expert coin magic made easy - volume 2.

I'm not into coins and I know I can't get rid of it on here , so I ain't got a clue as to what I'm gonna do with it.

moonbeam wrote:I'm not into coins and I know I can't get rid of it on here , so I ain't got a clue as to what I'm gonna do with it.

Put it on an auction site. Anything you get for it will be a bonus as it was a freebie.

You could always offer it as a competition prize

dat8962 wrote:You could always offer it as a competition prize

Oooh spooky - you must have read my mind 'cos I'd already thought of that ..... I just need to get some kinda riddle/puzzle together. I'm just debating whether to make it magic related or not ....
Hmm .... decisions ....

I have just moved this here from review requests, I hadn't stopped this thread.

Well last night I went out armed with Tagged and it does get very good reactions.

I normally do set routines so this put me off balance a bit as I didn't really know how I would handle getting what I needed to start.

I came up with a solution that worked very well which ment dropping one effect and replacing it with this which was fine, as everything fits into a card case ok.

I performed this about 6 times and I did worry about tables behind me as the handling covers just about everything. This would be one of those tricks you don't do at every table because of the reset, plus I would not like to do it in clear sight of a table thats already seen me do it just in case.

My only negative on this is that everything really needs making up again after just one outing. It does not take long but it will be a bit of a pain to have to do every time ready for the next evening out.

I perform in a suit and last night was wearing a shirt and no tie this makes wearing the chain a little difficult because of the collar and the chain does not hand lay nice and flat. I ended up wearing it over the shirt to combat this and tucked it in the front so I could pull it out.

This does leave you with a chain on your shirt which is a little odd if you don't do it at that table!

If you have buttons on your shirt you also have to be careful of them as they may catch, a tie would solve the problem.

Everything worked fine wearing a suit jacket which I was worried about and as it got hotter during the evening wearing it outside the shirt not directly on my skin was the way to go (I tried both).

I had a magician fooled who was there when the card was chosen he was following what was going on, but when I suffled the cards face up he saw "the" card and was confused as he said he saw it go back into the middle during the shuffle. This stood out as a very good convincer that I will use again, I may even put an extra in to make it easier. Just keep shuffling until the chose card is seen and shuffled in.

I know these comments might seem a little odd but someone with this will hopefully understand what I mean, and if you don't have this yet it should reassure you that this is money well spent and it is a workable trick.

Wether this stays in my working set is another thing, the reset takes a couple of seconds out of sight (I like to keep going table to table) but the remaking is the only negative for me as things are looking a bit worn after just 6 perfromances and my practice at home, in all a couple of dozen times I would say.

To sum up this trick will work for just about anyone, so if you like the look of it buy it plus its really easy to do.

Spoke to Richard Last week regarding "Tagged" This is a surefire winner
easy to perform gets massive reactions. I have it preped for every walkround situation I do.

After getting Tagged and practicing for a while I demo'd this to my wife and she worked out what was happening immediately - totally unimpressed.

I imagine it plays better to a lively pub crowd rather than in a quiet living room. The RS vid clips seems to focus on more "hyped" specs rather than ones who calmly analyse what's going on...

Anyone else using Tagged - what's your success rate?

The times I've used it its been 100% for me.

Not sure what there is to catch if done right, (IB)

Just as an addition I've thought about adding a signature to the card# It's not unusual to have signed cards in a deck when working and I feel adds extra strength to what is a great piece of magic

TheStoner wrote:I demo'd this to my wife and she worked out what was happening immediately - totally unimpressed

I can't understand where you're going wrong.

If you follow the instructions and make the gimmick up properly, the only "move" takes a split second to perform - maybe this is where you're getting caught out. Practice without the gimmick and then practice with the gimmick and try to get both actions to look the same .

moonbeam wrote:

TheStoner wrote:I demo'd this to my wife and she worked out what was happening immediately - totally unimpressed

I can't understand where you're going wrong.

If you follow the instructions and make the gimmick up properly, the only "move" takes a split second to perform - maybe this is where you're getting caught out. Practice without the gimmick and then practice with the gimmick and try to get both actions to look the same .

I didn't get caught out, it all worked perfectly - she just thought for a second and worked out how the trick was done. "OK so you've done [describes move] and you've got a special [describes gimmick] and then you [describes move]". She nailed it at once. Bah! Good to hear that must punters aren't as bright!