Zapped!

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Zapped!

Postby adethomp » Feb 1st, '05, 20:32



Right then, my first review, please bear with me if I've missed anything. I got my hands on Zapped! the other day and saw that it was yet to receive a review so here goes...

Effect

"You sit down for a friendly game of cards with some friends. After a few hands you realize that the cards aren't in your favour. You keep losing. You get your next hand, and you can't do a thing with it. So what do you do? You bet EVERYTHING you have on a good feeling that you have. With a flick of your fingers, your previously useless hand of 5 different cards has transformed into a Royal Flush, capable of beating even the best hands that your opponents have. You've won.

This is visual magic at its best. These cards are hand-tooled. The effect must be seen to be believed.

A recently released movie about card hustlers called Shade shows this card effect in some of the highlight reels. Paul Wilson does a fantastic job of showing this to the audience. It's stunning. So stunning that I had to hunt around the Internet for about 2 hours before I could find one. This underground effect is about to hit the big time. When T.H.E.M. was aired recently on NBC, it showed this effect twice in the beginning sequences, and it was beautiful. People around me who were watching on TV screamed "Nice editing!" Then I brought mine out, and said "Edit this!" and dropped their jaws. None of the people who saw me do it could believe that I had just done what they had seen. This is an impossible effect that produces stunned silence among those who see it.

You HAVE to get this effect. This is one of those tricks that you can carry with you all the time, to show the people that you too, can do magic just like they saw on TV."



This is one of those "WTF!" effects if used correctly. In the packet you get 5 cards (3 of which are gimmicked) and a basic instruction guide.

First off, angles are definately a problem with this trick, due to the nature of the gimmicked cards, if they are held anywhere between horizontal or an upward tilt of the backs of about 45 degrees then you are going to give the game away big time! Also, if the deck is over spread when fanned, the gimmicks are going to stand out more than a grey TT! The best way I've found to display the cards is fanned and held kind of tilted downwards towards the viewee (if that makes sense!)

I think the gimmicks are quite flimsy also and may not stand up to a lot of use, I have merely been practicing with mine and one of the cards is already beginning to develop a problem.

However, these faults aside, should this deck be used in the correct circumstances it will be a knockout and will definately clear the room should you get a few unsuspecting mates around for a poker night! :twisted:

In conclusion: Difficulty: 1 - it is really easy to step up and do. I would give the effect 8/10 as it is really good despite the niggles and does cause people to stop and stare, chops wide open! The manufacture I would give 4/10 however as there are some angle issues and I'm not entirely sure that the deck will last for very long (but then again my missus keeps telling me that I'm heavy handed, so it could be my fault!!!) Maybe there will be a new version which may address the longevity issue. All in all a good one to have set ready to go in the pocket (just so long as it lasts!!) Available for 10 squids from the online magic store that starts with an A!

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Postby Mandrake » Feb 1st, '05, 21:38

Nice review - especially for the first one! You might want to check out and use the review template for your next ones as it gives a certain amount of comparibility (if there is such a word) and consistency between reviews - and we don't mind if you mention the name of the shop in full, in fact it helps a lot if you do!

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Postby saxmad » Feb 1st, '05, 22:03

adethomp, do you ever have specs asking to examine the cards?

This is the only problem I'd have with this trick, as the cards are certainly not examinable, but I'm sure most people would want to have a closer look.

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Postby adethomp » Feb 1st, '05, 22:13

Thanks for the help Mandrake. I'll check the template out for my next review, I wasn't aware that there was one and just checked out a couple of the other reviews posted and tried to follow them as a guide.

Sax - I've only had the trick for a few days and so far only used it in practice, on the missus (who does her best to look interested!) and a friend who shares our same interest. Ill be giving it a run out on some more unsuspecting members of the public within the next couple of weeks and will post my results.

Ade

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Postby Surfing Dude » Jun 26th, '07, 18:51

Sorry to open this review up after a long, long time....

saxmad wrote:adethomp, do you ever have specs asking to examine the cards?

This is the only problem I'd have with this trick, as the cards are certainly not examinable, but I'm sure most people would want to have a closer look.


Depending on the spectactor you may be able to convince them that they are just 'cards' but it is pretty unlikely. You can drop the cards face up to face down into your hand or onto the table and it may influence or convince the spectator for them being normal cards, and may pass for the spectator taking 'a closer look.' But that isn't always going to be the case.

Recently bought this trick and i've taken a liking to it! I'm experimenting in the ways you can present the trick and trying to find the best one. It is pretty cheap so i think it's a good investment!

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Postby bananafish » Jun 26th, '07, 21:02

Just out of interest, R. Paul Wilson has a version of this where the cards can be examined afterwards. Yes. That's right. You heard. The cards at the end are clean as a whistle.

I'll dig out the manuscript. It is I have to say very nice.

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Postby Surfing Dude » Jun 26th, '07, 21:15

Wow, that sounds fantastic, i love the performance of zapped. Thanks a lot!

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Postby LeftEye » Jun 26th, '07, 22:28

Yep, Paul Wilsons version is very nice, it's called FAN-2-C and is totally examinable.

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Postby Surfing Dude » Jun 26th, '07, 22:38

No reviews on it...but it's the same effect i guess? I'm interested in how it's fully examinable, i suppose the gimmick for the trick is completley different?

I think that's gunna be another purchase for me then :)

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Postby Hade » Sep 6th, '07, 19:05

bananafish wrote:Just out of interest, R. Paul Wilson has a version of this where the cards can be examined afterwards. Yes. That's right. You heard. The cards at the end are clean as a whistle.

I'll dig out the manuscript. It is I have to say very nice.


Yes I have that. It's a nice little trick and you can make the gimmick yourself.

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