by Atomo » Sep 22nd, '06, 11:40
The Effect:
On the table is a deck of cards, a coin, a pen and a knife. The magician asks one of his spectators to select one of the cards and to sign its face. The card is then replaced back into the deck which is then shuffled and put onto the table. Now the magician picks up the coin and allows the spectator to sign it, while he explains that he will not find the card but the coin will. He picks up the deck and taps the coin on top of the deck. It’s gone! The magician goes through the deck and finds the card, however there is no sign of the coin whatsoever. That is, until the magician picks up the knife and slices across the front of the card which reveals the coin in between the three layers of card and yes - it’s the signed coin! Finally the card is torn in half to prove that there are no extra coins.
Cost: £11:99 magictricks.co.uk
What you receive: an 8 page black and white booklet explaining the preperation and performance.
Review:
Upon receiving this effect i was not suprised to read the secret, (and i should say here that it is difficult for me to voice me opions on the instruction booklet wihtout exposure, but i will try) i will say that this effect involves forcing a specially prepared card, and that the details of how to achieve this preparation are in my opion not explained in depth. Imagine if you were trying to teach somebody to juggle, and your instructions to them were " just pick up 3 balls, and throw them up in the air like this, dont forget to catch them", that person would be able to see what juggling looks like, but would probably find it difficult to perform the actual action. In John webbs instructions you are told how to prepare the card, but im not convinced that 4 black and white low-res photos and about 400 words of text are a copmpletly adequate as a guide. In this day and age it is not exactly difficult to just take more photos??? or even....produce an instructional dvd??? Micheal Close is now selling his effects as ebooks with embedded video clips, i would suggest that would be the perfect medium here.
Now alot of you may be itching to write a reply to this review cursing me for knocking what is a GREAT EFFECT, my complaints are not with the effect, they are entirely with the insructions, and this is why- i have just sat down and destroyed about 40 cards trying to create the gimmick, i finally made one, it was PERFECT! so i performed the effect to my gf, and she flipped out!! "OMG thats insane!!!" i acted as if the card trick had gone wrong, and reacted with suprise when i revealed the coin in the card- this is strong magic , no doubt about that. HOWEVER when i sat back down to make another gimmick the same thing kept happening- more destroyed cards. I'll pause here to quote John Webbs insntructions
"Note that the first time you make the card it can be a bit difficult, but once you get the knack it is very easy to do"
well the first time i tied my shoelaces it was a bit diffult, and now it is very easy, but i didn't destroy a pair every time i tried. I expect your all thinking- 'i bet he's just kack-handed'. quite the opposite im afraid, this type of craft skill is not new to me, it is not my hands that are the problem, but the task itself. I would suggest that most people wil have a low ratio of complete success when making this gimmick, even once they have made a few perfectly.
(wow this reveiw is turning into a rant)
my main problem is simple, for an effect which is far harder to perform and prepare than anything that Sankey (for example) has released, you expect something more in the way of instruction than an 8 page booklet. The performance details are skimpy as well- and im going to stop here because the kettle hase just boiled.
so in summary
Effect- 9/10 breathtaking , and unusual. great reactions so far
Intructions- 1/10 a return to the early days of magic when all that you received were vague manuscripts. Unrefined handling details, and minimal effort all round in the presentation and clarity of instruction booklet.
Difficultly- ( 5 ultra hard- 1 easy peasy) 5 for the prep work , the preparation will test your patience, and u wil even question wether or not it is possible,
3 for the handling I ( some sleights used, an invisble pass adds greatly to the mystery of the effect)
Atomo out