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Rainbow Rings

The Effect

This is a quite breathtaking piece of pure visual magic. The effect is that three black rings are shown cleanly and directly on both sides. All of a sudden, one of them changes to a beautiful multicoloured ring, followed by a second, and then a third! A wonderful, startling and very theatrical change! The illusion is perfect and inexplicable: one at a time, the three rings have changed before the audience’s bewildered eyes. This sophisticated effect would be perfect in a silent act with music judged to suit the mood.

We are always trying to bring you top quality magic, which is a little out of the normal run. Believe us – this fits the bill.



Cost

£30.00 from Practical Magic.
http://www.practical-magic.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=26

The video demonstration also uses the Goshman Colour Changing Streamer, additional £13.50
http://www.practical-magic.com/index.ph ... &Itemid=26

total: just a tad under £50 inc p&p

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 or 2 depending on your abilities. Not overly difficult.



Review

Rainbow Rings is a very visual, colourful trick where 3 shiny black rings change into a rainbow colour, one at a time. The trick is quite large (the rings are approximately LP size), and would play well in a palour setting, or stage, and is ideal for palour magicians, stage magicians, or childrens magicians. Once you purchase the effect, you could in theory make a close-up version, providing you had the right tools to cut large circles out of plastic, or had a number of CD sized plastic rings.

The trick comes with the rings, which are constructed out of sturdy & shiny plastic, the rainbow colours are bright and colourful, and feel like they will hold up to many performances. The rings are ungimmicked, but you cannot pass them out for examination. Impressive build quality.

Now, moving on to the instructions(shakes head). The printed instructions from the manufacturer are, you know the ones, that read like they have been translated from Japanese thourgh Google or the likes, and don't quite make sense. The pictures aren't particularly helpful either. Fortunately, Practical Magic have thoughtfully included a single printed sheet of their own instructions (at least I assume that's where they have come from), which are clear, easy to follow, and make sense. You'll learn the routine within 10 or 15 minutes, and it will only take a few hours of steady practise to get this running smoothly.

Neither of the instruction sheets come with any patter advice, you could make up your own, but I will personally be performing this along to music, as it's going to fit into my opening medley of quick tricks. The effect is short, magical, and colourful. I'll be gauging reaction this weekend, I'm planning on testing it at a kids party I'm doing on Sunday.

If you opt to purchase the Colour Changing Streamer along with the Rainbow Rings (not essential, but gives the rings a 'reason' to change colour, as it were), you will find that the streamer is of adequate quality, it feels nice, but is not just quite thick enough, so you cannot show it slowly and fairly at close range. On a stage or standard hall setting for a kids party this won't be an issue though, just not ideal for close-up. The streamer does the job, and the material it is made of is 'silky', I just don't think it represents good value for its £13.50 asking price.

It does make sense in the context of the Rainbow Rings however, so it's a nice little addition that adds a little to the basic effect, and gives the Rainbow Rings a 'reason' to change their colour. Personally, I would add one to the basket along with you Rainbow Rings, just be advised that its on the pricey side for what it is.

A little word on angles. This trick isn't what I would describe as 'angley', but it's not angle-proof. You cannot do this surrounded, so if angles are an issue, I wouldn't perform it. Again, for your average parlour show or children's party when the audience will generally be in front of you, this isn't an issue at all.


Overall:

Traditional, colourful magic, that really does look magical. Watch the video demonstration to see what I mean ( http://www.practical-magic.com/index.ph ... iew&id=113). The props are very nicely made, the routine is easy to learn, and overall, this is just really, really nice. Obviously, this isn't for everyone. I can't see you card workers getting much use out of this, and it's not exactly 'hip' for the street (although a busking magician or clown etc could certainly get milage out of it). However, if you entertain children, or do a stage or parlour show, then I would seriously recommend you get hold of this if you like the video demonstration. Based on the above, I would give this 9/10.