The Effect
You won't find a stronger prediction effect anywhere!
A spectator is invited to take an imaginary trip to a glittering gambling casino in Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City, or Monte Carlo.
A large goblet filled with colorful casino chips representing over thirty-five famous casinos is introduced. The performer displays the chips, removing and reading aloud the names of some of the Casinos, such as Caesar's Palace and The Taj Mahal. The performer has the spectator shake the goblet, randomly mixing all the chips. He is asked to select any one of the chips and to place it in his right hand jacket pocket without looking at it.
The performer now displays a packet of fifty pseudo, jumbo $100 bills. Handing the spectator a manila envelope, the performer instructs the spectator to cut off an unknown batch of $100 bills. These will represent the amount of money he is going to wager. The selection is made behind the performer's back, sealed in the envelope without either knowing the amount. The balance of the bills are placed aside.
The spectator is now offered a pack of playing cards that are shown to be well mixed. The spectator deals the cards face down, stopping at any time. This card is placed in full view, and the spectator is asked to continue dealing, but this time dealing the cards face up, again stopping at any card desired by the spectator. The spectator has had a free choice and has selected two cards which are placed in his pocket without looking at them.
The performer now explains that the spectator has just visited a world famous gambling casino, freely chosen from a choice of over thirty five. He has wagered an unknown amount of money by randomly sealing a quantity of jumbo $100 bills in an envelope. And finally, he has dealt himself a BlackJack hand, selecting the cards in the fairest possible way, including choosing one of the cards while dealing the cards face-up.
The performer next points to a sealed envelope fastened to the wall. Any spectator is asked to remove the envelope and extract a folded sheet of paper which the performer unfolds and reads aloud. The letter states that the spectator will visit the Las Vegas Royal Hotel and Casino. The performer has the spectator check the accuracy of the written prediction. He is then asked to remove and read aloud the name inscribed on the randomly selected casino chip selected moments before. The spectator does so and calls out, the Las Vegas Royal Hotel and Casino!
The performer reads the next part of the printed prediction which states that the spectator will wager, for example, $2,200 on a hand of BlackJack. The spectator is asked to open and remove the unknown quantity of bills he earlier sealed in the envelope and count them aloud onto the performer's outstretched palm. The spectator counts a total of 22 bills, a total of $2,200!
Reading aloud the third part of the prediction, which states that the spectator will deal himself a winning hand of BlackJack with a total of 20. The spectator checks the accuracy of the printed prediction and after removing the two cards from his pocket, announces that his hand does in fact total 20!
If this prediction doesn't drive them nuts, nothing will.
Comes complete with real-casino type clay chips, goblet, 50 realistic $100 bills, tray, cards , and instructions.
Cost
Around £140 and available for Alakazam or International Magic in the UK and various USA dealers.
Both UK dealers were sold out when enquiring and did not know when they would get more.
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)
Believe it or not - it's a 1. It's all in the presentation.
Review
I can't remember where I first saw this but I knew straight away that I wanted one. The UK delaers were out of stock so I placed an ad in the wanted section of Magic Week and low and behold a second hand mint condition set was mine within a week for the sum of £80.
I played around for a while to familiarise myself with the props and method and it's very clever indeed. This is likely to fool many a magician and it's a relatively unknown routine.
The methods for predicting the selection of the casino chip, the quantity of bank notes and the value of the cards that the spec deals to himself from the pack are all different to one another and are very clever indeed.
The instructions are printed very clearly with diagrams where necessary and it's a relatively easy routine to pick up and remember.
The quality of the props are good with the exception of the goblet that the casino chips sit inside of. It's a plastic goblet in two pieces, probably for packing purposes and it's not quite stable. It's relatively easy and cheap to replace this with a real glass one so that's what I've done.
I read a recent review on Magic Week a couple of weeks back where this was performed by Max Somerset and although it was described as a confabulation type routine (not mentionned by name), it was nevertheless rated as excellent.
I'd have loved to have seen Max perform this and although I've not yet performed this to an audience myself (I'm saving it for just the right event) I just know that it's going to be a winner.
Overall
An extremely clever routine that uses some devious and time proven methods that are bought up to date with the props. You could string this very entertaining routine out for between 10 and 15 minutes without problem and it will tie in very well with some other gambling routines such as Lennart Green's Stolen cards.
Worth the money? I think so and it's nice to have a routine that not many others will have (at the moment
)
Member of the Magic Circle & The 2009 British Isles Close-Up Magician of the Year
It's not really an optical illusion - it just looks like one!