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The Effect
You take a key, and miraculously and visually, attach it to a stretched out rubberband
Cost £23:99 from various on-line suppliers
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)
3 (nothing to tricky, just a couple of switches)
Review
Here's the marketing blurb...
LinKey by Alan Rorrison and Titanas
At any time you will be able to take your house key and visually link it to a rubber band. Both can be inspected before and after the magic happens. You can even take this super simple gimmick and link it to a borrowed necklace without loosing any of the visual impact!
We also teach you how to make a bonus gimmick that will allow you to borrow a set of keys, remove a single key from the set and visually link it back on and INSTANTLY hand it back to your spectator for examination.
Comes with a DVD, a precision made gimmick and rubber bands.
And here's what I found about it...
When you open the box you get a DVD and a little envelope, containing and couple of blank keys and a handful of rubber bands.
The DVD explains the routine very nicely. It's a clear and simple routine, and all the tricky work is very logical and easily explained to the audience. It all works very nicely. You hand a key out for examination, then take the key and very cleanly and visually link it on to a rubber band. Simple!
Getting it on to the band really is a doddle! The key does all the work for you. However, getting it off is slightly more of a knack! (But really, don't let this put you off... anyone can do it, it's far easier than, say, a faro shuffle!)
There are a couple of points that I feel need to be noted:
The blank keys do need to be cut to make them look real. They come blank so that you can get them cut to fit a lock of your choice. So I trundled to my local locksmith (it's quite a large shop, just around the corner from International Magic) who said that the key in question is made for a door knob style lock, the sort used mainly in American hotel rooms, and that it's not a key that will be used in any padlocks. Not that it changes how I feel about the trick, but it would have been a nice bonus... it seems that the key supplied was chosen for its suitability for the trick, and that is perfectly understandable.
Also, as the key is made from brass, and so the gimmicked part will be a little weak. The gimmick, by it's nature is rather thin metal, and whilst being as well made as it can be, probably won't last for a life-time. This is sort of mentioned on the DVD, so don't put it on the round ring of your key ring as this will probably damage it. It's really best put on a clip type thing that then links on to the key ring.
I got this the add on to my Crazy Mans Handcuffs routine. It seemed like a great way to finish it. And I have a feeling that I'm not the only one who thought this either... So I tried it out a few times as a finale, but it seemed to fall a bit flat! After a bit of thought, I realized why! For me, as a magician, it seems more amazing that a rubber band can link on to a metal key, than passing through another rubber band... But as a punter, it's completely different! LinKey is done in your own hands, but Crazy Mans Handcuffs ends in their hands. So, by doing the LinKey first, then moving on to Crazy Mans Handcuffs, it all worked so much better! And as I finish the Hand Cuffs routine with one of the rubber bands stretched out over the spectators fingers, it brings them into the magic and makes it much more personal. I really think this is the way to do this...
Overall
This is not quite working for me as the show stopper I thought it might be, but an introductory piece that adds variety to the routine, it's rather nice. It's very workable, easy to do, and certainly not a bad thing to be living on my key ring...
