Equinox
Available from http://www.alakazam.co.uk/acatalog/Hot_ ... html#a1540
Price £174.99
Mentalism
Difficulty: 1 out of 5 Totally self working. You only need to show up, not fall over and stay awake!
They say:
We are pleased to announce that Alakazam Magic has now secured the world wide market and distribution rights to a fantastic new effect…..Equinox. What is Equinox; well imagine Body Language or Max Maven's fantastic Kurotsuke effect. Five balls are placed inside a black velvet bag (4 balls are white and one is black) Five spectators now reach into the bag and remove one ball each. Only one is holding the black ball and nobody apart from the person holding the ball knows who that is! Now by using your fantastic powers of NLP/Mind reading you start to eliminate each of the white balls one by one until you are left with the person holding the black ball.
Ok… I hear you ask so what's new? Well imagine doing this fantastic routine and never having to be near the bag. That's right you can have your back turned and be standing at the other side of the room! You never have to go near your spectators or the bag!
We received the prototype of Equinox in November 2005 and used it at all our gigs over December. It Kills! We used it at tables, in walk-around situations and stand up!
Twelve units arrived at the shop today and each one was purchased on sight by top pros.
We are expecting to launch this little beauty at the Blackpool convention February 2006 so pre-order now.
I say:
Apparently there has been a bit of a “love it or hate it” vibe over Equinox. I guess I can understand that…. £174.99 is a lot of money isn’t it? Or is it? Hmmm...
£12.99 is a lot easier to stomach spending for the novelty of having a new trick to try and Equinox only does one thing. It does it "freekin'" well and I’ll get to that in a moment but I suppose some people (even when in possession of that facts) somehow expected something more when they receive their Equinox unit. I guess there is a phenomenon of having great expectations and imaginings that don't meet the "mundane reality" of what comes in the Jiffy bag. Perhaps Equinox is like that for some people! Some people may genuinely not like it for more detailed and tangible reasons but I think my little theory comes into play as well.
Right! Enough soap-boxing!
The basic effect of Equinox is (as mentioned above) a variation of Kurotsuke or Body Language. Five stones or balls (one black and four white) are placed into an opaque bag. Five spectators each take a stone from the bag without the performer seeing which they have. The performer then, one by one, eliminates the spectators with white stones until the person with the black stone is identified.
Equinox plays out in the same way, exactly as the advertisement reads. To the spectator’s eyes it is
extraordinarily clean. You can hand anyone the bag and the balls, they can even put them into the bag themselves. The balls are mixed and spectators each take a ball out without even looking at it. When the bag is empty it is returned to you and set it aside.
The routine becomes a battle of "perception and NLP" as you begin to identify those who possess a white ball until you finally pick out the spectator who holds the black.
It is down to the performer to make the most out of this classic mentalism narrative and you will soon come up with plenty of presentation ideas.
Equinox’s method may be apparent to those who are familiar with various mentalism effects on the market today. It isn’t a low tech solution and I’ll say no more about the workings in terms of their function, so please don’t ask.
The technical elements work every time and are very trustworthy. When you get one and find out how the critical information is presented to you as the performer you might think it is “
ass-about-face”, but it actually makes a
LOT of sense. Some good thinking went on here.
The balls are a bit “
handmade” looking. Some other bits that are key elements also look a bit “
prototype-y”. This is fine and totally understandable actually as each unit is hand fitted. Don’t get me wrong, Equinox is
NOT poorly made in any way…in fact it is very well made using good components, just don’t expect to see fully cast and logo’d parts…this is the
real deal, proper workshop output from techno boffins. In terms of the balls, I think I was expecting smooth plastic but they are more a kin to smooth, spherical stones with minor imperfections. The hand made look might well prove to be a bonus, as they seem very innocent and humble, a look which belies the actual method.
The bag is made from a supple, heavy weight, velvet-type fabric. There is something else about the bag that allows the whole effect to work but casual handling would not make it apparent, especially to laymen who are usually a bit edgy when picked out to take part in a trick in front of an audience. What’s more the whole emphasis of the routine should be focused upon the spectators and the choice of the stones. There is a difference between the white and black stones which should be considered if spectator has a pacemaker.
The routines provided with Equinox are basic and don’t go into any detail, but the documentation is technically
very thorough and
MUST be read, cover to cover, or else you run the risk of making a mistake that will mess up your routine or will find yourself unable to perform because of a loss of power. There is a small photographic error within the handling section but it is a minor point.
The entire package comes in a translucent plastic box and has everything you will need to get started. There are no angle issues to worry about, reset happens automatically and the whole effect is “jacket
pocket portable”.
Overall:
I
really like Equinox. This is a relatively high priced
tool (remember that, its a tool not a toy) for hard-hitting mentalism performing. It is
NOT the
only way to achieve the effect by any means but it is a sure fire and easy way, one where you only need consider performance. It is sophisticated, logical and easy to use. The effect looks like the real deal to the spectators and always entertains in the hands of a true showman/woman. In fact, it makes the “Kurotsuke” narrative a whole LOT of fun for the performer as there is very little to worry about.
The props and workings aren’t glitzy or flashy. They are well made…
hand made in fact and seem to work every time. The package you receive is ready to go and is well supported with technical documentation to make sure you are always up to speed and ready to perform. There isn’t much offered in terms of routining but the plot is a simple one, the props do the work for you so the performer can flourish.
Rating out of 10: 8.5/10