Zapped!
Posted: Feb 1st, '05, 20:32Right then, my first review, please bear with me if I've missed anything. I got my hands on Zapped! the other day and saw that it was yet to receive a review so here goes...
Effect
"You sit down for a friendly game of cards with some friends. After a few hands you realize that the cards aren't in your favour. You keep losing. You get your next hand, and you can't do a thing with it. So what do you do? You bet EVERYTHING you have on a good feeling that you have. With a flick of your fingers, your previously useless hand of 5 different cards has transformed into a Royal Flush, capable of beating even the best hands that your opponents have. You've won.
This is visual magic at its best. These cards are hand-tooled. The effect must be seen to be believed.
A recently released movie about card hustlers called Shade shows this card effect in some of the highlight reels. Paul Wilson does a fantastic job of showing this to the audience. It's stunning. So stunning that I had to hunt around the Internet for about 2 hours before I could find one. This underground effect is about to hit the big time. When T.H.E.M. was aired recently on NBC, it showed this effect twice in the beginning sequences, and it was beautiful. People around me who were watching on TV screamed "Nice editing!" Then I brought mine out, and said "Edit this!" and dropped their jaws. None of the people who saw me do it could believe that I had just done what they had seen. This is an impossible effect that produces stunned silence among those who see it.
You HAVE to get this effect. This is one of those tricks that you can carry with you all the time, to show the people that you too, can do magic just like they saw on TV."
This is one of those "WTF!" effects if used correctly. In the packet you get 5 cards (3 of which are gimmicked) and a basic instruction guide.
First off, angles are definately a problem with this trick, due to the nature of the gimmicked cards, if they are held anywhere between horizontal or an upward tilt of the backs of about 45 degrees then you are going to give the game away big time! Also, if the deck is over spread when fanned, the gimmicks are going to stand out more than a grey TT! The best way I've found to display the cards is fanned and held kind of tilted downwards towards the viewee (if that makes sense!)
I think the gimmicks are quite flimsy also and may not stand up to a lot of use, I have merely been practicing with mine and one of the cards is already beginning to develop a problem.
However, these faults aside, should this deck be used in the correct circumstances it will be a knockout and will definately clear the room should you get a few unsuspecting mates around for a poker night!
In conclusion: Difficulty: 1 - it is really easy to step up and do. I would give the effect 8/10 as it is really good despite the niggles and does cause people to stop and stare, chops wide open! The manufacture I would give 4/10 however as there are some angle issues and I'm not entirely sure that the deck will last for very long (but then again my missus keeps telling me that I'm heavy handed, so it could be my fault!!!) Maybe there will be a new version which may address the longevity issue. All in all a good one to have set ready to go in the pocket (just so long as it lasts!!) Available for 10 squids from the online magic store that starts with an A!
