Virtual Miracles
Costs: £9.95
Available From: http://www.magictricks.co.uk/prodshow.asp?code=963
Description: A unique electronic collection of fabulous card and close-up magic from some of the top names in the field.
Contributors include: Pit Hartling - Steve Beam - Paul Cummins - Jon Racherbaumer - Roy Walton - Robin Robertson - Phil Goldstein - David Britland - Aldo Colombini - Daryl - J.K. Hartman - Gene Maze - Robert Neale - R. Paul Wilson - Jason Alford - Dave Campbell - Peter Duffie - Dave Robertson - Walt Lees - Gary Ward - Paul Hallas Gavin Ross - Steve Hamilton - Richard James - Marty Kane - Peter Lamont - Val Le-Val - George McBride- Andrew Wimhurst - Fred Robinson - Peter McLanachan - Iain Girdwood - Allan Slaight.
33 Top Names * 50 Top Tricks ** That's right 50 great effects!
MagicTricks.co.uk are proud to be the only magic dealer in the World to stock this item.
Difficulty Level: 3 out of 5
The Review
Well, I'm a bit of a sucker for instant downloads when it comes to magic. No more having to wait for it to be delivered, and the lure of this was just too tempting. Instant magic! Yes! And so I bought it, not realising what I would be delving in to.
Compiled and Edited by the current reigning champion when it comes to both quantity and quality of E-Books, Peter Duffie, I smiled when I saw his name on the front cover. I was also amazed at the length - 102 pages. Granted, some of these contain nothing more than a 'Back to Inded' link, and a few are taken up by the front cover, introduction and contents tables links, but there is a lot of material in here, from some well-known contributors.
As such, I haven't yet had chance to have a proper look through, but I wanted to share some of my excitement at what I have found.
Sandwich Spread is an effect in which two blue-backed Jokers are shown alongside a red deck. A card is freely selected, signed and replaced in the deck - the Jokers having gone nowhere near it at this point. The two Jokers are shown, front and back, and inserted at various points face-down in the face-down deck. With just a riffle and a shake the two Jokers leap together, united somewhere around the middle. Well, almost. Separating them is one single red-backed card - and yes, you guessed it, it is the signed seleciton.
This is a very nice effect. Simple method, yet a visual pleaser.
The Last Game is a lengthy one to describe, so I'll summarise it by saying that this is a gambling theme which involves four people from the audience and yourself - kind of a challenge effect. Despite utmost fairness, the performer repeatedly beats the spectator in a game of five-card Poker, combining elements of apparent mind-control and the like. A very nice routine, based upon Karl Fulves' According to Hoyle, apparently, from his book The Magic Book. So there you go.
Offworld to be honest, I'm quite starting to enjoy the different names magic creators are finding for their Out of This World effects; we've had Rack and Bled, Galaxy, Order This World, A New World and now Offworld. This is one of my favourite Out of this World effects alongside Order This World (and, of course, the original). Order This World is better for directness, but this beats it hands-down for simplicity and ease-of-operation, and is pretty direct in itself. Not only does a spectator manage to correctly separate the red and blacks (the display here needs a little motivation but is very impressive), but they also manage to place the card that they selected in the pile of opposite colour - without ever looking at the faces of the cards! This has a nice little built-in convincer, in most cases. If you get this - and you should - then you'll know what I mean
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These are the three that I've properly had time to have a good look at; there are a few others, but I wanted to talk about these. To be honest, you just have to look at the list of contributors to know that there is some good stuff in here.
Cons? Well, some of these are challenges, little bets almost, with no real magic. That's about it however.
Most of this stuff is good, solid magic, with effects spanning all kinds of different card magic: sandwich effects, revelations, locations etc. etc., some bizzare stuff and a few non-card magic items.
The difficulty level is about right too, and some sleights that are used include the Ascino Spread, The Pass, The Half-Pass, and so on - nothing really too taxing, though not everything here is for the beginner either.
Highly recommended.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.
