talkmagic.co.uk

At the risk of sounding like a bit of a creep, I reckon Laurence is a very nice guy and his manner of doing business is so refreshing. The idea where you get a refund plus bonus if he can't supply an item which has been advertised and ordered is something I've not seen anywhere else.

I can wait for access to the MO section but it means I can't be too open in reviewing things - I shall have to preserve the mysteries a little while longer, m'dears!

OK, folks, you can all stop holding your breath ‘cos Swith-A-Roo arrived about 10 minutes ago! As you can guess by the advertising blurb it's a device rather than a complete routine or trick but will certainly help to leave you 'clean' at the end of other routines where the cards etc aren’t fully examinable.

Initial examination shows that the device is purely and simply mechanical, very simple but well constructed. Although it is suggested that it can be used in a shirt pocket, I think there may be a bit too much bulk and the pocket of a plain shirt would show a bulge – a patterned or decorated one would probably be OK. Use in a jacket breast pocket – no probs as that’s what it’s designed for.

I can see that it can be used to ‘exchange’ fairly thick packets of cards, not just one or two, and the device comes with full details of how to set up and use it, plus instructions for 4 routines and 2 sleights. It is also possible to operate this dingus by remote control!

For the accomplished cardicians out there, you will probably know many other methods of switching packets/cards but this little baby will easily do it for the less skilled – such as me!

Finally, I can see that other items can be switched and, to use the time-honoured phrase, the uses are limited only by your imagination. Just think of any occasion where you need to swap one set of cards/envelopes/photos for another set and you’re on the right track! I’m going to enjoy using this device and I can see it being one of things which will be in my pocket permanently, ready for impromptu effects!

At just under £16.00 plus P&P I reckon it's money well spent.

So really what you are saying then is that unless you intend to use a jacxket, this is a no go?

... Tony

No, you could use it with any pocket - the device is just over half the thickness of a pack of cards - but you'd need to be careful that it didn't look obvious. Jackets are made of thicker material and can disguise it better whereas shirts are usually much thinner. A black or dark blue shirt would probably be OK and a woolly rather than cotton one would also be OK - you’d need to experiment and see what you feel comfortable with.

With practice, a side trouser pocket could be used but, as there are 'attachment devices' you could also fix it so that you seem to be just shoving a few cards halfway inside your shirt front (between two of the buttons), leaving the ends of the cards in plain view yet cleanly pulling them out as different ones. You could also have the device between two sheets of paper in the table in front of you and perform the same effect. The whole idea is to give the illusion of putting a packet of cards only halfway into a pocket or whatever where everyone can keep an eye on them yet they are changed when you pull them out again. Rather like a change bag but the items never disappear completely from sight – or so it seems!

I think I need to apply for access to the MO section again – this is like one of those party games where you have to describe something without using the name or getting too specific!

God, I can't for the life of me imagine how the thing works! If you did have access (like myself), I would just ask outright what the thing is and how does it work!

I appreciate your candour in this open forum however.

Regards... Tony

In fact it works very well and is, as previously mentioned, blindingly obvious when you look at it!

At the risk of upsetting the (strangely silent) moderators (hee, hee!) think along the lines of a lift and counterbalance, or those old-fashioned weather houses where the litle old man comes out for rain or the little old woman comes out for sun! And if that’s too specific for the moderators, I humbly apologise and will immediately go and flog myself within an inch of my life. Like I usually do on Wednesday afternoons. Since there are only about seven of us currently active, I hope no one will be too upset but, if you never hear from me again, then you'll know what happened!

I've never been much good at lateral thinking... I still can't work it out, but never mind and I appreciate your candid efforts trying to explain.

I hope you have loads of fun with it.

... Tony

Lateral thinking – isn’t that where you lie down to think about stuff? I guess the full & lurid details will have to wait until I get MO access which might be a while as Laurence is about to relaunch all this (as well as dealing with my orders & despatches!) so he’s a very busy budgie. As a final thought, if you’ve seen the videos on You’ve Been Framed (shame on you!) where one kiddie jumps onto an air bed and thus flings another kiddie up in the air, you’ll be in the right area!

Aaaahhhhh the fog has cleared. I now understand.

Thank you for that.

I am looking forward to seeing what Laurence has planned. I've been hanging around here for a couple of years now and every month the board seems to get quieter.

We shall see.

... Tony

You're quite right there, I've checked a couple of other bulletin boards and they are far more active but sometimes difficult to keep up with.

We shall all have to await the changes with great anticipation. I am positively agog with it - what the hell does 'agog' mean, anyway?

Have a good weekend!

Re the last question, no idea, but regarding the board getting quieter it seems to go in phases, we'll have a couple of weeks with no posts, then someone new comes along and asks a question and those of us who've been here since the beginning, (me and Tony I think) dust off the keyboard and try to answer, whenever we fail, which doesn't happen often, there does always seem to be another newbie who knows the answer. At least we don't get bogged down with so many questions we can't answer them all.

a gog non plural for a gogle eye person,
he who didnt see you switch the cards as you stole his whatch??.

Has any one else purchased this item?

I have just watched the vid from the JB site and the swtich looks incredibly clean. My brain is already racing with a number of diff. ideas. Obviously as the effect has been out for a while I just would like to know about the pitfalls, if there are any.

I've often looked at this myself and nearly bought it many times, it does look good doesn't it.
Anybody got any views?

If you check out the posting of April 9th 2003 (mine under the Old Forum!) you'll see the nearest thing to a review that was possible in the open area.

Switch-A-Roo is a great utility device and is a good as the vid suggests. Bear in mind that it works best in a jacket pocket, side trouser pocket, or a thick material shirt pocket. Thin, plain materials will allow too much bulge which might be nice in 'other' areas but not in this case! It can be used in other places as per the Raven, or in an envelope or in a pile of papers. As long as the specs see the packet of cards going in and can see them poking out of there all the while something else is going on then that's fine as the magic has already taken place. As mentioned above, your imagination is the only limit once you've sussed how and where to use it. The 'remote control' aspect is nice as well. Cheap and easy but nice!