talkmagic.co.uk

Haunted Die
http://www.alakazam.co.uk/acatalog/Mentalism_24.html

A very precise £12.49


Handling - 2, probably a 1 once you're confident with it...
(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)
2

Review
Here's the basic effect (from the site)…

Six cards are removed from any deck, then a spectator freely selects one.
You shuffle them and lay them down in a row. "Perhaps you're wondering why I'm using only six cards," you say.
Reach into your pocket and bring out a small cloth bag, explaining "The reason lies inside this small bag where I keep the Haunted Die." Dump a black die with white spots into a glass and continue,
"Please concentrate on your card and watch the die."
While everyone is watching, the die slowly turns over by itself revealing a different number. It looks eerie!
The spectator turns over the card at that number, and sure enough it is his card.
Haunted Die includes the black die, cloth bag, and special gimmick that makes the die turn over by itself. Use your own glass.


Overall

I only got this last night (a very quick 24 hr delivery from Alakazam as usual), so this is only my first look as such and a quick performance to a friend of mine…and it got a great reaction I must admit.

When the die flipped over, I was 'busy' doing something else - tidying the rest of the cards up to my side in fact. All I heard was a fairly loud expletive from my mate. I then turned back round and acted slightly disturbed by it all…

I had pre-empted the effect rising by buying a nice little victoriana-style tumbler the other day from Covent Garden market, it does add a certain something to the look and feel i…erm…feel.

As always, you're paying for the secret, the idea in general. And a very fine one it is too. Im very glad I've bought it and im looking forward to building a nice wierd little storyline to it, something along the lines of "a box of stuff left to me by my late great grandfather…I was looking through it the other day and found this…"

oooh i just thought, possibly building from a PK Touches kind of thing before/after. And would probably work well with Tarot cards...

worth the money?

...it's definately worth the money for the idea (again, one of those "ahh why didn't i think of that..." kind of things), as you can then go and apply the thinking to other suitable devices...