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I would like to know if it is possible to perfom it in french by just creating cards and translating the words in french ?

Yes it is possible to do it any language

I've used Kioku several times now and while it is an impressive trick, I am not really getting great reactions from it. I guess I need to revisit my presentation. Although I do think there is a large 'hole' in the workings of this trick that is very hard to get around without the spec getting a little suspicious.

I don't think I've said just how brilliant, brilliant, brilliant Kioku is. Ever since I got it, it's become my most requested for effect (damn all those hours with the swami wasted...). When done right, it hits really hard. And even if you don't use some of the suggestions that come with the instructions to amp up the effect, the basic routine itself is mystifying and killer.

At first I was worried about letting people examine the cards, but now I let them look at them as much as they want. So far magicians and laymen alike have not discovered the secret behind it (including mentalists!), and I like it best when their brains reaches a logical gap and they start offering all kinds of ideas as to how it was done.

Thanks for this lovely effect Roth!

i am in japan and speak basic/intermediate japanese.
would i be able to perform this trick for my japanese friends eventhough my japanese is not at a fluent level? would the cards work for themselves in this respect?

strobie wrote:i am in japan and speak basic/intermediate japanese.
would i be able to perform this trick for my japanese friends eventhough my japanese is not at a fluent level? would the cards work for themselves in this respect?

The effect is designed to allow the performer to expand the "revelation" far beyond the the "thought" that is in the mind of the spec.

That said, you would still be able to do the "basic" revelation with basic language skills.

Once you have the effect you can make up a set in japanese to perform with.

Hey boys! How are ya? Check out the new look over at the Outlaw Ranch!

Rick

Okay - almost a year since this review thread was updated; you all know me by now though - forget the latest/greatest thing out - spend the hard-earned readies on something that's been out for a while, and has received good reviews on several forums.

...And Kioku very definately fits those categories very nicely

4 little cards...15 fairly common memories, spread between them...one free spectator choice.

There's really not a huge amount more that I could add to the review comments already here, besides confirming that Kioku is - quite simply - one of THE most powerful little mentalism tools I've come across to date.

Please note my use of the phrase 'tools', here; the cards are NOT the effect, and - to the spec - the cards should really only register as peripheral items.

As with all truly-effective mentalism, the effect is the presentation, and not the props

What Kioku gives us is a beautiful starting-point to build a 5-6 minute thought-transference routine, and to throw in as much cold reading as we're comfortbale with.

It allows performers to work not just with descriptions of visual images, but also of related sounds, smells and sensations....and it opens the door to being able to relay all of this 'recieved' sensory-input back to the spec in both the first and third-person, which I'm finding is hitting very hard indeed.

There really IS so much scope made available by these 4 little cards, that it's quite difficult to get all of the possible nuances across; lets just say the potential for expansion and alteration is pretty darn startling in it's own right.

The instructions that accompany Kioku are both extensive and easily-understandable...I can't, for the life of me, understand why there've been several references in this thread to the use of a crib-sheet; 20-30 minutes worth of work is really all that anybody would need to get the basics down, with another couple of days to refine their presentation.

Bottom line?

This effect is FANTASTIC (made my wife swear at me yesterday!).

Any down-sides? Well, yes - one very minor, the other quite major...

Minor: As this is the UK version, I really wasn't keen on seeing the word 'vacation' (as opposed to 'holiday') being used.

Major: It's WAY too cheap - I'd far prefer to see this advertised for at least double Rick's current asking-price; the current price-tag really undervalues such a strong piece of business.

10/10 - easily

EDITED TO ADD: The Kioku cards also now fit into the business card holder in a standard Outlaw Wallet - I can now have a PW/Palm-W****r, my Sanctum card, and Kioku, ALL IN ONE WALLET

The guys at Outlaw are geniuses

Now that I have mine... I can publically endorse Rob's comments about this being way too cheap. Seriously, if your presentation is right, you will totally do people's heads in with this.

Kioku is just as simple as has been described... 4 little cards, your spec studies the 4 cards and selects 1 of 15 memories. you dont need to peek the memories on the cards, you dont need to force anything, you dont anything else to devine the thought of memory, because you just "know" what it is simply by... "having the spectator look into your eyes".

it is so simple, so easy, yet so freaking impossible I cant believe it. I also purchased the beautiful Outlaw Wallet and the Sanctum card which seems great but... and I know this is a big one, Kioku may just become my absolue favorite thing.

10/10 for sure. work hard on your presentation and you'll scare people to death with this.

It's all here:
http://www.outlaw-effects.com/outlaw/ar ... g=en&pg=59

Wow, this has got some amazing reviews.
I think I'm going to have to buy this!

I received my Kioku package last week, Id been looking forward to this one for a while, and was not dissapointed.
The method is very clever, and enjoyable to learn and practice, the script is also good, and infact for my first performance of this i followed it almost exactly to see how it went down, and it reeled them in nicely.

My one problem with this effect and it is a BIG problem, would be the quality of the props. The are poor- VERY POOR!

Now i was expecting business cards, nicely printed and nicely finsihed. I know outlaw effects makes some replica antiques so i thought their arts and crafts skills would be top notch. But what you recieve for Kioku is 4 crudely made, hand laminated cards. IT doesnt take a guenius to be able to laminate a card, but who ever made mine has managed to cut the sides of a few of them too close to the card inside, so the plastic is coming apart at the edges. Leaving me with props that i do not consider good enough to perform with.

Im going to contact the guys at Outlaw effects about this, as there are some other problems with the cards that i can;t really talk about here as it would expose the method. I'll let everyone know how it goes. Hopefully they'll send me out some replacements!

Kioku- concept and method - 10/10

peoples reactions- 10/10

props- 2/10 ( why dont they just make them better!!!!!)

Sexton Blake wrote:

Mark Smith wrote:I'm tempted to purchase this effect, just because I keep hearing some positive reviews from you guys. However, I am worried that it will be similar in method to Derren Brown's 'Remeniscence' from Pure Effect. If anyone can enlighten me that'd be great...

However, my understanding is that it's a 'dual reality' thing: by definition, a dual reality-based effect needs at least two people (besides the performer) for it to work. Kioku isn't dual reality, and can be done for one person, alone, with absolutely no problem at all. Thus, mighty logic leads me to conclude that Kioku and Reminiscence use different methods. The

No, that's not how dual reality works. You need only the participant and an audience.
Dual reality effects (the clue's in the title!) are where the participant and the audience are perceiving two different versions of the same event - For an example utilising cards with subjects on them:
You show some cards to the audience but not to the participant onstage behind you.
By means of various kind of subterfuge which it would not be appropriate to tip here the audience perceive these cards as several directing the reader to say think of a broad variety of general things, a film, a football club, a favourite food. The participant then chooses (or has forced on them) a card which directs them to think of something very specific (in the above example perhaps "Think of the film Die Hard").
You then have a situation where, if it is scripted correctly, the participant believe the effect taking place is you inexplicably knowing which card they are thinking of but the wider audience think that you are not only able to tell them which card has been chosen but additionally the participant has been directed to think of any film that has ever been made and you are able to discern which one.

Excellent early example of Dual Reality effects (before the concept was over used and under utilised by many recent "authors") can be found in Bruce Bernstein’s "Perception is everything"

Having read these posts I am assuming that in the case of Kioku you have number of cards which have a number of "universal" memories and by use of pumping and/or asking the participant to glance at you when a "memory is particularly strong" during a guided imagining and utilising a binary code to identify which card is held allowing you to "hot read" the experience back to them.

Could someone please tell me if I am in the ball park?

hi,

Nice comments on Dual Reality, Luke Jermay has a few good subtle uses of this concept too.

As to whether or not you are 'in the ballpark' with regards to Kioku's method, im afraid a public forum isn't the place where such things can be confirmed or denied. I think your line will keep coming back empty if you continue trying to catch the Method Fish.

Has anyone else found the props for Kioku to be a little below par quality wise?

Doug's an experienced performer, so I don't think he's entirely method fishing, Atomo, but you're absolutely right that it's not something that can be discussed on a forum without giving away the secret.

I've only just got Kioku and think it's rather good. My cards seem to be OK, certainly not suffering from the problem you've described. I think that, once you know the secret (and all the other detail too), you could easily create your own cards. Obviously, you shouldn't have to do that, but you can tailor the experiences a bit more to suit your tastes, for example.

Dual reality is a bit of a tricky subject, as it blurs into instant stooging. While arguably the latter is a subset of the former, I prefer to keep the two concepts separate in my mind!

The difference is that, with dual reality, everyone sees an effect, it's just not the same effect. With instant stooging, one participant knows what's going on (although he might not know the whole story), and it's that type of effect that's pointless without other people.

Kioku doesn't rely on dual reality (or instant stooging) at all.

For anyone interested, there's a good, positive, and also very detailed review of "Kioku" on one of the old GoMagicGo podcasts. If you Google search I'm sure it will come up.

Part-Timer wrote:Doug's an experienced performer, so I don't think he's entirely method fishing, Atomo, but you're absolutely right that it's not something that can be discussed on a forum without giving away the secret

Thanks Part-Timer.

I was winding myself up for an acerbic reply - I shouldn't perhaps have expressed myself quite like that but I did feel a teeny bit patronised.

Atomo. Yes, I'm obviously aware that my friend Luke Jermay has used some Dual Reality in some of his published and unpublish work (for the record Atomo I wind up my London theatre show, my University shows and corporate shows with a dual reality effect), you'll also find some good (and older) work from Max Maven, Al Mann, TA Walters, Kenton Knepper and others on "the Rashomon" effect. But if you are interested, Bruce's work is outstanding. If you've heard of him....?

As there was no detailed explaination of how the effect looks beyond "someone thinks of a memory and you tell them what it was" I was conjecturing by saying how I would perform an effect which meets that description utilising cards.

If that is the method - fine. If it's not - Equally fine - Have a new effect on me.............

Fair enough Doug, i didnt know you were an experienced performer, as i havn't heard of you or been to any of your ' london theatre, university or corporate shows' and your TM status is 'junior member', so sorry if you felt patronised by my remarks. And thinking about it, i suppose it is fair to ask what the actual performance of 'Kioku' looks like, as all description available is rather vague. But even though your an experienced performer, its still probably best not to come on TM and openly talk about methods- yeah we get it-you know what your talking about!

I have only just started becoming interested in mentalism, im a sleight of hand guy at heart, but at the moment im really into max maven and banachek. Who is this 'Bruce' you mentioned, your right, i havn't heard of him.

Peace