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I was on youtube and stumbled into some videos of magic mishaps...most involve the effect in which a nail/knife is placed under disposable cups and shuffled around leaving the magician trying to find (or not find it) by crushing cups.....some huge mishaps. One guy did it with the specs hand and messed up drilling her hand onto a nail....the exact name escapes me at the moment, but for those of you that know which effect I am talking about and have it.....

I was always intrigued by the concept of this one and still am, but now I am rather nervous about it.....is it that risky, or did these magicians just suffer some awful luck? If there is an element of risk involved I am going to pass, but wanted to ask prior to deciding one way or another.

I honestly think it was over confidence that they fell victim of.

I can't see how you can mess this up, unless you don't get the "set up" quite right.

I don't think I'd ever use a specs hand to do this, no matter how sure I was!

I'd just feel too bad, and probly stop doing magic completely!

Best advice I can give when performing it, is for YOU to set up all the cups at the start of the routine. Then ask your *ahem* victim to "Put the knife under any cup, but please feel free to move any/all of the other cups slightly... so that there's no way I could know which one the blade has been placed under".

Above all, be careful! =oP

~Sym~

I own and use both Spiked and Scorpion, and there have been a few occasions where I have not been 100% certain. In those cases I have not done the cup crush, but just done a lift up reveal - my hands are worth more to me than getting it wrong.

There is no way, absolutely no way, that I would ever risk someone else's hand doing the trick, nor any part of a volunteer doing any routine!

I've seen a few videos where this has gone wrong and it does look nasty. I don't think I'd ever risk a spec hand on that or mine if I wasn't 100% sure.

I've seen a few of these now. You know exactly what's going to happen, you wince, you laugh, you say how stupid the guy is, but you can't stop watching! It's like watching a car crash in slow motion.

Knowing how this effect is done, it can only go wrong through stupidity or lack of concentration.
Yes, it is a risky effect but something which needs to be practiced properly. I wouldn't attempt it with a nail as is seen on one of the videos on youtube and would go for something like Spike or the Scorpion which is suited to the purpose better and less likely to cause a mishap.

The lady spec seen in the video actually goes onto another magic forum and has mentioned this. What astonishes me is the arrogance of the performer who seems to have no regard for the specs predicament and seems to still want his applause.

Doing something like this on a spec is pure stupidity and it astonishes me that this inept buffoon wasn't sued to high heaven.

There's no absolute SUREFIRE way for this effect (Smash/Stab) to be performed without using transparent bags, stooges or other methods which would nullify the effect.

Now...

I am of the standard common belief that things DO go wrong. It's inevitable. Otherwise, there'd be no entry for the word in the dictionary as it wouldn't be needed. There's always a fine chance that something beyond your control can happen.

So...

WHY would you involve an audence member when doing the SMASH&STAB routine?

Yeah, it's dramatic. Yeah, for sure it's participation.

But quite frankly, it's an accident waiting to happen.

However, it was very entertaining thank you

Lord Freddie wrote: would go for something like Spike or the Scorpion which is suited to the purpose better and less likely to cause a mishap.

Intuitively, I wouldn't be surprised if the Scorpion was a great deal safer than any item with a single point. It certainly looks nasty but I suspect that spreading the force over a number of short spikes would mean that none of them would penetrate the hand far enough to do any lasting damage.

I could be wrong of course so perhaps we should carry out some experiments to test it... do I have a volunteer....??

I've seen those clips on youtube and it makes me feel sick, the thought of it happening is enough for me. I seen the tricks up close although i don't own one, it's not my thing. Using the quality props you can get i don't see how it would go wrong for you if you had an ounce of common sense. Just as was mentioned earlier if you had any doubt just reveal it and don't slam it. Using a spec is, well, just stupid.

I think the scorpion would better slightly better in a gone wrong situation but they vary in sharpness and i've handled one that would leave you with a hand that would resemble a tea bag, and one that would probably need removing at hospital.

Great effect though

The 'SPIKE' effect uses a pretty blunt prop. It's not likely to cause too much harm.

When I originally conceived the idea for the 'Spike' effect, I'd actually had an arrowhead in mind, on an old arrow shaft. There could be a great tale of old Indian folklore.

Anyone who likes the idea feel free to steal it. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened.

Deshi wrote:I think the scorpion would better slightly better in a gone wrong situation but they vary in sharpness and I've handled one that would leave you with a hand that would resemble a tea bag, and one that would probably need removing at hospital.

And I suppose we shouldn't forget that the spikes have poisoned tips as well...