talkmagic.co.uk

KENT by John Mahood

Available from http://www.alakazam.co.uk/acatalog/Mentalism_11.html OR http://www.wonderwizards.com/item.php?id=182

Costs £10.99

Difficulty N/A

The Effect

"Ultimate proof that you can read minds even in the worst situations
K.E.N.T. is a wild mix of principles making for a REAL solution to mind reading. This looks like the REAL thing...

Whether you are a close-up performer or a mentalist that plays it seriously, K.E.N.T. is a must have for you.

Kenton calls K.E.N.T. "One of two tools I rely upon for close-up work of any kind, magic or mentalism".

K.E.N.T. is the creation of Irish magician and mentalist John Mahood.

IMAGINE... A wise guy pulls out his own deck of cards and demands that you prove your abilities. He wants you to prove yourself, without touching the cards, without writing anything down, without others helping. NO touching, NO marks, NO sleight of hand of any kind.

NOW WHAT?

With K.E.N.T. you tell the spectator to make it tough on you and think of one of a few cards he himself removes from his own deck. You never see these. You instruct him how to focus upon his thought of card and you NAME HIS CARD to the degree that he freaks out and swears you are the REAL thing. He dares you to tell him what his card is, and that is exactly what you are seen to do."

The Review

Another nice little booklet from Kenton & Co. at Wonder Wizards. It's a dinky little thing, A5 size, 26 pages and containing an excellent effect.

The effect is as described, and although it doesn't play as directly as the advertising states it can be performed over the phone and so on and anyone with good showmanship and/or a basic understanding of psychology could make this fly. Basically, if you're good at controlling your audience, this is a cinch. The effect is incredibly fair and there are no forces.

I learned this effect in a matter of minutes and then foolishly rushed out to try it. It flopped - didn't work. So if you do get this I urge you to invest some time in to thinking about how you will present this. After I did just that I got some great reactions - much stronger than 'pick a card' tricks.

Basically, this is an effect that you can 'do' after a few minutes - but shouldn't. Spend some time working out a good presentation and you'll have a minor miracle on your hands.

That said, it does have it's limitations - it is not a guaranteed effect and does take some nerve to pull off, but it hits virtually every time and gets great reactions. I suggest you to read the extra bit of info (accessibly by the link on Alakazam) to see whether it is suitable for you.

I do tend to save it for times when I don't have the chance to do a billet switch & peek etc. as there are quicker ways of getting a similar effect - that said this is perfect for those awkward spectators we must all have had who demand that you never come near the cards. I can see this playing well over the phone and if I ever branch out to working professionally I may use this over the phone on prospective clients.

As well as all this there is an application of the effect from Kenton - good stuff as ever.

Finally, this is just a fun booklet to read itself, regardless of the content. Mr. Mahood is a funny and clear writer who is a pleasure to read. And, with Kenton being the one bringing this out and under his editorial scrutiny, this is one booklet free of all those little grammatical errors or typos that so often bug us.

At the price it's a bargain. Recommended if you're in to mentalism; this is for someone who appreciates mentalism and I can see this being a valuable tool to them.

Brilliant.

Just wondering why you have said that the difficulty level is not applicable. Surely if it is easy to learn but harder to perform as you suggest you should be able to find a level for it, maybe no sleights but not that easy or suitable for advanced performers? You could even reword one of the other suggested difficulty levels that refer to sleight of hand to make it applicable.

Yeah, sorry, I was looking at that from a technical pov as I'd said in the actual review that good showmanship or presentation skills are needed. Looking at it from that angle then I'd say it was a 2 or a 3, verging more on 3.

What a great review in fact too great as I will know have to buy it

C.U.P.S

Regards

Dean

Thanks for the great review. Will have to check that out