talkmagic.co.uk

Phil Plus!
by Trevor Duffy and Phil Goldstein


They Say:

New and Improved Phil Trick!

A spectator merely thinks of a card and the magician names it! Surprised? Now the kicker! - the magician thinks of a card and the spectator names it!

- Self Working, no sleight of hand!
- No Svengali!
- No Rough and Smooth.



I Say:

Right...where to start? I love this trick! Really! Yay! It’s great!

OK, let me try to be a little bit more coherent. *deep breath*

The effect of this trick is pretty simple but nevertheless very strong. I’m going to be a bit vague about it just in case but if it seems that I can go into more detail I’d be happy to. In any case, it plays as follows:

A card is thought of by the spectator. The cards haven’t been uncased yet so no trickiness (really!). The magician names this card but not in the way the spectators were expecting. They don’t really get it so he shows them their card and proves that he was right all along. Of course, right? Right! RIGHT!!! Our magi (could be Gerard?) offers to repeat the trick. Twice is better than once, no? As the spectators snore from the effects of 3 ½ hours of nonstop card magic the magi thinks of a card. When one of the spectators rises from his slumber Ger— the magi (yes, that's right) asks him him to name the card – and the spectator is proved right!

Well, that’s the gist. With some extra rambling in. Anyhow, so does this really do what it says on the tin? Yes, yes, yes!

One point I would like to make, though. This is a gimmicked deck. It’s not really examinable either – I would definitely not give it to a spectator as they will see something wrong with it immediately. That shouldn't be a problem though due to the way the trick is structured. Also, it's not in Bikes.

Right, on to the pros

1. No Sleights
   Really! There are no sleights in this routine at all. Not one. It is a real self-worker. You need to be able to take a pack of cards out of the box. Of course, a bit of patter might go down well ...
   
2. Easy to do
   Gerard’s 2-year old niece’s doll’s friend could do this.
   
3. Reactions
   Yep, you’ll get plenty of those. No shortage whatsoever!
   I don’t really have much more to say so I’d best shut up, with the final comment that I really request that you don’t buy this. I want it all to myself!

Any cons? Well, yes, some, but nothing worth worrying about.

1. The deck is not examinable
   Shouldn't be a problem, especially if you have convinced the spectators that you are trustworthy (yeah right!). Then again, if you know that one of them is going to ask to have a look at the deck you might want to stay away from this trick.
   
2. The deck is not Bike
   Again, this shouldn't really matter. Given the fact that you can introduce the pack as a 'special' pack it's easily justified to use a different deck.
   
3. You need to carry around another deck
   True. Still, IMO the effect merits it easily.

So what do I think? Well, IMHO:
9/10 (nothing’s perfect! Well, Smoke and Mirrors maybe...)

It's a really really good trick. There's not much more that I can add to that; it's not expensive or hard to do so there's not much stopping you from BUYING IT NOW!
Kati

Great review. May i also add that Phil Blank is also good as you can put your website or logo on the cards

I was shown this effect in davenports and bought it straight away, a funny trick which I love to do. not repeatable but nevertheless enjoyable to watch and perform as it is quite different from many card tricks you see.
Agree totally with katrielalex, unbelievably easy to do.

Could any experienced users of this routine share with me their thoughts on how they handle the situation that may arise were the spectator to think of 3 particular cards?
I am not too experienced in performing this trick to laypeople but I can see certain random situations occuring that would possibly catch me a bit on the hop and wondered if there were any experienced users of this trick willing to dialogue with me about it, perhaps on pm? I don't want to go into detail here because I don't want to tip secrets.
Regards

Cost? Where do they sell it?

MickyScouse wrote:Cost? Where do they sell it?

Try searching with google - most magic shops sell it, and it costs around £15

Of course, google, why didn't I think of that? I'm too used to clicking on a link in the review.

Cost? £14.50 or £14 can't remember exactly.. i think it's £14 but I'm covering my nancy.
Where they sell it? Davenports

VoodooMick wrote: I'm covering my nancy.

With what? Who's Nancy?

£12.50 from International Magic.

I love this deck too.
Talk about a KISS way to do an effect with 2 cards.
I named my card fred and draw fred flinstone and I also keep a tiny card in the card box.

I love Phil Plus. Perform it all the time but not as an opener.

They can even select the Joker as their card and you still get the wow.

The second half is good for those times when they ask to 'see it again' but you can't always do the second half (e.g. if they pick one of about 4 cards)

if your subject (or one her friends) happens to have the same name as the forced name then you have a really special wow effect. If you know her name is the force name before you start then just get her to point to any card as you fan the deck (face up) remove that card, turn the deck over and fan the backs to show the names she could have selected. then turn over her selected card with her name on the back. mega wow.

I always put the last chosen card at the bottom of the deck. That way they are in order of popularity. it saves too much thumbing through cards. if someone names the card that just happens to be at the bottom of the deck you get an extra wow as you open the box.

in the original review it says you need to carry another pack. just to clarify that does not mean you need another pack to perform this effect. I think it means you need another pack if you are doing other card effects as this pack is specific to this effect.

is there a version in bikes anyone ?

This is to strong to be an opener if you are going to be doing a pick a standard card trick for obvious reasons unless you are going to do somethig very special with it.
Thanks for the bottom idea.
I feel this effect could be great for table hopping.

There is now a Phil Plus 2.

I think it has a mix of boys and girls names rather than just girls names.
The force card is still a girl's name though.

Does anyone have the new deck?
Is that the only change ?

Maybe I'm getting confused but the last Phill deck I bought (a few months ago) was blank so you could force any name / phone number, whatever. Am I confused? (Please answer kindly, I am a pensioner.....)