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Strange Travellers by Paul Harris

PostPosted: May 24th, '06, 12:01
by trickyricky


Strange Travellers by Paul Harris

The Effect

You show someone a batch of twenty cards.... all different.
You give her ten of the cards to hold.
You now have her think of one of the remaining ten cards. She never says a word. No one except her know what card she's thinking of.

These ten cards are counted again. Strangely.... there are now only nine.
The one card she'd been thinking of has vanished! She's still only thinking of her card... I'ts never been named out loud!
She counts the ten cards she's been holding... ten cards you haven't touched since the beginning.

But now she has eleven cards!

The strange traveller has arived... her thought-of card is now staring her in the face!


Cost

$19.95 from here


Difficulty
(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)

I would say this is a 1 once you have got it down, but initially its a 2 because there are certain things you need to remember, which become second nature after a while.


Review

I opened this up and looked at the supplied cards first. I still couldnt figure it out. I read the instructions through once. I still was a bit confused. I read through the instructions with the cards in my hands and a light bulb went off in my head. As soon as i had recovered from the shards of glass and the throbbing headache, i realised how wonderfully brilliant this whole trick actually is!

There are TWO moves in this entire trick, and they're both the easiest moves that i can possibly think of! The supplied cards are of excellent quality. My set came in red backed bikes, i dont think you can request a different colour but it wouldnt be hard for you to simply make the set into a different colour if you so wish!

The instructions are brilliant quality. They're NOT on a DVD as i first thought, but it doesnt matter. The booklet goes through every little step easily and precisely. There is one method described that uses a table to spread the cards on. The second is for walk around magic where all you have a deck, and the air in front of you to attempt to spread the cards on.

It is this second method that has caused confusion amongst buyers of the trick. On the Ellusinist website, it says this:

Can be performed with or without a regular deck


What this means is that you can do the trick with the aid of a regular deck, but you cant just get a regular deck, take 20 cards out of it, and perform the trick. You can basically put the supplied cards into a regular deck and remove them if you want to perform the trick whilst moving around. I haven't performed it this way yet. I like the tabled version. Its very easy to do. The cards are already set up in a black wallet and ready to go!

Oh, i nearly forgot this bit! It also comes with detailed instructions on how to perform 'Anytime Travellers'. Basically you can start a performance, take out your cards and do any tricks that you want before performing this with that same deck. Its hard to explain without exposing too much, but it's called 'The Strange Case Solution'. The details for this are once again very good quality and easy to follow.


Overall

I love this effect! Its great! If you already have it, burn it! If you dont have it, don't buy it! I WANT THIS ALL FOR MYSELF!!!

Out of 10, i'd give this a ............. 9.9.

It lost 0.1 of a mark for confusing me into letting me think i can do it with just any old cards, and im still bitter about it!


anywhere

PostPosted: May 24th, '06, 16:32
by DrTodd
This sounds very powerful. Harris is a master!


PostPosted: May 24th, '06, 16:48
by seige
This is indeed powerful. Got these babies in yesterday, and was surprised at the actual quality of the effect...

Harris and Blaine feature on the cover of the book sitting watching each other on a train... I just KNEW I'd love it!

Quite rarely, I get something come in to my shop, and think "yeah, I'll keep one of those for ME". This is one such effect.

Everything said in this review I'd agree with. It seems bizarre at first, but when it 'clicks' and you perform it, you realise how simple and yet how powerful this is.

Harris is a master of visionary magic. This is it.


PostPosted: May 27th, '06, 13:00
by magicmonkey
i like the sound of this one. just checked with davenports but they dont have them in yet....i wanted to play today :(
he'd not heard of it, but i think he's going to get them in now.
just ordering from NUMS....damn you bank holiday, probably wont get them til at least tuesday or wednesday.
i hope i catch siege in time for todays postal treck if there is one.

by the way, it was me who mailed you back about the sharpies earlier on in the week (sts, nfw, 2xclear bikes, sharpies). did you receive it? pm if necessary. cheers


PostPosted: May 28th, '06, 14:35
by russellmagic
what is it with davenports. they never have anything that i seek to get but end up buying loads of other gear :lol: went to get split spades deck and ended up getting barrie richardson act two which is a fat book to read. :lol: Just ordered strange travellers and can't wait. did anyone see the blaine special where he pulled out the girls teeth and spat them back in place :shock: . You would actually get very hurt if you did that where i lived :lol: amazing tho


PostPosted: May 28th, '06, 15:00
by magicmonkey
yeah davenports is bad for impulse buys. theyre always up for showing you something you want to take home with you. i went just for anytime anywhere and came out with black n white surprise and a few other goodies. cheap loops too.

i liked the tooth effect, her reaction was hilarious


PostPosted: May 28th, '06, 15:14
by seige
Yes, you caught me for the post :D

Therefore you should get your Strange Travellers on Tuesday, Wednesday latest!


PostPosted: May 28th, '06, 15:55
by magicmonkey
WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOO

another addition to my baffling arsenal by wednesday

:D

nice one


PostPosted: May 28th, '06, 22:50
by MagicShop
Got this in just before the weekend, and road tested it at a booking last night. It's VERY rare for me to try something 'live' so quickly, but it's such a nice effect and I couldn't wait to have a go :) The version with the clean finish is IMHO the one to use!!

At £15 (looking at most dealers) I would say it was well worth many times the price!!

Highly recommended

Hope this helps

Best wishes and good luck with your magic!
Dominic Reyes
The Merchant of Magic
www.MagicShop.co.uk


PostPosted: Jun 4th, '06, 19:35
by russellmagic
just been playing with this effect and really like it. Also very nicely presented! very recommended. 8)


PostPosted: Jun 7th, '06, 20:00
by DW
I just recieved this effect this morning and just have a question about displaying the cards at the start of the effect. Would anybody who has actually performed the effect mind a PM from me with the question? I would have posted it here or in support and tips but i don't want to get into trouble for giving too much away. You can ask me something specific about the booklet/effect if you think i don't actually have it and just fishing for clues. :roll: Any help appreciated.

Dan :D


PostPosted: Jun 7th, '06, 21:45
by eephus
Is this effect any different than Daryl's "Crossed Thought" or "Double Crossed?" Are there improvements?


PostPosted: Jun 7th, '06, 22:20
by Demitri
I believe the effects are the same.

Jay Sankey has had an effect like this on the market for quite some time. His version doesn't have the spectator holding a set # of cards - so the "extra card" segment isn't available. Still a powerful effect, though.

The Strange Travellers has that little extra, though.


PostPosted: Jun 8th, '06, 10:36
by DW
Cheers Demitri :wink:

Dan :D


PostPosted: Jun 8th, '06, 15:21
by DW
Thanks to Gony aswell. :wink:

Cheers

Dan :D