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Brainless Travellers is an effect on the Fancy a Pot of Jam DVD.

WOW reading all your guys comments.. i think i may just have to get this trick... 1 question though... is there a video floating round the net of this trick in ACTION! just wonderd.. cos i wouldnt mind seeing it performed..

CrAzYD

I've been looking and I can't find one. No luck on YouTube maybe someone can post on up on here??

i have recently purchased this today, i would half to give it 10 out of 10.

there is one slight involved, but as soon as i opened it i could do it.

one downpoint is that there is alot of reading involved, and i dont mind reading but it kinds of jumps all over the place.

the book is very cool. they explain everything from using the little wallet which is included do doing walka round with out a table.

great mentalism effect
and card effect

again overall 10 out of 10

Hello,

Sorry for resurrecting this already well-covered thread, but Strange Travellers is an effect I love and now have some experience performing. Recently I've been using it at the end of a poker routine, under the guise of explaining how I managed to get the best hands - i.e. having the spectator "will" any of the cards from your hand of ten into his. I find it's a nice kicker ending and dealing the twenty cards from the bottom of a deck you have been using and handling makes everything seem very fair.

Now, at risk of being shouted at loudly, here's the controversial bit...

I've ditched the "smaller" gimmick.

(Replaced it with another of the "larger" gimmicks. Hope that makes sense.)

There, I've said it. Now, I know, I know, it's a very clever and well-made addition. When I first got the trick I loved its elegance and simplicity. But now I find it unnecessary. First of all, I don't count MY ten cards anymore - I find it attracts attention to a part of the trick I don't want any attention on. I just count twenty cards off the deck, note they are all different, gather together "about half", count them as ten and hand them to the spec. Removing the small gimmick gives me confidence to simply spread out the cards without worry or awkwardness (I found the gimmick spaced too closely together anyway). After all, if you're not counting the cards, what's the point?

Secondly, one of the widely-accepted problems with this effect is performing for a group. There are, indeed, some visual discrepencies. How I combat this is to spread my cards fairly swiftly and ask the spec to look down and remember one (a la DB's "Smoke"). Then I have him concentrate intensely on that one card, imagining it's the one card he needs during a game of poker, or whatever. Finally, after much mental effort, I have him reveal what card he was focussing on. I then have all of the other spectators help him concentrate on that one card, saying it to themselves, seeing it in their minds... Point is, when I show my hand again, they are now only looking for the spec's thought-of card, and not another one they might casually have remembered themselves. The spec's card is gone and so attention shifts to HIS hand of cards.

I realise it's nice not to have the card named at all, but it's no less clean or impossible and, in my opinion, provides nice misdirection when performing for many sets of wandering eyes.

Cheers,
John

I like to let the spectator deal off the 20 cards, and then I give them 10. They draw the conclusion about the remainder.

DrTodd wrote:I like to let the spectator deal off the 20 cards, and then I give them 10. They draw the conclusion about the remainder.

That's what I do too. That way the only counting that gets done is by the spectator...

This effect is basically a knock off of Jay Sankey's Astral Projection. However, the Harris method seems to be superior.

It's not a knockoff. The effects are similar, and while that comparison was already made a long time ago, neither can actually lay claim to the methodology - since variants of it have been in use for many, many years. I also wouldn't say one is superior to the other. They both have their pros and cons. The only possible advantage is that Strange Traveller's is slightly easier to clean up and continue if you plan to continue with a card set.

Michael Kras wrote:This effect is basically a knock off of Jay Sankey's Astral Projection.

Not sure Nate Leipzig would agree with you.

I wish it wasn't all text tho. It would be nice if there was a video or something.

Why on earth do you need a video, its a great trick and even me being a beginner in magic can pull it off flawlessly!

If a video or dvd were included you would expect the price to jump by at least £5, and its sooooooooooo not needed

I recently created an impromptu version of this... Just borrow a deck of cards and you're ready to go. PM me if interested! I will send out 5 copies to 5 people who promise to review it.

Michael Kras wrote:I recently created an impromptu version of this... Just borrow a deck of cards and you're ready to go. PM me if interested! I will send out 5 copies to 5 people who promise to review it.

How many DL's does it involve?

None. The effect is sleightless.