Trans-SPOT-ition by Kent Bergmann

This was one of the effects that stopped me showcasing Kent’s beautiful magic on my site about 12 years ago. If you follow my website you will know I have a strong friendship with Alan Warner. I created two websites dedicated to his magic (firstly this one and then later this one), and it was Alan’s magic that began my love affair with beautiful and clever magic props. When Kent showed me this effect for the first time, it was so similar to Alan’s Twister that I felt uncomfortable putting it on my site.  Although the routine is quite different to Twister (and more akin to Dizzy Dominoes by Tonny Van Dommelen or Crazy Dominoes by Marcelo Contento) the method is basically the same as Twister, and there is a strong correlation between the two effects.

At the time Kent had simply not noticed the similarities and over the years I’ve got to know and trust Kent very well, and believe he was just too close to the effects to realize the similarities.  He certainly was not intentionally copying Alan.   But when another item came out that also was very similar, I decided to stop showcasing Kent for the sake of my relationship with Alan.  Years later Kent roared back with a whole new line of his amazing 3D Magic which was truly his own thing that everything was forgotten and forgiven, from my perspective at least, and I started to showcase his magic again.  I have included this item and this one as a reminder of that time.

Trans-SPOT-ition is a great little trick, and is easy to do with no tricky moves.  I think it is more effective with Dominoes and no box, but that is nearly always true for collectible wooden tricks – we love the boxes, but in the spectator’s mind they do point to trickery 🙂

Effect: The performer shows a small wooden case to his spectator. The top of the case is removed and tipped to allow two wooden checks fall to the table. The wooden checks have spots on them, one has a black spot and the other has a white spot.

The performer then takes the two checks and shows the two different colored checks on the front and blank on the back. The performer explains that this will be a unique trick as the magic happens in the spectator’s hand.

The performer asks the spectator to hold out his/her hand and places the two checks in the palm of the spectator’s hand. The magician asks the spectator to close their hand and turn it closed palmside down.

The performer explains that he/she will now remove one of the checks from the spectator’s hand and does it in a way as to reveal which check has been taken. For example, the performer visibly removes the white check and places it in the palm of his/her hand. The performer then closes his/her hand and also turns it closed palm-side down to mirror the spectator. Next the performer asks the spectator which check has been left in his/her hand. The white check was visibly removed, so the spectator naturally states that they have the black check in their hand.

The performer asks the spectator to open their hand and reveal the black check. The spectator opens their hand and to their surprise, they are holding the white check. The performer opens his/her hand to reveal that the checks have made a complete transposition and the black check is now in the performer’s hand.

The performer then takes both checks and explains that he/she will perform a one check monte, the performer visibly places the white check into the wooden case and the other check remains in his/her closed palm-side down hand. The spectator is asked which check remains in the performer’s hand. The white check was visibly removed, so the spectator again states that the black check is in the performer’s hand. The performer opens his/her hand to reveal the white check and tips the wooden case to let the black check fall to the table. . .once again, a complete transposition of the checks. The checks are then handed to the spectator to inspect.

TRAN-SPOT-ITION is handmade in Zebrawood. The decoration on the front of the box is made of Zebrawood, Weng and Maple. The inlaid spots on the checks are made of Weng (black) and Maple (white). The entire set treated with a natural, oil-rubbed finish. The box measures approximately 3.5″ x 2″ x 1.25″, the wooden plaque measures approximately 1.5″ x 2.5″ x .25″.

NOTE: The routine can be done so that either the black or white checks can be in either the spectator’s or the performer’s hand so it does not have to be the same every time.

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