3 Stars

Nice Props, Ok Prediction, and Not Cheap!

This is a nice, but expensive, prediction effect. It works exactly as described, but I was expecting a different method from the more standard Perfect Match. Unfortunately it works the same way and since there are only 3 cards the prediction is not so mind blowing.

The quality of the props is really good but for the price I would expect more.

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Nice Gimmicked Deck – But Why?

I have been performing Paul Curry’s Out of This World for over 30 years, and it has never failed to entertain my audiences. One of the biggest reasons it is a classic of card magic, is that you can use a borrowed deck and perform it pretty much anytime, anywhere.

So why would you ruin it and use a gimmicked deck? It is a great gimmicked deck, but please use it for something else – not Out of This World.

There are some good effects that this deck could be used for, and it does come with some ideas, but using it for Out of This World is certainly not one.

The deck is produced well and the photo-illustrated instructions are superb.

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Sadly, this is no Al Goshman!

Well this is a nicely produced set of salt shakers from Mikame. They have one primary goal – to make us all look as good as Al Goshman! Well not really, but at least they try to make his signature effect (Salt & Pepper Shaker, Page 39, Magic by Gosh) possible for mere mortals.

To replace all the sleights required for Mr. Goshman’s effect including: The Edge Palm, The Classic Palm, The Clink Pass, The Coin Roll and The Toss Vanish amonst others is a tall order for any mechanical device. And of course even then you just have the mechanics, you’ll never get close to his Performance!

But if you want to produce coins seemingly at will beneath the salt shaker without sleight of hand then this is the outfit that is meant to do it. And when I first tried it out, I tapped four times and each time one coin appeared and I thought wow, this is cool! Unfortunately, as I played with the props more sometimes no coins appeared and other times two or three appeared. So the skill required is knowing how hard to tap. Unfortunately I fear that you will always be worried about the wrong number of coins appearing.

Which leads you back to practicing the actual sleights so you can in fact control precisely when coins appear. So my advice is to buy the Goshman book (for less than these shakers) and practice the effect as it was meant to be seen. This is one item that I don’t feel comfortable leaving to mechanical means.

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I love Attaboy, but this is not as convincing.

The inspiration for this effect comes from the old Jack Hughes effect: Attaboy. However, in my opinion it is not as convincing as Attaboy by quite a long margin. The device is made well enough in strong plastic and the art work for the eye is fine.

The idea of taking cards from one side and replacing them on the other until a specator calls stop certainly leads to some interesting routines, one of which is detailed in the instructions. However, I don’t think it looks that convincing – with Attaboy you have 12" or more between the two banks of cards, but with this the cards are right next to each other. Even if it looks like the cards are coming from one side and being replaced at the other – as it does – the cards are just too close to not rule out that you did "something".

In fact, I think you are better off doing The Glide and skipping using the Wink paddle altogether and you can achieve similar results. It is true that multiple cards can be forced easier using the Wink paddle. However, the more that the paddle is used the more the move arouses suspicion.

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