3 Stars

Low tech, Low quality, but effect still looks good.

Ok so this is not going to rate as your highest quality effect or as a great new technical marvel or as anything too original – and the deck of cards that comes with the trick should be thrown in the trash as soon as you get them. They are the worst quality I have ever seen!

However, the effect is actually very strong and I think if you do buy this you really could have a fooler on your hands. It is easy to do with no complex sleights or reset. To me it is very like John Cornelius’ Instant Pro replacing the wallet with the picture frame and without the stronger gags. The routine tries to add some fun into the mix, but I think Instant Pro is stronger – and probably easier to perform too.

Basically the effect is as follows: you remove a clear picture frame from a little blue drawstring bag. You then place a card, back showing facing the audience into the frame. They then choose a card (and can sign it) and you cover up the frame with the bag. At a snap of the fingers when you pull away the bag and turnaround the frame their card is seen in the frame. Complete with their signature!

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Loads of Shells, but quality is not Johnson!

These jumbo coins from Henry Evens are a little dissappointing. They look pretty good even close-up, but when you actually handle them they are only ok. The coins themselves could be a bit thicker and the stamps more central. The shells feel flimsy and although I’m quite sure they look superb in Mr. Evans’ hands I found them just a bit too light.

The instructions that come with the package are poorly printed and short. When you’re paying this much the least they could have done was throw in better instructions with some step by step photos.

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Final or Complex FlashBack?

I have been trying for a while now to simplify my magic and I was hoping when this Final version of FlashBack came out from the great minds of Larry Becker and Lee Earle that I could throw the rest of my book tests away.

Unfortunately, this was not the case and I found the whole system more complex than I expected. To me this is magic for magician’s and mentalists, rather than for lay people. Larry and Lee have thought of all of these clever ideas and embedded them in these books. But it just seemed too much for me. I have no doubts in their hands it kills, but I just did not have the stomach for it.

The books are well printed and although some have said the books don’t look real, that was the least of my concerns – I just found the number of things you have to learn to perform this whole routine to be more work than I was prepared to put in. I believe part of the problem is that the routine provided is quite a long routine in the first place. I’m sure for many people this will be just what you are looking for, but they were not for me.

I’ll stick with MasterMind II and Dream Revelation. With these I have a very direct book test, that can be repeated on the spot and once set-up is easy to do.

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Ok so these are "Cool", but so what?

So there is a lot of hype around these new Black Deck Tigers. They are a nice quality card and do look "cool" if you like that sort of thing. However, if anything screams out trick deck more than these I have yet to see it.

It seems to me that these really only appeal to the young Ellusionist crowd who are much more into the look and pulsating beat of magic, than the entertainment, mystery and absolute wonderment of the spectators. There is the odd occasion as part of a bizarre routine, or some color change, or some flourishes that these can come into their own. But for the most part they just say "Look, I’m using a trick deck of cards for this effect."

There is nothing wrong with this of course, but don’t fool yourself into believing the hype that people will think you’re a cooler and better magician because you have these "cool" looking cards. The only people who will think that are other magicians who think these cards are "cool".

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This is almost a Great Effect!

This prop looks intriguing with these funny looking wizards/witches in a distressed looking box. It’s bascailly the same as Quantimental, but dressed up, and it also uses the same method. When looked at by the spectator the box appears to be finished well. The figures are not the best quality and neither is their paint job, but they suffice.

However, like so many props these days it suffers from some fundamental usability flaws. Firstly, the set-up on this item is tricky and requires some luck and practice to get it right smoothly each time so that the gimmick does not dislodge. Secondly, when the wizards are standing up you cannot close the box. This seems really stupid to me, why have a presentation box that you can’t close. This means that once you set-up this unit you have to carry the box around with the lid open and the wizards balancing. Now for technical reasons the box does need to be a bit deeper than the space taken up by the figures, but why not have different figures that are lying down or something so that they fit the box? Finally, the colors of the wizards do not match the gimmicks that prompt you with the answer and you have to do some mental decoding: purple is white, orange is yellow.

Quantimental does not suffer from these problems and in fact, because it has a stand that is ordinary looking it raises much less suspicion. This Coffer is however very quiet in operation, even quieter than Quantimental.

If only inventors would use their props a bit more and see how impractical some of them are for real performers. Unless, of course they are planning for magicians to never really perform these things. If that is the case then this is actually a very nice prop, as long as you don’t take it apart and look at the glue marks on the underside of the felt!

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Good book to breathe a new lease of life into your Readers!

When you first start out in magic it seems you quickly go off using stripper decks and marked decks. I remember using a marked deck all the time before the age of 15. I also remember have great fun with Deland’s Deck, which of course is a combination of a stripper deck, a marked deck, and a stacked deck all in one. In fact I used to do all sorts of miracles with the Deland Deck. But I haven’t picked one up now for over 25 years!

At some point you figure these tools are not good magic and move on. Well Kirk Charles’ book Marked for Life reminds you that marked cards are still very useful and by mixing in sleights, non-reader effects, and reader effects you not only can create some huge miracles, but also you can keep the audience guessing.

This 95 page soft covered book spends about a third of the book going through various types of marking systems and its very interesting to see the different approaches various people take. I decided to give the bold, but easy, Ted Lesley’s Working Performers Marked Deck a shot.

Once you read this book you will start using a marked deck again. It has many wonderful routines that just are so much better with a marked deck. And providing you follow the tips and tactics mentioned in this book no one will ever suspect a marked deck is being used. I think that is the key thing for me: by combining the marked deck with other principles you can make a good effect into a complete mind blower that could not be easily achieved in any other manner.

The book is well written and researched and comes with a large bibliography of other areas to continue reading about marked decks. Many of which I’m sure you already have, much to your surprise. It may not be a classic book, but it does provide you the path back to an old friend that really should be in every magician’s toolkit.

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Unusual and Interesting!

This effect from Mikame Craft is very interesting and different. The method works well and the props are top notch.

Makes a good opener to a series of rope effects! This is an effect that is best kept for the stage however.

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Surprisingly well made for MAK!

This is a simple mini guillotine effect that is surprizingly well made for MAK. There are a few glue marks near the base – shades of NIck "Glue Master" de Palma, but otherwise a very well priced mini guillotine.

The problem with this mini version, as with the large 7 foot stage one is that I’m not sure how convincing it is. What you really want is a Guillotine designed where the blade tips are at the outside of the stocks too, and you see it fall through the finger. Then it would be a lot more convincing.

But played for laughs you can still have fun with this … and for the price its a bargain.

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Amusing anecdotes and great Kid Show Advice

This is the second book I’ve read by Frances Ireland (Marshall) written in 1952. It’s not as informative or detailed as her other one, You Don’t Have To Be Crazy, but it still makes for interesting, light reading.

It has many anecdotes of famous and not so famous magicians which help you relive the past golden years of magic. I don’t know if such things continue to happen as the magic community has been watered down over the last twenty years or so but I hope there are similar parallels today.

Of particular interest is the section on the Chicago Magic Bar scene which gives a glimpse into a world that I certainly have never experienced and would like to.

Also, there is a very helpful section on performing to kids. This section is certainly filled with the real meat and potatoes for performing to children and is worth checking out if you plan on performing to this difficult, but rewarding, age group.

Overall a worthwhile relaxing read, from one of the most wonderful ladies in Magic.

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Not up to Joe’s usual Standards!

I really like the paddles and other machined props of Joe Porper and was looking forward to receiving this new effect.

Unfortunately I think this paddle is not as well produced as his other paddles and is really quite hard to do convincingly. It is a great idea for a routine with a paddle, but to pull it off is going to take a good deal of practice and skill.

The cards seem somewhat squashed and the back card has a real risk of slipping. The paddle move itself is difficult because you have to be very wary of your angles.

If you collect Joe’s paddles I’m sure you’ll still want this one because it clearly is different from other paddle effects, but I just don’t think the production and practicallity of this one is quite there.

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