Review by Andy Martin for Locked Deck by Lu Brent, Gus Southall
5 out of 5
One of the most effective Card Tricks!
This effect from Zanadu has been around for years but it really is wonderful. Quite simply a card is chosen, the deck is padlocked, and even in the spectators hands, with no palming or funny moves whatsoever – the card dissappears from the locked deck only to appear in a wallet or card box or anywhere you fancy.
Very strong impact on the audience! The wallet does not come with the effect – use your own.
Review by Andy Martin for Smiling Assassin by Meir Yedid
4 out of 5
Wonderful off beat card effect!
When you are tired of doing the same old boring card effects this little gem fits in very nicely.
It uses very cute cards with smiley faces on the backs and a key chain size pistol which lets out a rather loud bang. The ending is a real surprise and guaranteed to get a laugh from your audience.
Review by Andy Martin for Very Wild! by Boris Wild
4 out of 5
Not a Wild Card Routine, But Still Wild!
Just to set things straight when I first saw this effect advertised I thought it was a Wild Card routine. It does have the similarity that 4 different cards change into 4 other cards, but it is called Wild because of it’s talented inventor Boris WIld!
Anyway, you cleanly show 4 cards back and front, turn two cards over – and still cleanly show back and front of all 4 cards, but when you push them together they have now changed to 4 Aces, and you can show all the backs too. There are no half cards, and the cleaness of the change is a joy to behold.
No real sleights, but a little handling practice is required to make this miracle perfect!
Review by Andy Martin for Perspex Prediction by Rob Bromley
5 out of 5
Wow! Easy, Cheap, And Very Convicing Prediction!
This is a very simple little outfit from Rob Bromley and it is amazingly clean. You show the perspex board with 6 cards attached. You can clearly see through the perspex. The spectator names any number – no force – and you turn over the card at that position. You can take the whole card out and freely show it. This card matches your prediction. You then turn around the board and the other cards are all different.
Of course there is always one issue with magic – it would have been nice if the elastic was not quite as tightly threaded to make it a little easier in placing the cards under them!
Gaft card magic has been around for many years and definitely has a place in Magic history. The problem is that sooner or later gaft cards wear out and have to be replaced. With the aid of this valuable book these cards can be duplicated for pennies! The book covers everything, tools and techniques, to manufacture double face, double back, split face, split back cards. There is a slight learning curve to the technique, but after one deck’s worth of splitting you have the technique down enough to create any gaff required. This is a wise investment to keep a dying art alive!
Review by Andy Martin for TimeTrix by Bazar de Magia
5 out of 5
A very nice, well priced Stull Watch
This is a very nice watch that works basically like the old Stull Watches, does not cost an arm and a leg and seems to be very consistent.
Basically you take off your watch and show how the winder freely moves the hand (as it should!), you then turn it over and hand it to them so that they can move the hand to any time without seeing.
You can always predict the time. The other good news is that you can repeat it up to 3 more times without the same number recycling. The watch can be examined before and after and comes with am impressive instruction booklet featuring more than 12 different routines.
The only problem I had with this effect was that the numbers on the box that were meant to be the "random" times this watch stopped on were wrong. This is easy to resolve you just write down the numbers for your watch the first time and then you are done from then on.
If you can’t afford the Richard Gerlitz Prediction Watch, then this is the one for you. One thing to be wary of: some of the early watches actually had the name "Timetrix" on the face – the instructions are printed that way but the watch itself has TmX on the face. When ordering yours you might want to ensure that you have TmX on yours. It seems a bit strange why they would go to the effort of creating what looks like a normal watch, and then stamp the name Timetrix on it!
Review by Andy Martin for Ghostly Linking Finger Rings by Joe Porper
5 out of 5
This Miracle isn’t cheap, but it is Beautiful!
This is clearly one of the best of the Modern Joe Porper line. It is beautifully made, it is quite stunning when performed properly and it employs a clever mechanism. So it fills the Craftsmanship, Ingenuity, and Entertainment checklists of the Very Best Magic. Later in the year Digital Cheetah will be developing a new website that just features The Best Magic, and this is precisely the sort of effect you will find there.
It arrives in a solid (and heavy!) hardwood presentation case and comes with a detailed booklet of instructions with lots of photos. To do justice to this effect will take some practice, but that is a good thing as we all know. The moves are certainly not difficult and the killer ending with the Al Koran inspired pen is accomplished all too easily!
The price at $695 is up there! But, unlike some of the other effects in this line, I believe you will be happy with it, and once you perform it you will for sure feel confident you have made a great choice. The dealer ads say this is a limited edition, but no mention is made of how limited the edition is. But if you are tempted to get one I suggest you get one soon – the amount of work to build these is by no means trivial so the supply will eventually run out.
This is a nice piece from Joe Porper. It comes in the easily identified hard wood case and is made in Joe Porper’s popular anodized aluminum style.
The effect is simple enough. You show the nut in the box and ask a spectator to thread the bolt into the nut. It clearly is very solidly threaded into the bolt.
You have the spectator unscrew the bolt and then you show them how using magic you can thread it instantly. And this is what you do, one minute it is not threaded on the bolt and the next second it is – no covers or anything to hide. The whole unit can be examined both before and after.
The box is a mechanical gem and has great potential too fool you. The only real problem I have with this effect is: why do you need the black box at all? Why can’t you just thread the bolt on the nut in an instant without the box? Of course that would not make for an expensive collector item, but it would look more magical. But enough of this heracy – the box is beautifully made and the mechanism is clever.
Review by Andy Martin for Dice Cup (Metal) by Joe Porper
4 out of 5
Beautiful Dice Cup
If you are into dice stacking or you just like pretty utility items then this Dice Cup from Joe Porper is sure to please. This won’t make it any easier to actually do the Dice Stacking, but at least you will look good trying.
It is tall enough to handle 6 dice comfortably, made with polished silver metal, and wrapped with genuine alligator skin, and lined on the inside.
If you saw Fred Kaps do his simple Dice Stacking on his recent DVD you’ll know how cool and amazing it looks. And with a Porper cup how can you go wrong?
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