Month: September 2019

I love this device!  It works perfectly every time and is a good size for formal close-up and small parlor shows.  The routine gets progressively more amazing and there looks like no sign of trickery.  The device is beautifully made and the switch covers come on and off easily and are attached internally by small magnets so you are unlikely to loose anything in your case.  The routine is also easy to remember and once you have played with it for thirty minutes you’ll be golden!

Click here for more information.

I’ve been in love with the Gypsy Thread effect since I first saw it in Sussex, England forty years ago! This is a wonderful take on this effect created by David Levitan and brought to you by the other Englishman, Mark Mason. What a great idea and routine! “In fact, I never had a Yo-Yo, I just had a Yo!” Mark cracks me up! 

The DVD instruction on this by Mark is perfect – he really explains everything so cleanly and clearly that you’ll learn how to do it on the first watching. One of the clearest explanations I have seen for a long time.  Great Job Mark!

Click here for more information.

If you love dice effects – and who doesn’t – you will love Steve Drury’s new book 🙂 It is a wonderful treasure trove of ideas, history and effects and at 582 pages it is huge! It is very detailed and thorough and is jam packed with useful information with almost everything to do with dice and taps into related areas such as runes and even mentions Brian Watson’s Sim Stones.  I was immediately able to finally identify some dice that I had long forgotten about here. 

This book is not really aimed at the casual performer but if you want to take your dice effects to the next level there is so much in here to find and use.

• The first part of the book is all about history, etymology, cultural and scientific impacts of Dice and their alternatives – any number of nuggets can be used to amp up your patter and bizarrist stories. 
• Then next part of book is concerned with using dice for divination with sections from Les Cross, Richard Webster and Stephen Ball.
• The next section gets into gambling with dice pretty seriously and Steve includes a very interesting reproduction of H.C. Evans Secret Blue Book (1932) which is a wonderful catalogue detailing all manner of gaffed dice and gambling devices which I found very interesting.
• Then various other types of dice and dice boxes are discussed including: Anverdi’s Mental Die, Magic Wagon’s Crystal Mental Die, Richard Gerlitz’s Oriental Die Box, and the Sure-Shot Dice box, to name just a few.
• In the final sections he details over twenty full-blown routines with dice from an impressive line-up of guest contributors to please every palette.

There is pretty much something for everyone here, and I found it very useful indeed in researching my History Project – in fact I wish I’d read it sooner.  If you want to know anything about dice you’ll probably find it in this wonderful book.  Great job Steve!

Click here for more information.

When I first saw Michael Baker’s Zen and Again on his website I was very excited because I thought he had taken Loyd’s Bunko Blocks and added some beautiful boxes with an Oriental theme to create the perfect set for a Bunko Blocks Deluxe effect. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed because Michael does not use the mechanical method with Zen and Again that makes the Bunko Blocks so effective.  In fact, after contacting Michael he had not even heard of Bunko Blocks so was unaware when he created  Zen and Again of the effect or the method created by Loyd c. 1945. Don’t get me wrong Michael’s version does use gimmicked blocks which do work great, but I’m not convinced it is quite close to the real miracle that can be achieved with the Bunko Blocks.

What I did here is to combine both effects: Loyd’s Bunko Blocks  and Michael’s Zen and Again boxes, and now you really do have a wonderful routine and a complete fooler too – a true Bunko Blocks Deluxe 🙂

Michael’s Zen and Again also comes with updated patter, or you can use a variant (updated for modern PC sensibilities) of the original Loyd handing and patter and you have a really perfect miracle that looks the part too!

I do include Michael’s blocks which you can see in the photos.  The Bunko Blocks are larger and the red ones have Chinese characters on them and have these features:

• No Shells.
• Nothing added or taken away.
• Instant Reset.
• No Extra Blocks.
• No Exchange of Blocks.
• No Sleight of Hand, but some practice required to perform smoothly.
• All Blocks are shown on all sides.

The final feature is the key difference.

Michael’s blocks are a littler easier to perform but have more angle issues and you cannot show all sides of the blocks.  When I created both videos I did the Bunko Blocks first then Michael’s and so that video benefited a lot from the practice on the Bunko Blocks, but there is no doubt Michael’s are a easier at first.  However, I was surprised how easy it was to flash something at the wrong time.  Michael’s version has these features:

• No Shells.
• Nothing added or taken away.
• Instant Reset.
• No Extra Blocks.
• No Exchange of Blocks.
• No Sleight of Hand.

Michael’s blocks are also colored on each side whereas the Bunko Blocks have black tops and bottoms – I never ever considered this an issue, until Michael mentioned it. Personally I see no issues with the black tops and bottoms, but Michael does so for some that might also be considered a plus.  In the end you have to decide which you prefer.

The effect is basically the same in either case, and after performing both Speed Demos I’m not sure which one I prefer myself now.  Probably still the Bunko, but it is close.

Click here for more information.

This is Supreme Magic’s version of the Jack Hughes’ Teleflash effect c. 1951 and is featured in World of Magic – Vol. 2.

It is one of the nicest effects I’ve seen from Supreme and this copy is in excellent condition even though it is 32 years old. The mechanism Works perfectly with a number of choices on how to activate the mechanism.

• You can make it 100% self-contained using Flash Paper – the flash paper itself triggers the mechanism.
• You operate it by hand your-self.
• You can have your assistant operate it from off stage.

No electronics are required and the card can be handed out as a souvenir or reused as you decide.  It can use your favorite brand of cards too, Poker or Bridge size.

Click here for more information.