Year: 2019

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!

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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.

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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.

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This clever beauty from Magic Wagon is based upon one of Clarence Miller’s rare and sought after items called The Treasure Chest c. 2001. 

Magic Wagon’s version is compact and works very consistently and handles four chips instead of Clarence’s three half dollars. There are no electronics and reset is instant.  This is a good utility item and  I think would work best as part of a bigger routine utilizing the four chips – instead of just showing the box doing the effect and moving on.

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Another beautiful wooden prop from Louis Gaynor and what a clever beauty this is demonstrated by the still amazing Joe Stevens 🙂 This is a remake of the Lloyd Chambers and Floyd Thayer Obedient Ball c. 1941 which is described in Lloyd Chambers’ book Original Ideas in Magic and called The Spirit Ball.

What distinguishes this version of the classic Obedient Ball effect is that the 3″ diameter wooden ball has a huge 7/8″ hole directly through the center that you can clearly see through, and yet the ball still stops and starts under the complete control of the performer.  And nothing is added or taken away – it is a very clever idea expertly recreated by Louis Gaynor that you will love.

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The Elusive Rabbits or Hippity-Hop Rabbits was invented by The Great Norman (Norman Hazeldene) c. 1947.

This cute set from Vienna Magic are very similar in design and method to the stunning ones created by the highly talented German craftsman Horst Dieter Christ c. 1977.  They are a great size for close-up and work very smoothly.

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If you are looking for a version of Mental Epic true to Hen Fetsch’s original vision c. 1954 then you should look no further than this beauty released by Richard Osterlind.  And even though Richard Osterlind often performs without a gimmicked board using his Ultra Board the three way prediction is much easier when performed the way Hen Fetsch described it using a gimmicked board like this.

It is the perfect size, looks beautiful and clear from a distance, and operates flawlessly.

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There were only 2 or 3 sets of this wonderful prop created by the talented German Craftsman Tony Lackner and routined by the prolific Eckhard Boettcher. The props are beautiful and work perfectly, and much better than the similar copies made by Mikame Craft and others in later years.  But what I really like most about the effect is it is one of the best versions of Bank Night I have seen.

• Firstly, the spectator always wins so they are not disappointed when the envelope is opened.
• Secondly, it looks like the magician looses at the same time.
• Finally, the reveal of the other choices shows that the magician did win in the end, so everyone goes away happy 🙂

The method is totally clean and this really is a strong effect that can be seen easily in a  parlor and small stage thanks to the large colored chips created by Tony.

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John Ramsay’s Cylinder and Coins continues to stir the hearts and minds of magicians all around the world well over 70 years after it was first introduced to the world by Victor Farelli c. 1948 when he published John Ramsay’s Cylinder and Coins in a small photo-illustrated booklet. With the performance of Eric Mead on Penn & Teller in 2017 it seems to have been reinvigorated all over again.

If you wanted to have the best shot of actually mastering this effect without spending most of your life like Eric Mead has to master it then you could look no further than this beautiful set from Joe Porper and R. Paul Wilson c.  2004.  Doesn’t mean it will be easy or you will succeed but you’ll have a shot and feel good about doing it too.

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The legendary British Inventor, Craftsman, and Dealer, Jack Hughes, invented many staples in magic that we take for granted today (including: TV Card Frame (1936), Coins in Glass (before Copenetro) (1939), Attaboy (early 1930s), Clatter Box (1951) and many more.

I grew up in the UK dreaming of owning some Jack Hughes effects. It was clear that the House of Hughes was producing some of the best magic around. I was able to buy a few of his items, but for the most part his effects were too expensive for my pocket.

Thirty years on, it is a wonderful pleasure to look through this impressive volume to relive so much of Jack’s magic.  The Jack Hughes World of Magic Compilation Edition by Derek Lever was presented to the registrants of the 2012 FISM convention. It covers all three volumes that were released earlier by Derek Lever and gives very detailed instructions on how to build nearly all of the House of Hughes magic.

• Volume 1 Contents
• Volume 2 Contents
• Volume 3 Contents

Click here for more information.