Andy Martin

This is a bloody Miracle!

Well … none of us need any more packet tricks. Or do we? This trick from Elmwood Magic uses a whole deck, but it is certainly a packet trick. Its easy to do, with no sleights, no double face/double back cards, and even when you have the cards in your hand it works quite amazingly.

Now to get as slick as Paul Richards will take a lifetime of practice and smooth talking, but you could be up and running with this baby in about 30 minutes after reading the instructions – and look good!

The basic routine goes like this: openly count off 6 cards face down, show the rest of the deck to be clearly mixed (reds and blacks) and you can shuffle them if you want. Place the body of the deck aside. Now show the six cards that were placed face down and show that you have 3 reds and 3 blacks. You now proceed to cleanly deal one red followed by one black – at the end the reds and blacks are separated again. You can repeat this to the cows come home and really show they are interlaced. But each time they end up separated. As a kicker for the end of the routine you turn over the rest of the deck, and they two are now in separate piles of blacks and reds.

A great trick with a kicker ending. The deck is left set-up for Paul Curry’s Out of This World, and part of me thinks it would make a natural lead in to that amazing effect. Maybe too many reds and blacks but its a thought.

Not all packet tricks are the same, and this one is definately one you will use!

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So good you can do it twice!

I must have tried 10 or more card to wallet effects, but this has got to rank as one of the cleanest, easiest, and most stunning of all. On top of that you can repeat it immediately to the same group – and that is where the "Wallop" really kicks in.

When you get this, and you should, don’t think like a magician, follow the routine and you will have a huge hit on your hands, that is just so much simpler than any of the other wallet effects you have tried.

Of course there are no sleights whatsoever. A very impressive piece of magic!

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Easy to do and very convincing.

This is a very clean and logical red and blue card trick that has shades of that old chestnut the Brainwave Deck, but which is easier to do, cleaner, and can be repeated.

You start by shuffling the deck face down. As you shuffle you and your audience notice that one card has a blue back. You say that is the Lone Stranger card. You place the stranger card on the top of the deck and turn the deck over to ask the audience to point to any of the face-up cards. They choose any card and it is immediately shown to be matching the blue Stranger card. Without any funny moves the effect can be repeated immediately.

Very clean and simple to do, just the way we like them so you can focus on that all important presentation and routine!

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I’ve always been fascinated by Magic Squares

Ever since I was a teen I have been fascinated with Magic Square type effects, where any chosen number can be summed in almost every conceivable direction.

This is a perfect outfit for this effect with a method that takes a little bit of memory work, but which is far from requiring the mathematical genius that it appears to need.

And don’t you just love the magic that makes you look like a genius?!

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A very clever device that never runs out of batteries!

When I ordered this from Jay Leslie I thought I knew how it worked. But its so much better than I expected.

It allows you to be out of the room and still know who chose which card. A clever principle makes it all possible to do without any magnets or electronics, with a very simple reset.

The stand is well made and this item is surely a keeper, with many uses that will become apparant as you work with it.

Great Job Jay!

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Nicely made and convincing!

This is the handchopper to beat – the effect of the hand falling in is hard to improve on. The Delben Two Hole and The Karson Chopper are better but they are much more expensive. For the money this is hard to beat!

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Much more than the Zombie!

So all of us at one time or another have either performed the Zombie floating ball effect, or dreamed of performing it. I remember even having a cheap plastic one when I was a kid. Performed well its one of the most fascinating magical effects ever devised. Its inventor, Joe Karson, is even more fascinating!

I have found reading this book very interesting; a real page turner! Joe was not a saint by any means, but he was clearly a borderline genius, a very talented inventor, and an incredible entertainer. Michael Rose has done a wonderful job of filling in all the blanks about this colorful character. A highly recommended read.

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So small yet so cool!

Its amazing how small this beautiful effect by Alan Warner is. It’s an old discontinued item that Alan Warner has recently revived. And I’m glad he did!

The effect is very clean, convincing and entertaining and can be read here.

It’s been a while since I have picked up one of Alan’s beauties and its so nice to see his greatness continues. This effect is precisely and beautifully made and highly recommended!

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Finally Alan Warner has bought back his Mummy!

So after a long time Alan Warner is back making one of his favorite effects: the Mummy!

The new version is even better than the original, if that is possible, with more teak work, and some enhancements to the smoothness of the opertation and performance.

So, if you have been trying to track one of these down, now maybe is the time you can get one. It is sure to be a hit and is most highly recommended. Click here for the effect.

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Die Box old hat? Hardly! And this is Beautiful!

I never really liked the die box effect until I picked this beauty up from Mel Babcock. It has a wonderful weight to it and sounds great. It has the neat door opening feature so that you can show the die in either side of the box at any time during the demostration. This really convinces the audience that the die is still in the box. Very, very highly recommended, as is all of Mel’s beautiful magic!

Question: Is Mel Babcock as good as Owen’s?
Answer: In most cases Owen’s is probably a bit better than Mr Mel. However, you can pay anywhere from three to ten times as much at Owen’s so I don’t think its a fair comparison at all. For the price Mel Babcock rules the world, for twice the price Mel Babcock rules the world. For thrice the price he still looks very strong!

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