Switch Up promises to be an extremely visual transformation of some writing on the back of your card case – in most of the examples revealing a thought of card or prediction in a very magical way. And, with a few reservations, we have to say it delivers.

The common factor in the Danny Weiser routines we’ve seen have been somewhat fiddly gimmicks and very visual effects. The way in which this particular gimmick works certainly gives the great visual, and to my mind is just a little less fiddly than some of the others.

You are supplied with a gimmick ready-made (though you will need to customise it with a sharpie) and some materials to help you make a new one (or repair it). As with a number of recent releases distributed by Murphys you get no physical teaching media – only a link to an online video (which you can download). Given the widespread availability of high speed internet this shouldn’t be a problem for most people – but depending on where you want to learn it you should bear that in mind.

The gimmick is well made and should be fooling at quite close distances. As with all these kinds of things, I have some concerns about how long it would last if you were performing with it day in and day out, but what you receive has been well made.

The teaching (by Chris Webb) is clear and easy to follow. It covers all you need to know (even teaching a basic card force) with a number of variations and ideas given. For me, one of the strongest points of the routine is the clever clean up at the end which effectively leaves you clean making the visual magic even more baffling.

I don’t know whether I like this enough to do it all the time, but it would look great on a showreel, and once I’ve sampled the real-world reactions I might find it becomes more regular. Especially if I can get over my slight concerns over the long-term resilience of the gimmick.

Available direct from Merchant of Magic (with thanks to MagicTao who kindly supplied the review copy) – £24.99 at the time of writing. Also available in Red.

The post Danny Weiser – Switch Up – review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

If you’re going on holiday, you really should take some reading matter with you, and our first recommendation is this new reprint of the long admired book by Juan Tamariz – The Magic Way This new edition has been revised and updated and is full of some brilliant magic, and some deep wisdom on the performance of magic. £30.99
If you like thinking about the impact of your magic on spectators, then 793.8 by Jeff Stone is also worth a look (and is on my wishlist!).

We haven’t highlighted any new decks for a while, but here’s one that caught our eye. The Pagan Deck is now available in the UK – we love the elegant borderless back design, beautifully illustrated court cards and luxurious tuck case. Great for collectors or performers £15.49

We’re a fan of all kinds of close up magic here at bicycle-cards.co.uk and this new effect from Kreis Magic looks incredibly visual (well worth watching the video). In Cointum Tunneling, you remove a coin from a see-through container, replace the lid on it, and then visually ‘hit’ it through the container – and the spectator can remove the coin themselves. If you can get over the terrible pun in the name this could be worth a look. £22.50

And finally – if you would like to be able to do an easy and visual torn and restored card, you may be interested to know that Chris Webb’s RE is currently available at slight less than HALF PRICE – only £12. This version uses a gimmick so reduces the amount of sleight of hand.

That’s all for now. We’ve got reviews of two great new decks of cards coming up and OUR BIGGEST EVER COMPETITION with some AMAZING prizes… So keep checking back.

The post Trick of the month – August 2014 appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

Flash is a very visual bill change effect. Do we need another bill change I hear you cry? A good question which I’m not going to answer…

The distinctives of ‘Flash’ are that it is a single sheet/note change (that is not a wadge of bills as in the case in some of these types of effect) and that there is no folding of the note to produce the change – it is sudden, instantaneous and visual.

There’s a simple gimmick to make (well explained on DVD) and you are provided with a version made up with a lottery ticket to get you started. The routine includes a useful clean-up phase which would allow you to hand the bill out at the end.

There’s not much more to say, except there is an excellent little bonus routine called ‘Tic Tac Toe’ involving a penny and a tic tac box. In many ways I prefer this to the actual note routine. But that is just a style choice.

Easy to do, visual and inexpensive. Only £14.99 from MagicTao.

The post Flash – by Chris Webb – mini review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.