What do you get?

I’ll be honest, Triad Coins had me at the packaging! The very special set of coins comes in a custom made perspex case which feels very well made. The gaffs are very nicely made. You receive (as the advertising tells you – so I’m not doing any exposure here!) a shell coin and insert and an expanded shell which all nest together beautifully.

When the shell is nested with the insert it looks brilliant. There’s a small tell-tale ridge when the expanded shell is on top – but in normal usage this is going to be all but invisitble to any spectator. The idea of a triple shell coin is not new (apparently it was first in print in 1922!) – but Joshua Jay’s contribution seems to be to nest the two shells in opposite directions which have some handling advantages.

The teaching

With the coins you receive a link to online instructions. These only run to 16 minutes and I would call them adequate rather than excellent. Explanations are clear – but only some of the shots are from the performer’s perspective. I always find coin magic easier to learn from that view – my head struggles to cope with seeing the action in reverse.

The basic routine is pretty straightforward – though the simple coin sleights are not taught in any detail – you may need to consult Bobo – or a standard coin DVD if you aren’t already familiar. The routine covers the production and then vanish of the 3 coins.

The vanishing sequence, in particular, is very clean indeed. There’s some really nice work on the vanish of the final coin which is extremely clean and not too difficult to execute.

The video also teaches a 3 fly type routine which is made very easy with the gaffs. But if I’m honest, I’m not sure the use of the gaffs massively improves the overall effect. There are some cracking pure sleight of hand versions if you want to perform 3 fly – in other words I wouldn’t buy Triad Coins if I only wanted to perform a 3 Fly.

What do we think?

This seems to be a good value set for what you receive – and the gaffs could be used in other routines easily. We looked at the US Half Dollar version and this size of coin works nicely. The UK coins are 10ps which might feel a trifle small for this kind of effect.

It is a very beautiful and clean looking vanishing sequence and the well-made coins do much of the work for you. So we would recommend this. But if you are a complete novice in the field of coin magic you may want to purchase an additional resource to cover some of the basic moves in more detail.

Triad Coins are available from the Merchant of Magic for £55.99 (at the time of writing). I’ve linked to the version in UK coins – but they are also available in 50 euros or half dollar (which we reviewed).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

Joshua Jay – Triad Coins – Review

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This clever box opens up the possibility of many different routines – but here is the routine as taught. The performer removes a deck of cards from an attractive little box and says that there’s something else in the box. Then the spectator deals face up through the deck, stopping whenever they want to. When the box is opened, it is found to contain a prediction with the very card they stopped at. A miraculous effect!

What do you get

You get the ingenious box itself – which comes stored in another box (which is a bit of a tight fit when you first remove it!). The box is very well made and its secret is invisible. You also have a link to some online instructions, a deck of bicycle cards and a few other things to help make the magic happen.

The online instructions run to around 40 minutes and explain everything you need to work the effect straight away. There’s no additional preparation (beyond writing your predictions on some folded slips) unless you want to perform other routines. Angelo explains everything very clearly and at a good pace. It also includes a couple of performances to give you an idea of what it looks like.

What a gift!

The ‘main’ routine is very strong. It really is as clean as it sounds and is utterly baffling to any lay person. Angelo then teaches a brilliant alternative routine which is something like a predicted CAAN. I love this idea. In effect the spectator follows a series of instructions from a piece of paper, which include him thinking of a number and dealing down to it. But the final part of the instructions are missing – and are found inside the box and include a prediction of the card which has been stopped at.

This is an ingenious way of doing the effect and will really mess with your spectator’s mind! It does require a significant degree of preparation – but this is one time only – and well worth it for the effect!

These two routines, strong as they are, are really only the beginning. Because this clever box allows you to perform many variations depending on your style and confidence. A friend of mine performed it with a routine rather like Joshua Jay’s Inferno (which no longer appears to be available as a standalone routine but is on this DVD) but the possibilities are really endless.

What do we think

Some effects are fun to perform, some are fooling to watch, and some are both. The Gift is definitely in the latter category. It is pretty easy to perform – and will give you a real kick to ‘work’! But it is also incredibly fair looking and very fooling. In one sense Angelo has taken some old principles, but he has applied them so cleverly that the sum is really great than its parts.

One of the things I love is that it can be left ‘set up and ready to go.’ For me, this means that I may well leave this set up on my shelf so that if someone asks me to do something on the spur of the moment it is all ready to go. I probably wouldn’t use it in walk around because of the size of the box itself, but it would make a superb one-off or feature routine.

Re-set is simple but couldn’t easily be done on the fly – you will really need a moment by yourself.

One of the privileges of my job is that I get to see an awful lot of new magic throughout the year. Due to other commitments I haven’t really had time to give thought to my ‘trick of the year’ – but I have to say that I like The Gift so much that it would definitely be very near the top of the list, and quite possibly number 1. It does represent a significant investment – especially for the hobbyist – but I think it is worth the money.

The Gift comes highly recommended, and is available from MagicShop.co.uk for £80 (or in limited edition red for £99.50)

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

Angelo Carbone – The Gift – review

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In case there is anyone reading this who doesn’t know what ACAAN is – it stands for Any Card At Any Number. In the purest form of this plot, a spectator simply names any card and then any number (up to 52) and the deck is dealt to show that their card is located at their freely chosen number.

If you give the idea any thought, you will see that is a miracle. For magicians – it has achieved the status of something like a holy grail, and I have lost track of the number of versions I have seen over the years. I still have a standing question about the impact on laypeople – but like most magic, presented well it will be astounding.

A Journey of five versions

On this release, Johnson teaches five versions. They are all related to one another – but some use more sleight of hand than others. The main sleight used is the JB Card Cop – or longitudinal palm. Matt’s handling of the sleight is superb and he explains the move clearly– but it will take most of us a significant amount of practise to get it looking this good.

Version one can be done with a borrowed and shuffled deck – which is astonishing! It is an elegant and direct solution but is technically CAAN – since the card is selected before the deck is fully ready to go. But as you will see all versions of ACAAN make different compromises to reach their solution – and choosing an ACAAN often comes down to what set of compromises you can live with. This version does require mastery of the palm but you will have a cracking effect if you can get this down smoothly.

The second version utilises the same sleight but brings in some clever sleight of mouth from Joshua Jay, and some specially prepared cards to make some things easier. There’s a detailed explanation for how to make/prepare the special cards (though you could buy these if you prefer). This is better than version one (in that the cards are fully ready to go from the outset) but the compromise here (which the spectator should never notice) is that in fact you are working with a limited range of cards. You also need the specially prepared deck rather than being able to work with a borrowed shuffled one.

Versions 3 through 5 don’t require use of the sleight – which also means the spectator can (with care) do all the dealing. They take the Joshua Jay subtlety and the specially prepared cards and produce a very clean looking handling. Once you have removed the cards from the deck, the spectator can do all the dealing. These three variations are very closely related – simply involving different numbers of decks depending on the levels of freedom you want to give the spectator in their choices. Johnson teaches a great little ‘subtlety’ for re-setting in plain sight – though those who criticize the whole concept of ACAAN on the basis of all the dealing involved may not like it!

These last three versions particularly appeal to me – since sleight of mouth is one of my special gifts and I can be a bit lazy when it comes to practising sleights! You will need to be confident in your spectator handling to allow them to do the dealing, but you probably shouldn’t be performing any kind of ACAAN if you’ve not got some level of confidence there. Although you are well covered for all the most likely outcomes, a couple of the scenarios ‘at the extremities’ are necessarily going to be slightly less clean to my mind.

Other thoughts

Matt Johnson has a Great beard/tache! I know that shouldn’t make a difference, but it is rather fine. Versions 2-5 will take some set up time and may require you to buy some extra decks of cards – unless, like me, you have several boxes lying around permanently.

The advertising talks about “Custom gimmicks” – these are essentially nicely printed stickers which contain various cribs to help you perform the effect – cunningly designed to look at a glance like a Bicycle Cards box.

One of the things I enjoyed most about The Journey was the insight it gives into the creative process. As you see how the different versions have evolved (as the name implies). Explanations are very clear and the performances are ‘live’ which is always a bonus. Sleights and inspirations are well attributed (including Marc Paul’s Affected by Berglas – which kicked the whole thing off for Johnson).
The Journey is a great release for anyone with an interest in performing this reputation making effect. The variations mean it should be within reach of any level of performer with a little practise.

Available from MagicShop.co.uk for £39.50 (at the time of writing).

Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.

The post Matt Johnson – The Journey – Review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

First up is a new take on the classic marked deck – the DMC Elites Rouge Marked Deck. And for our money it is a super version. Produced by UK magician Drummond Money-Coutts they are both a great-looking deck and ingeniously marked which will have no end of applications in magic. The tuck case looks super elegant, so unless you’re bothered about advertising another magician (!) I think these would be a great purchase. £19.99

I love it when someone takes a classic of magic and gives it a contemporary twist. Silk to egg is just such an effect – perhaps its popularity comes from the fragility of an egg – well this new version by Sean Yang has really caught my imagination. The effect is silk to Ferrero Rocher – the iconic luxury chocolate treat. The benefits are that you could hand out the chocolate to eat afterwards (not such a good idea with an egg!) and other effects are possible too. I haven’t seen them ‘in the flesh’ yet – but they look very realistic on the images. £24.50

If you often perform in walkaround situations like I do, then a recurring question is the best way to store your props. Joshua Jay has put out a new version of his Pro-Carrier Deluxe – which enables you to carry a couple of decks of cards (it looks great here with a couple of Dapper Decks in it!) and some coins and other small items. It will clip to your belt, or stand on the table and is made of high quality leather. Well worth a look. £34.50

Finally, here’s a deck in honour of Valentine’s Day! The LPV Deck is the deck that says ‘I do’! It has an ordinary Bicycle Rider Back, but various features bring out the theme of love, especially the lovely tuck case. £7.50

Let us know what new magic has caught your eye, or if there is anything in particular you would like us to review in coming months.

The post Trick of the Month – February 2017 – the love and chocolate edition appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

If you really want to go to town on a magic set then the Metamorphtrix set from Fantasma is the one. An enormous number of tricks, some good quality props and an instructional DVD. But it rocks in at £49.99.

To my mind the Deluxe Magic Set by the Las Vegas Magic Company is a very credible alternative with some classic pro quality tricks for only £34.50

But our top recommendation is probably still the
Joshua Jay Complete Magician set.  This consists of a book plus a DVD plus a few key props. Joshua is a fantastic teacher – and I have a bias towards books as many readers will know. £34.99

There have been a load of new cards out recently so we’ll do a special ‘Christmas Cards‘ (pun intended!) post in a few days.  But here are a few more new and notable releases – which would of course make great Christmas gifts for that special magician in your life…

I haven’t physically seen this yet – but I’m very excited about it. There seem to have been a whole plethora of different approaches to this problem recently – the in view switch of a card/billet – but this looks the best I’ve seen. One of the great features of Mystery Solved is that you can be seen to place something in at the beginning of the routine. £59.50

This is the UK edition of a trick that has really caught my eye. Fair Play looks like the perfect prediction effect to have about your person (OK – on your keyring) – so you are set to perform some amazing magic at a moment’s notice – and better still it is very easy to do. £29.99

Our final plug will only be of interest to a few I suspect.  I don’t actually perform stage illusions (and this is a close up magic blog!) but I LOVE reading about them.  One of the UK’s leading illusion designers has just released his magnum opus – the Confictura of Thomas Moore – and if you have any interest at all in this field you should really check out this serious (and heavy!  3KG!) book.

That’s all for now. Don’t forget to check back for the latest news, reviews and Bicycle cards! We’ve got a new John Bannon effect and a new Liam Montier DVD to review in the next few weeks.  So much exciting magic to enjoy!

The post Trick of the Month – December 2014 – the magic set edition appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

We start by looking backwards. One of our favourite releases of last year was Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks Volume 2. This is a great DVD rammed full of excellent and easy to do magic (read our review here). If you didn’t buy it last year, what are you waiting for? £19.99

We saw many different decks of cards last year, but if you really pushed us, one of our favourites was (and we’re slightly embarrassed to admit it – because it is ‘non-Bicycle‘!) was the Golden Bees. You can read our review here – and they are still available at the bargain price of £10.99  over at JP Playing Cards (we’ve seen them for TWICE the price elsewhere).

We also promised to look forward, so if you’re looking for a stylish new deck for the new year, how about the Limited Edition Exquisite Deck by De’Vo?  Gold foil and a beautiful swirly back design – it lives up to its name. £12.99

Prospect is a new effect (based on some old principles) which seems to be dividing the magic community a bit. But the general consensus seems to be that this is more surprising for a lay audience than you would expect. The spectator makes a series of decisions to think of a card and it is the only card you are holding. Strong magic. £30.99.

For something similar, but using a matchbox, you may also consider Inferno (on this great value lecture DVD) by Joshua Jay.  We’re actually shortly going to be reviewing it for another site so can’t comment on it properly yet but it looks good.  £9.99.

We hope you have a great start to the year – and will be posting lots more magic news, reviews and comment in the days and weeks ahead.

The post Trick of the Month – January 2014 appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

Gift of the Magi is a lovely Christmas themed effect where some presents appear at the bottom of a tree leaving a lovely souvenir. Suitable for adults and children – perhaps a nice strolling magic idea. £20.50

We’re often asked for ideas for Christmas presents for new or young magicians. If you want a box of magic a little better quality than the ones you will find in the supermarket, the Legends of Magic Set from Fantasma Magic is well worth a look. It includes some fantastic tricks and comes complete with a DVD. £59.99.

If your budget is a little lower, we can also recommend the The Complete Magician Kit by Joshua Jay (£34.99) or the Secret Magic Set (which comes with a nice case!) £29.50.

A special deal which is probably only this week is the cute litte Santa Hat Paper Tear – where some torn up tissue paper turns into a little Santa Hat – 40% off this week at only £4.49.

And two final ideas to buy for your magic-loving partner. First a new DVD which might make a welcome break from the Christmas TV.
3 Secrets is the first DVD from a Japanese magician which sounds to have some great quality card magic on it. And it also has some secret features – so plenty to keep you occupied! £20.50

Alternatively, if, like me, you prefer to snuggle up with a new book over Christmas, then you will need a big lap for this one!  The Legendary Kabbala is a limited edition hardback book with over 200 close up magic effects, sleights and subtleties.  Be warned – you might not see your partner for some time…  £61.99

Back to our normal type of suggestions next month…

The post Trick of the Month – December 2013 – the Christmas magic edition appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

The end of the year is also a time for reflections.  And our two favourite DVDs of the year are going to be our first recommendations.  BBM’s Ultimate Self-Working Card Tricks was a superb release (see our review here) with some killer effects which are easy to do (£19.99).

And Mark Bendell’s The Unknown is full of really clever magic which is extremely workable (£25.50). Both would make great stocking fillers for you or your magical loved one!

Favourite tricks of the year are harder to pick.  On the shortlist is definitely Genetics (see our review here).  Easy to do, entertaining – what more could you want.  And a great wedding routine (£26.99).

This isn’t a trick, but would look great on your bookshelf. An Impossible Bottle, containing a deck of Bicycle Cards is hard to beat for a ‘must have’ non-trick item for the magic lover. We’ve got one on our shelf! (£59.99 – also available in red)

We can’t close the year out without mentioning at least one deck of Bicycle Cards!  There have been so many released this year that it is very hard to choose.  But in honour of the year that was, why not grab a deck of London 2012 cards.  The Blue Crown produced limited runs of these decks with a Gold, Silver or Bronze case design.  Why not get one of each to remember a really significant time for the UK? (£9.99)

Choosing a Magic Set for a child

We promised you some recommended magic sets for any young would-be magicians you know. If you’ve got a bit of money to spend, then you could do a lot worse than the Fantasma Legends of Magic Set. Some of the items in this are of pro quality – and it seems to get away from the plasticky feel of some of the more common sets. At £59.99 it feels like quite a significant investment, but it should keep their interest.

The Secret Magic Set is a cheaper option and comes in a nice case, but the props are of less good quality. At this price you might also consider the Marvin’s Magic Fifty Greatest Magic Tricks – which contains some classic effects and is more widely available.

If price is an issue, then the Joshua Jay books are worth a look. He is a great teacher and the combination of book and DVD is a killer.  And they are readily available at Amazon (see below)

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