Bullet Party is the name of Volume 1 (and the first effect)
This is a ‘gambling’ themed effect – the original Elmsley 4 card trick was the starting point for this. It ends up somewhere between Twisting the Aces and Rainbow Cascade with a puntastic climax in the form of a cod explanation and all 4 cards change! If you can do an Elmsley count you can perform this trick. Great routine. Loads of nice subtleties (the display of 3 jokers early on is sweet). Classic Bannon!

Final Verdict
Spectator cuts to the Aces. The result of 20 years playing with this particular effect. Once you’ve got into the setup, the trick almost works itself. But you will need a medium proficiency with cards to get into the setup.

Box Jumper
This is a version of a Simon Aronson trick. Chosen card lost in the deck swaps places with a card in the card box. No real setup. A simple Marlo control does the hard work for you Good clean lines if I can use that phrase to apply to the routining of a trick. A great little effect.

Riverboat Poker
An unusual 2-phase gambling routine. In the first part you apparently teach the spectator how to stack a deck for a poker deal. This sets you up for a (to my mind) slightly involved poker deal. It is largely ‘self-working’ though does require a set up. In the right context I’m sure this would be a winner, but I’m not sure I’d ever be in that context…

Poker Pairadox Redux
Based on the classic Nick Trost routine. We saw this when it appeared in the Mega ‘Wave booklet, but it has been improved to allow an instant reset for walkaround. In spite of the name it would work for non-Poker players, and it is self-working. Lovely.

Fractal Re-Call (Revised)
Call of the Wild re-revisited (it was revisited in Mega ‘Wave and this is a further refinement) and now with regular cards. This is not impromptu since there is a stack required. The whole thing starts with a fairly bold switch though Bannon assures us it isn’t actually too hard! An entertaining story accompanies this routine which packs a lot of magic into it. Requires reasonable card-handling skills but worth this bit of effort.

Crocodile False Cut
In the hands false cut based on a Gary Oullet move. No explanation, just a video of Liam Montier repeating it several times. It looks neat, but would have preferred a bit more description here to help [NB this is apparently explained in the Bullet Party book in more detail].
UPDATE – apparently there was an error on the review disc and this is explained in full on the final version. Will confirm when I have seen it…

Mega ‘Wave is the name of Volume 2 (and its first effect)
This is an awesome-looking trick with some great thinking. Related to Stephen Tucker’s Omega effect and a bit like extreme Twisted Sisters. I love the psychology going on here and the real sneaky moves. And it’s all examinable at the end! But you already knew all that if you read my review of the Mega ‘Wave booklet…

Return to Fat City
A sandwich routine with a surprising second phase where every card except the chosen one ends up in the sandwich. Perhaps best of all there is no ATFUS involved! This is one of the cleanest looking sandwich effects I have seen (and I have seen quite a few!) and the structure allows an extra ‘revelation’ in the first phase. I love the way it builds logically to the second phase. This second stage is slightly bold, but it is a great routine.

Wicked
A selected card transposes between two pairs of queens during a nice Wizard of Oz themed effect. The plot helps make sure no one forgets where the cards are. For me this is a real worker. It’s ‘fractal’ and doesn’t require much finger-flinging, and a story always makes a card trick more interesting. It really is wicked!
I need to add a personal footnote here. I was slightly embarrassed to spot that this routine was in the Mega ‘Wave book, and I didn’t take to it so much in print. So I will grudgingly admit that there are sometimes advantages to DVDs!

Bulletcatcher
This is a neat 4-Ace production. It was first seen in a slightly different form in Smoke and Mirrors. It looks neat and is easy to do.

Drop Target Aces
4 aces are buried in the pack but somehow end up in your hand. This will take a bit of practise to get it looking really good, but if you can do an ambitious card routine this should be no problem for you.

Four Shadow Aces
A quick and clean 4-ace assembly. Uses a delightfully simple Marlo switch combined with a really sneaky Paul Wilson subtlety. A nice warm up to a more unusual variation on the theme.

Big Fat Bluff Aces
This starts off looking like another 4-ace assembly, but after the ‘follower’ aces disappear, the ‘leader’ pile is shown to contain 4 kings. Then all the aces return to their original piles again. Follows nicely from the previous routine. A slightly illogical display sequence is required, but this routine is really growing on me.

General Observations
Rather in keeping with Bannon’s slightly cerebral style, each effect is given a brief introduction before being presented. There are a mixture of live and studio performances, but all are well recorded and production values are high.

In the explanations, Bannon is variously assisted by his old pal David Solomon (who mainly sits there without moving), Andi Gladwin, Colin Miller, Jamie Badman and James Went. And it comes with 13 Bicycle Cards so you can get going straight away.

As ever, Bannon is very good at attributing sources and inspirations, and many of these effects have a long pedigree. Whilst this is one of the reasons I love Bannon’s work – because I am fascinated by the process involved in the evolution and routining of an effect – there is a little bit of me that would like to have seen a few more completely new effects. As it is, we have a number of variations of things seen in earlier works (e.g. Dear Mr Fantasy, Smoke and Mirrors, Mega ‘Wave).

On the subject of books he has also published a booklet containing many (though not all) of the routines on this DVD set – though I don’t think that is available in the UK yet.

Conclusion
Well I was always going to like it wasn’t I? I think that everyone would find one or two effects that will suit them, and some people will find lots more. And (at the risk of sounding like a stuck record) there is much to be learned from the way Bannon routines his magic – principles you can apply to all your own magic.
What are you waiting for? Join the party…

Available direct from Merchant of Magic – £24.99 + p&p.

(If you prefer a good book, some of the routines are available in the Bullet Party Book.)

The post Bullet Party by John Bannon – a review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.

[UPDATE BBM have sold out but it is now available from Merchant of Magic]

I like John Bannon’s work (I came clean on that one when I reviewed Bullets After Dark) so it is probably no surprise that I enjoyed this book, which was first released at Blackpool earlier this year.

It’s 75 pages long and contains 7 tricks (all cards, all ‘packet tricks’) – so it is only just over £1 a trick which is a bargain. They are part of his ‘fractal magic’ thinking – packet tricks which end clean and examinable (like Duplicity or Spin Doctor). Here are my thoughts on the routines.

Mega ‘Wave – is a close cousin of Steven Tucker’s Omega series of routines (in its latest incarnation that is available in another BBM DVD – Alpha to Omega) which in itself has some links to Max Maven’s B’Wave. The plot is a bit like Twisted Sisters but ends clean, and unlike Omega requires no palming. I will probably say this again, but much of the value here comes in reading Bannon’s thinking on plot, effect and method. Learn from this man! But it is a great trick and not too difficult to do.

Fractal Re-Call – a no-gaff version of his Call of the Wild effect – or Wild Card with a rationale (and some extra magic!). A few more moves here though still do-able. I like the plot but am not convinced that the original Wild Card presentation was as week as Bannon suggests. Also, it is a bit of a set-up to go into from a normal deck (which to my mind is necessary for the presentation he suggests). So for me, this is not one of the strongest items in the book.

Short Attention Scam – this is a re-mix of his Royal Scam. In brief, from a set of 9 red-backed Ace of Spades, 5 turn into a royal flush, and the other 4 get completely different back designs. I love this routine – lots of magic in a short time, and not too difficult to do. It uses the same set of cards as Royal Scam so if you already have that you are on to a winner.

Mag-7 – a streamlined handling of The Magnificent Seven (from the now out of print Smoke and Mirrors) which is essentially a no-gaff Wild Card routine. Not much to say here. It builds on a number of the concepts in the previous effects and works well.

Poker Pairadox – a re-working of Nick Trost’s classic Matching Court Cards. This is not the most mystifying effect for the audience, but it has a nice patter and routine and is all but self-working making it very clean from a presentation point of view. My only real gripe would be it isn’t an instant re-set (though the re-set isn’t difficult) – so not ideal for walkaround.

Fractal Jacks – almost an oil and water routine where the Jacks keep on returning to the performer’s hand (in spite of being dealt into two hands) – with the kicker of the other cards being the four aces, and as usual all examinable. For me, this wasn’t too magical. It did contain an interesting digression on why Bannon didn’t go with Simon Aronson and David Solomon on a plot variation here. I think I’m with them…

Wicked – this is a transposition effect where a card travels from between two black queens to between two red queens. I have mixed feelings about this one. It is a pretty clean transposition. But in the first phase, the ‘extra’ card (the one which transposes) is not actually shown until after the transposition has taken place. Given Bannon’s own comment that “in any transposition, it’s important that the spectators know which cards are where” this seems like a bit of a problem. On the other hand, I like the fact that the second phase ‘happens in reverse’ – since it is always good to keep the spectators guessing!

General Thoughts

There are seven effects here – I think most people would find at least a couple that would suit them. Several of the effects require a table which may be a problem for some contexts. Some require a set-up (though with the more truly ‘packet trick’ ones – that is to be expected). As ever, I enjoy Bannon’s thinking and discussion of the evolution of the effects almost as much as the effects themselves. They will, I hope, help you think more about your own magic – the why and the how.

For the price I think it’s a bit of a no-brainer. Get it! Especially while BBM are throwing in some free cards. And if, like me, you are a bit of a book collector, the you’ll want to get one before they’re all gone!

UPDATE 12/2/11 – Mega Wave now available at Merchant of Magic for £9.95

The post Mega ‘Wave – a review appeared first on Bicycle Cards.