Bends Across

This is an interesting take on coins across incorporating a coin bend. First of all a coin bends in the spectator’s own hand. Then the bent coin travels to join a pile of normal coins – again in the hands of the spectator. I think this is a creative variation on the theme and the fact that the magic all seems to occur in the spectator’s hand makes it very strong. Some basic coin-handling skills are needed, but they should be within the reach of most with a little practise. And the moves are all demonstrated clearly.

Drawing Duplication

Does what is says on the tin – you are able to reproduce a picture drawn on a business card by a spectator. You will need to make a little gimmick to work this one – but it is very easy to make – if you can use a pair of scissors you should be ok. There’s nothing radically new here, but it is a nice simple way to achieve this effect and a few subtleties are built in.

Phone Trick

Some spectators make up a random phone number which you then call, and the person on the other end names a card that your spectator has already selected. This utilises a very subtle little principle – though you probably need a smart phone to use the principle. This is one of those ideas that is so simple yet is a killer. This was one of the few effects on the DVD with a live performance recorded – and it went down very well. I think you will love performing this. For me it is probably the strongest effect on the disk.

Premonition

Spectator places your business card into the deck and the two cards it is trapped between match the prediction which was written on the business card before the trick started. A clever little gimmick (which you will have to construct) makes this a virtually self-working trick. For me, although the insertion of the card is very free, the routining is ever so slightly contrived. Although a table isn’t essential, it does make the handling slightly easier. I’m not sure the effect has the wow factor of some of the items on the disk – and I am aware of other (non-gimmicked) methods to achieve a similar effect. But I like the gimmick and wonder if it has other possibilities – especially as part of a bigger routine.

Switch Pad

As its name suggests this is a utility device which will switch one small item for another. It is easily constructed with only limited craft skills. The routine supplied is a bank note serial number divination – which is only really explained in outline. But I think other ideas will easily come to mind. Could be a useful and low-cost option for when you need to switch one paper/billet/note for another.

All in all I think this is a good value collection of some strong magic. Romanos is certainly a creative guy (although he’s not going to win any prizes for the names of these effects!) and has a knack for making simple gimmicks which can provide a strong effect. I think you will be performing one or two of these straight away, and the others are useful starting points for further development.

Mentally Exposed is available from Merchant of Magic (with thanks to MagicTao who kindly provided a review copy) for only £15.99.

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May is my birthday month so some extra special suggestions! Why not take a look…

We love all good close up magic here – not just the card stuff – and Deceptus seems to tick all the boxes. Incredibly visual magic – put almost anything you want inside a can – visibly. You’ve got to watch the video on this one. It realeases later this month, but you can pre-order now. £29.99

There seem to have been a plethora of card to wallet/envelope/etc type effects recently but this one caught our eye. In Go Change, the spectator looks in a white envelope inside a back envelope – both are empty. They then choose and sign a card which appears in side the inner envelope. And no palming required apparently. Sounds good to us and somewhat cheaper than a wallet! £23.99

We’ve been quite impressed by some of the ideas by the young magical creator Romanos (we’ll be posting a review of a new DVD he has recently put out with MagicTao in the next few days – it has some excellent ideas on it), so we were interested to read about The Business. It is a peak device concealed within a business card case – which is a very logical way of doing things. We haven’t played with it but it looks like it is well worth a look. £39.99

And as a birthday extra, if you’re looking for an unusual deck which doesn’t cost the earth, we really like the look of the Aladdin 1001s. A classic design but rather appealing and handling very nicely. Only £4.49.

That’s all for now. Watch this space for loads more card and close up magic reviews and news…

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

Gerti

I still have no idea where the title for this effect comes from – but I love it. The effect that is, not the name, though there is nothing wrong with the name!

This is the classic ‘coin in the hand’ routine – a spectator signs one of two coins and you can tell who has which coin.

There are a number of different presentations suggested. For me the ‘lie detector’ is the most workable, but there is another one using 3 coins and determining their dates, and a third routine which is essentially the same as the dates version but with numbers written on 3 coins.

Dee Christopher aids with explanations and gives some useful clarifications and tips.

Regular readers will know I have a fondness for mental magic and also for magic that fits in your pocket and is easy to do so you can concentrate on presentation. This ticks all the boxes and is a bargain at only £12.99. Available from MagicTao.

Looking Glass
This title is rather more intuitive than Gerti! It bills itself as a ‘utility device for obtaining secret information’ and, if truth be told, is not a new gimmick, but an old one made more widely available.

Romanos gives you a number of routines to get your imagination going – a borrowed bank note serial number revelation, a business-card peek, an ESP routine (this was to my mind the weakest and most contrived routine – there are much more straight forward ways of achieving this effect without this gimmick!), a routine with a ‘lucky coin’ and of course, a card revelation (Gambling Peek).

There’s even a ‘looking glass’ routine which doesn’t use the gimmick! Two gimmicks are supplied to give you a few more options – can’t really say more without exposure.

There’s a bit of a ‘knack’ to this one – so you won’t be doing it straight away. But it isn’t difficult – you will simply have to practise for fluency. If you like this kind of effect it is well worth a play at the price.

£12.99 from Magic Tao

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