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Review of two by Romanos – Gerti and Looking Glass

Here are reviews of a couple of close up mental effects from Romanos.

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

Flash – by Chris Webb – mini review

This one’s been sitting in our review pile for a while now, so we thought it was about time to run it through its paces.

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.

Trick of the Month – May 2012

Here’s some magical suggestions for May…

This is not new and we have mentioned it before (back in 2009) but you cannot fail to have noticed all the Titanic celebrations going on at the moment, so White Star is a wonderful effect who’s moment has come. Powerful, atmospheric magic. £29.99

Regular readers will know I have a bit of a thing about magic books – especially beautifully produced ones. As its name suggests, the FFFF Book is crammed full of world-class close up magic from the legendary Fechter’s Finger Flicking Frolic convention £34.50

This site started its life letting you know about all the new Bicycle cards in the UK, and this new design especially pleases the Geek in us. The Robocycle Deck blends playing cards and circuit boards in a stylish way with very Robotic court cards. Available in Black or Metallic Blue £4.99

New Server!

If you can read this, you are looking at the site on our shiny new server. Shouldn’t make much difference to you, but should make keeping things up to date a bit easier for us. Hope you like the subtley modified design! Let us know what you think about it – either here or on Facebook.

The Trilby Deck – Review

The Trilby Deck has been sitting on my desk to review for some weeks now, but it was sitting in the archives at Kaymar Magic for much longer. Originally invented in the 1940s, it has been recently re-released in collaboration with BBM. You get a teaching DVD and two special decks of Bicycle cards which make many sorts of trickery possible…

When is a deck not a deck?…

It’s a bit like a Svengali deck – but with some refinements which make it much more convincing and allow some extra moves.

It’s a bit like Stripper deck – but again with some refinements which make for a more natural handling.

And you could use either of these aspects on their own, but they are even more powerful when combined, and also enable a load of colour changing deck and brainwave type options.

What’s on the DVD?

Liam Montier is a good teacher and takes you through all the details of the deck, including displays, shuffles and other moves and subtleties and ringing in and out of play different portions of the deck. The DVD contains about 15 tricks – some with the Svengali elements, some with the Stripper elements, and some with a ‘BiCo’ deck (for colour changes and Brainwaves). But I’m sure you will think of many more ways to use this versatile pack.

The deck lends itself to a modular approach and the teaching uses the same approach – encouraging you to create your own routine out of the individual elements. But the DVD also contains an ebook of Joe Sutherland’s original booklet (with some updates) which covers all the moves on the DVD and also Joe’s original routine.

Trick Decks – good, bad or ugly?

So let’s be honest, some people have a thing against ‘trick decks.’ My own opinion is that there is no reason to make things more complicated than they need to be – but maybe I am just lazy? The advantage of something like the Trilby deck is that it is not a ‘one trick wonder’ but a very versatile system which could be used for a whole set. Indeed with certain elements of the deck in play you could use it for pretty much any effect you would do with a regular deck – and still have the added advantage of more options.

We think this is a welcome revival of a deck which should be more well known. Why not head on over to BBM and pick one up…

The Trilby Deck £24.99

[PS - The original manuscript is difficult to get hold of now, but there is a review of it on TalkMagic which may be of interest to anyone considering purchasing.]

Bicycle Wounded Warriors, Samurai, Rosefinch etc.

A whole batch of new designs in now at www.cards4magic.co.uk.

Wounded Warriors are £7 with some money going to support a military charity.

Bicycle Samurai Cards are £12.50 at Cards4Magic but only £9.99 at MagicNevin.

The unusual Bicycle Rosefinch deck is £7.

They are also now stocking the Bicycle Doomsday deck for £9.00.

They also have Bicycle Steampunks, Red Stars and Dragon backs, but these are all available more cheaply elsewhere.

Sight – Dee Christopher – mini review

Sight - Dee Christopher If you like good quality mental magic that fits in your wallet you will enjoy Sight. It is presented as an exercise in ‘remote viewing’ – and in effect you reveal a film freely chosen by a spectator from a list of ten.

It comes with all you need to perform it – a nicely printed card with the list of films, a special ‘something’ to make your life easier, and a full instructional DVD. The DVD includes 2 live performances, and Dee goes into some helpful verbal subtleties to add even more impact to your performance.

If you have any interest in horror movies I can see you’re going to love performing this. Only £10.99 direct from MagicTao.

Happy Easter – and holiday discounts!

Happy Bicycle Cards Easter All at Bicycle-Cards.co.uk would like to wish you a very Happy Easter! And as seems traditional, many of the magic dealers seem to have bank holiday discounts.

Here’s a special deal which is EXCLUSIVE to us!

MA Pro Magic are offering 5% off all orders over £20 and 10% off all orders over £50. Ends Midnight Mon 9th. You must use this link.

For Email Marketing you can trust

Also if you sign up for their newsletter this weekend you will be sent a voucher for a FREE DECK OF CARDS from their entire range (which is extensive!). The voucher will be sent out on Monday and will be valid for use with your next order over £10.

Here’s a round up of some other vouchers we’ve spotted…

Alakazam – 10% discount – ends 8am Tues 10th Apr – code is ‘easter2012′

Dudethatscoolmagic – spend >£35 get free ‘Outlaw’ (RRP £15.99) – ends 12 noon Tues 10th (or possibly Mon 9th? – there is a mistake on their date)

MagicTricks.co.uk – 10% discount – ends midnight Monday 9th – code is ‘MTEASTER12′

Wayne Dobson – Food for Thought – mini review

Although this site focuses primarily on card magic, we like to branch out in our review section and range further afield.

This neat new effect from Wayne Dobson does utilise cards – but not playing cards. Instead you are supplied with 16 good-quality plastic cards which feature a food item on one side and a shopping receipt on the back. It is essentially a ‘mind reading’ effect where you can reveal the item the spectator freely chooses, though there is a bonus idea included to add an extra kicker ‘prediction’.

As ever, with Wayne Dobson material, the method is extremely easy in execution allowing you to concentrate on the presentation. It is virtually self-working. The shopping theme should allow a range of different presentations depending on your personality – and is something which most people can identify with easily.

I can see myself using this regularly and the cards look like they will withstand a decent amount of wear. The DVD is very clear and explains everything thoroughly. If I had one small criticism, the screen printing on the cards looks slightly blurry on the glossy (picture) side, but I really don’t think this would be an issue in real performance.

If you pushed me, I think I would like to see the price of this dropped slightly, but this is a worker and I would recommend it.

Available direct from MagicTao for £25

Trick of the Month – April 2012

This is no April fool, just more recommendations from Bicycle-Cards.co.uk. We’ve got a whole heap of new reviews in the pipeline too, so keep checking back…

As someone who does a lot of walkaround magic the vexed question of where to store your set is always coming up. I have pockets all over the place, but the idea of a discreet but stylish belt-pouch specifically designed with magic in mind really appeals. The Kangaroo Pouch has a place for a TT, deck of cards and coins, and apparently also has a built in ‘effect’ – haven’t handled in person but looks worth a look. £41.99

In at number 2 (!) this month is a trick from the creative mind of Wayne Dobson – one of the foremost creators of easy to do yet powerful magic in the business at the moment. Add-ict is a very clean prediction effect with a couple of presentation angles – including card-at-any-number. £24.99

You really should have a look at the video of this latest piece of strange from Paul Harris Presents. 4 pieces of a playing card visibly move and restore themselves in this crazy new effect. Animate and Restore is available middle of the month – pre-order now for £33.50