The method as taught, absent the two words, provide you with a reasonable process for determining
someone's age with near certainty. It's clever and workable.
HOWEVER, with the addition of
two words you can extend the effect that will not only leave the spectator with a keepsake that they
will keep (for goodness sake) but also extend the presentation in two dimensions, making it play
much longer and a lot bigger.
That thought occurred to me when I saw the Penguin
presentation and I gambled my $9.95 that it would work. It appears that it did.
So, what,
you ask, are those two words? Well, you've stuck with me this far so here they are: magic square.
Once you get their age, don't blurt it out, instead, as they have been going through their
calculations, as shown on the penguin demo video, you have been construction the square. When you
learn their age that's the time to fill in the "critical squares" and then move into the square as
if it was an extension of the calculations they had been doing.
A little time misdirection
later you start to show how this bunch of numbers (that include ones mentioned in the ZAG portion)
adds up to their age... over and over again. At least, that's how I'm going to use this.
And finally, kudos to Penguin for posting a demo video with no obvious cuts or other things that
obscure the actual presentation.
19 of 20 magicians found this helpful.
Tori Noquez did a good job in the instruction part of the trick. The trick itself didn't exactly
excite me. You get to the last step of the trick and you have to GUESS their age. If the
participant is 43 and you guess 33. Oops! "Oh well, I guess magic's not perfect after-all."
Anybody can guess. Magicians are not 'anybody'. Also, I'm not a fan of "Guess which hand" tricks
because it's only 50/50. Now, if you can guess which hand, and what object, and who it belongs to
without fishing .. that would interest me. With ZAG, at some point you have to ask the participant
what the last number of their age is..REALLY?! lol. AND, ZAG is just a guessing trick with some
MATH involved. Using Zodiac signs to find the age of someone seems very interesting, but it's not
astonishing to me because you're asking too many questions of the person you're trying to guess the
age of. Back to the drawing board. ((and I never got my $10 Penguin Cash))
4 of 5 magicians found this helpful.
I basically got this for free after the $10 certificate. I wish I could give it a good review but
unfortunately I can't.
First, I hate when you have to add numbers (especially with a
calculater) to reach an age. The problem with THIS trick is it only allows you to calculate the
last digit of a person's age. You have to 'guess' the first number by how old a person looks. And
the caveat from her...if you don't know...be kind and guess the lower age. So, based on that, this
trick is not fool-proof.
4 of 5 magicians found this helpful.
Simple, cute, can develope a good patter; good price/ value
3 of 4 magicians found this helpful.
This is pretty disappointing. It is very obviously mathematical, and rather easy to backtrack and
most moderately intelligent viewers will see it as add something, subtract the same thing and bingo,
there's what you started with. Tori's attempts at disguise are pretty poor - "there are four seasons
in a year and twelve months in a year so go ahead and add four hundred and twelve to your number"
...please! Or "Pisces is a water sign, and there are five letters to spell water, so add five to
your number."
The idea of getting an age from a birthsign is a good idea - but the presentation
must be subtle. If you buy this you will need to come up with a much better cover story than Tori
offers. Normally the main value of a download is in the routine rather than the secret. This
certainly isn't true here. And if you just want the secret then simply watch the trailer twice, then
think.
There is a bonus, a pdf by Dee Christopher, which offers keywords for the Zodiac signs
and suggestions for their use in a short cold reading to give purpose to this trick. This bonus pdf
is good, valuable information if you are a beginner mentalist. Buy it for this.
Also read the
other reviews. One reviewer suggests that this can be used as a lead into a Magic Square which
reveals the Age. Brilliant! That is the way I intend to go.
So with that reviewer's generous
freebie and the Dee Christopher bonus I think you can justify buying this just to confirm the
details.
2 of 3 magicians found this helpful.
“Aquarius shoots an arrow and arrows have five letters so add five...”
No creativity at all
went into this and therefore everything is weak and poorly justified.
Why not ask them
which element they associate with? Earth, Wind, Fire, Water?
If they name Earth or Water,
proceed as normal.
Wind or fire, move to 4/13 (4 seasons, 13 weeks in each season).
Still not great but come on....
2 of 3 magicians found this helpful.
I'm not a big fan of number magic, but I'll be doing this one because it's easy to learn and do, and
it keeps the spectators engaged and interested because it's all about them. It's personal
information revealed in a most inconspicuous way.
If you're looking for a piece of
mentalism without using the typical props, then get this and learn it today. You'll be doing it
tomorrow and amazing complete strangers by "guessing" their age perfectly...every time.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
Simple, and a perfect opener for engaging your spectator. I love the idea of going into a magic
square routine from this point. And Tori is awesome at explaining the (very easy) math. And I'm
terrible at math. It doesn't matter - don't let that cause you concern. 5 stars.
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
It's a very intriguing trick!
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.
I like this. You can use this for a lot more than just ZAG.
Its with you always, its easy, and
if you try, and think, you can come up with a version of your own, and blow people away. ACAAN using
there age, WOW thats a thought! Use your head, this is a great piece of work. Thank you, and the
price was not bad either!
1 of 1 magicians found this helpful.