Gary gets to the point with these "simple" tricks. This DVD is a real reminder that sometimes simple is best...and simple can be quite astonishing. I like his easy teaching style. He just gets to the meat of it. If you have not checked out his DVD's on thumb tip magic....you should do that as well.

Thanks for the free gift. I really enjoyed watching him breeze through these tricks.

I loved his talk about what you can personally get from magic.

I got this as a free download for Christmas (Thanks, Penguin!) and was pleasantly surprised with the content. It is aimed at young, beginner, magicians and is one of the best I have seen in it's category. It is full of actual beginner tricks anyone can do with items from home. Darwin does a great job at keeping things simple; many magicians making these "beginner" DVDs seem to forget what a beginner is.

Towards the end of the video he does use a thumb tip for a few tricks but that is the most expensive item you will have to buy. Darwin is a good teacher and explains everything very well. I thoroughly enjoyed watching every minute of it. Personally I would not have gotten $30 worth of information out of it but I am not the target audience. For a young beginner this would be a great start!

I wish something like this had existed when I was a young boy back in the 1960's trying to learn magic. Of course that can also be said about the explosion of all the instructional magic media of the last few decades.

There is no substitute for seeing a trick performed by a master, even for these basic beginner tricks. The addition of performance and showmanship in this DVD will certainly inspire the next generation of magicians.

I would recommend that Penquin put together a bundle of the tricks explained at the beginning of the DVD along with the DVD and make it available for sale at a good price for first time magicians.

It's quick and dirty (when it comes to the tricks) but quite dry. My kids lost interest with it quickly and asked if I could just teach them the tricks instead. I wanted to like it but the only thing I found kid friendly about it was the kid tricks and props. Another reviewer said it's like watching your grandpa teach magic... I'd agree if you're grandpa teaches magic while hitting on one of your 20 year old cousin's girl friends. I can appreciate his zest for life, magic and young women but I found it a bit uncomfortable to watch.

There are other beginner magic videos that are more engaging for kids. My kids enjoyed this one more:
The Greatest Beginner Magic DVD Ever featuring Oz Pearlman and Jessie Geneva

Coincidentally Jessie Geneva is the same woman gramps is hitting on in this one.

I bought this just because I was curious. I am not a beginner to magic at all, and I bought this to just see what Darwin was teaching people. I was amazed. It has not only a bunch of good magic tricks and fun tricks, but also it has a lot of really good tips for young magicians to be bale to grow in magic quickly. It teaches all sorts of showmanship skills and a bunch of good buying tips. I even learned one thing from it and I've been studying magic since I was 5! Buy it right now.

Gary gives you the great magic that anyone can do. He takes you through simple starter tricks step-by-step that anyone getting started into magic will learn in just a little time of practice. As an added kicker, Gary shows you how to produce a silk from thin air. He covers coin magic and sleights that top professionals use in their shows. Also Gary share with you classic tricks and props such as the 'Cups and Balls,' and on where to buy so many of the effects that you might want to get to add on to your growing supplies. He show you how to Make at home magic and even produce live animals from nowhere and vanish them as well. He gives tips on how to make the magic you do better.

I've only seen bits of this, but given the character and the production company (Gary Darwin, icon and pillar of Magic, Magic and the Penguin), has to be a quality product.

Here, too, goes on all aspects of magic, energy and Gary darwin 'overwhelming, 50 years of experience are seen, and the love he shows for magic and' engaging.

it looks great but where is the instant download

i have been doing magic since i was six years old my grandfather sparked that interest in me by showing me my first trick by the time i was eleven years old i was given my first magic book a nice thick one with more tricks than any other book i have ever seen to this day. i performed so many bits of magic from that book for years to come and seen a few things represented in this download. after taking my magic to a moderate level and then onto a professional level i found that some beginner magic is just so good i still use it on occasion. all that said i downloaded this out of curiosity not sure how good something that was free would be - i want you to know that if you are just starting in magic this is not a bad place to begin. you will learn a variety of top-quality beginner magic but what i believe this download offers most of all is understanding of techniques rules and encouragement in such abundance that i have rarely seen in other magic tutorials for beginners. with all of this in mind i give this a four out of five-star rating. the only reason i don't give it a higher rating is because i believe there is always room to improve on how and what newcomers magic to are taught.

This DVD presents simple effects for the beginner magician. Gary really shows that simple effects can be great if presented properly. This DVD s full of beginner tricks anyone can do with items from home. I would recommend this for young beginner magicians first starting in magic. It presents a variety of tricks and gives a person new magic a sampler of tricks that can be done and help a beginner find what trick suits them in journey into magic.