Magic Tricks

If you are an experienced magician, you know the principle going on here (named in some of the other reviews) and you can move on to something else. But if you are new to magic, the teaching is solid enough for what it is, and you'll enjoy performing this. But I can only really recommend this for absolute beginners.

The best thing about this video? The added subtleties that take this principle to a different level than typical. Namely, the way you number the slips of paper as you go along. To me, this is the selling point of the effect, and I think Mr. Pisciotta should have played this up a bit more in his teaching. Performers could benefit from a further discussion of the psychological misdirection going on in the spectator's eye. Why does numbering the slips of paper matter in the first place? This is not discussed.

I also have to take issue with the ad copy: "You ask three questions, you make three predictions, they're all right."

It could work out that way. Maybe.

One of these three predictions (the last one, the shape) is an honest-to-goodness guess that might miss. In fact, I suspect you are more likely to miss than to hit. Mr. Pisciotta explains how this can easily be dismissed because the two hits will be so strong. I'm not sure I agree; wouldn't you want to hit three out of three times? Couldn't that third prediction be a force of some kind? I think Mr. Pisciotta intends a force by naming two shapes and assuming the spectator will pick a common third shape. But if so, this isn't explored or even mentioned in the video.

Furthermore, assuming a miss is likely, how can a miss be turned into a positive? In mind-reading, there are simply going to be times when you miss; it's a fact we live with. The experienced performer can gloss over a miss or twist it around to sound like a hit.

At best, Mr. Pisciotta's handling turns a miss into an "almost-hit", saying — in effect — "I wrote this because I misread your mind." I don't have a problem with that, but there are other alternatives for handling a miss. It would have been nice to have more discussion about this. For instance, if your performance style lends itself to humor, perhaps there's a punch-line you can use. (Maybe you can think of a punch-line appropriate for a a circle or a square or a triangle...)

This is a solid enough routine for beginners, but I think it could have been so much more with a little more thought.