Magic Tricks

ACAANs always intrigue me. I’m always on the lookout for the ultimate one that truly melts any magician’s mind. Free by Think Nguyen brings that task another step closer toward that lofty goal.

I’ll tell you what blew my mind... in the demo, you see the spectator shuffle half the deck and then the other. The handling seemed to be very free. I was like “how the heck — ?!!” So I had to get this.

I’m so glad I did. As usual, the solution is stupid easy. It looks great. More importantly, it looks EXTREMELY fair. Guess what else... no prep is needed AT ALL.

Unfortunately, this isn’t perfect or the ultimate yet. But dang it, this is good and I’m happy.

I’ll answer some questions you may have now:
1. Do you need to be a sleight of hand master?
No. You will want to practice this a bit to make sure you can do the moves cleanly without anything looking awkward.
2. Do I have to practice a lot?
Not necessarily. See #1.
3. Any arts and crafts?
Nope!
4. Any prep?
Nope!
5. Do you end clean?
Yup! But let’s expound on this... if your spectator is Penn, Teller, or any very experienced magician who doesn’t want to be fooled, they might be able to figure it out if they examine your deck. But for the laymen, let them look all they want! (Unless they are crazy detail oriented)
6. Can you use a spectator’s deck?
I always thought this was a funny question, picturing random people who just happen to have their own deck of cards in their pockets. But yes, you really can... but I would chance it on anything but a brand new deck.
7. Is this good for walk-around?
This is the biggest (and only real) downside to the trick. Once you perform the trick, you’ll want to either use a fresh deck or you’ll have to ditch the previous card picked. You could give it away, but review question #5 and be selective. Unless you add something to the routine that gives you permission to do a little damage to the card first, such as a t & r of some kind... even better, one that is a corner type t & r. For most cases, this is a one-off... perfect for the “you’re a magician? Show me one trick!” scenario. You really shouldn’t repeat this with the same deck. I can think of a way you could get perhaps one extra performance out of it, but you’d still be taking a chance. Also keep in mind that the deck you use will not be in perfect condition when you’re done with this trick. (One card anyway).
8. How is the teaching?
Think does a nice job. Honestly, the sound is a little quiet and I do wish there was at least one more camera used for angles. But this is simple and to the point.

I hope I didn’t give away too much info. Just tying to give you a fair review. Part of a defined act, this is great... especially if you can do a deck switch and continue with other tricks... or use this at the end, though I feel personally like this is more of an opener.

If you’re looking for a really fair ACAAN, so far, imho, this is as good as it gets.

4 stars for Mr. Nguyen!

By the way, I always try to be honest and straightforward in my reviews, while being respectful to the magician. If you appreciate my reviews, can you please click the "Yes" button below beside the question, "Did this review help you?" It's not like I actually benefit in any way by your clicking it... but it would be nice to see if my reviews are helpful or not. I hope they are. If you ever have suggestions or comments or questions about my reviews, please feel free to leave me a constructive comment. I'm just trying to be helpful. I love the Penguin community and hope that I can someday contribute my own product. :-) Thanks for reading and for any (hopefully positive, but either way, at least kind) feedback.