Magic Tricks

There is the latest volume part of the Ultimate Self Working Card Tricks series - all of which are fantastic. It adds to this already very fine collection with yet another ten top routines.

CONTENTS

1. Karmatic (John Bannon: The spectator does all the work with shuffling, and yet remarkably produces a card written down before the trick began. This trick makes a great start to the video, courtesy of some top notch magic from John Bannon, and something that will bring to mind Dai Vernon's famous unexplained card trick.

2. Coincidence (Bill Simon): Once again the spectator does the work, dealing from two piles at a time. Yet whenever they stop, the cards in both piles contain a mate - even though this would not have been produced if they'd stopped anywhere else! Some set-up is needed, but it's worth it because the effect is be absolutely staggering. It reminds me of a two deck coincident routine from Nick Trost that I've always loved, and can be made even more astounding when using a marked deck.

3. Five Nine King (Martin Gardner): With this routine, your spectator produces a matching four of a kind despite numerous free choices along the way. We can expect some math from the big name of Martin Gardner, but it's mostly under the hood, and you'll even fool yourself with this one! Those familiar with Gardner's work may find interesting an apparent flaw in his write-up that the BBM team come with a fix for.

4. Company of Three (Roy Walton): With the involvement of two spectators, three cards are lost and impossibly produced. Besides an entirely self-working method, a variation with a small sleight is also taught for added deception. This is a classic from the legendary Roy Walton. Getting spectators involved is always a positive, and this trick lets you get a couple of them engaged.

5. Sorta Swiped (Jack Tighe): A spectator selects and signs a card, which is lost in the deck. A card labelled "Lucky Card" with a different color back is inserted into the deck, and finds the signed card. But there's a twist - the signature ends up on the back of the Lucky Card! The surprise element is reminiscent of the famous Anniversary Waltz, and just like in that trick, you can give you spectator the signed card as a memento.

6. Miracle Aces (Stephen Tucker): The spectator miraculously produces all four aces from a shuffled deck. The `Spectator Cuts to the Aces' is a classic routine in self-working card magic, and this is a very clever take by Stephen Tucker.

7. Baker Street (Liam Montier): Two hands of five cards each are dealt, and two spectators each select a card from their packet and exchange these cards, and yet you can read their minds and identify the cards. As the ad copy mentions, this will appeal to poker players, but it will stun anyone who enjoys cards.

8. Third Attribute (Michael Breggar): Starting with a genuinely shuffled deck, the spectator shuffles two halves of the deck into each other face-up and face-down. After cutting as often as they wish, they remove any three face-down cards from the resulting mixed-up deck, which are used to divine their chosen card. This is a real magician fooler, and good presentation can really make this seem like a miracle.

9. Swindle Coincidence (Peter Kane): Using two shuffled decks, two spectators each freely choose a card and reverse them, and they turn out to match. This is an amazing coincidence routine that will really baffle, and is from a big name magician that brought us the classic Wild Card routine. A great routine for involving spectators too!

10. Card U Reka (U.F Grant): Your spectator chooses three cards, representing their past, present, and future, and these are found to match the same three you've chosen. This is an oldie but a goodie, and the triple prediction can be enhanced with good patter revolving around a fortune-telling theme. You'll need some work to set up a deck for this trick, but the resulting presentation can really blow people away.

IMPRESSIONS

I especially like the fact that there's a good variety of effects, such as coincidence effects, and spectators finding their own card. There's also good variation in types of tricks that are included. Some of the tricks require some set-up, while others can be performed with virutally impromptu with any borrowed shuffled deck. There are a few that require dealing and stacks, but some people like more slower-paced tricks, so you do get a bit of everything. I especially enjoyed Michael Breggar's "Third Attribute".

Big Blind Media is the modern gold standard as far as quality filming and production of magic videos. This video is no exception, with outstanding sound and studio lighting, plus solid camera work that uses multiple camera angles and close-ups when needed. It really doesn't get better than this, and the same can be said of all the videos in the series so far.

RECOMMENDATION

Big Blind Media has certainly set a very high standard for themselves with their previous releases. Despite raising the bar high with the three earlier volumes in this series, with Volume 4 they still manage to come up with more of the same high calibre content that won't disappoint. And as with all their videos, Big Blind Media ensures that we get to learn our card magic while having the very best in visuals and sound.

For the most part, the tricks in this series are not the kind of self-working card magic that you may have grown up with, with tedious shuffling and dealing, and endless counting or spelling. This is not yet another version of your grandfather's Twenty-One Card Trick, but it's strong magic, from some of the best in the business. What I like about Volume 4, as with the previous volumes, is that there is some material here from big names in card magic, with solid and proven routines, as well as some new content that you're not likely to have seen before. Despite being self-working and relatively easy to learn and perform, it's baffling and entertaining.

In my estimation, this video is every bit as good as the three that preceded it, and is yet another fine collection of self-working card magic. If you loved any of those, then this will be an obvious purchase and must-have. Experienced magicians will enjoy the quality of the content included, while new and upcoming magicians will enjoy the ease in which these DVDs allow them to amaze family and friends. Well done to Big Blind Media for bringing us the goods yet again!