It has a nice hook. It gets away from regular cards for a bit (which is nice) but can be done with
regular cards too (which is also nice). The principle is clever and fooling. this can be done almost
totally in the spectators hands and the small part you do may not even be remembered as you are
simply showing them what to do. Crediting is given (almost 100 years ago) and in the end you have a
great cross between a mentalism effect and a multiple prediction card effect that will fit into
either genre of magic (or both together).
The effect itself is easy in that there are no
knuckle busting card moves (and no Elmsley Counts) :-) The spectator can really do 95% of the work.
I think for me, I will grab an UNO deck and show this to some younger folks and use it as a nice
opener using an "everyday item" (of course I grew up in an era where everyone owned and still owns
an UNO deck) then I can lead them down the path to regular card/coin effects.
One of the
really nice aspects of this effect is that it has multiple kickers, without overdoing it and the
prediction is in plain sight thru the effect. Also, you can easily show "proofs" that several simple
different choices along the way would have resulted in a different outcome than the written
prediction. Pocket space is very minimal other than the UNO deck, which could be borrowed.
The teaching video is a private Vimeo clocking in at just over 40 mins with a timestamp menu in
the beginning. It is very well put together and not full of "Fluff" or the dreaded "overexplaining".
Different details that you probably want to write down or take notes is boldly and colorfully left
onscreen long enough to hit pause and copy down the part you need.
All that said, I did get
a review copy to look over, give feedback and post a review (optional). Those who know me also know
my reviews are non biased and if I see a problem or a flaw, I point them out. I would have given it
4 1/2 out of 5 stars simply because the UNO deck would be yet another deck to carry or borrow
---BUT--- I will give it a solid 5 out of 5 because he goes over how to do it with a regular deck,
so - no extras if you choose the latter. It is not a long tutorial on the regular deck but the gist
is a no brainer (substitute the 4 suits for the 4 colors and use the spot cards that match the UNO
numbers. Not rocket science).
Then, to top it off. He figured a way to streamline the
effect a little more and added it to the video as well as sent an updated PDF to those with the
early copies. That, to me, shows real class. Buy this, it is honestly worth twice the price offered
by Penguin.
