Magic Tricks

As someone who is new to magic, I have bought a couple of "magic sets" and each time was thoroughly disappointed. I was hesitant to purchase this kit, but I was curious because Shin Lim has his name on it, and was wondering if he was making a money grab, no matter what effect it had on his reputation. I could not have been more wrong.

I was first impressed with how it was packaged. Everything is laid out nice and neat, and the design on everything looks nice.

There is a 32 page booklet that contains 100 card tricks. I have not read through it all, but included in the tricks are descriptions of certain slights and forces. I will read it thoroughly later. I noticed there are very short descriptions for the tricks, in fact there are multiple tricks on most pages.

The accompanying video link was very good. Outstanding video and audio quality, and the angles were good as well. For the majority of it, Shin is demonstrating the tricks and his wife (who is not a magician) is learning it as he teaches. He has a very easy to understand way of teaching the tricks, always with additional information or references to other source material on the subject. The video runs 2 hours and 22 minutes and focuses on everything contained in the box excluding the card trick manual.

There are a few things some may think of as "cons". The biggest is the fact that the cards are bridge sized cards, so they are narrower than a poker deck. However for beginner magicians or kids, these will probably be a lot easier to handle. I know I find them easier to do some things with.

Second, there is not a full standard deck included. You get a gimmick deck and about 5 packet decks for different tricks. A full standard deck to perform the tricks in the manual would have been nice. I just kind of think it would look weird to be using these, then all of a sudden, red bicycles. But that is just me.

As far as the "pros" go, there is a lot. I've paid $10 for a packet trick in the past, and the 5 packet tricks included I like very much, and to me, are worth the price of the set alone. Everything appears to be of decent quality. Even the card stock is very nice.

The age range on the box says 8 - adult, and although there are a lot of things a child 8 or 9 can do fairly easily, there are a lot of tricks I look at geared more towards an older teen or adult. In fact, not 20 minutes into the video Shin shows a palm that, though amazing, is a bit advanced. Like a lot of magic, some of the tricks and gimmicks included will require a bit of practice before you would be ready to perform them.

If you are a beginner, no matter the age, I do not think you will be disappointed in the $50 investment. I seriously was thinking it was going to be another one of those "maybe I can get one or two decent tricks out of it" magic sets, but there are at least 8 of the provided tricks I plan to incorporate, and I haven't even really delved into the card trick manual yet!

I far exceeded my expectations.