Magic Tricks

Let me preface this review to say that I am biased. Kyle Purnell is a great friend of mine. However, I will be giving an honest review, so don’t let that information taint the validity of what I am about to say. Kyle is one of the most creative magicians out there. His out-of-the-box thinking, as far as methodology and presentations are concerned, create astoundingly engaging and fooling effects. This one is no exception. This effect utilizes some creative methods that you will love, and can apply to your own thinking and magic. All you need are a deck of cards and a hole-punch…and a bit of practice, naturally. This is perfect for walk-around situations or a closer for a card sequence. You might think to yourself, “I don’t want to carry a hole-punch with me,” or “I don’t even have a hole-punch!” To answer those questions, we magicians carry around coins in a purse and a deck of cards in a clip all day, why not? And chances are you probably have a hole-punch in a drawer. If not, you can buy one for like 2 bucks at a drugstore. Okay, okay, but Travis, I don’t have 2 bucks. Never fear!! You can learn a fantastic torn and restored card you can do anytime until you scrape together 200 pennies. Let’s look at the plus points for Hole-some:
- Requires literally no set-up
- No clunky Gimmicks or glues, magnets, elastic dental dam.
- This effect is highly self contained. If you wanted to, you could repeat the effect immediately
- It can be done with their signed card! Which means: Souvenir. One of the best things you can give your audience is a souvenir.
Aside from the content of the effect, Kyle leaves no stone unturned. His teaching is brutally thorough, well thought out, and easy to follow. Long story short, he knows this effect inside out. You will learn some incredible techniques and Kyle goes in depth on, not only the mechanics, but the psychology behind it. And it is bloody brilliant.
Okay, time for some negative points:
- You are left with an incomplete deck
- You are carrying with you a hole-punch
Although everything I said about carrying a hole-punch in the beginning of this review is true, I also can’t see myself carrying one around simply for this effect. This means that I am not sure this particular effect is meant for the hobbyist, but more for a worker, and trust me, this is a working effect. Kyle has a local restaurant magic residency, so you know this has been audience tested to the max. This being said, I think you should still invest in this even if you are a hobbyist. There will be opportunities to do so, and the techniques you learn in this download will still benefit your magic even if you never perform the exact effect taught.
The fact that you are left incomplete is another issue. As a hobbyist, of course. It requires you to destroy a deck and hand out the souvenir. The deck is now incomplete, so this would have to be a closer or you may need to have several decks on you if you are performing this walk-around. Again, this for a working magician, so you can be buying decks all day for your shows, but a hobbyist may not be able to keep destroying decks for one effect. I would recommend performing this with a very used deck that you would be throwing out anyway and don’t mind losing cards.
All-in-all, this is a great trick and I highly recommend it.