I thought a lot about the routining and presentation I wanted to use this for, so, to my wallet's
chagrin, I took the plunge and bought this system. Unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations
in many ways, and I eventually sold mine. Some of the issues I saw:
THE APP
-Glitchy
-Limited options, cannot rotate text or photos
-Drawings or scribbled writing ALWAYS looks
digital/pixelated. If it's a drawing, it looks almost exactly like a Microsoft Paint drawing. Your
spectators will not think the drawing was done by hand
- Limited options for templates. They
should’ve included a lottery ticket template or something like that. In order to do that, so much
maneuvering must be done IN-PERFORMANCE on the app. This is less of a problem if you have an
assistant off stage but still.
- I even considered doing a receipt confabulation where I have
people name a restaurant, a food, and a total item. However, this is far too impractical with this
app. You would have to quite literally type and format the entire receipt from scratch on the app in
real-time.
- Lacking streamlining
- Clearly, not made by/for English speakers
-
Unpredictable/fluctuating print quality. Sometimes, the darkness of the print is good, other times
it is sufficient. But again, this is unpredictable even when toggling with contrast settings in the
app.
Now, issues with the prop itself.
- You will have to accept that your closer looks
like a receipt and like it has been printed. Which— if you were a real mind-reader and you’re
revealing a drawing, why would it be a digital drawing on receipt paper? This will allude the method
to spectators.
- Can only produce ONE slip of paper, not several
- It will be the exact
dimensions of a receipt, so a parlor audience will not be able to see it or read it unless its a
large drawing.
- The audience will recognize the texture and dimensions of the paper… they deal
with receipts all day long.
- The cleanup occurs at the exact time there should be no tampering.
- Routining wise, there are bigger prediction/closer effects that don’t require such a dramatic
setup for a single small slip of paper. Look into other confabulations.
- The unit makes sound.
Not as loud as a receipt printer at the market, but you will need some white noise or music for
about 15-30 seconds during the key moment.
Overall, this had SO much potential. If the app
included templates (such as a lotto ticket, playing card, restaurant receipt etc…) with easy input
at the touch of a button, that would be a huge plus. If the app allowed intuitive re-sizing,
rotation, and manipulation of drawings and text, that would be a huge plus. But you are restricted
quite heavily.
If the printer was a bit wider and resembled less the size of a standard
store receipt, that would be awesome. If it could print multiple slips into the same envelope, that
would be awesome. But no. You get a small slip of paper that one person will have to hold in their
hands (practically) to be able to do. It wont play for a big stage. I suggest other confabulation
type routines, such as Bill Abbot's No-Brainer, or Message in a Bottle by Scott Alexander.
