Magic Tricks

I was so excited to get this because the effect was just too amazing to be true in the demo and I’ve been talking to Jay about it on a forum. Let’s get down to business. First of all when I opened the package, I knew what I was going to get, but the problem was, the gimmick looked so fake. It looks nothing like a real US quarter when you look at it. My coin was either poorly made, or they all look like this. The coin doesn’t sound like a real coin when put on a table. It sounds like plastic almost but really it’s not. Also the edges aren’t even round. On parts of the quarter, there are almost flat edges to it. For $300 dollars I was expecting something WAY better. I tried to let that slide out of my mind and tell myself that I should watch the DVD first before I make any decisions.
DVD: The sound quality wasn’t the best, and the piano music is pretty distracting in the background. When he does the setup, it just about blew my speakers out and scared the crap out of me. You’ll know what I mean when you get it. This technology isn’t even that new I’m not sure why they made it sound like they invented something new in technology. Set up takes 3-5 minutes? Yah right. Plan on a few hours if you want to do it the preferred way. (Which is pretty much the only way.) The coin itself can be reset in 20 seconds don’t get me wrong. But the entire setup can take a few hours. The handlings are pretty awkward because you have to be very careful about how long you can actually touch the coin or the trick is already ruined. I already knew this wasn’t a trick with a quick reset, but this setup is almost ridiculous. I almost feel bad for Jay because he explains the process of making the coin and it’s crazy. He shows you all the prototypes, and he tells you that there are over 4 companies are used to create the coin. That still didn’t cut it for me since the coin looked pretty fake. Okay okay maybe I should try it out on someone before I judge the DVD or the coin.
I did the setup (long time), kept it set up in my pocket, and went to one of my roommates in college later that day. He’s so fun to do magic to because he will freak out at anything. I asked him to borrow a coin, and asked to make sure that it was straight. He confirmed it was straight. Then I placed it in his hand and let the coin bend and do its work. Instantly he said cool! That was a good sign. Then he picked it up and stared at it.. is this even a real quarter? He knew it looked fake as well. He didn’t ask me again, but once he saw how fake the coin looked, the credibility of the effect was ruined instantly. He said it was cool, but didn’t talk about it after that like he did with some other stuff I do. Maybe coin bending wasn’t his thing so I tried someone else… I tried it on my girlfriend. She thought it was the coolest thing. She didn’t say anything about the coin looking fake, but I could tell she was thinking about it. She was being nice to me. I just ended up doing a normal coin bend and switching it out for a prebent coin and let her keep it. All the sudden she thought it was cool and asked how I did it and wouldn’t stop bugging me about it. The time I used the Elite coin bend though, her reaction wasn’t that big.
Want to hear the truth? I’m pretty disappointed about this. I don’t mind the setup at all. It is quite long, but you get used to it after the first time. Don’t let the setup stop you from getting this. The main thing was that the coin looked extremely fake. Not even just a little, It looks like a toy coin that you buy from the dollar store, when I really bought it from a “three hundred dollar” store. Cool concept, cool technology, cool DVD case, but not a good coin. The bend is also pretty subtle, almost too subtle for me. You almost can’t tell the difference before and after the coin bends sometimes. 300 dollars would’ve been worth it if the coin looked realistic. Too bad it isn’t. Sorry penguin, I love everything about you guys, but I don’t think this effect is the best thing you’ve sold.