Magic Tricks

This is both easy to construct and easy to use. Mr. Frye provides pdf files to print out the panels needed to modify as many card boxes as you would ever want to gimmick, so you will not need cut up any tuck boxes to make this. The files provided will allow you to switch either a red or a blue deck. Using these downloaded pdfs, at least one of the boxes will need to be (or appear to be) Bicycle, but the the other box and the cards actually switched in and out can be of any design/brand you like. (And if you have access to a color copier or a scanner - or if you’re willing to attack a couple of extra boxes with an X-acto knife - you could easily prepare this for any two brands of cards after you learn the method.)

The seven-minute instruction video is not narrated - instead, short explanatory notes are superposed on the video as you watch Mr. Frye’s hands make the gimmicks. Since the construction and use are so simple, the lack of narration isn’t much of an issue. No applications or routines are taught, nor is any real-world performance shown - You’ll just be shown how to make the gimmick and how to do the switch.

Angles are reasonably good, but this is not for use surrounded. Neither box is examinable, but who needs to have boxes examined?

I frequently work at events where I perform magic continuously at a table, sometimes for several hours, with people stopping to watch as much or as little as they’d like. This switch is very practical for this situation, as it would be plausible for the second card box to have been left on the table from some effect performed earlier in the day. It would also be justified in an extended performance like this to set your working deck aside to do some non-card magic and then return to that deck.

For strolling performers, however, this method is less practical. It would be harder to justify introducing an extra card box that is never used for anything except to enable the switch, and possibly also hard to justify putting your working deck aside during the rather short performance times typical of strolling magic.

If you want a gimmick-assisted deck switch, Gregory Wilson’s “Cold Case” is the most deceptive and most versatile option on the market. Also, Mr. Wilson teaches numerous applications and routines in the accompanying video for Cold Case. So, for the strolling entertainer or restaurant magician, Cold Case would be the more useful purchase, though it costs four times more and takes just a bit more practice to use smoothly and confidently.

However, if you perform in situations were the presence of an extra box isn’t a bit strange and unexplained, and if it would be natural to set your working deck down, then you will be happy with this download, particularly if you already know one or more routines that would benefit from a deck switch and thus aren’t needing to learn applications for the switch.

The bonus video is entertaining to watch, with Mr. Frye performing and teaching with narration a method to grab a selected card from a fanned deck tossed into the air. A full-circle fan is also also demonstrated, but this would have benefited from more detailed instruction.

Recommended purchase if you already have a routine in mind to use this for, and if you perform in situations where the method will appear natural.