Die Karte mit den drei Seiten by Jochen Zmeck

Personal Comment: I cannot give you any sources on that. But you don't need that. This is basically just a way to reveal a chosen card. I like the premise. It's cute.

Years ago I visited a local magic circle in Berlin, Germany. They had their own little magazine. And Jochen Zmeck, being an honorary member of that circle, contributed to that magazine. The pamphlets are called "ZauBerlin" but that is pretty much all I can say about that.

Difficulty 2/5

Neural Photography by Aaron Ducker

Creator's Comment: A fun little idea I had using the Ed Marlo Snap Change and a blank card. You could also accomplish this effect with other changes such as the Shape Shift Change and its variants! Anything visual, but I prefer the Marlo Snap Change because I think it makes more sense to this effect! Yet I know theres people out there who hate the Marlo Snap Change.

Personal Comment: Oh boy... this routine needs improvement. But that is the cool thing about such videos: It's the state of the trick at the time. I really would love to see the trick in about a year from now. I am sure this will be a lot better. About the Snap Change. It's good, if the angles are good. So naturally for a camera this is about the best change one can do. But in real life hardly any performing situation allows for that. And even then I would ditch the extra card on the deck as quickly as possible. The general idea is good, but here is what I would change in the structure. I wouldn't have the blank card in the deck. I would take it from somewhere else. It would make the handling a bit more knacky (TC and DT) but it would make a lot more sense.

Seriously I would like to see the routine in about a year from know. I bet it will have changed a lot by then.

Difficulty: 3/5

Ammendment by Aaron Ducker

Creator's Comment: I've always liked effects like this, effects where the magician seems to screw up and has to fix it, it's why I adore wild card routines, this is a very direct idea, and it uses a few handling of sleights I've personally developed.

Personal Comment: In terms of method it feels so familiar in a way. I could swear I have seen that trick before. I'm not sure. In terms of plot this isn't new at all. But we all know that plot and know how well it plays. But to achieve the effect we could use a whole bunch of methods without resorting to gimmicks. So this makes the routine only interesting from a technical point of view. Does the use of a DF really enhance the effect? Personally I think not, but who am I to decide this?

Difficulty: 2/5

Philosophical Sandwich by Kamil Scott

Creator's Comment: "This effect is just my take on progressive sandwich and it's constructed to work in real world, so there are almost no angle problems. It is a difficult piece of magic but reactions justify hard work. So I hope you like it."
Kamil Scott

Personal Comment: Kamil Scott told me that this effect is "heavily inspired" by the sandwich routine by Tony Chang entitled: "Sandwich for your Mom". It's the first time a progressive Sandwich ends up here. I don't really like the idea of a progressive sandwich, but this has a nice little moment (at 1:45) that people will remember. Is it hard? I tried to reconstruct the exact handling but I failed. So I can make no claim on how difficult this really is. I assume it's knacky.

Imprint by Aaron Ducker

You don't need any source you basically know all the details if you have a little bit of background knowledge.

Personal Comment: What I really like about this, is that no DL is needed during the routine. Most often this would be the case. Hiding parts of the card during the showing is not a new thing. But combining that with gimmicky stuff might be a nice way to go. I am not so sure about this. But here is what I like: There is this gimmick out there and people like Mr. Ducker actually come up with ideas for that besides the ones that came with the gimmick. It's not a difficult routine... and I wouldn't call it a routine... but here is how it could be a full routine: Before this you would have a few effects, where pips travel from one card to another. Preferably not gimmicked (e.g. the Two of hearts loses a pip and becomes the Ace of Hearts, while the Five of Hearts becomes the Six of Hearts) that gives you a motivation to introduce the gimmick not make the routine "sleight of hand proof" then after the Six of Hearts is in the holder you take out the Ace of Spades and make the pip jump to the back of the Ace. That is pure magic. If the heart is actually printed on you have a nice giveaway. I also got a little bit of additional information by Mr. Ducker. He credits Simon Lovell because he used one little tip of Mr. Lovell. That little tip helps to know how to hold the Six of Hearts so the missing pip is not seen when it is not supposed to be seen.

Difficulty: 2/5

Crazy Card by Doug Edwards

Personal Comment: I like it. Many years ago when I was desperate to find good card magic I wrote this down. I don't recall where I got it from. I wrote down every little trick that I liked into the book. And then added my own two cents on that. You can see that the effect time ratio is very high. Many effects in very little time. I love that stuff. Visual and all of that. And so darn easy.

So as usual, if you know where this was published shoot me a message and I'll change it accordingly.

Difficulty 2/5

Angle Jogged Placement of a Card

I would like to know who came up with this. There a plenty of sources for the side jogged version of this. But the angle jogged version is simply better. It seems more disconnected from the deck. I would love to give the creator proper credit. So who came up with this, whom shall I credit?
I can seen that most magicians won't use this, as the first card remains on the deck in a face up condition. That scares most of the people. But a simple palm get's rid of that issue.
I love that method. It looks so disconnected from the deck, so much like the real thing. So again... Who's to blame with the fame?

Color Guessing

Personal Comment: In the video it looks like I just name the color I turn over. This is not the case. I should have made sure to call out the color first and THEN turn it over. But the trick is good. Nothing spectacular about it, but it is a nice self working trick. So who knows where this was published first?



Difficulty Self Working

Card and Rubber Band

Personal Comment: This is great. Animation is almost always great. A magic buddy showed this to me years ago. I liked it. Then I forgot about it. Now I like it again. So where was it published? And who created it?



Difficulty 2/5

Card on Rope

Personal Comment: I always thought this ungimmicked version of the Card on Rope effect was in Tarbell. Turns out it is not. So do you know the source? Because I think this is a pretty good effect. Btw, this version actually allows for a signed card to be caught by the rope. That would of course require a palm but you got plenty of time to do the actual switch out as the spectator is shuffling the deck. This effect plays strong with regular audiences. And you don't even need a table. The rope could be in the top hat in the beginning, then you take out the rope, display it, toss the rope with the special side over your shoulder and show the top hat. Then reverse the action and put the rope back into the top hat. And then you can have you card picked.

Unlike the gimmicked versions I like the fact that the top hat can be shown empty. All looks pretty clean,

Card Through Handkerchief

Personal Comment: There you see the worst possible condition for that trick. Still it works. It's a classic and a good one. In fact done at a place where there is no wind this is quite a good trick. And if you hold the bag in front of your body the whole trick is even angle proof. I see this effect being dismissed because it is old. But this is a great ending to an ambitious card. I've never seen anybody do it. Be the first!

Difficulty 2/5

Queens and Water by Phil Goldstein

Personal Comment: I cannot give you the book that this is in. I always thought it was in Focus, but turns out it is not. The is Phils take on Oil and Queens by Roy Walton. The effect is nearly the same but the handling differs at key moments. I am not entirely sure if this is correctly done, as I was working from my memory.

Difficulty 2/5

Train Robbers

It went so well yesterday... so does anybody know the source?

The Famous Three Card Trick by David Williamson

Williamson's Wonder by Richard Kaufman
Page: Follows

Personal Comment: Six Card Repeat is a pretty nice trick. Doing it with just four cards makes it feel less repetitive without losing the effect. That makes it a nicer trick. I like it.

Difficulty 2/5