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Ender's Review: Instant Magician Kit (Magic Makers)

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Ender's Review: Instant Magician Kit (Magic Makers)
« on: August 14, 2017, 02:12:50 AM »
 

EndersGame

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Instant Magician Kit (Magic Makers)

A good value three-in-one package for beginning a journey into magic

Overview

The Instant Magician Kit is a product from Magic Makers that has three products in one, all ideal for relative newcomers to the world of magic:

- Do You Want To Learn Magic DVD
- Magic Pen Trick
- The Crazy Cube

In this review, I'll tell you something about each of these items.  While they're available for purchase separately, you do save some money by buying them together as a package.

Do You Want to Learn Magic DVD

Ideal starting point for beginners



OVERVIEW: This DVD from Magic Makers is a good starting point for those relatively new to magic, because it teaches a variety of magic tricks that are easy to learn, master, perform and amaze. In the video, Rob Stiff goes through some different magic tricks using a variety of different items, including some card tricks, coin tricks, match tricks and a lot more. With almost two hours of material in total, this DVD will give the beginner what is needed to start learning magic. The main part of the video teaches you how to perform 12 different tricks, as well as a bonus levitation trick, some one-handed fancy moves that you can do with a deck of cards, and card forces.

CONTENTS: There's a ton of material on here, and that's because this is effectively four videos in one.

1. Do You Want To Learn Magic (46 minutes) - This is the main part of the video, and this section includes teaching you how to perform a few card tricks, how to vanish and make a coin reappear, some other magic with money, how to make a match jump from pile to pile, how to cut and magically restore a rope, how to penetrate a rubber band through another one, how to read the mind of someone using an ordinary book, and more.
2. Do You Want to Levitate (4 minutes) - This is a simple introduction to the well-known Balducci Levitation.
3. One Handed & Other Moves (20 minutes) - This material covers some basic one-handed moves, but also has bonus material explaining the slip force & double lift.
4. Card Forces (36 minutes) - This section features teaching by Gerry Griffin, and covers 10 different forces, including the classic force, 10-20 force, riffle force, and more.

See a short video trailer for the DVD here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj4DGJLycaU

TEACHING: Aside from the final section on card forces, Rob Stiff does the teaching for all the tricks, and he goes through them very well, first showing a performance of the trick and then explaining how to do the trick yourself. All of the tricks that have been chosen in the video are, as the back of the DVD says, “easy to perform and are designed to fool everyone.”, and that's an accurate description. Rob's teaching makes it easy to follow along with him and learn what to do, and these tricks also astound the audience, as can be seen by how they react.

BEGINNERS: This DVD is definitely for beginners who wish to start learning magic. The tricks are easy to learn so you can go out there and start performing quite quickly. There are a variety of different types of tricks, so not just card tricks, but tricks using money, books, rope and more can also be learnt, so you will be able to show your audience an entire range of different styles of tricks. But it's also good for the person who already has some experience as a beginner, and is looking to learn some basic sleight of hand (e.g. double lift) and forces, to take their card magic to the next level.

INTERMEDIATES: But it's not only beginner material here, and there's some real gold that even the intermediate magician will appreciate. Take for example the Rubberband Penetration (commonly called the Crazy Man's Handcuffs). This effect can be killer, and although it requires practice to master, it's well worth the effort. There's certainly some very good material here that can help you amaze.

RECOMMENDATION: This DVD is a wonderful place to start to learn how to perform magic, so would make a gift to any starting magician, whether they be young or older. If you are interested in learning magic, this is definitely a great DVD to begin your journey into the amazing world of magic, where you can learn to astound and baffle your audience with some great magic tricks! But even if you have some experience with magic, you'll also find some good material here to use as well. For around 2 hours of material, it's excellent value.

The Crazy Cube

Crazy simple - once you know the secret!



OVERVIEW: The Crazy Cube is a great and simple effect, that can seem impossible to the spectators. It’s especially well suited to people starting out with magic, and for use with children and teens.

CONTENTS: Included with the product is a die, and two plastic tubes, as well as some simple instructions on what to do.

EFFECT: A simple run down of the effect is that you hand a tube and die to spectators, ask them to examine them, then they choose a number on the die and place it face down in the tube, then put the lid on. You take it and put it inside another tube, ensuring there is no possible way you could know the number chosen. However, with your magic powers you can then read their mind and tell them the number they chose! See Rob Stiff perform the trick, in a demo here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xFU3UFzDcY

DIFFICULTY: This trick involves no set up or preparation, and can be done whenever you want, as long as you have the items with you. What I really enjoy about this effect is that it is so easy to learn and do, and doesn’t require any sleight of hand or hard practice, and is always going to work! The instructions included are simple enough and easy to follow, and the reason they are brief is because once you know the secret you can easily perform this trick, after playing around it on your own a couple of times to see how it works. As always, a good presentation will really enhance how it comes across, and some added showmanship will really help.

RECOMMENDATION: The Crazy Cube is a nice effect because it really seems like you are reading the audience’s mind, and all the items can be examined before and after, with no switches needed. Because this is such an easy effect to learn and perform, it is great for beginner magicians and even younger children. It can have a solid impact on the audience, who are baffled, and yet is quite simple and great fun to do. While it is so simple, it still is a great effect for even more experienced magicians to perform because it is so effective; it’s something you can pull out at a moment’s notice, and with the addition of some showmanship, can be a good fooler.

Magic Pen Trick

Penetrate a bill, and leave no hole! (includes great online learning materials)



OVERVIEW: The Magic Pen Trick is a great and baffling trick, which can astound the audience with the seemingly impossible: a pen penetrating a solid object, without leaving any hole or mark. With this effect you get one special pen, as well as some instructions and a link to some more instructional videos and other tricks using the pen as well.

EFFECT: In this trick, a working pen is used to sign a piece of paper or dollar bill, and then amazingly pushed right through it the paper/bill. The pen can then be pulled off, leaving no hole in the paper or bill. What is great about these effects is that the bill, paper or whatever you are using can be handed out as well as the pen to be examined, and the audience won’t find how you did it. See Rob Stiff perform a demo here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBSGODDW9HU

INSTRUCTIONS: This is a very nicely and well thought out trick, and the instructional videos included teach how to do the effect very well. The product includes an online link to a website that has all the teaching materials available via streaming video. There are a variety of different effects which are taught that can be found on the link, and all of these have been taught well and are easy to follow. The instructions were at one time sold as a separate DVD under the title "Pen Thru Bill Illusion & More featuring Ben Salinas". All this teaching material is now available online via the secret link, and it is fantastic. It covers an amazing amount of material, and has many excellent ideas.

VARIATIONS: A few bonus effects are included with the instructions. The effect can also be done with penetrations through business cards, credit cards, and even coins. I especially love the variation that shows a moving hole on a playing card, and where the pen physically does go through the hole.

DIFFICULTY: The effects using the pen have been well thought out, creating some effective and amazing magic that will astonish your spectators, and yet isn’t too hard to perform. Ben Salinas is the instructor in all of the tutorials, and he goes through them all well and thoroughly, giving you some great handling techniques for the tricks. The effects will require some practice, but not overly long amounts of practice, which is nice. The teaching is easy to follow, making learning how to do the effects easy, and as they are so effective, your time used to learn them is well spent.

RECOMMENDATION: The Magic Pen Trick is good for beginners as it is easy to learn and perform, and won’t take too long to do so, and yet is a very effective magic trick that will make you look like an amazing magician. Just because it is easy to learn however, does not mean it isn’t good for more advanced magicians, who will still find some great effects that they will definitely use because they are so effective. It’s a great effect for magicians all round, and is totally worth a look at, especially given the online learning materials that you get access to when buying the gimmicked pen.

Recommendation

Of the three items in this package, the DVD is probably the best, because it gives you the instructions for performing a range of different tricks.  This alone, plus a deck of playing cards, will get you going with some basics.  It's definitely something suited for relative newbies, but theres's a good amount of instruction included.  The other two items included in the package are by no means essential, but it can be fun to have at least one or two special tricks to work on, and these both offer something magical that the new magician can enjoy.  The Crazy Cube is something you can get going with almost immediately, while the Magic Pen Trick will require more work to learn well, but it comes with good video instructions.  Overall, this is a nice package to start with, and an ideal gift for that family member of friend who is interesting in learning magic.



Want to learn more?  See:
- Publisher's page
- Amazon
« Last Edit: May 25, 2021, 06:24:03 AM by EndersGame »
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