Review: Lightwave ESP Kit (Adam Cooper)

[EndersGame]

Lightwave ESP Kit (Adam Cooper)

A less macabre and welcome update of a clever deck of marked ESP cards

The predecessor

In 2020, Adam Cooper released his Darkwave ESP Kit with Big Blind Media.  This immediately got my attention and interest, because it was an ESP deck with many clever features and applications.  The 30 cards that came with the deck used the Zener symbols associated with ESP, but then strengthened the potential by adding a word and image on each card. It also included an ingenious marking system on the card backs that revealed all of the above information, and a lengthy video tutorial.

This features were fantastic, but there was one drawback that held me back and kept me from being more enthusiastic: the thematically dark tone of the artwork. Many of the cards had apocalyptic and religious overtones that made me uncomfortable, such as Exorcist, Satanic, Devil, Ouija, and Crucifix. It didn't help that this was combined with sinister artwork featuring vampires and undead, and had images that some would consider disturbing or inappropriate.  While this might work for some people, it definitely wasn't for me given the creepy artwork and focus.

In light of this, it came as good news to hear that Big Blind Media was producing a brand new version of this deck, appropriately entitled Lightwave ESP Kit.  It is effectively the same product that has all the same clever features, but this simply has been given a fresh coat of paint to remove all the elements that made the original kit a no-go for some of us.  So I'm very pleased about this new release, which should make this ingenious deck of ESP cards available in a form that is more broadly accessible.



Overview

Here's the ad copy that describes the basic idea of this deck:

"Like the Darkwave, the Lightwave ESP Deck uses Adam Cooper's ingenious system with each ESP Card featuring THREE bits of information - an ESP symbol, a word and an image! And hidden away (in plain sight) on the back of each card is a brilliantly camouflaged marking system. This will allow you, in a fraction of a second, to divine both the symbol printed on the card and its colour. But that's only the beginning ... armed with this knowledge you can then employ Adam's devious secondary system to go on to reveal both the word AND the picture. Each phase is more impossible than the last, and it's all made possible with one quick glance.

These extra features allow for a huge amount of effect to be wrung from just a single selection. This is an entire act squeezed into one special deck.

What's more, this is EASY TO DO! Adam's innovative design means that you DON'T EVEN NEED to memorize anything - everything is printed on the card box. And it can be left in plain view - hidden in plain sight! The deck really does the majority of the work for you!"

To whet your appetite, see the official trailer here.



What you get

Here's what you get with the product, which comes inside a zip-lock bag with appropriate packaging.

Firstly there's the cards themselves.  These are packaged inside a matt black tuck box, which has the name and an official looking logo of the faux "British Institute Paranormal Research" on the front.  An all-seeing eye enclosed in a pyramid adds to the mystical feel and authenticity of the logo.  The back of the box has some information that indicates that this is a set of ESP cards, and appears to be an innocuous description of the possibilities for "advanced testing", which we'll later discover doubles a crib sheet.

Also included is a small reference card, which has the link to a purchaser's page over on Big Blind Media's website.  From here you can download a PDF guide to the secrets of the deck, and learn how to access a password protected video serves as a complete tutorial.  Darkwave also came with a small 18 page instructional booklet that explained the markings, but with Lightwave the same information is provided in the PDF.



The cards

The Lightwave cards are poker sized, and have a quality air cushion style linen finish, for good handling and durability.  While the Darkwave deck had red cards and black cards, the Lightwave deck has green cards and purple cards.  They depict the five classic Zener symbols: a hollow circle, a plus sign, three vertical wavy lines, a hollow square, and a hollow five-pointed star.   

While a typical Zener deck consists of 25 cards (five identical cards for each symbol), this deck has 30 cards: 15 in green, and 15 in purple.  Besides the Zener symbol, each card has an image and a corresponding word (e.g. world, love, virtue, guide, archer, righteous, explore).  The 15 cards in purple are identical to the green cards, but are simply a different colour.   Besides the 30 cards that comprise the main deck, there's also a few extra gaff cards.

So here's the complete list:
● 30 cards (15 green and 15 purple)
● 4 double-facer cards
● 1 double-backer card
● 1 blank-faced card



The marking system

The marking system is quite clever in how it enables you to get all the information you need about the card faces just by looking at the card backs.  The colour (purple or green) is indicated by a well-placed dot. The Zener symbol is indicated by an instantly recognizable feature of the artwork (which you spectators will never notice), with the location corresponding to one of the five symbols.

While there are 30 cards in total, in reality each symbol can only be one of three different words/images.  Adam has come up with an ingenious way to figure out what the word/image on the selected card is.  To do this, you'll ask whether a specific letter is in the word, and use the clever system he's come up with for this, with the help of the crib that is in plain sight on the back of the tuck box.



The video

The 8 page PDF will give you a quick-start guide to the deck, and explains how the marking system works.  Once you've read that, you'll be all set to use the deck as you wish.  But in addition to this document, there is an excellent video tutorial that runs for over 90 minutes, and covers everything in detail, as well as several possible routines.  Since they had already produced a highly polished video tutorial for Darkwave, the Big Blind Media team have opted not to film a completely new tutorial, but simply to provide the existing video for Darkwave.  Even though it features the other deck, the marking system is basically the same idea, and the way that you use the deck doesn't change, so what's taught there applies in the same way to the Lightwave deck. As you'd expect from Big Blind Media, the production quality of the video is very high, with excellent visuals and sounds.

In terms of the content, the initial part of the video covers what you get, and then explains the marking system.  The largest part of this section is reserved for teaching how to divine the word and picture with the help of the crib and by asking your spectator the right questions.  The rest of the video explains some handling techniques (including the Jay Ose false cut), and teaches four great routines, including a powerful Out of This World presentation.



Impressions
 
The concept:  I really love the idea of dressing up an ESP deck as an official tool of the "British Institute Paranormal Research".  This makes it feel very authentic, and really helps with the presentation. It also gives a very natural way of justifying the design on the back of the cards, which does a good job of hiding the markings.  This concept is combined with high quality cards that do the job well.  I also like the fact that besides the Zener symbols, there's the potential to go deeper by adding words and images.  This really opens up a lot of presentational possibilities, and gives everything a professional feel.

The routines: Although the routines in the video were performed and taught for the Darkwave deck, they easily apply to the Lightwave deck too.  "Basic Read" has you identify the card selected by one or two spectators.  "Synchronicity" has a Spectator Cuts to the Aces feel.  It has more of a magical than a mentalist vibe, especially in light of the unexpected but strong twist this includes at the end. "Prediction" is exactly what it sounds, where you make a prediction in advance of an apparently free choice made by your spectator.  Finally you're provided with three different versions of Paul Curry's classic "Out of This World" routine.  There's some good variety here, and everything is taught clearly and well.

The system: I love the way that you can instantly figure out the colour of the card and which of the Zener symbols it has by easily reading the markings.  That information is well hidden on the back of the cards, and yet easy for the enlightened to recognize.  But from then you have a bit of work to do to figure out the word, because the information about the image and word isn't on the back of the cards.  The system Adam Cooper has come up to accomplish this is very clever, especially in conjunction with crib provided.  Effectively you'll have to ask your spectator at least a couple of questions to narrow down the options from three to one.  Some basic "fishing" by asking if a word has a particular letter will easily fit with the presentational style many mind-readers and mentalists use.  You'll have to be alert and it won't suit everyone's style, but this isn't difficult to do, and the crib helps you know which letter to ask about.  There's no real problem in having the crib openly displayed, because it simply seems to be part of the research kit, and even if they examine it there's no way your spectator will have any idea there's a system associated with it.



Recommendation

The Lightwave Deck is going to be a very powerful took in the right hands.  Big Blind Media made a good decision to provide this as an alternative product alongside the Darkwave Deck, for the many people who will find the original too macabre.

It does fall into the "easier" side of the difficulty spectrum, because it genuinely doesn't require any sleight of hand or memorization, just as the ad copy promises.  Figuring out the card's colour and Zener symbol is a cinch, and you'll know this in an instant just by looking at the card back.  Determining the word and accompanying image will require you to ask your spectator a couple of questions about letters contained in their word, and will require some on the fly `cold reading', but typically that's the kind of approach you'll want to have in presenting this anyway.  And even that part doesn't require memorization, because the crib on the back of the box provides you with all the information you need at a glance. 

You can of course use a deck like this as a tool to do all kinds of mentalism or magic, but the four routines that are taught give you some really good options for performance.  This is definitely a strong tool that a lot of people are going to love.

Want to learn more?
Product links: Lightwave ESP Kit, Darkwave ESP Kit
Big Blind Media: Official website, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube
This product is also available from your favorite Murphy's Magic retailer.