Magic Makers's Jeff Maxwell's Jack to backs.

So I don't remember what I paid for this but I think it was somewhere in the $20 range. What does this DVD teach well it teach one effect and a bunch of random moves. You take four jack square them up into a packet and fan it back out ones turned around back wards, you do this again and again till all four are reversed. Its a nice visual effect I should probably learn but meh. It's too darn complicated I can do all the moves but I don't feel the pay off is worth all the practice required when I could just do Dai Vernon's Twisting the Aces. What I did take away from this video were a few of the random moves. So while Jack's to backs isn't worth it the moves to accomplish it and some other are.

I do have one problem with one of the moves taught. On the box and in the video they call it a "Bittle position" but its quite clearly the "Biddle grip" This just seem like a glaring oversight to me.

Overall this is a dvd I'm glad I got. It has a false cut called the Play Boy Cut which I like to use to set up for card forces. A move called the Orbital Spin which is a nice flourish for packet tricks and I use it in Twisting the Aces. The Snap Change and the Gamblers cop which I use but not often.

If you found this review to helpful or you thought it sucked let me know in the comments section.

Magic Makers Inc.

I just wanted to say that I think I have more reviews up for Magic Makers Inc products and almost no traffic on those pages, which is weird to me. I dunno it seems to me that Magic Makers Inc is very hit and miss when it comes to products and I could have used the sorts of reviews I'm doing here back when I got the products I have. If you're wondering why I have so many Magic Makers products when I have such a spotty view of them then allow me to explain. When I decided to seriously pursue magic I went to my local brick and mortar magic store for supplies and material. Well my local magic store should be a licensed Magic Makers Inc dealer. I'd say 80% or more of his magic related stock is from Magic Makers Inc. Nothing wrong with that, I mean I'd like to think I learned a little something from each Magic Makers Inc item I've bought. Chances are that I will be getting more of them in the future. I still very much want the Rainbow deck trick which I think Magic Makers Inc produces. I know this post is kind of random but it's my blog and I can post what I want.

For those that are curious the most read post is my review of Bicycle's Dragon backed cards.

SfS Perfect Pea

Well if my last post about them has not made it clear I am a fan of the School for Scoundrels. The last time I mentioned them was for their Introduction to the Shell Game DVD. Now though I'd like to talk about their Perfect Peas and why I will only be using another type of pea if it came with a set of shells (yes I'm the sort that wants every style of shell ever made) and I want to be reminded of how much better the perfect pea is.

So what type of peas have I used? Well there were the Peas that came with my MagicMakers DVD, a pea I made from a pencil eraser, and finally the SfS Perfect Pea. So not an expert on the topic but this blog is about my experiences and not my expertise. The worst by far is the one I made from a pencil eraser. It barely work at all. In the middle is the MagicMakers, it has a very noticeable mold line around it. It lacked the functionally of the perfect pea also I got two in the package. Now the Perfect Pea costs about $2.15 per pea but you get them 5 at a time (an you need them in batches cause they get lost fast) It has no visible line around it and performs awesomely.

But here is where School for Scoundrels insured my future business. I had stored the pea loose in a silk bag and when I woke up the next day the pea had visibly discolored and no longer performed properly. When I took my problem to them they were ready to replace it no questions asked. I imagine that most any other company would have claimed that it was my fault for improper storage of the pea.

If you found this review to helpful or you thought it sucked let me know in the comments section.

Magic Maker's "Amazing Easy to Learn Magic Tricks" series Spongeballs

Magic Maker's "Amazing Easy to Learn Magic Tricks" series Spongeballs






What I paid: Nothing it was a gift from a friend but I believe it was ~$20
What I got: One DVD and a box of two inch sponge balls.

So the sponge balls were cheap, they feel cheap. When I took them out of the box the had flat sides. I spritzed them with some water like I would do for my one and half inch Goshman sponge balls and they dye ran out and colored my hands. They don't work very well at all.

As for the DVD this is hands down the best DVD I have gotten from magic makers. Well organized, well taught, good production value. Several moves and like 3 routines. The Benson bowl being my favorite. There is a lack of a real live audience which always annoys me. But for the most part each routine was performed with one spectator before going into the moves. After watching this DVD I feel I could with a little practice really amaze people with the spongeballs.

So would I recommend this DVD? I very much would but I would suggest that you go and get better sponges at the same time.

Would I get this for my character? Once again this is a no. I probably would not get this for myself unless I was performing for kids.

If you found this review to helpful or you thought it sucked let me know in the comments section.

Magic Maker's Hotrod Instructional DVD

Magic Maker's Hotrod Instructional DVD



I'll be honest I feel both screwed and not screwed by this DVD I'll try to explain as I go along. First What I paid: It cost $15 so with tax I paid $16.12 Not a bad price. What I got: I got one DVD and two hotrod gimmicks (the second allows a replay for the same audience) The gimmicks themselves were cheap pieces of painted square dowels. They were smaller and lighter than most Hotrods I've seen or handled. But on the plus side these were something I could make my self with a trip to a craft store. That said I lost both of mine and have not made the craft store run because I would rather get the larger heavier ones with gems.
As for the content of the DVD. There were 2 routines where the instructor performed just for the camera. Unlike on the shell game DVD by the Magic Makers this didn't annoy me as much because the amount of participation in a Hotrod routine is very little and can even be done with no participation from the audience. I  got this DVD to learn a specific move and I did learn the move I was going after and so I consider anything else I learned a bonus. Heres the part where I feel screwed. I feel that a lot of the "Hotrod moves" on this DVD will only work with the smaller lighter Hotrods that came with this DVD.

One thing I did like about this DVD is how it showed that study in different types of magic is useful. According to the guy on the DVD several of the moves came from cigarette magic.

So would I recommend this DVD: I would. For the price its good for anyone looking to learn the Hotrod or expand on what they know. The effect itself is a proven stunner. I mean that. More than one person has just been wide eye speech-less after witnessing this trick. It packs small and plays big which is what most close up magicians are looking for. Though I do believe the effect is weakened by the Hotrods that came with this DVD. So go get a good Hotrod if you're going to do this trick.

A side note: I bought this before I knew where my character was going. I would not buy this for my character. But I would still want this at some point because people are going to ask you to do tricks whether or not you're in character. Carry around a small hot rod and you're ready to fry their mind and go about your day.

If you found this review to helpful or you thought it sucked let me know in the comments section.

Magic Maker's Street Monte Vs School for Scoundrel Introduction to the 3 shell game

So I knew I was going to learn the Three Shell Game and like many things in magic I had options. Now before I describe the two products I'm going to compare let me tell you where I stood three shell wise. I knew the moves and overall secret I made shell from real walnuts I got from the store. They sucked and they were too tiny for my hands. I made a practice pea out of polymer clay and it let me practice the basic moves. So I was no master but I did know what I needed to advance my skill. Enter Magic Makers (MM) and The School for Scoundrels. Magic Makers is a producer of magic tricks and DVDs of extremely varying quality. The School for Scoundrels (SfS) is what I like to think of as the Whit Haydn school of magic. Basically he feels that a lot of magicians approach magic from the view of the card mechanic, and that the con-man would be more beneficial to magic. I wanted the SfS videos a lot but they are only available to be bought on the internet which is a mark against for me. The MM three shell set up was available from my local brick and mortar. I eventually ended up getting the MM Street Monte three shell game because MM hasn't screwed me over every time in quality. I regretted it and made to get the SfS Introduction to the shell game volume one as soon as possible. Well it came today. In an effort to help my fellow amateurs I bring this review and comparison.



Magic Makers Sal Piacent: Street Monte Three Shell Game

Cost to me, it was marked for $35 but I spend a lot of money in that store so the owner knocked off $5 bucks so with taxes I paid $32.25 For that price I got a DVD, 3 shells and 2 peas of indeterminate plastics. I was happy enough with the shells and peas. I intended to get different peas as soon as I could but the shells will work till I'm ready to drop the big bucks and get something really better. But the DVD I felt was the real hustle. I felt that not only that it was poorly put together but that it also failed to deliver what it promised. It was basically a video of poorly organized randomly selected moves. The closest it came to teaching me a routine was Sal performing his routine for the camera. After watching the SfS DVD I do believe that Sal is mis-performing at least one of the moves on his dvd. On a personal note I just didn't care for Sal himself I did not like the character presented to me..

Obviously I was not happy with this purchase but there is someone to whom I would recommend this to. If you are what some people  call a hobbyist and the only people that will see you perform is close family and friends. This is a good set for the price if that's your audience. But if you are a professional magician or amateur looking to go pro do not get this.







School For Scoundrels An Introduction to the three shell game.

Cost to me $35 plus $7.50 shipping and handling. I also ordered a set of Perfect Peas for $15 so I'd say it cost me $38.75 for the DVD. What I got, one DVD. One super awesome information packed, well organised, well produced DVD. The first thing on the DVD is Whit Haydn explaining different types of peas and shells. And here he could have easily tried to sell you his company's peas and shells over any other but I didn't feel like he was doing that. Next is video of Bob's Sheets performing simple basic routine at the Magic Castle for real people. Then he shows you how to do all the moves and some audience management. If the DVD ended there you would be well enough introduced that once you had practiced and got it down you could go out and start performing the three game; $35 well spent. But the DVD is still going and teaching more complicated moves that can be added to the basic routine. If you master all the moves on this DVD you'll go from introduced to intermediate. After the complicated moves is a video of Whit Haydn lecturing which I feel is well worth a few dollars alone. So you have all of that and then you take your DVD over to your computer and open the DVD as a disk and there you find 11 PDF files on various topics to do with the shell game including a more advance routine. So for $35 buck you get all of that.

If you are a performer then this is the DVD you need to get to get you started on the road to the shell game. As for shells there are plenty out there to choose from but cost wise I hear Vernet makes some good cheap ones.

If you found this review to helpful or you thought it sucked let me know in the comments section.