Trick Review: Wipe The Slate Clean by Chris Webb

There are great ideas that become great tricks. And there are great ideas that just never really make it to the real world of performing. "Wipe The Slate Clean" is the latter.

This trick relies on a heavily and cleverly gimmicked card, but it takes work to make the gimmick pass the scrutiny of close-up crowds. And in the end, most of what you can do with the gaff can be accomplished with sleight of hand.

You show a blue-backed deck of cards and allow a spectator to freely choose a card and sign it. The card is placed into the deck's center and then all of the cards change from blue to red backed cards except one card, which is the spectators signed card.

In the second phase, the selected card's back changes from blue to red in phases, the card is shown at one point to be half red and blue, and then transforms into a single color at the end. After the trick, you can give out the card as a souvenir.

I'm impressed with the gimmick. It's diabolical and clever. However, it's also thick and you have to perform a common move that becomes rather heavy handed with the gaff.

One side of the gimmick looks like a normal card when shown resting on the top of the deck. However, the other side, the side that transforms, looks suspicious. From three feet away, I can clearly see the layers and I think lay spectators will see them too. Furthermore, the gimmick is delicate and will wear out with repeated use.

The second consideration, I'm not sure that the effect's transformation is any stronger than a "Chicago Surprise" type of trick with a good color change. While the gaffed card allows the momentary stage where the card appears to be half red and half blue, the final transformation looks like you're performing a standard Erdnase change but you're not.

While the end effects aren't the same, I think spectators will be equally entertained.

The instructions are decent. The trick takes about thirty seconds to reset, which you will have to perform in private. Also, you can add the gimmick to a standard deck to perform the trick. You can watch a grainy video that's provided by the trick's publisher to see the effect for yourself. However, I'm not convinced after seeing the gimmick in real life. For me, I'd rather stick with sleights and the traditional card routine.

I have better places to spend $30.

-Wayne N. Kawamoto

MSRP: (US) $30

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