Book Review: Power Plays-Mike Powers

Prepared for Anything

The third section, “Prepared Card Mysteries,” offers more great effects. Animazement is a “Cardtoon” style “flip book” trick where the magician flips through a deck of cards to show an animated figure, which draws an X on a single card, which turns out to be the signed selection. I’m definitely going to try this one out. To help you create your own deck, Powers’ provides templates.

I particularly liked The Mystery Card, which offers a little game that you can play with restaurant patrons. Here, the magician helps the patron win, using a little magic. This commercial effect is one that Powers himself performs in restaurants. The remaining tricks that rely on prepared cards run the gamut from color-changing decks, mind-reading and selected cards that somehow merge into a single card, ala “Anniversary Waltz.”

No Cards

Many of the coin effects rely on gimmicked coins. Flipped Out offers an effect where coins travel from a group of coins held in a spectator’s hands. I’ve never worked with this particular gimmick before, but I’m intrigued. It may well be time to order one and try this out. The visual coin effects include: transpositions; a couple of intriguing matrix routines, one with a gimmick I’ve never seen before; coins that change into other coins-two quarters into a half dollar and more; a good technique for changing a regular coin into a jumbo coin and more.

Routined Rubber offers a four-phase rubber band routine that begins with a single band that transforms into two bands, which serves as a great intro for standard “Crazy Mans Handcuffs,” the popular linking and unlinking rubberband trick. In Double Your Money, Powers offers a gimmicked bill along with a bill switch to enhance the standard bill change.

Ring Transpo offers an ending to a ring-on-string routine where a new ring replaces the ring that was originally threaded on the string-something of an enhancement to the well known “Clifford Ring Move.” Paper View offers a mystery where a straw disappears and reinserts itself in its original wrapper and Science Friction is an impromptu effect where the magician can seemingly influence a straw that’s balanced on a salt shaker-a bit of paranormal-style fun.

Definite Power Plays

This book is for intermediate to advanced close-up magicians who have a solid foundation in sleight-of-hand. The effects require the knowledge and execution of well known card sleights: controls, counts and displays, and well as memorized deck work, and palming of cards and other objects.

The book offers excellent illustrations and clear explanations. And throughout, Powers talks about the evolution of his effects and offers credit to those who’s effects and ideas he has built on. There’s so much to like about “Power Plays.” I can’t say enough good about it.

-Wayne N. Kawamoto

Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.