In “Presto Printo,” several poker-sized cards are shown blank. A card is selected from an ordinary deck and the fun begins. By simply touching the selected card to the blanks, the blanks transform, taking on the image of the selected card.
First a back is printed, then a mirror image of the face. Next, a regular face is printed from the mirror image card. Then a face and a back are printed-superimposed on the same surface. Next, a blank is partially printed, followed by a smudged card and a card that is spun and results in a warped image. Last, a card is hit so the pips fall to one side.
The entertaining effect builds and spectators are increasingly amazed with each subsequent transformation. At the end you’re left completely clean. And you can gather the cards, place them into your pocket and be completely reset for your next performance. The trick comes with factory printed Bicycle cards from the US Playing Card Company.
“Presto Printo” is easy to learn and perform. Like the other effects in Daryl’s Fooler Doolers series, Presto Printi comes with an excellent DVD as well as printed instructions. To learn “Presto Printo,” I found that I relied on both.
The DVD provided the performance and Daryl’s first rate instruction. And I referred to the instruction manual when practicing to recall the order of the moves. Finally, after mastering the moves, I went back to the DVD to learn the finer points and subtleties. With a DVD and printed instructions, Daryl provides a great system for learning the effect.
I wasn’t sure how audiences would respond to this effect. I worked it up, along with my own presentation, and performed it at two proms that I was working over a weekend. The response from my audiences was strong. It was particularly fun to watch spectators become increasingly amazed as each blank changed, each in a more bizarre way than the prior card.
With “Presto Printo,” Daryl has another winner. The effect is strong and entertaining, and Daryl offers a superb teaching system that takes advantage of both DVD and printed instructions.
The only downside from my performances of “Presto Printo” was that spectators often asked if they could take one of the printed cards home as a souvenir. After all, in their minds, I could always print more. Perhaps the effect is too convincing.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
Presto Printo - $29.95
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