Lately, I’ve been seeing magic tricks that are marketed for their ability to “fool magicians.” But is this a good thing? I think not.
First off, I know from experience that it doesn’t take a “magician fooler,” a trick that fools magicians, to entertain a crowd of lay people when straight-forward, classic methods will adequately do the job. And furthermore, I find that “magician foolers” sometimes require unusual handling that only magicians will be familiar with. As examples, here are a couple of hot products, “magician foolers,” and my take on them.
“Get Sharky”
Like any magician, I enjoy a slick, clever and unexpected method. And this is the case with Card-Shark’s “Get Sharky.” In the main effect, a spectator simply cracks open a deck of cards to freely select one (similar to the manner in classic “Tossed Out Deck”). Within seconds, the magician reaches into his or her pocket and produces the selected card and tosses it onto the table. At this point, spectators can examine the deck of cards and the chosen card has seemingly vanished from the deck. And the chance for spectators to discover the secret is practically zero.
The gimmick is based on a classic method (I recall first reading about it in the Henry Hay’s “Amateur Magicians Handbook”) that’s been combined with a characteristic of Card-Shark’s new Phoenix cards. It’s a killer combination. While the baffling trick is a fast one, the handling is fairly natural. I can recommend this trick but this is based on its merits as a mystery and potential for entertainment and not as a “magician fooler.”
On the other hand, I would probably not perform this one in my restaurants because I prefer effects that allow me to create more interaction with my audiences.
By the way, Card-Shark has a fantastic trick for walkaround that I sometimes perform called “Mona Lisa's Secret.”
“Gion Deck”
On the other side of the spectrum lies Yuji Murakami’s “Gion Deck.” a gimmicked deck of cards. The magician brings out two unidentified playing cards that will act as “prediction cards” and lays them face down onto the table (without showing them).
The magician brings out and shows a deck that contains different cards (the “Gion Deck”). From this point, the magician does not touch the deck. The deck is given to the first spectator who freely mixes the cards and takes the top card and lays it on the table. The deck is then handed directly to a second spectator who selects a card in the same manner. At the end, the two cards are found to match the prediction cards initially laid out on the table.
I examined the “Gion Deck” before watching the video performance and while some of its gimmicking was apparent, I still didn’t know how the trick was accomplished. Indeed, the Gion Deck features feature clever gimmicking that magicians will find intriguing, but there are innate disadvantages when performing for lay audiences.
The mixing and selection process is based on performing a “Hindu Shuffle,” a method of mixing cards that is performed only by magicians and not the lay public. For the trick to work, spectators must mix the cards in this manner to select their cards, but it’s not an obvious technique for laymen to perform. In the performance video that accompanies the “Gion Deck,” the spectators clumsily shuffle the cards using the “Hindu Shuffle,” something that they have probably never done before.
So if the trick is a true fooler, even to magicians, is it right to ask lay spectators to shuffle cards in an unusual manner? Because of this limitation, the “Gion Deck” is not only a “magician fooler,” but a trick to perform only for other magicians. And furthermore, almost any magician can perform a similar trick by employing sleight of hand but admittedly with less handling on the part of the spectators and receive a similar response.
In the end, if you want to fool your magician friends at the next magic club meeting, take along the “Gion Deck.” But if you’re performing for lay people, stick with the classics. A “magician fooler” does not necessarily equate to entertainment.
