Product description : This is the latest release from Paul Harris, I personnaly really like PHP releases, they often have an ingenious gimmick as well as a great effect. Starlight is in the same mood, a great trick with a great gimmick ! You let the spectator choose a card, you then take another one and switch on the flash on your smartphone. You then place the card above the smarpthone, you can see a small dot of light through it. Visually, the light starts to morph and move across the card, it then stops and morphs into a letter, a “H”. It starts to move again and create a number “8”. The card chosen was the 8 of hearts ! The beam of light then disappear without leaving a trace. With a little bit of work, you can then hand out the cards and the deck to the spectator.
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $39.95 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic « partner » shop !
What you get : You get a small cardboard box, very nicely printed, you can see little stars shinning, it's a very nice packaging. Inside, you will find the main gimmick, I got to say this is one of the most incredible gimmick I've seen, it so well thought, well made and the working is incredible. You also get some “spare” gimmicks which will allow you to change the 2 letters or numbers you want to reveal. You also get acess to an online video, it is very long and very detailed, you learn everything you need to know. All the things which come with it are very well made and the gimmick is ingenious ! You won't be disappointed with it, it's workable, good and impressive.
The pros and the cons : Here is the core of my review, let's begin with the cons, as I will usually be doing, I prefer to keep the good things for the end.
THE CONS :
The gimmick is quite thick, you will have to handle it with care so that the spectator won't spot this discrepancy.
The tool provide to clean everything up isn't necessary in my opinion, it overcomplicate the whole thing.
If you want to change the 2 reveals, you will need to go in the bathroom. You can't do it in front of your audience.
THE PROS :
It's easy to do, the activation of the gimmick is quite simple and you should be able to do it in no time. Of course, this doesn't mean you don't need to work.
The gimmick is really ingenious, I wouldn't have thought of it ! This is quite unique in the magic field I think.
The reset can be done in less than 5 seconds and you can do it in front of the audience.
They do provide you with a lot of reveals, all the letters in the alphabet, the 4 suits, and various numbers. They provide you with 2 sheets so if you want to reveal the letters “AA”, you can. This is a nice idea I think.
This is something different, people are not used to magician using lights in a card trick. However, you're limited to 2 reveals.
I speaked about the clean up idea provided, it's still nice that they thought about it but I think there are better options, without having to gimmick card case.
Overall rating : Well, this is one of the most ingenious gimmick I've ever seen and the effect is quite unique. However, this is another gimmick to carry, it's up to you to decide, 3/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, as I said, nothing hard, just be careful about the thickness of the gimmick, 2/5 stars.
Similar products : This is a unique effect, I've never seen something like that ! It's a very cool way of revealing letters and numbers.