Product description : What if you could predict the lottery numbers ? Well, you now can with « Against all odds ». A presentation of mentalism, mind reading with something every magician gets asked : « Can you predict the lottery numbers ? ».
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $38.10 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's partner shop !
What you get : You get a nice little cardboard box with the deck inside and a link for a downloadable video in which you will learn how to perform the effect. The deck is nicely made, it feels like it could be a real one. The video is well shot but I think there are a few things missing in it.
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 :
How do I reset ? It wasn't even explained on the video ! The deck is in complete mess after having performed the trick and since each performance is unique (spectator deals the number of cards they want), you can't reset everytime time the same. It's sad because it makes this great effect very unpractical.
You will need a table to perform it since it lot of dealing is involved. Maybe too much by the way, even if it can fly with a good presentation, I find it boring to let the spectator deals. Maybe it's just me.
The outcome will always be the same so be careful if you want to do it multiple times at a party, people who will have seen it 2 times will spot there is something wrong since the outcome is always the same.
THE PROS :
As I said, the material provided feels good quality, the cards are slipping well, nothing bad to say about that.
The fact you can have a real lottery ticket on the table makes the whole thing more « real » if I can say that, people feel more engaged into the performance if there is something they can relate to.
It's a great plot since almost every gig you do, somebody will ask you to predict the lottery numbers. Now you can ! Keep in mind, due to the reset and the space needed to perform this trick, you will mostly do this once per gig, like a pipe and sleepers moment.
Except the fact you don't know how to reset, the video is filled with good ideas, from magic square to stage performances, there is something for everybody I think.
The deck have, I think, more potential than you can see, since it has numbers on it, you can do a add a number type routine with it. It can't be handed out for examination due to its « nature » but the presentation will erase completely this option in people's mind.
It's nearly self working so you can completely concentrate on your presentation.
Overall rating : Well, this is a hard one. It's a good trick which plays very strong on spectators but it's not easy to reset and takes time and space to perform. 3/4 hearts, maybe not something I will do on a daily basis but definately keep it in my close up case in case somebody wants me to predict the lottery numbers ;)
As for the difficulty level, it's a nearly self working trick as I said, 1/5 stars.
Similar products : I don't know any deck which allows you to do such effect.. Maybe a confabulation routine would suit better the plot but Against all odds is a very nice trick which plays big.
Thanks to Murphys Magic for sending me this product !