Product description : You ask a spectator how much he thinks you've paid your jacket. You bring a small notepad and write it down. But they're wrong because you paid nothing for it ! To prove your point, your remove your jacket and there is the security tag attached to it, wherever you want (at the back, inside..) and hanging for it a small tag with the price the spectator said written on it ! You get a big laugh and a big gasp at the same time, it's awesome ! Let's go into the review.
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $59.95 and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic « partner » shop !
What you get : You get a big zip plastic bag with inside all the things needed in order to perform the trick : the security tag gimmick, a pen, 2 small tags which were made specially for the trick. You also get a link for the explanation videoS, yes a big S because each part of the explanation is a single video so it's not that easy to go through the explanations. It's a minor detail but it's important for me. The explanations are very well made and very clear ! The material is first class, you can't go wrong for $60.
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 :
As I said, I find the explanations to be a little bit « messy » with one video for each part.
The gimmick may be a little bit noisy, there is a hack explained to modify your gimmick so it would be 100% silent.
THE PROS :
It's an amazing gimmick, quite known amongs magician but used and disguised in a very clever way ! The whole thing is made out of the same grey plastic you can find in common shops so it's very legit.
This is a very good routine because you can build it up as you want, in a funny way or in a more serious one. The 2 reactions spectators get when you show them the tag is just awesome. They laugh and they're impressed !
You can use it on stage (small one), parlour, close up. I think you can justify the notepad very easily by using it for another routine or something else, maybe asking other informations or so.
It's an instant reset, you can clip it wherever you want and move it from jacket to jacket and it's really practical !
The explanations will be updated so new tips and ideas will be added in the future which is very cool.
Overall rating : I really like the trick, it can be used in a lot of situations and I find the routine to be entertaining ! I'm not sure that I will use it but I'm definately trying it, 4/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, it needs work to justify the pad and build up the suspense until the climax, 2/5 stars.
Similar products : You can do the same effect with a Confabulation effect but here the props are justified and are very well disguised !