Product description : I love Angelo Carbone’s magic, he’s so clever, his inventions are outstanding and the working of it is often better than the trick itself. With The Gift, the main plot is to have a little prediction inside a box, from the beginning of the trick. The idea is to never open the box again and let the spectator open the box himself ! So you can do any kind of routine you want, from a card trick to a free selection among several objects, the possibilities are limitless ! Is it worth the price asked ? Is it good ? Let’s find out !
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $74.95 for the black version and $99.95 for the gold and limited edition and you can find it in nearly every Murphy's magic « partner » shop !
What you get : You get a cardboard box, very nicely printed and made, they put some effort in the packaging so you’re not disappointed when you receive the trick, it’s important. Inside, you will find a link to watch the explanation video, there are actually 2 videos. The first one is a trouble shoot guide on what to do if your box doesn’t work out of the package (hopefully, mine worked perfectly). The second video teaches you a few routines, especially with the deck provided. And of course, you get the box, I got the black one, which is very well made, the cardboard looks sturdy so it should last. The gimmick is invisible inside, the design helps a lot to disguise everything. You also get another “gimmick”, in order to activate the whole thing but you can adapt it to anything you want ! And finally, a gimmicked deck of card so you can do a prediction card routine. For the price, I’m not disappointed at all ! This is so fun to play with and people love 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 :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]You have a limited number of “outs”, it’s a number between 3 and 5.. So you can’t have a lot of reveal but it’s enough, mainly because the spectator opens the box himself.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]Sometimes, the box is hard to activate, you have to find the sweet spot, it’s not easy everytime.
THE PROS :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The working of this is amazing, Angelo is known for his clever thinking and the method here is as good as the effect in my opinion. I do admire Angelo thinking.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The people can open the box themselves which is a big plus in my opinion, it looks so fair, they won’t think you did anything with the box, it really looks impossible.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The box is really well made, very sturdy and it should last a long time. Just care for water, I don’t think the box will like it.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]You can reveal almost anything you want, it has to be written on some kind of paper, but you can even adapt the paper (it can be post it etc..).
[if !supportLists]– [endif]I LOVE the routine with the torn paper ! It’s so much better than with just a little paper in the box at the end. Because of the ripping, it gives a continuity in the trick, so people think they’ve seen the same paper the whole routine, it’s that good.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]A Rubik’s cube can fit inside the box, I have a Rubik’s routine, so it’s perfect, I can now carry my cube and have another 5 minutes routine with a big impact before doing it !
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The gimmick is almost invisible, nobody would notice it and the fun fact is that people don’t want to look at the box, they don’t think it can be gimmicked because it’s just a regular box for them.
Overall rating : I love this, I didn’t think I would have liked this so much, it’s so much fun to play with and people find the routine very strong, 4/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, it’s almost self working, you just have to train a little bit so you find the sweet spot every time, I would say 2/5 stars.
Similar products : I don’t really know any product which can achieve the same thing, maybe vertigo prediction but it’s not the same “plot”.