Mind-Bending-Mobile

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Mind-Bending-Mobile

Postby Martin Le Guerre » Jun 25th, '04, 12:53



Mind Bending Mobile
What the web site says:

This trick allows anyone in the audience using their own mobile phone to send an SMS text message to the magicians assistant who is not present. The assistant will amazingly send back a reply identifying the card previously chosen from a pack by the audience member. A typical message sent by the audience member will be something like "Harry Name my Card". The reply send back will be something like Harry says: You're card is the Queen of Hearts. The magician can choose the name of their own virtual assistant.

Review

£15 for 10 free goes and 10 trick goes (I can't see the difference here so its effectively 20 performances for the £15 up front cost.
then
10 top ups for £5


1 Easy

Not so much a trick, more of a card reveal method with added impact. The audience reactions I've had so far have been very favourable. Find a teenager in the audience with a mobile rather than using your own.

I first spin a yarn about just having taken up magic and I'm doing an MBA (Master of Black Arts) at the University of WOE (West of England). My tutor is called Alex and all the course material is sent to me by telepathy - adds new meaning to the term 'distance learning' and I'm now going to show how its done by getting Alex to read the spectator's card.

I use an ordinary deck with the Si Stebbins technique to find the spectator's chosen card and I have the gimmick concealed in my address book. Buy a small black address book from a stationers store. It then looks perfectly natural as you look up Alex's number, to get what you need.

Once you've signed up on the web site you can download the necessary gimmick. You can also access a web page to maintain various parameters. I had a couple of problems with the SMS service (no replies to my messages) just after I'd changed the parameters on this web page. Having got it all sorted out, and having gained confidence that the trick is now working properly again I now leave the web page well alone and everything has been fine since.

I always check before the start of the show, using my own mobile that the service is still functioning though, just to be sure (this doesn't cost anything apart from the normal cost of a text).


8 out of 10 Apart from a couple of minor technical niggles to start with, this is a great 'reveal' that you can adapt to suit your own presentation and with the right delivery makes a suitably impressive effect to a certain age of audience. Sure you need to top up, but hey its only 50p a shot.
Follow this link to find out more:
http://www.emagik.co.uk

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Postby nickj » Jun 25th, '04, 14:20

I've seen something similar, but this sounds better. In the version I have seen the spectator has to text a single word to a number that is obviously a computerised thing as it is similar to the text number on all these reality type shows. It did have the advantage that it was a one off cost, but since it didn't work with t-Mobile and you had to memorise a list of words and the fact that text wasn't very realistic added up to a pretty poor trick.

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Cogito sumere potum alterum.
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Postby the_mog » Jun 25th, '04, 14:28

sorry about this but maybe its just me but i have a problem with these sort of effects...im pretty sure that most of us here can figure a way to duplicate this without too much problem? so why not just arrange for a mate to send a predetermined text message when he gets a text from your phone with the message "hoi... whats the specs card" or whatever your message is... that way you dont have to spend £15 on an effect when it only costs 12p per message?

Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills and listening to repetitive electronic music. - Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989.. :mrgreen:
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Postby magicdiscoman » Jun 25th, '04, 15:27

even cheeper do it by landline.

magicdiscoman
 

Postby bananafish » Jun 25th, '04, 15:39

The real trick is to be able to do it without using a forced card. ie the card is genuinely freely selected by the spectator.

I have been reading some very interesting articles about this recently.

MagicDiscoMan - a land line isn't usually so readily available during a performance. thats why a mobile is usually prefered.

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Postby magicdiscoman » Jun 25th, '04, 15:57

:oops: sorry i was being flipant as i have this set up for answer by a friend and also by answer message prerecorded before i go :oops:

magicdiscoman
 

Postby seige » Jun 25th, '04, 16:19

For those who are not familiar with this type of 'trick'... (as I believe it's covered by Corinda or Banachek?!??!?)

The card can be ANY card. Even a BORROWED deck.

Using a simple code, it's possible for the MAGI to relay a message to the STOOGE on the other end of the phone for them to send a REVELATION back.

The method being SOLD is an automated version... the content of your MESSAGE will dictate the AUTOMATED RESPONSE

However, if you can assure that a friend will always be around to answer, so be it :)

Actually, I have a Sony P900 mobile phone, which, using a piece of software, can give automated responses based on message content.

Hmmm

And at 50p a throw, I'd do it!

lol

Personally—I think it's a rip off. And it's not clean or flawless at all. After all, the 'recipient' could be sitting behind the spectator and have seen the card?!?!?! There's not a case at all of 'what if I had chosen a different card' because there's no hard-proof evidence—it's all so dynamic and easily faked.

Sorry, just my opinion. But it's bloomin expensive to boot!

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Force a card?

Postby Martin Le Guerre » Jun 25th, '04, 17:37

You don't need to force a card. Spec can select any card from an ordinary deck, and I'd recommend that they don't show it to anyone else, to forestall suspicion of stooges in the audience.

The message you send does all the work and apart from the technical problems I initially encoutered, the response comes back after a few seconds.

The first time I tried to perform a similar version of this trick without SMS messaging I had my wife primed to take a call from the spectator, ready to answer as my mystic assistant. Only trouble was she went to bed early that night and all the spectator got was 'This is Judith Waring's answering service' which rather spoilt the effect.

Using the automated SMS approach, you don't have to rely on an assistant being there at exactly the time you need them to be there.

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Postby magicdiscoman » Jun 25th, '04, 17:45

that still leaves the answer machine mine can give two diferent messages depending on the number called 8) :D

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Postby balejben » Jun 26th, '04, 09:14

Nice review but this is not my kind of trick where you have to buy refils. Thanks for the review.

balejben
 


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