When is a card trick not a card trick? When it’s actually a magic square. I need to declare my hand and reveal that I am a bit of a maths fan (did you hear my last bit of credibility leaving the building?), but I’d been intrigued by The Grid since it was first advertised.
What’s the effect?
A very free selection of a number card leads to an enormous number of revelations of that chosen number via a magic square made up of other ‘random’ number cards. There really is surprise after surprise with this one as four sets of cards all add up to the chosen number, then all sorts of other combinations of cards – and in a final twist the actual number is shown to have been predicted beforehand.
Even if you don’t like maths this is a strong effect. It builds up really nicely and does seem impossible. Hats off to Richard Wiseman, who came up with the core idea. This is a very different way of presenting the magic square idea, and I think he has come up with something very strong.
The Materials/DVD
The effect comes with very good quality custom-printed USPCC cards. They handle beautifully – though that is more or less irrelevant to the effect! They sport the ‘Maiden’ back design which I’ve not seen before but at a glance is indistinguishable from normal Bikes – and it doesn’t really matter because these are number cards not playing cards. A few extra advertising cards are also included.
The effect has been put out as part of the Essential Magic Collection and in common with all the disks I have seen from this set it is very nicely produced. The graphics are appealing and not too fussy and the navigation is clear. Wiseman gives a very clear explanation of how to work the effect and the different elements of the explanation are separated out for easy reference. I would have loved to see a ‘real world’ performance rather than the studio version, but you can’t have everything.
I appreciated the explanation of the history/evolution of the effect and Wiseman credits several influences/ideas. If you pushed me I’d say I recognise a couple of other influences – specifically in the design of the cards – but I can’t say any more without exposure.
Anything else we should know?
Some first time set up/preparation is necessary which is very clearly explained and will take you less than 10 minutes with a marker pen. Although this appears to be a ‘maths trick’ it requires no calculations to be done by the performer. Nor does it require any sleights. It is essentially self-working – yet is so fair that it seems baffling.
As I have already admitted I like maths so the effect appeals to me but I think it has wider appeal to non-maths fans. This cleverly eliminates a good number of the problems associated with these kinds of magic square effects – and it becomes very portable – you just need to carry a deck of cards with you.
To my mind the routine is put together well and builds nicely – each reveal seeming more and more impossible. A couple of different presentational angles and options are given – with a little thought you should be able to come up with your own.
You are probably getting the idea that I like this a lot. You can watch the whole DVD in less than half an hour – with 10 minute set up time I really think you could be performing this in under an hour – which is not something I would say about many effects.
My only slight negative (and it is only very slight) is that although the reset is easy it isn’t instant – so I wouldn’t be able to do it at every table at a walkaround set for example. But if you have the luxury of space between performances or are thinking of it for a one-off, this is brilliant.
Buy The Grid here: http://magicdirect.com/the-grid-dvd-and-gimmicks-by-richard-wiseman-dvd