Astor Mental

THE BLURB:
For this trick the magician uses a transparent perspex
board, five E. S. P. cards with blue back and five E. S. P.
cards with red back. Every blue backed card has its matching
red backed card. You will have the same E. S. P. symbols on
the faces of these cards. The magician slips the blue cards
into their slots on the board in an order only he knows. The
spectator chooses one by one, in which matching slot the red
cards should go, but he only sees the back of the cards.
When the magician turns the board around, the blue back and
red back cards are in the same order (top to bottom). You
can show the trick twice and the order of the cards won't be
the same. The cards are not specially prepared.

MY COMMENTS:
Sure, you can do this without the pretty, expensive display.
(See the UNEXPECTED dvd, Han Fetch's SYMBOLOGIC, and quite a
few other variations) One can also argue that this is
mental magic because you're using a strange display that's
unnecessary. Still, it's a very well-made prop and visually
displays all ten cards. I'm not so sure I would recommend
this for close-up or stage, but for a parlour setting, or
for a television show, this is, and looks like, a practical
display for the ten cards and not that suspicious.

The package comes with this display, the ten cards (which
aren't gimmicked and are very examinable), and a single,
double-sided sheet of instructions. I don't think I'm
giving much away by saying that the display is gimmicked,
but I'll just add that it's very easy to use and let's you
concentrate more on presentation. It's also somewhat on the
expensive side (especially considering there are no
electronics involved, though it is imported). If you can
and plan on using this, then I highly recommend it.