Triangle

THE BLURB:
The secret is out! Well... not one secret, but three new
routines from Patrick Redford. Triangle is the first in a
new series of booklets. Triangle is dedicated to "passing on
the power." Not only will you be able to memorize a deck of
cards in thirty seconds, be able to divine the amount of
change shaken to your ear, and identify information on
dollar bills that you've never touched**...you can pass
these powers onto your audience members. Get this...they
won't know how they know! Did I mention all of these
routines are impromptu? This means anywhere and anytime!

Each effect has been detailed in COMIC BOOK format. You
actually see the effect performed on the page. In addition
the entire booklet has been printed in FULL COLOR.

Contents:

Divine Number - A very "hands off" Serial Number
Divination.**

A Sound Change - Identify how much change is simply shaken
to your ear.

Rain King - Memorize a deck of cards in 30 seconds.

**This routine, as written, was designed for US bills only.
Those who work with non-us cash will be able to do an
abbreviation of the routine. You will only be able to divine
one bill instead of multiple bills in a performance. The
bills will still remain in the subject's hands the entire
time.

MY COMMENTS:
I've always been into comic books, but some of you might
feel very uncomfortable about adding a comic book to your
mentalism library. Don't be. First of all, comic books
haven't been "for kids" for quite some time (check out the
paperback graphic novels of Sandman, Watchmen, Preacher,
Fables, or Y the Last Man, if you don't believe me).
Also, comic books provide all the visuals of a DVD that
you need without needing a device to play the DVD in.
Finally, the book is just gorgeous. What you get is a
32-page comic book that details three routines. In truth,
you only get six pages of comic book art, or 2 pages per
effect that illustrates the performance. The rest of the
pages explain the routines in detail.

As to the effects, all three are very strong. "Divine
Number" is a very clever serial number divination that uses
a little known principle with dollar bills. Participants
note and concentrate on the large letter in the seal on a US
$1 bill and then fold it into fourths, hiding that seal.
The performer now goes around the room (or small group)
calling off the letters being thought of. Finally, with one
participant, the serial number is recited and it is proved
to be correct.

"Rain King" is a card memorization routine in which the
performer memorizes a deck of cards in sixty seconds. A
participant names a number and the performer names the card
at that position. (Unfortunately, the comic book is
inaccurate about this detail). Then the performer has the
participant do that and he/she is successful. This routine
does use a regular deck of cards and require a bit of work
and practice (there is a card sleight or two here), but it
is very powerful. I'm sure that Patrick had no way of
knowing this, but Bob Cassidy actually had a discussion
about this very same idea on his private message board
awhile back and his solution was very similar. His version
though didn't include the clever coda, though.

"A Sound Change," the final routine, is a very clever
version of The Trick That Fooled Einstein. It simply
involves a participant randomly picking up an amount of
coins, shaking it, and the performer is able to tell what
coins are in the hand. And, as in the coda for Rain King,
the final phase involves the participant naming the amount
of some of the coins being held. This also requires a bit
of practice to do smoothly and this does require some coin
sleights. But if this interests you, it's worth the effort.

I really liked the comic book idea of this and I know that
Patrick is working on doing more books like this. And, if
you don't mind doing routines that require a bit of work and
practice to perform effectively (and for those with magic in
their background these might be a piece of cake for you), I
think you'll find that these routines will serve you very
well. Definitely recommended.