Price$24.00
Media TypeTrick
CategoryClose Up
Date AddedAug 06, 2006
Wonderland Bill
Brown, Nick
(Based on 2 reviews)
Includes specially cut US One Dollar bill and instructional video.
Available from your favorite magic dealer.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
I'm not just going to agree with Brad Henderson and say "Me too". The Wonderland Dollar is a cool effect. What you get for your money is a pre-cut and folded bill and a good quality video tape that details the working of the effect, construction of the prop, alternate handlings, alternate construction and some mild presentation. After having a grabby 11-year-old tear my bill at a Bat Mitzvah, I made up two more from the instructions on the tape. Nick Brown struck me as a nice physics professor, which is exactly what he is. His presentation wasn't exciting or dramatic. Now, I like good tricks with presentational potential. That is exactly what this is! I'm going to get it another half star above the four and say that I think this might be a great magic piece in the right hands. In the wrong hands it is still a pretty effective puzzle or at worst a good bar bet.
(Top ▲)
I really liked this.
Nick Brown begins by telling us he is an amateur magician and a professional physics teacher. He then goes on to demonstrate and teach a fabulous approach to the Trapdoor card effect.
First, I like the way Nick doesn't pretend to be something he's not. I also like the fact that his instructions are clear and easy to learn from. I wish we had more professional physics teachers teaching on videos, I think they would help mold a better class of magic students.
Nick takes extraordinary pains to insure that the viewer not only can perform the effect with the supplied bill, but can later make up his own models with ease. Nick also takes great pains in demonstrating certain touches which he feels makes the handling more effective.
But let's ask the question, the Trapdoor card is a puzzle, right? Well, yes and no. I think it has always come off like a puzzle because there has yet to be 1) an engaging presentation for the device and 2) a handling which allows the folding to occur with the spectator's eyes open and still remain deceptive.
Nick Brown has admirably solved one of those two problems.
The handling is REALLY good. Even if you know how the trapdoor card works, you won't see it work in this handling. I had reservations when first hearing about this release, afraid it would be merely a knock off of either Neale or Britland, but Brown can be proud that he really has taken the handling to a new and refreshing level.
My only caveat remains with the first stated problem. Nick's presentation is really about 5 ideas rolled into one, none of which are explored to the fullest. But hey, the guy's a physics teacher, I'm just thrilled he gave us a solution for the second problem.
Spend some time with this, come up with a solid story (Look in Neale's Magic Mirror for a premise using another topological effect to get your juices flowing) and I think you may have just found a new performance piece you will tuck into your wallet so you never leave home without it.
(And for goodness sake, try it on real people before you judge it. In the handful of times I've shared this, I have been privileged to watch unexpected smiles spread across someone's face and spontaneous bursts of laughter as they stand there, brain spinning, holding that bill.)
Good video. Homemade, but the instructions are incredibly clear. I've never learned something with so many folds or moves so quickly.
With a commercial or theatrically interesting presentation, this would have gotten 5 stars hands down. I'll give it a VERY STRONG 4.
Nick Brown begins by telling us he is an amateur magician and a professional physics teacher. He then goes on to demonstrate and teach a fabulous approach to the Trapdoor card effect.
First, I like the way Nick doesn't pretend to be something he's not. I also like the fact that his instructions are clear and easy to learn from. I wish we had more professional physics teachers teaching on videos, I think they would help mold a better class of magic students.
Nick takes extraordinary pains to insure that the viewer not only can perform the effect with the supplied bill, but can later make up his own models with ease. Nick also takes great pains in demonstrating certain touches which he feels makes the handling more effective.
But let's ask the question, the Trapdoor card is a puzzle, right? Well, yes and no. I think it has always come off like a puzzle because there has yet to be 1) an engaging presentation for the device and 2) a handling which allows the folding to occur with the spectator's eyes open and still remain deceptive.
Nick Brown has admirably solved one of those two problems.
The handling is REALLY good. Even if you know how the trapdoor card works, you won't see it work in this handling. I had reservations when first hearing about this release, afraid it would be merely a knock off of either Neale or Britland, but Brown can be proud that he really has taken the handling to a new and refreshing level.
My only caveat remains with the first stated problem. Nick's presentation is really about 5 ideas rolled into one, none of which are explored to the fullest. But hey, the guy's a physics teacher, I'm just thrilled he gave us a solution for the second problem.
Spend some time with this, come up with a solid story (Look in Neale's Magic Mirror for a premise using another topological effect to get your juices flowing) and I think you may have just found a new performance piece you will tuck into your wallet so you never leave home without it.
(And for goodness sake, try it on real people before you judge it. In the handful of times I've shared this, I have been privileged to watch unexpected smiles spread across someone's face and spontaneous bursts of laughter as they stand there, brain spinning, holding that bill.)
Good video. Homemade, but the instructions are incredibly clear. I've never learned something with so many folds or moves so quickly.
With a commercial or theatrically interesting presentation, this would have gotten 5 stars hands down. I'll give it a VERY STRONG 4.