These days, I do very few "official" shows. Most of my magic is very casual and/or incidental. It's more in situations where someone says, "I heard you were a magician; show me something." Or it's a situation where I'm hanging with friends and "sneak" up on them with a trick that they weren't expecting. Because of this preferred venue, I pretty much only do stuff that fits in my normal every day wallet. I've actually got it loaded pretty well with some pretty powerful stuff. Because of this, I often search Murphy's Magic for the key phrase "wallet tricks" or "pocket tricks," looking for stuff like this very effect to add to my repertoire. Lotto Square totally fits into that genre of magic for me. But as always, let's look at the most important things:

Effect

The effect is pretty straight forward. In its simplest form, a spectator "selects" a number. She then scratches off a lottery ticket to see if her named number is one of the 16 numbers scratched off. It's not. However, the 16 numbers just happen to add up to her number in 26 different ways. All the columns individually add up to it. All the rows, the four corners, both diagonals, etc., etc., etc. She may keep the lottery ticket.

Method

I don't think I'm really spilling anything by explaining that the number is a force and the lottery ticket is a magic square. If you're not sure what a magic square is, Google it. It's a mathematical "thing" discovered by Adam and Eve or maybe Grunk the caveman.

The question then becomes, how do you force the number? The DVD comes with four different sets of tickets, 15 of each force number. The DVD shows you 13 different forces. But . . . 3 of them they only gloss over and basically explain how you could use such and such marketed product to pull off the force. As they were explaining these three methods, I had no clue what they were saying. It made no sense because I didn't have the perspective of someone familiar with those marketed items. At least that was the case for 2 out of the three. One of the three happened to be a product/effect that I was familiar with, and so that brief explanation made sense. However, anyone not familiar with these products will have no clue how to use those forces.

That takes us down to 10 forces. Pretty much all of them were good forces in general, but were a bit out of context and sort of meaningless for the effect. For example, one force was a way to basically force a page number from a book and then use that number as the number that the spectator hopes will appear when scratching off the tickets. Unless you use a book about luck or gambling or something, this kind of has no meaning. I can certainly see how to make it meaningful, but those are my own ideas; none were taught.

Other forces were much more logical and made more sense. The "37" force is very good because when done right, it feels like you told the spectator to just think of a number, and that's the number you'll use. The TOXIC calculator force (the one shown in the video demo) is a good one because it's an organic way to "come up with a random lucky number." There's an excellent force that uses the serial number of a dollar bill that makes a lot of sense since money and lotto tickets go hand in hand.

There was another really good one that involved having audience members calling out numbers. However, it was a bit longer. But with the right personality and presentation, this could be very powerful. There were a handful that used playing cards that were good, but again, a bit out of context. On and on and on. Of the ten forces that are not based on marketed items, all of them are good forces. However, I would argue that not all of them are "right" for this particular effect. But I would further argue that most (possibly all) of them could be adapted to this effect with some more thought and effort (e.g., my suggestion about the "luck" book above).

So is the method doable, practical, etc.? Yes. From amongst all of the options, I really think you'll find a force that you like and is workable for you and your presentational style. I do think, however, that the method breaks down a little bit if you don't give some connection between the force of choice and a lottery ticket. So the methods are all simple and doable and practical. They're just not as "connected" to the lottery ticket as they should be. I think, however, that most of you reading this will be able to make your own connections.

Ad Copy Integrity

The ad copy is basically spot on.

Teaching

They talked about a few ways to bring this to the stage and other ways he's presented it, but unfortunately, Smetser wasn't as well mic'd as Nardi, and he sounded a bit like he was mumbling at parts. He just glossed over some of the ways he's used this. There were parts where I had the volume all the way up and I could barely hear, let alone understand, what he was saying. Some of the ideas, however, were clear enough that I got the point, and there were some gems in there.

A few ideas are taught that allow you to use a less than sure fire force. They mention that in the event of a failure, you can "just do a regular magic square." Ok . . . how? I'm sure some of you know how. I've learned a method or two myself over the years, but none are taught on the DVD. So if you don't know how to make a magic square, then you won't be able to use any of these methods, which is a bummer because they're great.

The explanations were very dry and very boring to sit through. I say that not to be insulting, but to let you know that it might be a little hard to watch, and for some of my readers, this can be a big red flag making it hard for them to learn. In my opinion, it's worth it to make it through the explanations because there is a ton of great information. All of the forces can be applied to tons of other effects as well as this one. That alone is worth it.

Final Thoughts

The lotto tickets look great, and are excellent quality. The DVD is well produced and easy to navigate, and for just over $45 bucks, you're getting a lot. You can get 100 replacement tickets for only $37.77. That's pretty decent for sure. As is typical of Alakazam products, they have a great idea, great product, but no "real work" on the product. What I mean by that is simply that just a few extra minutes with some tips on how to present this force or that force so that it makes sense in the context of the routine, would have made this a much better product.

However, having said all of that, I still highly recommend this product (if you like the effect). You'll learn 10-ish great forces to add to your tool box. You'll have simple, doable, practical methods for doing this effect any time and anywhere. You can carry it in your wallet and be ready to go at any time. It's great quality. It delivers exactly what it says it delivers and is very well priced.

Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of GEM!

Ok, so the basic effect is that a scratch off lotto ticket ends up being a magic square of a ‘randomly’ selected number. While the props are well made, and the DVD quality is nice, the effect has some major problems.

For starters, what’s the effect? Was this a weird coincidence? So what? The ticket still lost, so we don’t care. Shouldn’t the whole point of using a lotto ticket in an effect be that it taps into our dream of winning the lottery?

The DVD is of a high quality, and everything is taught clearly. You won’t have any troubles executing the effect if you disagree with this review and want to learn it. The tickets look nice and work the way they should. We are taught a few number forces, some of which are deceptive, some of which are totally misplaced. I think a regular magic square presentation is more impressive, and demonstrates a power that people wish they had. I’ve showed the original magic square effect to tons of people over the years and they all have said, “I wish I could do what you do! I’d ace all my math tests!” Why does adding the magic square to a lotto ticket make it better? Also, we all know about fake lotto tickets that are used as pranks.

But maybe I’m just being a jaded magician. So I showed the effect to my best friend Hillary. She is a definite magic fan, is still a layperson by all accounts, and isn’t afraid to say if the magic is rubbish or not. I used what I considered to be the most deceptive force where she seemingly just named any number. As I showed her all the ways the square added up to her number, about half way through she said what I thought she was going to say, “This isn’t a REAL lottery ticket, is it?”

Maybe the UK doesn’t have as many fake ‘prank’ lottery tickets as we do in the US, but the fact is, I think MOST people are going to think that when they see this effect. They might not all say it, but it is definitely likely they will think it.

I don’t think this effect is worth nearly fifty dollars and I think there are other, better effects with lottery tickets on the market.

One Star for at least a well made product and DVD.