What do you think about this effect? I think it is very clear to the more advanced card handlers how the trick is done. But maybe that´s only my point of view.

I don´t want to say that the trick is bad - but selling it as a single download.... Well, I guess people can pay more for less....

Carsten

Hi Carsten,

What I love about the trick doesn't have to do with the card handling, but I do find it to be extremely deceptive anyway. Here, I'll send you a copy and see what you think. If it's simpler than you thought, I'd love to hear.

Alvo

Offer accepted. You will find an honest review of the effect here.

Carsten

PS: I´m convinced of the simplicity. Judging from the video there seems to be no suspicious moves.....

It's very nice, but not groundbreaking. For $10 you can get a Martin Nash ebook with 6 sandwich effects. Yes,they are more difficult, but this is only a location that any card man of a years experience should have caught and a Marlo technique for the denoument.

Alright, here is my review of the effect "Route 66" by Alvo Stockman. I want to point out that Alvo generously provided the effect for free to me.

I said in my first posting that I think the handling is pretty obvious for the advanced card handler. I stand by that. The handling is not difficult - and the advanced card handler with a more than general knowledge of card techniques will have no difficulties to "reverse engineer" the effect by watching the video.

But does this make the effect a bad one? No, no and no again. In my opinion the effect is not bad - in fact I think it is one of the better sandwich effects. Considering the easy handling, the effect is pretty interesting and - above that - usable. Especially for me, I´m always looking for easy yet effective effects to use in my bi-monthly closeup restaurant act. I use "Just Joking" by Jay Sankey all the time. Now, I have another "sandwich weapon" in my arsenal with "Route 66". This is an effect that I will definitely use. Only an ordinary deck of cards, easy moves and a strong ending - what else do you want to entertain spectators in a restaurant?

But now my initial concern: Is it necessary to sell this effect as a download. Well, difficult question. In my opinion - no. This effect would have been excellent in a magazine to boost the reputation of Alvo Stockman. And it would have been excellent to include the effect in a DVD or a book of card magic by Alvo Stockman. But a seperate download is not necessary.

For 20 or 30 Dollars it is possible to buy books with several excellent effects in it. Route 66 costs 6,60 Dollars and comes as a download. Make up your own mind....

Conclusion: I don´t say that the effect is bad, no. Anybody who is looking for a sandwich effect and does not know such an effect, can think about buying it. The effect is easy to perform, with a clear plot and no obvious moves. Everyone else, who already knows one or more sandwich effects must decide whether they want to pay for another variation.

Carsten

Calexa, can I ask you where is Just Joking effect on?

Thanks!

Carsten,

Thanks for your review! At the end of your gig, you can use the time you saved not having to do all those erdnase color changes and passes and get yourself a drink on me

Alvo

@ evolve629
You can find Just Joking on the "Sleight-of-Hands Secrets with Cards"-DVD.

@Alvo
I will. My next performance is Thursday next week. I will try the effect and will post additional comments here.

Carsten

Its simple and direct and that's the beauty of it. Maybe it could have been printed in a book, but then it would have cost more and you get some effects with it you're maybe not interested in. I have the latest (disappointing) Nick Trostbook ($39) that only gave me 2 usable tricks. So... what is the best buy ?

Frans

I recently downloaded and learned Route 66.
I like it.
It have everything I look for in a card trick...simple, direct, no difficult slights and...if I don't do the trick for a while, I can still likely remember how to do it since, as I said, its so logical and straight forward.
For about $6 for the download (Penguin magic), it was a good deal for me.
Different strokes for different folks but for my repertoire of card magic, it fit right in.
Thanks, Alvo.
Bob L.

Being a non-card guy, I cringe in an "umpromptu moment" when someone brings out a deck of cards from their home and asks me to do something. So I downloaded it to check it out (I could tell the DL, so I had an idea, but wanted his thoughts on the whole effect). Do you have any rubber bands or tablespoons that you don't mind throwing away? gets old. It's perfect for me: easy easy easy and only ~$7. I look forward to trying it out and see how it plays.
Rolly

Fvdbeek, blpprt and RollyD,

I'm really happy to hear that you appreciate the simplicity and directness of Route 66!

RollyD, that moment that you described is *EXACTLY* the motivation behind me creating this trick! I'm thrilled that it helps you too.

Alvo

Understand that this is not a slam against Alvo, this is my view of how Penguin chose to portray him and this effect. They forced Jermay’s book to press before proofreading it for grammar and misspelling.

It would have been better for you to put it in print somewhere, as a published performing mentalist who relies on scripted patter, subtlety and stage presence, you say umm, and uuuuuh, 24 times in a matter of 3 minutes and 34 second video. This verbal tick in the demo doesn't make me want to run out and buy all your products.

As for the demo against the dealer's ad fluff.

The deck is held up to the end when the trick is already over except for the reveal, where it is actually picked back up off the table to spread for the reveal, so not really hands off.

The peek, while the camera lowers off your face, sitting, your holding the deck up at your chest, if it was waist level or arms extended, for a group, the spectator returning the card is the only person not going to notice your looking directly at the card going on top of it. Why not give them the deck to shuffle and pull their own card out, take back the deck and glimpse the bottom card as they are showing the selection around, cut to have it returned, dropping the bottom half of the deck on top fairly, then dribble them onto the table showing no controls, or breaks, while you set up the premise?

Also discrepancy, the first red six was pulled out of the center of the deck, while the second red six was pulled out near the bottom of the deck where it wasn't earlier when he spread thru the deck. Why both sixes weren't stripped out at the same time without a logical reason, to cover a move.

My biggest issues with Penguin, one small variation does not a new $6 download make, Red Hot Mama, Bank Night, DynaSwitch, Grant's Slow Motion Bill Transposition , 10 Card Poker Deal, etc. Do they only try to sell to an audience of non read magicians? You may want to ask someone who knows Fulves and Marlo material such as Racherbaumer or Duffie to see if you’ve recreated the wheel, and have that uuuuh demo uuuuh redone.

A very opinionated first post.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Jon Hackett

But he makes a valid IMO observation. You get what you subsidize. If people will pay $10 or $15 for crap, then penguin will sell crap for $15.
I realize that the cost/value ratio in buying magic is quite subjective. A working professional can afford to spend $300 on one effect if it will earn them more than that in trade. For the amateurs (99.99999% of all magic afficianados), such economics aren't viable. Tack on the insatiable curiosity (I've paid many a buck to learn a secret to an effect I never subsequently used in performance) we tend to have, and you create a situation where most magic dealers look like scoundrels and most magic buyers (myself included) look like idiots.
(And lets not mention the mentalists who pour money into people like Bob Cassidy and never get what they pay for.)
The botom line for me:

1. I don't really need any new tricks or magic books. I'll buy them anyway, but I don't need them.

2. The secret is almost always a disappointment. The method is rarely as interesting as we think it will be.

3. In the case of a product like Route 66, you have an elementary card effect put on tape to chisel those too inexperienced to figure it out. And no, I do not think that doing the same effect without buying the download is unethical. Alve has brought nothing new to the party. If you know the location he uses and the Marlo sleight for the climax, I think that a usage so rudimentary is "public domain".

4. For $4 more than the cost of this download, you could have a bevy of sleights, effects, and information that will last you a lifetime. If any one wants to pay more for less, let them.

I'd like to feel bad about my post, but I found this thread by doing google searches on "Route 66 variation of", "Alvo Route 66 remake of". I watched the demo, and I swear I had seen this effect before, glimpse, ATFUS.

I thought I answered the original post, an advanced card person would know how this trick is done. I think because of the way it was filmed, even a not so advanced card person might watch it twice and other than the load of the selection between the two cards, but then again the fact that they do go back onto the deck.....

And I own both Poetry Reading and Mix tape, so please understand when I state that I think Penguin and their one take, put it to press, make a ton of money, doesn't do Alvo any benefit to his future career.

Please don't end up like Jermay now or Sankey used to be, putting out something every couple weeks, just to be putting something out.

Exactly.

I think you guys are missing the point. He made something easy for non-card guys. I generally don't like cards but had to learn a few effects just to have something (because its often expected). To me, most card effects are boring because many follow the same premise: choose a card, lose the card, find the card. My opinion is that some card guys are more in love with the techniques than the effect. I know I am in the minority for close up guys, but that is how I feel.

This effect gave me something super easy to do that is totally impromptu at an inexpensive price. (I don't need my invisible deck, folded up card for paperclipped (finish to my ambitious card routine), or half torn card for card warp). I slightly changed the handling and presentation to suit me, but I am glad I purchased it. I know I could have spent $20 more and got an encyclopedia of card effects (but I would not have read through them to begin with to find the gem). Yeah, the presentation is a little "unpolished" but Im okay with that.

My bottom line is that this is a decent totally impromptu effect for a non-card guy. And non-card guys are not hacks: lots of good coin, paper money, ring/string, rubber band, business card, dice, metal bending, mentalism stuff, etc., etc. out there.

My two cents (dollars?).
Rolly

Oh and Mr Hackett: The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month. - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Or at least twice a month when he puts out crap to sell on Penguin. - JimMagicguy

>For $4 more than the cost of this download, you could have a bevy of sleights, effects, and information that
> will last you a lifetime. If any one wants to pay more for less, let them.

I read these kind of sentences a lot on the Café but nobody gives a title or some other reference.

Frans