YOU KNOW (UNO) - David Jonathan - A Review

YOU KNOW is a brand new effect from David Jonathan, one of my favorite creators. Here's the Ad Copy:

You Know is a powerful display of foresight that is so direct, so fair and so utterly baffling. It uses an ancient, underused principle that has been dusted off and modernized with new twists to create a stunning hands-off prediction.

So what's the effect? A pack of UNO cards is introduced and a participant names any of the four colors in the game to be their target color. They take the cards and genuinely shuffle them into a truly random order. They now look through the shuffled pack and remove the first three cards of their target color that they come to. The numbers on these cards are added together to arrive at a sum. An envelope, that has been on the table, is turned over to show one number was written on it - the sum of the three numbers! Even more impressive, inside the envelope is a prediction of the SPECIFIC COLOR they named and the EXACT THREE NUMBERS they arrived at!

Ends clean
No gimmicks
No sleight of hand
Super easy to do

Tons of extra ideas and variations are covered on the tutorial, as well as ways to incorporate the concepts into a variety of routines (e.g. book tests, pin code revelations, etc.).

You Know provides an engaging change of pace from run-of-the-mill card tricks, so download it today to learn one of the strongest effects with a pack of UNO cards!

Note: While this effect was designed for UNO cards, it is also easily adapted to playing cards

My Thoughts:

I just reviewed FORTUITY, another David Jonathan effect, for Murphy's Magic a few days ago.. and out of the blue David contacted me about his newest release - YOU KNOW (UNO). Having reviewed three of David's effects in the past, I knew his work, his style, and his dedication to offering customers a great deal for their money.

That said.. if you read the Ad Copy above, you have a good idea of how the effect plays out. You Know is performed with a partial deck of UNO cards (not provided), but can be performed with a regular deck if you want.. I don't want. I love the idea of performing this effect with a deck of UNO cards. Performing with UNO cards makes this a very unique effect.. one unlike anything the spectator is apt to have seen previously. Plus, no one thinks of UNO cards as being gaffed or marked, which they aren't, adding to the mystery and improbability.

I'm going to go ahead a say.. this is one of the very BEST effects I've reviewed in a long time.. and the BEST effect for the money. The instant download is $8.95, which is an absolute steal. As I mentioned, you need to supply your own UNO deck which, if you don't already have one, can be bought at virtually any drug store or big box store for a couple of dollars. From that point, David shows you, via a Vimeo link, what to do with the cards. Only 40 of the cards are needed, and you're almost ready to perform.

The spectator is handed the deck and he/she really performs a riffle shuffle of the deck. For good measure.. they perform a second riffle shuffle. They go through the deck as explained in the ad copy and remove three cards of a color they selected. Now, they total the three cards.. and find the number matches the prediction in a sealed envelope produced earlier by the magician. For good measure, the magician also predicts the color the spectator will pick. There is NO deck switch and nothing added or subtracted to the deck.

The secret is a very old secret and -possibility- one you've read before... if you're a student of magic. But, I'm willing to bet you'll not figure this one out, as it's the unique formulation of the cards from the beginning that enables the mathematics to work. Don't let that word scare you.. there's nothing for you to calculate. It's actually self-working once the spectator gets cards-in-hand, even though you can count on the spectator NOT being able to riffle shuffle perfectly. They don't have to... This effect works despite their imperfection.

David provides a link to a Vimeo video which runs 40 minutes. Every step is taught carefully and everything explained in detail... The Materials, Preparing the Prediction, Setting up the UNO pack, The Number Force and The Routine. He also provides alternate handling, including using a standard deck, and a PDF with final suggestions, including a shortcut not shown on the video.

There are almost Zero sleights. There is one brief move you make which I'm not even going to call a sleight... if you can cut a deck, you can perform this simple move.

If you perform mental magic in your routine, this is an excellent effect to have in your repertoire. I urge you to take time to create a line of patter that matches up with the effect.. and you can easily increase the dramatics two-fold. Spectators love effects that permit them to shuffle the deck and perform the handling. It makes YOUR magic so much stronger. I highly recommend YOU KNOW (UNO) to all my readers...

$8.95 Instant Download.. from either of the two links below..

https://www.davidjonathanmagic.com/product-page/you-know-uno
https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/12973

Reviewed by Rick Carruth for the Magic Roadshow

Reset?

Reset takes roughly 1 min

It doesn’t look like he does the “move” in the full performance video. Did it fly by me? Or is it not a “full performance?”

A "move" (its a real stretch to even call it that) was previously required 50% of the time. However, with the new update that was added to the download, it has now been eliminated completely. So what you see in the full performance is exactly how it plays out 100% of the time (no matter what color is named). Hope that helps!

Thanks David.. There was a 'move' but it occurred during down time and would not be noticed by the spectator.

I just bought this effect directly from David. RCarruth's description and review are bang on. This is a terrific effect and has a double and a half whammy. When I first watched the effect performed by David, I thought immediately after the first reveal "Oh, you could have reached that number in multiple ways". David then went on to dispel that notion. He then proceeded with the final reveal which completely stumped me.
This is my favourite effect of the year. It is easy to do, without slights. It takes a setup which you actually show to the spec. It is very logical. It basically is arranging the colours. This setup is immediately messed up by the spec. You could let the spec shuffle the cards by I prefer to do it myself. This speed things up a bit and prevents a mistake that could happen. Nobody cares who shuffles. It is very fair.
There is an uncut performance on his website. https://www.davidjonathanmagic.com/product-page/you-know-uno
I had a few questions before I bought the trick and he answered almost immediately. That's what customer service should look like. Hats off to David. I might buy Fortuity as well.

This definitely also is one of my favourite tricks of the year. What I especially like about it is the fact that you use UNO cards which is a welcome diversion from the usually used playing cards. Furthermore it's one of those card tricks that use "mathematical" principles like also Bannon's "Degrees of Freedom" or "Sort of Psychic" to name a few. You don't have to completely understand the underlying mechanisms to perform those tricks which are thereby well suited to baffle yourself. I just ordered a fresh set of UNO cards and plan to put them into my Angelo Carbone's Gift-Box - which I think might be well suited for delivering the prediction.

Thank you guys for the kind thoughts.. It's definitely one of my very favorite effects of the year.. and I (luckily) get to review a LOT of effects..