When is a trick not a trick? When it’s a Revolution. In some ways Revolution is nothing more than a flourish, but it also comes with some great ideas for incorporating it into some routines. So let’s get straight into the review.
What is it?
Essentially Revolution is a gimmick which enables you to spin a deck of cards on your finger. That’s the long and short of it. You’re supplied with the simple gimmick, attractively packaged (I think the quality of magic packaging has improved over the years – am I alone here?!) and also some specially printed cards for some of the effects taught later. As is the trend, you are also given a location and password to watch/download the teaching.
How’s the teaching?
Greg is a superb and entertaining teacher. His tongue is firmly in his cheek at various points during the explanation which makes it great fun to watch – he’s a nutter and I love his silliness. That being said, the explanation ran to about an hour and half, and if we’d lost some of the chuckles I might have saved some time… If you’re a diehard fan you’ll enjoy the outtakes section at the end.
As well as answering just about any question you could possibly have about the thing, there’s an interesting segment where you watch someone trying the thing out for the first time and Greg comments and corrects what he’s doing. That’s a great way to learn – especially for something like this which is a little bit ‘knacky’. Greg, of course makes it look super easy, but you won’t be doing this straight away. It will take a fair bit of practise to get a consistent/reliable spin – though probably much less effort than it looks like it should!
Other comments?
The ‘new’ bicycle tuck cases don’t have the back design printed on them – which makes one aspect of this slightly more difficult than it would have been before. Can’t really say more without exposure. Greg describes ways in which you could use this as an opener, a trick in the middle or a flourish as you finish. There are also thoughts on hiding the gimmick (which is largely hidden in plain sight anyway) etc. If anything, for me it felt like slightly more information than was needed on a relatively simple gimmick and move. Maybe I’m old and jaded but 50 ish minutes on just the move felt like overkill.
The routines
There was a nice idea for a hypnotism based routine – a great premise, but it was only really briefly taught – so if you don’t know the couple of moves needed you might need some more help.
Spin Cycle – utilising one of the specially printed gaff cards – whilst you spin the deck a spectator makes some choices to define a card. When you locate the card in the deck it is seen to be the only one with a ‘spun’ back design. And then it magically reverts. There are also a couple of special cards where the faces have been ‘spun’ which allows a few other variations.
Deshuffled – Revolution makes a great addition to the ‘Unshuffled’ routine (available separately) – so that a mixed up deck is spun on your finger and then it reverts to new deck order. Lovely.
Invisible Revolution – Very clever routine with a ‘well known gaff deck’ which adds an extra triumphant feel (let the reader understand) to the Invisible deck. Lovely sneaky idea.
Vive la revolution?
All in all this is a simple concept and a nice flourish which, if you’re prepared to put in the practise, would be a good addition to any card set. It gives the impression of more skill than is actually involved and could be a really good way of breaking the ice at the beginning of a set, or going out with a flourish at the end. And the Invisible Revolution idea would work as a very strong effect even without the Revolution bit!
Available direct from Merchant of Magic for £26.99 at the time of writing.
Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.
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