Here is my in-depth review of Pocket Nightmare by Max Maven.

REVIEW PHILOSOPHY

When I review a product, I’d like to judge the product by itself alone. I will try to put myself into readers’ shoes and give the most honest review.

I paid full price of the product, and come with no affiliation with any magicians or dealers, thus as a consumer I want my readers to have full information.

I will provide what is not said on the advertisement and details beyond the product itself.
If the product is good, I say it out loud. At the same time, if there is bad about the product, I don’t hesitate at all to say it. I do not judge based on the magician’s reputation or history. The quality of the product is the only thing I will take into consideration.

I believe by giving you the most transparent information, you will have better knowledge to judge.

Helping my readers is my biggest goal with this review.

WHAT YOU GET?

You’ll get a Bicycle deck with some specially printed cards. For those who has learnt this effect in Kayfabe volume 3, you will be delighted that 36 gimmick cards are included instead of 15 cards in the original version (I would call this release a Penguin version).

And a link to the online tutorial is included in the box.

QUALITY OF THE GIMMICK

The deck is not fully gimmicked. Only 36 cards are printed in a special way, and the remaining cards are normal cards.

Since the cards are printed by the US Playing Card Company, you will expect you receive a high quality deck of cards.

As you may aware, the deck is handed to spectators to search for the peeked card at one point of performance. While the deck cannot be examined, it can be handled relatively freely by spectator. Since the deck is only handled by spectator for a short span of time during performance, it should last a long time. Even if the deck was mishandled and damaged a bit accidentally, it doesn’t affect how the deck works.

In addition, the principle of the gimmicked cards is versatile enough for you to accomplish other effects.

To conclude, the gimmick quality is quite as expected. No surprise or disappointment at all.

QUALITY OF THE TUTORIAL

The video lasts about 18 minutes & 54 seconds. The performance is recorded in front of live audience in studio. The explanation is done in studio with a straight-ahead camera most of the time.

Length (in minutes) of the main parts (I literally counted):

Performance- 2:10
History- 4:56
Gimmick- 2:18
Explanation- 8:47
Conclusion- 0:15

‘History’ session starts with some background information about how this trick is born. Then Max Maven talks about the Ken Krenzel which somehow inspired his presentation. Next he moves to talk about the plagiarism of this effect. This session is quite interesting because the story is fun and it’s always good to learn about how a creator develops his effect. As we are all standing on the shoulders of giants, this session is a good reminder of how we should treat our own creations.

In ‘Gimmick', Max Maven introduces the gimmick cards and the improvement. He briefly mentioned the reason why you are receiving different number of gimmick cards from his original effect.

In ‘Explanation’, Max Maven goes into the execution of the effect. He follows his presentation and explains what should be done at different stages of the effect. There is a handling to be used when the effect doesn’t work as it should be. And Max also gives advice on audience management when they search for the peeked card. The information is enough for you to perform the effect, but learners may be surprised at how few tips are given provided that the effect has been performed for 40 years.

Overall, the production quality of the tutorial is not bad. But it is way too short for an effect with such a long history. Except beginners, most competent magicians should be able to understand mechanism well enough to execute it, but it is another matter whether they can perform it with maximum impact. There are many small issues I am aware of but they are not answered on the tutorial. So, this tutorial is like being able to teach you swing your hands and legs in the swimming pool so that you can float but not able to make you swim confidently. That being said, for performers with strong presentation and experience, they should have no issue at all.

DIFFICULTY

The mechanism of this effect is very easy to understand. It involves almost no sleight-of-hand.

However, audience management is crucial. There are at least 2 moments (1. Peek; 2. Selection searching) where the effect can go totally wrong. Once it goes wrong, it’s hard to recover.

I would advice learners to understand the effect fully before performing it.

PERFORMANCE ANGLE

There is no restriction on angle. In the performance, Max is standing on stage right (from audience’s angle, he is on left). Thus there may be a moment where a move (which is only done when the effect doesn’t go smoothly) may be seen, or if thing goes wrong during peeking,

I would suggest to perform this effect on stage left, covering even that very slight chance of flashing. I believe Max is doing perfectly okay on stage right with this effect (his performance in Kayfabe is also on stage right), but we are not Max Maven, right? So it’s better to play safe.

CLOTHING REQUIREMENT

There is no strict requirement for clothing, because you can perform it as long as you have a pocket on the right side. It’s because you need to put your right hand in the pocket while your left hand holds the deck.

You don’t need a pocket if you are not performing with Max Maven's presentation.

WHO CAN DO IT?

In general, this effect can be performed by magicians of any levels. However, its impact mainly depends on the showmanship. In other words, just like Penn & Teller can make a Vase Trick into miracle, whether you can make this a great trick depends on you solely, but not the method.

ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT

I will include my analysis of the effect in my product review. In this analysis, I will present my view on the strength and weakness of the effect. And will also go deeper with magic theory in mind.

This is a card-to-pocket effect. And there are usually two main issues in this type of effect, namely the VANISH and the PRODUCTION of the selection.

In this version, Max Maven has done a great job in making a clean vanish of the selection without sacrificing much freedom of the trick. Even though the deck cannot be shuffled by spectators at the beginning, the fact that spectator can search for their own selection increase illusion of the degree of fairness in this effect. Since at no point the magician can manipulate the cards, the vanish of the selection can only explained by magic. This is what makes this effect great in the first place.

Of course, clean effect always needs sacrifice. The method itself is brilliant, but it requires good audience management if it is performed in casual setting. With spectator which may go wild like street performance, they may want to inspect the deck unless you have established yourself as a competent magician already. However, if the performer stresses too much that he won’t using sleight-of-hand, then the first solution that lay audience may come up with is trick deck. So, think about your performing environment and how to stage the effect properly to avoid troubles.

TIPS

- If you knows that the spectator is not peeking at the target zone, you may want to push the deck forwards when he is peeking, so that you have a bigger leeway to make the move.

- Never depend on spectator to open the deck widely enough, because you have asked him to take a peek, the peek will only open the deck slightly for sure.

-If you want to make sure you will always get the card 100% correct at the target zone, buy 2 decks of Pocket Nightmare to make your ultimate Pocket Nightmare deck. It may sound ridiculous, but if it will remain as your lifetime effect, the idea doesn’t sound too bad at all.

- Left-hand magicians have to learn how to hold the deck in left-hand peeking position, and do that life-saver move if thing doesn’t go perfectly.

PROS ABOUT THE EFFECT

1. Gimmick is versatile
2. A solid effect with strong presentation
3. In a sense, easy to do

CONS ABOUT THE EFFECT

1. The tutorial is way too short. Advices are barely enough.
2. If number of gimmick can be increase from 15 to 36, why not make a full deck?

FINAL VERDICT

The product is nicely produced. An effect with 40 years of history and still performed today is unbeatable.

However, I wish more information can be provided in the tutorial and let me understand this effect in-depth.

There is no difficult sleight-of-hand involved and therefore suitable for performers of any level.

I am satisfied with the quality of the product. At about US$40, I will highly recommend it for people who loves easy-to-do miracle.

- Product Quality: 8/10
- Video Quality: 7/10
- Effectiveness of Tricks: 10/10
- Practical (Vanish): 9/10
- Practical (Production): 10/10
- Creativity: 9/10 (this is created 40 years ago!)
- Cost Performance: 9/10
- Final Score: 9/10

Thank you for reading.

ALEX MAGIC REVIEW (YouTube, Instagram)

I know some people who were disappointed with this; but I knew exactly how this worked when I ordered it; so I was overjoyed to get it. If you want to perform this like Max Maven does, it’s going to take some work. You have to do an excellent job in picking a spectator and make sure you provide instructions that can’t be misconstrued. I’d suggest also being ready with a means to get back on track if your spectator takes things a bit sideways. It’s risky; but has a great payoff.
I’ve developed a completely different handling that removes the risk and, I think, (and based on audience reactions), has just as strong a finish. Kind of makes it a little different trick. But equally as effective.
If you’re good at audience management, and don’t mind some minor risks, you’re going to have a ball with this one. If you want a ready-made trick that doesn’t require some work from you - either in presentation and audience management, or in developing a handling that is not suggested or taught; then you may be slightly disappointed.
The only thing different I’d like would be an option for a different force card. For example, sell a deck with a five of hearts and another one with a seven of spades and another one with a four of diamonds...like that. Just three, maybe four force options. I’d buy a deck for each option! That’s how much I like this one. I gave it 4 stars, rather than five, though; because there is only one force option sold, it has only one handling taught and you have to take a pretty good risk to perform it as taught.

If performed as it is in the video, this effect has about a 50/50 chance of you getting caught, no matter how much you practice it.

I've performed this effect 31 times since receiving it and have been caught 17 times. Yes I kept count, because I wanted to replace my invisible deck with this. Unfortunately, if you do it the way it is done in the trailer, any thorough spectator is going to look in the middle of the deck, or check cards one by one, or even just separate them further then normal.

If you perform this for magicians, in front of other magicians, I am sure it will go great. The reason is because we will follow the instructions exactly as we are told. In this type of environment you have a bunch of people demonstrating magic tricks, so we all go along for the ride since we want to see the end anyway. Of course he only goes through it quickly without really trying to bust Max, why would he want to ruin a great moment?

Now imagine you're dealing with a non magician, someone who is genuinely confused about where their card went. This person will go back through the deck, and they will do it before you can say anything. In several cases they simply spread the cards like amateurs and saw the dirty business when the cards had a big gap.

Wish I could give this 5 stars, I love Max's work (The elephant trick via text is the only phone trick I do) but I can't recommend this for lay audiences, especially the kind of audiences we get here in Vegas.

Not that long ago, there was a dvd set that came out called Kayfabe by Max Maven. I loved Max's work and I purchased the set right away. There was some tricks I liked and some I didn't like, however there was one effect that stood out from the rest in that set and completely blew my mind and was worth the price of the set, and that effect was Pocket Nightmare.

I was disappointed with the explanation however, because I found out that you had to have a very gimmicked deck in order to perform this wonderful effect. Unfortunately a deck like that wasn't available and you had to make one yourself, which was bad news for me because I wasn't good at making gimmicked cards, so I was unable to perform this routine. UNTIL NOW!

This is THE deck needed to perform this wonderful effect, and when I saw this was available I never clicked the "add to cart" button so fast. Now this effect is bold and it will take guts to perform live, but don't be afraid. Because the payoff is incredible. The performance itself is short and direct with no moves or sleight of hand at all, and Max emphasizes that in the routine performance. My favorite moment in the routine is when the spectator goes through the cards to find his chosen card and he can't find it, so he has to look again.

And I've got to tell you, that moment will get the room, like a ripple effect. Then that final reveal hits everyone like a ton of bricks and Max's final line seals the deal perfectly. This effect is going in my professional set, it's just too good not to be performed at every show. Now will this work 100% of the time? No it won't, but that's ok because the payoff when it does work is more then worth it. And if you follow everything step by step in the download as well as being confident in your abilities and performance, it should work perfectly the majority of the time you perform this. The more you perform this, and the more the effect works out to perfection, the more confident you will be.

I want to say a personal thank you to Max Maven and Penguin for making these decks. Thank you so, so, so much for making these decks for the magic world, and letting us have this wonderful routine.

The method is very ingenious. However, unless you are as good at spectator management as Max is, this is likely going to be a hit or miss effect. I have tried it many times with random people on the street and it has worked less than 50% of the time. I simply can’t add a ‘might work” effect to my repertoire. I even tried having the spectator insert a card into the deck, rather than peek a card. It still can go wrong and loses much of the impact. For the effect to be most impactful, you need to let the spectator handle the deck twice and things can go wrong in both those handlings. Either peeking too much, or mis-spreading the cards to look for theirs. I really wanted to be able to use this. But it is collecting dust in my bin of hit or miss effects.

I much prefer using Get Sharky for several reasons ... including the fact that I can give the deck to the spectator. But it's a good trick.

One of THE best tricks I have ever owned (and I have bought a lot of them!!!). A great progression of moves ending in a surprising finale!!

The effect is outstanding and well worth the price! Be sure to take the time to listen to Max' instructions and tips. You can easily give away information unintentionally if you don't.

A brilliantly reimagined effect with a powerfully startling conclusion! I performed this last night right out of the box and it KILLED!

Overall this is a novel and theatrical sort of trick.

Max does an excellent job of explaining the trick. I did not give it 5 stars, because it is a bit risky to perform.

The peek method is good but must be controlled. If the subject pulls too hard on the deck when he preeks at the card, it could expose the method.

The trick works very well if the subject is right handed. A left handed person may or may not handle the cards in a particular way.

If the trick goes wrong, there is no good "out."