Once again, Penguin Magic has lied to us (see my anonymous review of Money Comes and Goes by Rick
Lax), or at least allowed Nathan Kranzo to do so. In the demo, Kranzo says that you display the
deck with half the cards face up and half face down and then immediately hand the deck to the
spectator to shuffle. Not true. The crucial, very obvious, move, takes place between the
exhibition of the deck and the handing of the deck to the spectator. Of course, that move is not
shown in the demo. I think it is notable that, although I accused Penguin and Lax of fraud in
regard to Money Comes and Goes, neither party offered any public response. Come on guys--either
fess up or show how I am wrong. (On the other hand, I give credit to Penguin for publishing the
review.)
I originally was going to give this trick 3 stars (before I realized that the demo
lied) because it might fool a naive spectator, although it can't be performed a second time for
anyone who has seen it once. The classic triumph is a much better trick.
A more general
problem is the promiscuous way that 5 stars is awarded to mediocre tricks. There is nowhere to go
when you encounter a really outstanding trick. I pointed this out in a previous review of EZ Oil
and Water, but, for some reason, that review was not published. I'll be interested to see if this
one is.
grade inflation
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