Magic Tricks

The Marketing Fluff
"This course will take you from beginner to pro in coin magic."

"Take you from a beginner to pro" might be a little strong but it will give you a great foundation in coin magic. This is a high quality DVD is all ways. This is a building block DVD - you're given a bunch of basic magic "Legos" that you will use to build a lot of different tricks and routines. So let's take an in depth look at Jay Noblezada's treatise on introductory coin magic!

While you are waiting for your DVD to arrive, visit your bank and pick up a 6-8 50 cent coins (aka Kennedy Half Dollar). If your bank doesn't have them (they are probably too lazy to get a roll from the vault) then call around to other banks. These are easy to find with a few phone calls. Also stop by a coin shop and pick up a couple English Pennies. These are relatively easy to find and inexpensive. The English Penny is the same size as the Kennedy half dollar and it has a nice brown copper color that will work well when performing a color change effect or transposition.

Degree of Difficulty
Moderate. There are no self working tricks here. This is pure sleight of hand magic with the simplest of props. You'll need to spend weeks or months practicing this material.

Teaching
Jay Noblezada is one of the best young teachers on DVD on the planet. He is an accomplished sleight of hand magician who demos his routines for real people, on the street, for jaw dropping reactions.

Jay goes over each sleight in glorious detail. He shows you how not to do the move. You won't have to pause and rewind as much as some other instructors.

For the most part, Jay chooses outdoor settings to teach; a California beach, a city park and a boat on Lake Mead. I have seen some people disparage his choice of locations but I think it is refreshing. You feel like Jay is just a friend, sitting bare feet in the grass, in a city park, teaching you one-on-one.

Quantity of Effects
This is a packed DVD full of a lot of material. Of course, the gold standard in teaching coin magic is Modern Coin Magic by J. B. Bobo. It covers only a small portion of the material in the Bobo book. However, it covers the meat and potatos of coin magic including the basic palms, concealments, passes and vanishes.

The DVD is broken up into:

Essentials
Tricks
Routines
Pro Tips
Extras


The Pro Tips have some stuff from Bobo like what to do if you drop a coin. Jay teaches a lot of subtle tips for selling you sleights like "breaking the wrist." He also gives you the Slide Vanish which is a very convincing vanish.

Quality of Effects
Tricks are fast effects that can be incorporated into a multiple phase routine; Coin thru Pants, Coin Thru Pocket, Coin from Thin Air, Cranium Vanish, Tenkai Pennies, Coin from Pencap. The Tenkai Pennies and Coins thru Table are really mini routines and the best of the Trick section.

The Routines are a nice Coins Across using two spectators, a PK Coin Bend, a One Coin Routine and a Three Coin Routine. I really like the One Coin Routine and have developed my own version called the Stinky Coin (see my video below). Lastly, there is a routine called You and Me that is really powerful. These are all great close routines that you'll likely use if you are doing walk around or bar magic.

Production Quality
Top notch production. The menus are hip and fun. The variety of locations and sets alleviate any chance of boredom. The video and sound quality are superb. It is filmed with at least 2 cameras and Jay shows you the key angle shots. The on-the-street demos are a joy to watch.

This is just a fun DVD. It is a great selection for beginning coin magic. It is also a great supplement to Bobo's Modern Coin Magic (MCM) for beginning and intermediate coin magicians. Most of this material is covered in MCM but you'll get so much more out of Jay's solid instruction, expert demonstrations and his subtle maneuvers that really sell and polish the presentation. Everyone's learning style is different but I would personally recommend this as a first introduction to coin magic and follow up with MCM.