It really is a brilliant method ...

but the card really does stand out..


-Bobby

I met up with Mikael on his stand at Blackpool a couple of years ago and a good chat with him. he really is a truly original and creator of magic. Nice guy too!

As a magician I find this clever and quite difficult to work out how its done.


But it doesn't look like magic to me, more a very fiendish puzzle. Be interesting to see some views from folk who have played this to spectators.

I think the WPR nailed it on this one

I saw Mickael Demo this at Blackpool several times directly in front of me.neither myself or my friend noticed the gimmicked card,and we both bought one.

Gotta disagree with people here.

I tested this out on the wife, from a few feet away in our living room (dimmish lighting to be fair, but comfortable rather than dark, if that makes any sense?) and she was floored. Shove it in peoples faces and yes, I can see that it would be easily seen...but for someone that doesn't know it's coming, doesn't know what to look for, and you're handling the cards in a normal fashion (not in slow motion) I reckon this will fly by. And let's be frank here guys...the only part of the card you'd possibly want to keep out of sight, is a tiny part that you do not even need to flash...

This is simply genius. And the switch is also fine in my opinion, no different than many other bold moves that people are often worried to try (think most things by Daniel Madison)..I do pretty much the same thing to get a spectator to reverse a card in the deck...never been caught once. I can't wait to find a decent place for this in a routine. Quite simply one of the best purchases I've made in years.

Steph

I'm very intrigued by this, kind of hard to make a decision with the mixed reviews that are coming in

If you are intrigued, as I am, do what I have
just done, order it.

First up I must say that Hole is a great illusion - it just simply looks impossible - which it is, but isn't that the point of an illusion? However this is not a self-working, no skill required miracle as you will need to control and direct the spectator somewhat to keep the heat off the gaff. The gaff itself is well made but will not withstand inpection of any sort so it is most important that you control its use. Ring it in and out as required using your favourite method (a use for the UCCU for example?). Watch the sample video for some of the very clean looking displays you can do even with the gaff in use. Very convincing! I'd not perform it out of the box in bright light personally, but I would be tempted with my remade gaff (more on this later). Some of the advertising blurb with my comments in []. (As usual YMMV....)

* Take the top card of the deck and place the red card with the hole on top of it. [not any top card of course ;-) ]
* Using the label, hinge the two cards together at the bottom edge. Invite a spectator to verify that your "construction" is solid by pulling on it. [yes this can be done quite convincingly and is a great 'selling point' of the illusion]
* A truly curious experiment made all the more so as your spectator can examine the cards and the label! [after you clean up, yes]
* HOLE is really MAGIC and the principle is really different. [no, the principle has been around for a while but yes it does look like magic]
* The spectator can hold the cards together without being any the wiser. [hold under your control yes, inspect no]
* The illusion is more than convincing and the spectator can feel the card slowing pass through the label himself. [a definite yes - I have had people almost scream as the card they are holding is physically felt to have force upon it as it is drawn through the label]
* You will also learn a version that you can make at home in less than 5 minutes! [true but some of the displays and handling may need to be modified to compensate]

This is an effect which you probably should not do on its own, instead after you have performed a few other card effects with the same deck. Because you can give away all 3 cards and the sticker afterwards, perhaps this could be a killer closing effect for a personal show or party? (Not recommended where you will do this multiple times per night for the same group.) If you do give all the cards away, not just the spectator's chosen card as shown in the video, you will need non-gaffed duplicates of the gaff and additional contrasting 'hole' cards. For the former get a one-way force deck of the gaff card and make a number of hole cards from a contrasting deck - face value not important.

Agreed with other reviewers that that gaff stands out like a sore thumb, but I constructed my own from scratch and disguised the 'things that needed disguising' in a more subtle way (think black art here). For example the obvious protrusions on the gaff can be placed in the middle of the spade pips if you use (say) the 6/7/8/9/10 Spades as the gaff instead of a picture card like the King Spades as mine was when I purchased it. I won't obviously give away the construction here, but suffice it to say it is not difficult to make this gaff to any suitable back design once you know what bits to acquire and in which order to apply them to the gaff.

All up I am happy with my purchase and give it a 7 out of 10.

On the fence with this one. I will wait to see what others say. Video looks great but after reading some reviews I'll wait.

After having watched the video several times, I suspect that Michael had his gimmick made considerably better than the one he provides. Yes, I bought one, and the gaff doesn't stick out like a sore thumb...it sticks out like a sore HAND. The gaff could be made much better, but it would be considerably more labor intensive. If a good card gaffer split and spliced the work, and better "things" were used, it could be made well enough to actually do close-up. You cannot do it at the close proximity that the demo video shows with the gaff he provides. I really watched it carefully and the gaff is not the same. I mean, it works the same, but the one in the video seems far better made.

On a trick like Coin Flux, which is similar in nature, there is no heat on the gaff so, despite being made relatively visibly, it is not noticed. With "The Hole," the heat IS on the two cards and it would be a little risky to do it up close. It is, however, a GREAT idea. Just should have been better made. In fact, the idea is so good, I may have a good gaffer make a better one. This makes me really miss Neil Lester!

Well, I ordered one even after reading the reviews, some of which have been pretty rough. I have been doing Magic for a long time and I've found that generally when there's complaints such as "the gimmick is too visible" etc it's usually because people are way to concerned about little things that turn out not to be an issue for me. That's not always the case and the negative reviews on "the hole" may be totally justified. I couldn't possibly know since I have yet to receive mine. However, I like the idea of this effect and and I enjoy rebuilding gimmicks etc if necessary....So I'm not allowing myself to be scared off... I'll post something after I have had time to mess around with it and I'll let you know how it's working (or not) for me:)

I hope it turns out to be a solid effect as I really like what I've seen.

Best to all,
Bk

Ok, so mine arrive a couple days ago....and while I can see why there have been some comments on the visibility of the gimmick, I can also say that with just a small bit of practice I found that by simply paying attention to your handling you can easily hide the gimmick so that it rarely comes into view, if at all... However, that said, I still just for my own piece of mind decided to do a little work on the face side of the gimmick....Now I can cleanly show the face and the back isn't a problem as the only time it's seen is when I spin it around and there's just no time for it to really be seen.....

There's not much to the DVD, but there doesn't really need to be..... You get what you need to perform this. Up to you to come up with your own patter/routine etc.

I wouldn't consider this a real workhorse for me but I intend to do it plenty. In fact I performed it at dinner just last night and the response was great. I'm totally happy with my purchase.

Best,
Bk

I had to write a bit more because I just performed this for a friend and he was
Amazed! I was surprised at his "over the top" reaction but that's exactly what tells me whether or not it's a good effect! The more I show this to people the more I believe I made the right decision.

I hope everybody is having a great week!
Bk

From what I can gather from all the comments, just like any trick worth doing you need practice combined with a good performance style. I have one arriving tomorrow and lok forward to giving it a go.

Hi everyone. I am new and this is my first post. I will say I am not a pro and barely an amateur,,but I like to do card and coin tricks for my friends and family so I bought this as I like the look on the video and it matches my style.

That said,,I think it is a crap shoot whether you get a good or poorly made gimmick. The gimmick I was shipped looked like heck. It was put together poorly and even from a distance anyone would be able to tell something was awfully wrong. I think,,although I don't have a lot of skills,,that I will try to build my own, taking apart the one I bought and rebuild it. I like the concept and it works really well and I know it will fool people,,but not the one I have. But once you have the concept, you may be able to construct a better one. Everything was put on a little offset so it looks terrible. But maybe it just got a bad one because I did have trouble getting this thing shipped to me and maybe I was paying for my whining.

I would like to add an addendum to my above comment. I ordered this from a well know distributor and it was out of stock. A month later it was still out of stock so I bought it form someone else and asked for my money back but instead got my order so I have tow of these. One is red backed and one is blue backed. the red backed on is the one I talked about being poorly built,,but the blue back one is a lot better. Plus the color of the blue back card is better to hide the gimmick. The blue back one is still not built perfect but I can fix that,,I cannot fix the red one. I am going to try to rebuild the red one differently,,,sort of like JB MAgic's coin flux and see how that works.

I would love more comments though on a good way to make a switch at the end and any ideas to better conceal the gimmick.

I agree that the gimmick does stand out but can be improved by being re-made using thinner materials.(if you have it you will know what I mean)

Like Craig Petty, in the Wizard Product review Number 103, my main concern was the introduction of a card with a hole in it which isn't very organic. However, I have found a way around this by starting with Holy Moly. (See Utube)

An apparent normal card is produced and in a very magical way a large hole appears in the card (in the original the hole is off centre but can be adjusted to the middle during construction), this card provides a smooth transition into Mickael Chatelain's Hole.

What's the name of the hole puncher for this effect? I've been trying to find it but I dunno what to put in they search box.