And yet another gem from Phil Goldstein.

I received this last week and played with it a while. This goes to my 5 out of 5 stars rating list. But first...

The Effect: You give a spectator something to hold and requested not to peek at it. But he can feel it is some sort of plastic chip, like the ones used for a card game, like Poker. You further explained that playing cards are used often for fortune telling and games, and the chip has got to do with both whilst you casually show him a pile of cards. You ask him to extend as many fingers he wants (with the other hand). You showed him that the card faces each has a picture of a no of fingers extended and each are of a different color. You showed him the card corresponding to his no of finger and comments something about his future based on the color.

You end by getting the spectator open his hand only to find a chip that matches the color of his card!
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1. When I first receive it, I cannot help but admire the quality in terms of packaging, explanation and props. Very well made. Instructions are clear.

2. The effect plays big, as you get to give some sort of 'reading' to your spectator. If you want to, you can definitely go further from there.

3. The final revelation of the chip comes as an interesting surprise, and unexpected.

4. You can perform this almost immediately as there are no complicated sleight-of-hand required. Not to say there isn't though. But a simple one that most are familiar with it.

5. Reset is almost instant. No supplies or refills needed.
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Some comments:
1. You can give the chip to the spectator as a souvenir if you want to. Obviously you got to go get some chips after that but that's no problem. You get them to keep and remember you.

2. You may want to consider doing up your own set of Midori as it won’t be too difficult. Reason is you want to have two sets so that you can ****** later! But that's not a problem. Don’t suffer from magician's guilt!

3. The effect somehow plays better for women, I think because of the nature of the fortune telling bit.

4. Overall I think it’s the combination element of fortune telling and prediction that makes this so interesting. And depending on you, you can do this for 3 minutes or more than 10 minutes. For impact on layperson, this goes into my walk-around act.

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Midori is available from most dealers. You can try hocus-pocus.com. It’s going for $14.95 at current.

It is an excellent effect. I'm not sure about the packaging and props though. I guess I wasn’t as impressed as you were about those. The actual effect is well thought out and plays big. The real catch is if you can give solid readings for the other colors. This is what sells the effect.

Not being very skilled at card sleight-of-hand, I found this effect to be disappointing. There are several sleight-of-hand moves required. While I have heard that the required moves are rather basic for any card-handler, those with NO sleight-of-hand experience will find this effect to be a big letdown.

Several? There is one move, and is worth the practice.

Hello Hoodrat, David is right. Just one sleight and can be mastered relatively easily. As David said, the effect potentially plays big. its well worth the effort!

You are right, there is just one move required. I will just have to buckle down and practice this move in order to be able to do this effect. Based on the ad copy, I guess I was expecting something "self-working" when I received the effect. I'm seriously thinking of buying the DVD series put out by Oz Pearlman where he teaches all the basic card sleights for beginners. I've heard good reviews of that series!

That series doesn't teach the move. Pick up Card College 3.

Do not back down, Hoodrat. There are two sleights. Even though a sleight may not be very difficult, it is still a sleight. I found this disappointing because the main sleight that you have to do makes no sense to me. Maybe you can help me out but I can think of no earthly reason to do the sleight and have it be a normal thing. Why would a person handle a stack of cards that way? I am being a little obscure about this because I do not want to give away too much but when I read the effect, this kind of handling was the last thing I expected. 2 out of 5 for being more complicated than it has to be. I could do the same effect with a simple "pick a number between 1 and 6" force and spend more time on presentation than some sleight of hand. IMHO.

gibby

Gibby, PM me on what you need help on. I can see why you might think that this requires two sleights, however, one of the "sleights" is part of the other "sleight". That is why I said there was only one. Ok, that sounded really confusing.

In any case, the sleight involved looks natural to the spectator; don't worry about it at all. It is one used by the top pros in the field all the time. You just have to learn to get it smooth, and Card College will teach you that. As for the actual effect: don't think of this like a 1-6 force. The beauty of the effect is its construction - read Goldstein’s patter, it is brilliant. The theme (with the chips and the colors) really adds character and meaning to the effect and further enhances your audience's reactions. Give it a go once more.

After reading the additional posts regarding "Midori", I still stand by my initial reaction to it. The effect requires complicated sleights. The handling did seem "awkward" and overly complicated for a little packet of cards as mentioned above by gibby. This effect just isn't for me, that's all. Maybe others will find it easy to do and will be able to amaze people with it. It just isn't for me.

I've come up with an alternative handling of this effect thanks in part to a PM or two with Gibby, who posted above.

What about this presentation of Midori?

Before the trick starts, you put each of the six supplied cards into their own individual pay envelopes and seal them. On the outside of each envelope you write in big black numerals the number of fingers extended on the card contained inside. You will have, obviously, six pay envelopes numbered 0 through 5.

To begin the effect, you place all six envelopes onto the table facedown so that the spectator does not see the numerals written on the other sides. You then begin the effect by placing the GREEN chip into the spectators hand without them looking at it. You then have them do the "hand thing" where they choose to display a certain number of fingers. This is done as described in the effect's instructions. So let's say they display four fingers. You then turn over all the envelopes, showing the numerals on each one. You proceed with opening envelope #0 and carefully remove the card showing a black hand with no fingers extended. You proceed to open each envelope in turn showing a differently colored hand, but you skip envelope #4 since that is the one that matches how many fingers the spectator stuck out. Once five of the envelopes have been opened and their cards slid out to show different colors of hands, you open the last remaining envelope. In this case, it is envelope #4. You remove that card showing a green hand with four fingers extended. You make the appropriate remarks as in the instructions. Then the spectator finally opens their hand and sees the green poker chip!

This method eliminates the sleights and other technical nonsense not really needed for such a small packet of cards. The performer can concentrate on patter and delivery. I think the envelopes also add an air of mystery to the effect, especially when they are turned over to show the large, black numerals written on each one AFTER the spectator has stuck out his/her free choice of fingers. Also, this method keeps the performer's hands off the cards except to slide them out of the envelopes. And even for that, they can just be wiggled out by tipping the envelope so that the performer never touches a single card at any time!

Just some ideas. Special thanks to Gibby for getting me thinking more about what I thought was going to be, in my situation, a useless effect!

But, surely people calling themselves magicians should have some sleight of hand experience. The effect is not the letdown, rather, the capability of the performer.

More apt to say it is not a trick for rank beginners. Phil Goldstein packet effects were always known for requiring a little application, something to bear in mind for future purchases. Did the advert say self-working?

However, I do give you full marks for your envelope handling, though not suitable for walk around as suggested in the original post it is a useable solution for other conditions.

Paul.

Hi, Paul!

Thanks for your wise input on this thread. It is good to know that Phil Goldstein effects are usually known for requiring "application". Perhaps future purchases will be made more wisely in my case. Also, thanks for liking my idea of using the envelopes.

Hey Paul!

I do not agree with your statement,


Well, actually I do agree with it that is why I prefer to be called a "Mentalist" not that other word. To say that Mentalism is without sleights is not a true statement but I prefer effects that allow a Mentalist to concentrate on the most important part of the effect: The Presentation. That is a subtle difference between Magicians and Mentalist but I will not start that debate here.

gibby

Pack small, plays big. What else can I say? If you are adept in sleight of hand this is a good item to have around. If you are a box worker, forget it its not for you. And good mentalists are also good sleight of hand artists. But they never tell you that.