Described as the ultimate ‘phone-a-friend’ effect.
Having already engaged the interest of one or more spectators, you announce that you have a friend called Peter, and that there are always people who seem to know more than you. Peter is one of those and in some way he is going to be a part of this later.
You hand a deck of cards to a spectator and ask her to shuffle them, you ask her to remove one card unseen and place it on a table and cover it or inside her pocket.
Next you remind her of Peter, and ask her to ring him on her phone. Peter is out, (well a guy like Peter would be) but his answer phone cuts in and he has left a message.
Trembling, your spectator looks at the card she chose for the first time and screams aloud, it seems even when he’s not there...Peter Knows!

“Destined to become a Classic.”

You don't tell the spectator to say anything into the phone.
You don’t go near the card or the rest of the deck at any time.
You don't even have to be near the spectator or their phone.
There is no communication between you or anyone else.
Answerphone has only one card named on it.
A different card every time.
No one sees the card until after Peter has named it!
No advanced memory! No stooges! No forcing!

I have just received this one and on first impressions it seems like a high impact effect which is very easy to achieve. It is currently on special offer at only £1.99 until the end of September when it will retail at £19.99.
Visit http://www.simplicitymagic.com where you will be able to view a demonstration video.

Paul Mc.

Mmmm!

This a joke methinks.

.......Recommended by some top names in mentalism/magic.........Ha!

Doesn't appear to be a joke and the website seems legit showing an interesting demo of the effect performed in public.The effect is not original.There are others out there in the same genre using the mobile phone to divine.However what separates this from the rest seems to be the price which is VERY reasonable at only £1.99!! I like the fact that the deck can be a normal deck of 52 cards and that the spectator's card is kept face down until the reveal.Thanks Paul for the link.

This is what I meant - (the names) -

“The working of this effect just flew by me.”
David Plane

“I tried to work this out till I was red in the face.”
Derren Blue

You can do it anywhere, with just a phone and a deck of cards, very handy.”
Andy Nywoman

“Amazing effect regardless of what field of magic you’re into.”
David Coppergarden

Magicmerlz,
the testimonials are definitely a joke but the effect isn't.
I have performed it twice this morning and it is a killer. I would recommend that interested parties from outside the UK contact the creator to confirm how viable it is to perform this in another country...I hope it is, as I am certain that most of you will really like it.

Paul Mc.

I bought this yesterday out of curiosity and I think it's excellent and it's just the telephone trick I've been looking for. I don't know the guys who are selling it but they have set up something really useful. Basically, ANY one of 53 cards (including the Joker) can be freely selected with no restrictions. The spectator phones a number - they can use their own mobile, or land line phone - any other phone) and the phone message announces the card in the way shown on the demo.

When I watched the demo I assumed what the method was. In fact I was hoping that my assumption was correct because I have thought about having something like this set-up myself, but never knew of a way of achieving it. So I was quite delighted to find that my guess was right!

A few points:

Although any card is selected, you (the performer) do need to know its name.

I don't see why it wouldn't work from the USA or anywhere else outside of the UK because it's a genuine phone call. But I don't know this for sure. If you add 44 to the start of the number and drop the initial zero (0) I can't see why it wouldn't connect. But you would need to check that out before buying. If it does work you will be charged for a short international call from outside the UK.

At £1.99 (less than 4 dollars) this is a major bargain. When it goes up to £19.99 at the end of Sept (according to the website), I say it will still be a bargain. It's akin to having an invisible, self-working card index at the end of any telephone that you can use 24/7 at the drop of the preverbial hat.

There is one minor limitation, but this due only to the wording of the ansa-phone message (again, listen to the demo). The voice tells the spectator: "look at your card right now and see it's the ____ of ____" This is a pity because I would liked to have had the option of doing this with no deck at all. Have a spectator merely think of a card and then write it down on a business card (peek it) and go from there. However, as I am writing this, I have just had a thought that the message could be rendered ambiguous with a specific handling of a business card (and specific scripting). But it needs more thought!

The minor limitation aside; I am very pleased with this "shot in the dark" purchase.

Best Wishes

Peter

The number they provided worked ok for a day.Shame, it was a good idea.

The number seems to work fine, I have just had a go.

Paul

The number is working - no problems at all.

Hi again,just tried it on my orange phone works fine,apparently works ok on landlines,orange and vodafone,and the full message cost me 18p.Like this a lot.

Sounds like the # is a # in the UK? so from Canada there would definitely be international long distance charges?

It's a UK number that you reach. I assume from Canada you would charged for a 20 second international call.

I agree with Peter 100%. This is an ambitious project for these guys and the price is a bargain. It will be reasonably obvious as to how it has been done (for the initiated) but should be a real fooler for the spectator.

I also had the instantaneous thought regarding the message in terms of the possibility of re wording it so as to reveal the card without actually mentioning the PHYSICAL card itself so that a thought of card could be revealed, I wrote to the guys at Simply Magic regarding this and got this response...

"We have been thinking about that too and may update the message in the future...!"

...so that sounds hopefull, it really, really would be a better approach leaving a LOT more scope, I sincerely hope they go with that soon.

I found the recording a bit on the "theatrical" side but I suppose that most spectators are not expecting what they will hear and are usually distracted by overly exciting friends bellowing at them so perhaps the slightly OTT clarity is needed but I would love it to be a bit more casual...a bit less "showy".

The spectator, if they were really suspicious, ambitious and curious could begin to work things out if they decided to, but that is a moderate risk I am willing to take. In terms of the immediate effect, with a convincing approach, the trick is quite clever and impressive.

I just hope the "product" is kept going. If enough people use it, I suspect Simply Magic will find it worth while keeping it "in play".

Problems with O2 phones.

This does not work on O2 unless you and I quote 'O2 has put a charge on top of this number, you can ask them what their charge is and also ask them to allow your phone to ring the number' Obviously this is not useful unless you know the spectators phone provider is not 02, or you use your own O2 phone after doing the above.

Mike

Shame the message isn't in a Scottish accent...

It is also worth mentioning that one could use this methodology in a variety of ways. You may not want to take full advantage of the "totally free choice" option and exploit the ability to be more flexible in terms of when and how you offer the spectator "Peters number". You could construct your routine so that you use a borrowed deck or even have the spectator draw a picture of a thought of card.

It may cost a bit to use this from outside the UK but if you are a working performer, the pennies it does cost will undoubtedly be happily absorbed as a "running cost". If you are a keen amateur (like so many of us) how many times a day will you be doing this one effect? A few? Even at that it's no real hardship I would think.

Mark: I believe they are working on a Gaelic version.

I think it would be useful to know which mobile networks are problematic. It works when dialing out via Orange and Vodaphone. My girlfriend is on the 3 network and I will ask her to call the number later, unless someone here has tried 3?

It also works via a BT landline.

Mike has told us that 02 is a problem.

Peter

Pete,
3...works fine tried it yesterday..

john

I've had some great fun with this today. There's certainly a lot of scope for this