Me and my friend Simon Scott have just released an effect called Pythia, which started as a reinvention of the classic diary effect, but which has ended up being significantly more than that - in fact, my favourite effect with the prop isn't the diary effect at all, it's a really personal (and often extremely funny) birthday divination. I've used it a lot over the last year, and it has fried a lot of people, punters and magicians alike.

Basically the prop at the heart of Pythia is a fortune telling book that Simon and I have designed from the ground up to be as realistic as possible. The idea is that every page has a date, and if you want your fortune told but don't want to go to a fortune teller you can turn to the page that has your birthday on, and it will have a personality reading, a fortune, lucky tarot card, lucky playing card, lucky number, lucky colour, etc. It's actually kind of similar to real products out on the market and to test the waters the actual prop book has been available on Amazon for about a year now. (even on its own terms, ours is one of the best out there X-D )

Everything about it says 'real', and if you are familiar with my stuff you'll know that's not an idle comment. The design was my contribution, but Simon's work has gone into an incredible system that is built into the book that means that everything is accessible - if you know the date of the page you know everything: playing card, tarot card, colours, even the themes of the fortune. It's nuts, I'm still not sure how Simon came up with it tbh, but it works and it's just remarkable. Additionally, if you have them read out the personality reading, you can tell them their birthday (which is how I present it). It's a great, clean, repeatable effect that's easy to carry around, engages audiences and is logical and fun.

The prop fortune telling book comes with a book of instructions and routines that guides you through learning and performing some of the various effects possible with Pythia, as well as how to unlock some of it's more obscure features. The book is designed for workers, but honestly it's great for anyone - I love it, I'm really proud of the project and I'm excited to see how people put it to use.

I made a video for my Facebook friends, which you can see *here* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RePE1pfin-M which explains it a bit more in depth, and there is more information on my main site www.phillsmiff.com where it's also available to buy.

Phill

Ordered.

How much memory work is required?

Not an enormous amount, it takes a little while to get up to performance speed, a couple of days maybe? Simon's system is very smart, and the instructions contain lots of tips and hand holdings to guide you. There's a link to an audio practice file too which makes it easy to rehearse.

Phill

Just thinking now, to be fair, some of the more esoteric functions of the book require more mnemonic work, but nothing that isn't doable, and all worth the effort.

Phill

This looks bloody good and love the fact that the book is available on Amazon because I can see people saying "Where can I get that book". Being able to point them to Amazon, or even taking their phone and bringing up the item on Amazon for them to order adds an extra layer of deception. As I trust Phil to do the artwork and layout for my upcoming book I have absolute faith in the quality of this prop. Going to get this ordered today.

Mark

When is it shipping Phil?

Hi Christopher, the books are supplied by a print-on-demand service, so an order placed today is printed and shipped at the facility closest to the buyer, internationally. For US buyers for example this means that they take about as long to get the books as if I shipped them from stock here in the UK because their books are printed within the USA. The shipping is pretty fast, and I know that there are already guys who not only have the books but have learnt the system and are testing it with real audiences. How well it goes in their hands, I guess we'll have to wait and hear from them.

Phill

Ordered!

Initial reading you'll think WT*.. But as with phil's (and simon's) other stuff this is thoroughly thought out. The book provides a few succinct audio links which greatly help simplify and embed the learning required. Pythia is a diabolical creative catalyst. Recommendation from me.

Thanks, guys. It was quite the journey getting the book where we wanted it. Steve, if you're very good, I might show you the spreadsheet!

It would be great to hear what uses you put it to, too.

The spreadsheet still gives me nightmares. Don't do it Steve.

Phill

Ordered both books directly from Lulu using the links on Simon's blog.
Looking forward to receiving, performing and reviewing this in detail.

If you are in the UK you can order this direct from Lulu and use the code LULURC to get 25% off and free priority shipping. Don't know when that code expires.

Mark

Hi Mark
Just went onto Lulu to order and it states *** PLEASE NOTE THIS PRODUCT REQUIRES PURCHASING A FURTHER BOOK AT A COST OF £16.99 ***.
Any idea why this is or what the other book is?
Thanks
Ian B

Hi Ian - there are two links on the blogpost: one to the instruction manual and one to the prop book. It's the prop book that the "*** PLEASE NOTE..." message refers to.

You can order them both in one hit via www.philsmiff.com if you're unsure - though I guess you'll not be able to use the discount coupon Mark's kindly posted about.

Thanks for the interest.

I sent a copy to my friends Luke and John so we can demo it at Blackpool, and LH just messaged me: "the system to get the card is top notch, as in can do it already (it arrived literally five mins ago)"

Probably the most complete review so far XD

Phill

Got home from a week on the road to find this waiting for me. I've only looked at the prop so far and a close study has revealed zip, nada, nothing. Well other than the fact that it looks like exactly what it claims to be. Will report back once I've read the instructions but so far very impressed with the prop.

Mark

You can get both books with free delivery for about £30 on Lybrary if you use Marks LULURC code. Seems like a bargain for what sounds like a good product.

First impressions after reading the instructions. The card is pretty easy, the birthday takes a little more effort either by calculation or by memory. All of the other elements require mental agility and memory. Memory to remember both the formulas and the rules and mental agility to perform the calculations on the fly and then more memory to work out what the result of the calculation points to.

I will definitely use this to get the birthday, may use the card effect but not sure that I will go to the trouble of getting the other elements. The prop is fantastic and personally it's worth it for me just to get the birthday. The card is a bonus, I may work on one or two of the other elements but realistically the work involved for those elements is too much for my tastes for what you are revealing or there are easier ways to get more powerful info.

Mark