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John Kennedy’s Mind Power Deck – A Review

John Kennedy’s Mind Power Deck

John Kennedy is on the spectrum ofgood and bad magic inventorsand he is on the good end. I have never had a bad experience with Mr. Kennedy’s magic – never. Not even once.

You can see a video of the trick by clicking here.

I wrote a length article about my meeting Mr. Kennedy at the Las Vegas Magic Invitational last year and received interesting comments suggesting I was a shill for him and his tricks. My enthusiasm for someone like Mr. Kennedy is over-flowing because his desire to invent and share new magic is apparently over-flowing.

Mr. Kennedy’sMind Power Deck ($29.00 at Penguin Magic – Higher Elsewhere), is one of the neatest effects I’ve seen in a while. Here’s the effect: You spread a deck of cards face up for the audience. You explain that there are several methods a magician could use to determine what card a volunteer selected but all involve the spectator physically selecting a card from the deck.

If, however, you were a true mindreader, you would not need the spectator to do anything other than to think of the selected the card.

You ask the volunteer to look at the deck of cards spread before her and mentally select a single card. She is not to say anything or move her lips as she makes her selection and she can even change her selection if she desires.

Once she has finalized her selection, she is to nod only. You concentrate and slowly name the card.

That’s pretty good, eh? Well, it gets better. You can spread the deck and have two or three people each mentally select a card. You then name each card selected.

That’s it.

The beauty of the trick is that you don’t need to do much more. If you’re able to read someone’s mind, you’ve pretty much done the impossible.

The deck is special – and this is the source of my only complaint – but it doesn’t cause undue attention and to your audience, it will appear normal and innocent.

You won’t need to memorize anything, thanks to the deck. You can repeat it immediately.

Now, my complaint. The deck is printed on a non-standard back. It could have been printed on Bicycle cards or even Aviators but it is not. This doesn’t take away from the effect and the backs have nothing to do with the secret.

I like to use a blue Bicycle deck and to introduce this deck into my routine requires more than a secret deck switch: it requires an excuse. It is not a big enough problem to keep me from performing the effect. It just requires an explanation of why I am using the different deck of cards.

But because the volunteer does not have to physically select a card, it does not arouse suspicion in the audience – it’s the kind of thing a magician would worry about.

Like all of Mr. Kennedy’s effects, the Mind Power Deck is well-made, easy to use and perfectly amazing in performance. For less than $30.00, you will get the perfect closer to any routine. I recommend this highly.

Inside Magic Rating: Four out of…

John Kennedy’s Mind Power Deck

John Kennedy is on the spectrum ofgood and bad magic inventorsand he is on the good end. I have never had a bad experience with Mr. Kennedy’s magic – never. Not even once.

You can see a video of the trick by clicking here.

I wrote a length article about my meeting Mr. Kennedy at the Las Vegas Magic Invitational last year and received interesting comments suggesting I was a shill for him and his tricks. My enthusiasm for someone like Mr. Kennedy is over-flowing because his desire to invent and share new magic is apparently over-flowing.

Mr. Kennedy’sMind Power Deck ($29.00 at Penguin Magic – Higher Elsewhere), is one of the neatest effects I’ve seen in a while. Here’s the effect: You spread a deck of cards face up for the audience. You explain that there are several methods a magician could use to determine what card a volunteer selected but all involve the spectator physically selecting a card from the deck.

If, however, you were a true mindreader, you would not need the spectator to do anything other than to think of the selected the card.

You ask the volunteer to look at the deck of cards spread before her and mentally select a single card. She is not to say anything or move her lips as she makes her selection and she can even change her selection if she desires.

Once she has finalized her selection, she is to nod only. You concentrate and slowly name the card.

That’s pretty good, eh? Well, it gets better. You can spread the deck and have two or three people each mentally select a card. You then name each card selected.

That’s it.

The beauty of the trick is that you don’t need to do much more. If you’re able to read someone’s mind, you’ve pretty much done the impossible.

The deck is special – and this is the source of my only complaint – but it doesn’t cause undue attention and to your audience, it will appear normal and innocent.

You won’t need to memorize anything, thanks to the deck. You can repeat it immediately.

Now, my complaint. The deck is printed on a non-standard back. It could have been printed on Bicycle cards or even Aviators but it is not. This doesn’t take away from the effect and the backs have nothing to do with the secret.

I like to use a blue Bicycle deck and to introduce this deck into my routine requires more than a secret deck switch: it requires an excuse. It is not a big enough problem to keep me from performing the effect. It just requires an explanation of why I am using the different deck of cards.

But because the volunteer does not have to physically select a card, it does not arouse suspicion in the audience – it’s the kind of thing a magician would worry about.

Like all of Mr. Kennedy’s effects, the Mind Power Deck is well-made, easy to use and perfectly amazing in performance. For less than $30.00, you will get the perfect closer to any routine. I recommend this highly.

Inside Magic Rating: Four out of Four

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