Chris Linn Follow-Up: He Did It!Inside MagicMagic News Updated Daily for the Professional Magician

Record Holder Chris Linn

A couple of weeks ago we carried a press-release billboarding Chris Linn’s upcoming attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record for card throwing.

Mr. Linn hoped to scale more than 106 playing cards more than 12 feet within one minute.

We were apologetic for not being able to report the results.

Yesterday
readers of the wildly popular daily magic newsletter, Today’s Magic
Newsletter, read of another card scaling record holder, Rick Smith, Jr.

(If you’re not receiving Today’s Magic Newsletter, you need only send an email to tim@insidemagic.com with the subject line “subscribe.”)

We are considering tossing all of the general magic stuff and dedicating all of our web sites to card scaling.

Our delight was palpable (but in a good way) when the good folks at Cedar Point sent the follow-up.

Sterling
Heights, Michigan performer Mr. Linn awaits the Guinness officials’
confirmation but it sounds like he shattered the previous record by
sending a total of 114 cards pass the 12-foot line.

Mr. Linn performs at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio and his attempt was part of the park’s Halloween celebration.

We understand Guinness did not return a request for comment.

“It
is basically dealing cards at an incredibly high speed to a bunch of
people,” Mr. Linn said of card scaling. “I knew I could only attempt it
so many times because it is fatiguing on your arm.”

Mr. Linn, a
full-time magician, has performed his Chris Linn’s Magicomedy routine
at Cedar Point for four seasons. He also performs on cruise ships
and conventions.

When Linn realized he was good at scaling, he
decided to see if he could break a world record. The previous
record-holder was Jeff McBride who set the record in July 2004.

Your
quick reference of the current edition of the Guinness book will likely
match ours: there is no listing for the stunt but we’ve learned
Guinness does not include all records in the book.

Mr. Linn decided to attempt to break the record at Cedar Point because “Cedar Point is certainly known for record breaking.”

Under
the official rules for the activity, the cards had to be from a brand
new box, not opened. Mr. Linn was required to open the box on
video tape, use only those cards, and send the cards used to
Guinness.

Park spokesman Bryan Edwards said Linn’s record and Cedar Point are the perfect combination.

Cedar
Point announced Monday a $6 million giant swing called Skyhawk will
debut at the park May 6. The 103-foot ride will be the tallest ride of
its kind in the world.

“When you think of amusement parks and Guinness, Cedar Point comes to mind,” observed Mr. Edwards.

Congratulations
to Mr. Linn and thank you to Cedar Point for the follow-up
information. They clearly have their stuff together.

Check
out Mr. Linn’s very professional and informative web site (a great
model for any…