A few months back I was watching a Masterclass by Matt Baker and in one of his tricks he made a reference to Simon Aronson. I can't remember if he said it was this book or not, but either way I figured it out and picked up a copy. During the month of January, 2023, I read the book cover-to-cover... twice!

I took a lot of notes while reading, and I also practiced just about every trick. There are some that I loved. There are some that I'll likely never read again. And there are others that, while I don't like the routine itself, the principle and basis of the trick are priceless -- and I can easily build on top of it. I know I'm jumping ahead here, but I very much recommend this book for anyone who studies card magic.

The YouTube video below is my first video book review, and I'm happy to say it was for Try the Impossible. This book took me out of my comfort zone and really taught me some things. Watch the video for a demo of a few of the tricks from the book, or continue reading below for a more brief summary.

Simon Aronson and all his Eccentrics

Simon self-published this book back in 2001, but I got my first copy in late-2022. The material within the book doesn't read or feel aged at all, everything still works quite well to this day.

The book itself is split into 3 sections:

• UnDo Influence
• Eccen-tricks
• Unpacking the Aronson Stack

And there's also a Postscript section, but we'll touch on that later.

The first section is all about Simon's "Undo Influence" principle, a math concept that lets you position two spectators' cards at previously-known locations in the deck. The first trick teaches the principle, the rest of the section shows different ways to use it.

Eccen-tricks, or the second section, is a hodgepodge collection of card magic routines. They are each decent routines, but they don't fit into any specific chapter so they're all tossed into this one. Truth-be-told, I own more than a few card magic books that have fewer routines than this second section does and the number of "keepers" here is more than them too. This section alone was worth the cost of the book, albeit I personally think the first section's principle was the best.

The final section, Unpacking the Aronson Stack, is all about, well, the Aronson Stack. With a twist though, Simon goes into detail about how to utilize the stack without needing to memorize it! He unleashes several routines that show how to produce multiple four-of-a-kinds, how to deal poker hands, and more. This is beneficial to those of us who don't have it memorized -- and even better considering I don't plan on memorizing this specific stack quite yet. Conversely, it does require you having a deck in Aronson Stack order...

Counting and Spelling

Let's talk about counting for a minute. The entire first section regarding the UnDo Influence principle, and most (if not all) of the third section where we unpack the Aronson Stack, have to do with counting. And yes, the second section has a few of these types of tricks too.

With the Aronson Stack, we're actually spelling words rather than counting. And in Eccen-tricks we learn Simon's Flash Speller -- and a few routines to use it -- where, guess what, we spell the names of cards.

Spelling tricks are counting tricks. Let's set that context. If you need to count 6 cards to "find the selection", you could also just spell a 5 or 6 letter word (or name) to get to it too. The same trick, just a different presentation.

I don't like these types of tricks. I don't mind watching them, mind you. I just don't like performing them. I have no problem with a trick taking a few minutes, that's fine. But having the spectator watch me count 40 cards or spell "Seven of Diamonds", ugh.

However...

The UnDo Influence principle is more than worth ignoring that bias on my part. The routine is practically hands-off. It's so close to a self-working concept that, dare I call it a self-working trick? Matt Baker's improvement to it, where you can actually have the spectators name the numbers rather than having them pre-committed, does require a bit more work (e.g., math), but it's transparent work. Utilizing that and psychology tricks picked up from Dani DaOrtiz, it's a powerhouse of a principle! While yes, I do recommend Matt's version over Simon's original, understanding the original does make it a lot better.

Similarly, Simon's Random Tandem is another presentation utilizing the UnDo Influence principle that I think is amazing all by itself. It's identical to Prior Commitment, except it doesn't use cards with written-on numbers -- and no Jokers. The handling of the deck, where you go through it face-up after telling the spectator what you're about to do, actually meshes really nicely with the way I like to perform too, so that specific trick can easily fit into my sets. Did I just find a math-based trick to use? Heck yeah I did!

Now, as for spelling... I don't use the Aronson Stack. The third section of the book presents many ways to leverage the stack -- without memorizing it -- to do things like producing a four of a kind. My issue with it is that first, it's stack-dependent. Second, all of the methods are spelling-based. I think that it's a great section for anyone who uses the Aronson Stack, and it does provide good utility and reference for ideas for other stacks too. However, I don't see myself performing much -- if anything -- from this section directly.

Backing up to the second section, Eccen-tricks, there are a few spelling routines here too. If I have to spell the name of a card, I typically avoid the trick. The info presented in Simon's Flash Speller, specifically the ability to instantly know how many letters are in the name of a card, is actually really useful though. Knowing that, and combining it with the presentation for the Spell-it-Out trick, you now have the ability to do a routine like this completely impromptu. Given that you're aiming for a word that is 13 characters long -- with outs for shorter and longer words -- I actually see this working way more impromptu and personalized, perhaps by using a name (or two) of the spectators. Just a thought =]

Postscript Remix!

The postscript section kicks off with, well look at that... a trick. Go figure!

Simon explains that he wasn't going to include it, but thanks to John Bannon, it's there. The "problem" was that the explanation of the routine -- which uses a rubber band and a borrowed ring -- was really difficult to put into words. Don't you just love those kinds of tricks?

I'm not a band-magic person, myself, but the effect did sound really cool.

It sounds like a short-and-sweet routine to me. It takes a solid 8 pages to walk through, but all-in-all, I think the performance is quick. If you're into band magic at all, you'll likely add this one to your repertoire quickly!

Takeaways

I feel like this book makes me sound very hypocritical, but in a good way? I don't really like math-based tricks, but I love the UnDo Influence principle. I don't like spelling tricks, but I've already started studying Simon's Flash Speller. I don't use the Aronson Stack... ah, wait, yeah no that part's still true.

After going through the book, Simon could have taken it in a completely different direction and released the different chapters as separate books. The whole UnDo Influence chapter is a thing on its own -- I actually think that if it was released separately, a lot more magicians would know about it and use it. The Eccen-tricks chapter, likewise, could've been a whole book by itself with just "card magic by Simon" as the title. Or, something more clever... like Eccen-tricks =P

As a person with limited shelf space though, I'm glad it's a single book. I'm also glad that I didn't read the description before buying it because I really, honestly may have passed on it. A big thank you to Matt Baker for that one; again, his performance in his Masterclass is the whole reason I jumped onto the book -- and I'm very glad I did.

I recommend this book for all card magicians, not just those who use the Aronson Stack or prefer counting or spelling tricks. There are so many alternative handlings and extra explanations of things that it'll keep you busy for quite a long time!

Penn & Teller: Fool Us is a TV talent show that is filmed in front of a live audience (or, virtual audience during the pandemic). Oh, and we can't forget to mention that Penn and Teller are there too -- they're the judges!

During each episode, four magicians perform a magic act for Penn & Teller which, at the end of each act the magician-comedian duo try to deduce how the trick was done. In very articulate speech, Penn -- as Teller remains characteristically silent -- commends the magician on a job well done. If the magic act fooled Penn & Teller, they win a sweet Fool Us trophy and a trip to Vegas to be the opening act for Penn & Teller's show!

I want my opinions below to reflect those of a spectator who just saw a performance live. To achieve this, I've only watched this episode once. In real time - no pausing. No slow motion. Once through, with commercials and with my kids enjoying it with me too. Did I remember everything I saw? Did I see everything that happened? Do I remember the exact words that were said? Maybe, but likely not -- which means if I over-portray an effect below then it was just that great of a trick. If I under-portray it, well, yeah. So let's see what this episode's got in store for us!

Episode Recap

The night's episode started out with a routine that was quick, but extremely strong. It set the stage for the episode and I was hoping the rest of the acts would be that level, or higher. Not all were, unfortunately, but they did show off different variations of magic, so there's not a lot to complain about.

The fooler of the night's episode was Hector Mancha. His laid back and carefree personality made his routine just that much more impossible. After that though, we saw a guy nail a block of wood to his face (yeah, you read that right), a "pick an envelope" trick scaled up to human size, and a new gameshow that uses magic to make you always win!

Interested in hearing more? Keep on reading below =]

Hector Mancha

Hector Mancha, @hector.mancha, is one silly fireman! At least, that's what they talked about on the show. A magician from Spain, and one with a great sense of humor, I knew this guy would be great. I also could have sworn I heard of him before... as soon as the show was over, I came to my office and saw his latest book on my shelf: The Wonderous World of Pickpocketing -- what an interesting guy!

Hector's routine was quick and to the point. He had a card put into a glass which was visible to everyone the entire time. Then, he had Alyson make a video phone call to... someone. I'm actually not sure who the person was, or how or why Alyson had it all ready to go. However, give the rules of Fool Us, it had to be a legitimate call.

The boy on the other end of the call was asked to name any card, and given the opportunity to change the choice too.

His named card, yup - it was the card in the glass!

I just want to start off by saying, the whole video thing confused me. Hector's performance style was fantastic - I really enjoyed it, and the act itself was great. But, the phone call felt too fake, but perhaps it was the best thing to do without an actual audience? Assuming the call was legitimate, I'm fooled six ways to Sunday!

Penn started his portion of the chat with saying:

I laughed pretty hard at this because, well, I feel the same way!

Penn did have a guess at how it was possibly done, but it turned out to not be the method. Hector fooled them!

Adam Parisi

Here's a guy I've never heard of before, but would like to see more from. His IG (@parisiadam) is full of books and comical things, and his performance on Fool Us -- while not exactly my type of trick -- shows not only skill but some good creativity.

Adam began everything by describing the story of how he and his kids picked their first family pet. This involved making up names and writing them on blank cards -- which he showed the large list of animals like dog, cat, pig, sloth, duck, and more.

He then had Penn pick a card to select one of the animals. He stopped at "fish".

Then, he said that that might not have been fair, so they're going to select it a different way. He had Alyson select a bag from a pile of them, then dropped all of the cards into it.

Pulling out a nail, he poked it through the bag and then proceeded to nail it into his nose. Yes, straight into his nose!

Ripping the bag away, he was left with a single card hanging on the nail -- which was still in his nose -- and it read "fish"!

Ending the routine, he pulled out the world's tiniest goldfish bowl that had a real goldfish in it!

Penn was really quick to call out Block Head, the carny trick used to nail, well, a nail into your nose. The overall trick didn't fool Penn and Teller, but if that goldfish bowl was larger, I'm sure it could have at least left them guessing!

Ben Zabin

Ben's a man of many talents, but one of his largest creations is Smokus Pocus, a magic show centered around, well, smoking. So much for DARE, amiright? He's not incredibly active on IG (@benzabinmagic) or other social platforms from what I can tell, but he may post updates on his website every now-and-then (benzabin.com).

Ben's routine started off with 6 guys on stage, each with a number written on them. Rather, that's how the stage was set -- his routine didn't start until much later.

Instead, he started telling a 2-minute-long story that made me question whether I should've let me kids, who aren't even old enough to have phones yet, watch the show. He went on and on about how he was being extorted, or blackmailed, into paying money to prevent naked pictures of himself from being sent to his friends and family. Ouch!

Annnnd then we realized, that whole intro wasn't actually part of the trick. Dude...

So, back to the guys on the stage, each with a number on them. He took a stack of folders that supposedly had pictures in them and handed one to each guy, in order.

Next, he took 6 cards that had numbers 1 through 6 on them and had Alyson mix them and select one. She picked the card with number 1.

Having each guy, 2 through 6, open their folders, they had the same picture - an army private. The final envelope, he had Penn come on stage and Ben opened it for him - "in private". Penn confirmed it was the unique picture. And, that was that.

Unfortunately for Ben, he didn't fool Penn and Teller. Penn said they enjoyed the trick and that it was one of the best things he's seen on the show -- the naked picture, to be clear -- but he gave enough clues to show that they knew how the routine was done.

In my opinion, the routine itself wasn't strong. That, or the performance of it was lacking. A number was selected, the others were eliminated one-by-one and then Ben himself opened the final envelope (for Penn). There was no excitement, and since Ben opened the final envelope on his own, it screamed "method".

Mix the folders around, or have the guys randomly pick them, or have them swap based on selections or something. Then, have someone other than the magician open the final one. Any of these things could've made the performance have a little extra umph! Just a suggestion =]

Robert Strong

Robert's been in the magic business for quite a while, but looking into his background a bit, he has a different kind of profile that I don't see too often (which could easily be just because I don't pay attention =P). He's a magician, but from what I gather from his website (strongentertainment.com), he doesn't necessarily go and do magic shows or walkarounds -- rather, he MC's and gives speeches, and also performs magic at those events too. It's an interesting take on things, one that oddly enough aligns with things that I do... it's making me wonder if I've finally found a way to incorporate magic into my day job 🤔

Robert performed in a rather interesting way. He had a table out that had a camera mounted directly on top of it. I've never seen this setup on Fool Us before, so it was quite neat.

The premise of the performance was a magical game show named Fool Hardy.

On the table in front of him, he had a line of cards that had the letter "Q" on the back, below them each had a number, 1 through 5, and below those he would be placing cards that had the letter "A" on the back. Q & A, question and answer.

He mixed up the A cards and had Penn and Teller call out "stop", then specify what number to put the card under. He did this for all 5.

After placing all 5 A's, he flipped an A, the "answer", and then flipped the corresponding Q to show the matching question!

Penn and Teller... weren't fooled. Penn's clue originally didn't mesh with how I thought the trick was done. A word he used made me think of something else entirely, and I didn't pick up any of the other words. After writing this paragraph the first time, I wanted to quote his clue but couldn't remember the words, so I went and played it back ... and it did actually match my guess, fairly accurately! He was just really clever with his word-choice and it flew right over my head. If I was a magician on stage and that had happened, yikes! I wonder if that's happened before (where they don't understand the hints Penn's giving)?

Penn & Teller

Penn & Teller ended the show with a great comedy routine with a single deck of cards and just the two of them. The idea was that Teller is the magician and Penn, well, isn't. But, Teller's been teaching Penn how to perform card tricks and the very first thing he's taught him is how to do a false shuffle.

Penn takes a deck that's in new-deck-order, and cuts it into two piles. Never actually touching the piles, he mimics the "riffle shuffle" sound. Then, puts the two halves back together.

Spreading the deck shows that it's completely shuffled! What?! How?!

Teller takes the deck and does the same thing and after spreading it, it's back in perfect new-deck-order!

What a great idea for a quick and mind-blowing routine. I almost ordered a deck right after watching the episode, not going to lie =P

Takeaways

Was I excited that Hector won right away and the potential of having a second fooler in the episode, finally? Yes. Was I disappointed that there wasn't a second fooler? Yes =P

Overall, it was a night of magic. Hector's was my favorite of the performers themselves, and I also really liked Penn and Teller's piece. But I am still holding out for a night when there will be multiple magicians that best the duo!

Either way, I'm excited for the next round of magic!

I just got back from a trip to Nashville, Tennessee where I discovered that wearing a suit gets you a lot of funny looks.

Wait, let me backup.

Visiting Nashville for the first time ever, this was a "guy's trip" and we had a few things planned. Attending a magic show, not one of them. Out of my friends going, I'm the only magician and really the only one who would've ever known that House of Cards was a place (thanks Genii).

We were doing a little bit of sight-seeing and I spotted the Johnny Cash museum. "Hey, let's go check that one out," I said. While inside, there was the Cash museum on the first floor and a Patsy Cline museum upstairs. I went over to a security guard looking guy and asked, "how do we get downstairs?" My friends all looked at me like I was crazy. And, so did the security guard.

"You're not dressed for it," was the only reply I received. Ouch.

With everyone intrigued, we made a reservation for the next night. Coincidentally, we had each brought a suit for a separate bourbon tasting event we attended. Why is this relevant? Because House of Cards has a strict dress code. For guys, this requires a dinner jacket, button up shirt, and dress shoes. Nice!

We rolled in around 6:30pm, the security guard was much nicer this time around, and we went on in. The inner-door read "no photography beyond this point". Well shucks.

The Venue

Let me describe the inside of this place, just to paint you a picture. Mostly because, well, I couldn't take pictures.

It was a restaurant, with no windows. The walls had red curtains draped across them with magic show posters everywhere. Columns were scattered throughout the restaurant between this table and that, each column having a shadow box featuring a very old and rare playing card. In fact, these were the oldest surviving playing cards in the world!

In the center of the restaurant was a large bar that wrapped around, making it accessible regardless of your table.

A long corridor off to the back, enveloped also with red curtains on both sides, led the way to the bathroom. If you took the stroll down that corridor, you'd pass by a window that has a floating head following you in it!

One wall had a painting with eyes shifting left and right every so often, but towards the back of the restaurant was a player-less piano. Rather, the ghost of Thurston was said to be there, playing the night away. You could speak a simple phrase, "Thurston, play <any song>" and the piano would be on its way!

There were a couple of tables setup where magicians would be performing -- we'll get to that shortly, and the headliner's stage room was roped off as well.

All-in-all, it was a speakeasy and had the vibes of one completely.

The Headliner

Though I'm sure I could have asked when I made the reservation, I didn't know who the headliner of the night was. In fact, I didn't actually know what to expect at all -- specifically, I didn't realize there would be a headliner. I actually thought that it would be more like a restaurant or bar and magicians would be table-hopping all night. Boy was I wrong!

When we first entered and the host was bringing us in, I saw a familiar face: Ryan Plunkett! I told one of my friends that I met him last week at MagiFest. A minute or two later, the host let us know that Ryan was the headliner of the night! Sweetness!

To get access to see that show, you need a ticket. To get a ticket, you have to order an entrée or a steak. Given that we were there for dinner, it worked out. Over-stuffing ourselves with food and drinks, we received our tickets and 8:15pm rolled around -- we all ushered into the parlor room.

I didn't count, but I'd guess there was likely 50 people or so in there. Maybe more, maybe less, but close to 50.

The curtains separated and out came Ryan.

I have never seen Ryan perform before, but I do have his books Distilled and A New Angle. These, however, don't impart his personality nearly as well as seeing him live. He had, in my opinion, the perfect level of comedy and quick-wit to make a show both elegant, and hilarious.

I loved the routines he performed too. Coins, Cards, Bills - he was all over the place, flexing his prowess in many magical areas. My favorite piece of his was, and don't mistake this as saying anything else was less impressive, but his opening effect that slipped out of the mind of everyone I spoke to afterwards was just perfect.

The only routine of his that I'll actually describe is this one. He took a tightly folded up paper bag and unfolded it. Reached into it and pulled out a full bottle of whiskey. He then opened the bottle, poured some into a glass, and began his show.

What an amazing way to start a show. If I ever had an act of my own, this is exactly how I would want to start it!

Reverse Table Hopping

After the show, we all shuffled out and went back into the restaurant. Everyone was pretty much finished dinner so the crowd thinned out a bit. I'd say about half of the people left. Those of us who remained, we went to one of several tables where magicians were sitting and performing.

My original thought that magicians would come to us to perform at our tables, e.g., table hopping, was reversed. We went to them!

The first table we sat at, there was a decent-sized crowd around it too. This act went on for maybe 15 minutes or so and was really fun. The magician was Kevin King and he was quite a southern comedian. He used a lot of props in his act too. I would say that the sleight of hand necessary was just enough to use each prop, but the impact of the routines were spot-on for the audience.

We went to two more tables after this, but it turned out that we were the only ones seeing them because everyone else already had a chance. Because we were a small group, unfortunately, we didn't get any big performances. The next two magicians, who I sadly can't remember their names, did one or two little tricks and called it a night. Great tricks overall though, just short and to the point.

Takeaways

Leading off from the last section, a big takeaway if I were to ever go back -- or a tip if you ever go -- is to visit some of the magic tables before the headliner act. The host hinted to us to finish eating before seeing any of the magic because otherwise "our mashed potatoes would be cold," and so we did. Yeah, other people didn't take that hint and ended up getting a lot more magic at the smaller tables.

There's a tiny shop in House of Cards too. It has shirts and decks available. You know me, I bought a deck! I really wanted one of their pins that they had -- the employees, that is -- but they weren't for sale. I almost had a deal with a waiter for one, but it didn't work out =P

If you're visiting Nashville for purposes other than attending this restaurant, make sure to get a reservation in advance -- and bring appropriate clothes. They definitely won't let you in if you're not dressed appropriately (e.g., like you came off of Broadway in your honky tonk get-up). Afterwards though, if you're like us and were wearing suits, it's either a good idea to have a plan of where to go that suits would be a good fit, or head back to your hotel and change. If you're interested in other suit-appropriate spots around there, reach out to me and I'll give you a full run-down of our itinerary. We managed to avoid plastic-cup bourbon the entire trip =]

Overall, House of Cards was a really great experience. The food was great. The service was spectacular. The magic was beautiful. 5 stars, would go again!

Today's post isn't about magic, it's about my experience with the recent scavenger hunt put on by Organic Playing Cards that gave the community a chance to win a lot of decks of playing cards. If you've never participated in a scavenger hunt, or "capture the flag", style event before, try to keep an eye out in the different communities because they're really fun. Basically, you solve different puzzles to win prizes.

Anyways, here's how my weekend went!

It was Saturday afternoon, I had just finished lunch and a message popped up on my phone. It was an @everyone mention from the Organic Playing Cards (OPC) Discord server announcing a scavenger hunt. I just had to see this!

Starting off the announcement with the good bits, the prizes for the top 3 winners of this hunt were very tempting:

• 1st Place: 6 decks of OPC Sweet Peas, 1 Exotic V1, 1 Exotic V2, and 6 decks of the next deck to be released!
• 2nd Place: 6 decks of OPC Sweet Peas and 6 decks of the next deck!
• 3rd Place: 3 decks of OPC Sweet Peas and 3 of the next!

Holy smokes, that's a fantastic set of prizes! The premise itself was straightforward. We would be given a puzzle and the solution to the puzzle was the key to open the next puzzle. 12 puzzles in total and the winners were the folks who finished first.

Each puzzle was different from the others, more or less, and in general they didn't require tools -- but knowing how to program would've definitely made some of them easier. Also, one of the puzzles (number 9 -- which was actually the 10th puzzle), kind of required using a desktop and not a mobile phone. The solution for it was in the Discord server's icon which, on mobile, isn't really visible.

While I did get stuck on one or two of the puzzles -- ironically, the one I was stuck on the longest turned out to be the easiest of all of the puzzles -- I breezed through the entire thing. When I got up towards the end, I had to pause to go to the airport. I had a trip to Nashville (which you'll hear about in my next post) and the scavenger hunt had to wait. This shouldn't have been a huge issue though since I was 2 or 3 puzzles ahead of everyone else.

When I got to the airport, after getting food, I hopped onto my phone and started taking a look at the puzzles. Unfortunately for me, I was on puzzle number 9 ... which required a computer. At least, a computer would have made it a lot easier. However, I solved it nonetheless and moved on to number 10 (the "11th" puzzle).

Number 10 was an interesting puzzle, very different from all of the others. It wasn't a simple "convert this number into a letter" or "figure out the riddle" kind of puzzle, it was 10 different chunks of assembly instructions. It helps that I work with assembly routinely, so I just read through it and had answers quite quickly. There was an error on the 10th chunk though, but when I asked about it it was cleared up and I was able to move on. Coincidentally, I got rate-limited by Discord at this time and had to use multiple devices to open the number 11 puzzle.

The number 11 puzzle, or the "final" 12th puzzle, through me for a loop. The Discord channel name was AES, and another channel had a complete sBox. There was also a phrase -- finalstage -- in italics in the main channel, which I assumed would be the key. And then, my plane started boarding. Luckily I was in a later zone so I quickly slapped together a general AES decrypt method using the key -- since the sBox was the default AES sBox -- and... it didn't decrypt. What?!

I wasn't too worried. Nobody else was even close to my progress and the number 10 puzzle (the assembly) should have slowed folks down a bit. Unless there's a tool out there that solves that one for you, I felt like I had the upper-hand advantage due to my day job =P

After arriving in Nashville and meeting up with my friends, we ended up doing a really late night and getting in closer to 5am. I was in no shape to do any type of scavenger hunt, I was exhausted. I did take a look at the current stats and only one other person made it to number 10, so I was thinking I'd just wake up and knock out 11. And then, I woke up around 10am. Someone -- no the other person who made it to number 10 originally -- but someone else already finished 11! Well shucks.

There was also a hint released for the puzzle so I took a look at it and based on the single picture, I knew that it wasn't the full AES algorithm, it was only a single round of it. This would require a custom solution to be written, something I couldn't do on my phone. I went out to grab a coffee and while I was out, the other guy finished 11 too! Only one spot left, yikes!

Back in my hotel, I wrote a quick script to solve the puzzle and bam -- it didn't work. It should have worked. At least, I wanted it to work. My head was killing me. The coffee wasn't helping. My friends were all waking up and ready to go out for breakfast. Why didn't it work? Ugh. "I'll get back to this after breakfast," I said.

I didn't get back to the apartment until 3am. Yay! 3rd place was grabbed, but not by me.

Why didn't my solution work? Because of a single-character typo. Man I love programming =P

One of my friends that was with me said, when we were at breakfast, that he knew once I didn't get first place that I stopped caring. Which, honestly, was partially true. I've always been a fan of "capture the flag" events and competitions, especially when coding and / or encryption are involved. You're number 1, or you're not. However, the prizes for 2nd and 3rd place were pretty great so I really did aim to finish it.

Sunday afternoon, when I was finally able to turn on my laptop again, I immediately spotted the type (it was an `&` character instead of a `^`), I changed it, ran the code, and had the correct answer. In hindsight, I could've solved it on the plane ride to Nashville. But, I didn't.

The moral of all of this isn't about my experience, it's actually for everyone else. Even if you see someone ahead of you, even if someone's at the very end and you're still far behind, you still have a chance to win. Don't give up because you never know until you know (^_^)

I really want to send a big shout-out to Luis from OPC for putting on the scavenger hunt. Not only was it a lot of fun -- and the potential prizes were amazing looking -- but several of these puzzles required a heck of a lot of work. Awesome event y'all!

Penn & Teller: Fool Us is a TV talent show that is filmed in front of a live audience (or, virtual audience during the pandemic). Oh, and we can't forget to mention that Penn and Teller are there too -- they're the judges!

During each episode, four magicians perform a magic act for Penn & Teller which, at the end of each act the magician-comedian duo try to deduce how the trick was done. In very articulate speech, Penn -- as Teller remains characteristically silent -- commends the magician on a job well done. If the magic act fooled Penn & Teller, they win a sweet Fool Us trophy and a trip to Vegas to be the opening act for Penn & Teller's show!

I want my opinions below to reflect those of a spectator who just saw a performance live. To achieve this, I've only watched this episode once. In real time - no pausing. No slow motion. Once through, with commercials and with my kids enjoying it with me too. Did I remember everything I saw? Did I see everything that happened? Do I remember the exact words that were said? Maybe, but likely not -- which means if I over-portray an effect below then it was just that great of a trick. If I under-portray it, well, yeah. So let's see what this episode's got in store for us!

Episode Recap

Four acts came on, as usual, and four acts entertained us all! There was a lot of mind reading, or not-mind-reading rather. But... mind reading. Mentalism ruled the episode and we saw everything from classic props to custom-designed cards. Penn's clues for each routine were a lot less clue-like than usual, but in one of the cases it's because the magician told him to flat-out say how it was done. What a fun one!

The fooler of the night's episode was Alan Hudson. His plastic-wrapped routine was entertaining, and while Penn and Teller had an actual guess that sounded plausible, it wasn't how he did it! The other acts were fun too, each having to do with a type of mentalism. I would say that mentalism was the theme of the episode, but Alan's trick wasn't... maybe that's the secret?

Dustin Dean

Dustin was introduced on the show as the "TikTok Trickster". Not using that app myself, I had to look it up and sure enough, that's fairly accurate. He likes to post videos debunking other magicians -- specifically mentalists who err on the side of being a psychic. That aside though, he's actually a magician himself and he does actual gigs. You can check out all about it on his website, dustindeanmentalist.com, or on Instagram (@dustindeanmentalist).

Dustin started his set by saying that he hopes, if he doesn't fool Penn and Teller, that they don't speak in code and say exactly how he did his tricks -- which fits with his whole schtick of debunking psychics.

His first trick dealt with telekinesis, the ability to move objects with your mind. He used a Psi Wheel which is a needle with a piece of paper balanced on top, under a glass jar. Using telekinesis, he spun the paper around the needle, using only his mind!

Up second, he showed off the power of Pyrokinesis. This is the ability to control fire with your mind. He had Alyson help and choose two matches, one for herself and one for him. The goal of the trick was to light the match and try to put it out -- with your mind. Alyson, of course, couldn't. However, Dustin's went out really nicely.

Finally, he demonstrated chrono-kinesis -- the ability to control time. He had Alyson name a number (9) and then pulled out his phone. The time on the phone read 8:25 and he rewound it by 9 minutes to 8:16. Looking at Alyson's phone, and then Penn & Teller's, sure enough, he "controlled" time everywhere by 9 minutes.

He didn't fool Penn and Teller, and Penn asked a few times whether he was serious about them being totally honest. Upon receiving confirmation, Penn broke down -- rather quickly -- exactly how he did each trick! Even with that information though, I don't know how he did the first two =P

Alan Hudson

Alan Hudson, where do I know that name? Oh, right! Alan was a magician that appeared on the very first season of Penn and Teller -- the original one back in England! He's been a magician for quite a while and even offered (and still offers) a large virtual Zoom magic show for remote appearances, but as you'll see in this episode of Fool Us, he has something great to offer in-person too! You can see more of his magic on his website (alanhudson.net) and Instagram (@alanhudsonmagic).

He started off his routine by saying exactly what he was going to do, he would find a playing card not once, but twice. The first time, he'd use sleight of hand and the second time, real magic!

Alan called over Alyson to sign a playing card and then he "lost" it in the deck.

After a cut or two of the deck, he did an aerial flourish where a card flew out of the deck and he caught it. It wasn't Alyson's signed card, but it did change into it (via a Top Change -- which he stated out loud =P).

Next, he put the card back into the middle of the deck and pulled out a roll of plastic wrap! Alyson's job? To wrap him from toe to head in plastic wrap! Or, at least, from knees to shoulders.

Out of nowhere, all of the cards shot out of the table where he sat the deck and one -- the signed card -- was tucked underneath the plastic wrap!

Penn provided a decent guess of how the trick was done. Unable to come up with suitable "code", he said that he thinks that Alan's arm could move and he had the card palmed. During the cards shooting up, he moved his arm and placed the card. Unfortunately for the duo, this wasn't how the trick was done! He straight up fooled them!

I actually liked that he didn't go through the whole charade of "pick a card and then sign it". He just handed her a card to get the trick started. Suspicious, slightly -- but only if anything that followed warranted a "modified" card.  That aside, and I think this is highly dependent on the fact that I've been practicing a Marlo trick or two that are similar, when he began showing "what other magicians would do" to find the card, I predicted that the card would be under his jacket. Sure, I didn't know he was about to wrap with cellophane -- and I don't know how he actually sprung the card out from there -- but I'm happy that I followed it that far =]

Dr. Kruti Parekh

Dr. Kruti Parekh is a mentalist from India. Or, as she stated, she wants to bring everyone a little Mumbai Magic! The "about" page on her website, krutiparekh.com), says that she has a Phd in Magical Entertainment and Humanities from USA -- but there is no such degree as far as I'm aware, so the "Dr." in her name may be part of her stage name. Keep up with her fun acts around the world by watching her IG - @officialkrutiparekh.

Dr. Kruti came out and said:

Bringing Alyson over, she did some breathing exercises and said that she traveled 5 minutes into the future and witnessed Penn and Teller play a game of Tic Tac Toe. You see where this is going, right?

Showing a large Tic Tac Toe board on the table, and square-shaped cards with X's and O's, she had Alyson specify where each card should be placed on the board. Each card was placed face down, nobody knew which was which.

Then, Penn and Teller actually played a game of Tic Tac Toe on a sheet of paper with markers.

Flipping over the cards, one by one, they each match the actual game that was played... until two in a row didn't match. And then two more didn't match. But wait! The board was sideways -- rotating it one turn had a perfect match.

The trick didn't fool the magic duo, but Penn did call out that he thinks it was an original premise. At least, the time travel portion of it. His big clue was that, similar to having a choice between X's and O's as a player of the game, she also had a choice. That fits with my guess as to how it was done, which was only based on her handling of turning over each card, but I'm not extremely confident with my guess so I'm going with a "she fooled me" =]

Kyle Purnell

Kyle's been in the magic scene for over 15 years now, and while he's great at performing, he likes to say that he's even better at inventing. I do fully acknowledge that his inventions are pretty great, but having seen him perform in person -- he's damn good at that too. See for yourself on his Instagram, @kyle_purnell_magic!

Kyle started his set with the above quote, but then introduced the latest and greatest in alien clairvoyant technology that he got at a truck-stop in Area 51. He showed off these little black cards that were full of tiny holes.

He pulled Penn on stage and asked him to think of a random 2-digit number. Penn wrote the number on a piece of paper, put them in a little box that was then put into a box.

The stated goal was to use the alien cards to find Penn's number. Sounds simple enough, right?

Kyle started by asking a simple question:

He asked a few more questions and for each one, he held up a card and then put it down. After placing each card down, he pulled out a bright light and lined up the cards. Sure enough, they read Penn's random number: 98!

Penn and Teller weren't fooled by the routine, but I found the clues Penn gave to be really fun and on-point. I spoke with Kyle at Magifest after his lecture, still before this episode aired, and he actually showed me these "alien cards" -- and how to perform with them -- so I came into this trick with a little bit of pre-show knowledge. Knowing how it worked though makes me appreciate Kyle's performance even more because truth-be-told, "how he did it" isn't clear in the episode at all!

Penn & Teller

Penn & Teller ended the show with a really fun "behind the scenes" style trick where they demoed how other magicians might perform tricks using technology.

They stood in front of a green-screen with a green-man assistant and showed both views, the green-screen and also what it looked like "with technology".

They did a few fun little tricks that were just to show off the green-screen, but then they covered Teller with a cloth and levitated him. Magically, he disappeared and the green-man took off his hood to reveal ... you guessed it, Teller!

Takeaways

I enjoyed this episode. Even though there were three mentalists on, they each provided different styled routines and showed off their respective skills. Alan's card trick was pretty fun too and, while I won't be wrapping myself up in plastic wrap anytime soon, it's a fun idea that might be able to inspire new ways to reveal a card! I'm still waiting for an episode to have more than one fooler though, surely there has to be one soon, right?

Either way, I'm excited for the next round of magic!