Bounce

Bounce

Bounce, by Juan Luis Rubiales, is an interesting visual effect that will make you do a double take if you don't know what to expect. And let me tell you, the first time you see it, you won't expect it.

The premise is straightforward: you bounce a ball on a table and as it hits, a card appears. This can be done consecutively, bounce after bounce, and each time another card appears. It can be used to find a selected card or even produce a four of a kind, to name a small number of applications.

I do, personally, realize that it may seem a little odd. Now, while the premise is straightforward, the actual performance is not. Why does the performer have a ball? Why does the performer bounce the ball? It's visual yes. It'll make you go "whoa, what?!" But, can you fit it into an actual performance?

For me, yes! Though, and this fits with the concept of "making a trick yours," my application wouldn't be the exact same as what you see in the video -- but the handling is.

The cool part about Bounce is that there are no gimmicks or special cards. It can work with any deck, and technically any ball (or other object really). It's all sleight of hand, though the few minutes I've played around with it so far I've been unable to do it... so the type of ball might be important. Or, more practice is necessary.

Juan's performance fits the video, and I can see this working in a social media aspect as well. My idea is something slightly different, as part of a multi-phase routine. Instead of bouncing a ball on a table, after I've produced a ball (a billiard ball, to be exact), I would be able to use Bounce to toss the ball into the spectator's open hands and the card will appear there!

Another idea would be, using a different object because who has a ball just laying around in a card magic routine, to toss the object onto a pile of cards to secretly "add on" to them (face down cards, of course) without my hands ever actually touching them. What kind of object could I use for that, I'm not sure. I'll get down Bounce first and then we'll see -- but the ideas are already flying!

If you're interested in visual effects or things that break away from having the deck in your hands the entire routine, I recommend giving Bounce a view!

Where to buy?

Last I checked, you should be able to pick up Bounce at Vanishing Inc. The last price tag I saw for this video was set at $11.95.

Buy at Vanishing Inc.

This is a video featuring magic presented by Juan Luis Rubiales and was produced by Vanishing Inc. Available as a download, it has a running time of just over 14 minutes.