Price$45.00
Media TypeTrick, Online Instructions, Gimmick(s)
CategoryNot Listed
Date AddedJul 03, 2018
Cubic
Menotti, Francis
Vanishing Inc.
(Based on 1 review)
In Cubic, Menotti combines the best of cube magic with... the Magic Square, and the result is an UNFORGETTABLE routine that is as well suited to close-up as it is to cabaret.
You display a cube with different numbers on each colored square. You allow THE SPECTATOR to mix the cube as much as they wish, and yet YOU perfectly predict the totals of all combinations. The method is DIABOLICAL, and the special gimmick (which attaches and detaches from a completely examinable cube) can be used for so many other routines.
Francis Menotti stuns his spectators with Cubic, and then takes you into great detail on the effect and the many ways you can fit it into a longer Rubik's routine. It takes absolutely no skill with numbers or Rubik's Cubes to make this work. The special gimmick does EVERYTHING for you.
Deck of cards not supplied. Online instructions running time: 42 minutes.
Reviews
(Top ▲)
To be honest, I don’t think I would perform the ACAAN part, even though I tend to love that effect. Though Francis has some interesting work on it that’s worth studying (just separately, for my purposes).
The thinking behind this choice is that he wants the selection of the number for the Magic Square to also be interesting and/or magical on its own. I couldn’t agree more! His version has the added bonus that we get to learn and use someone’s name.
Using the Rubik’s Cube as a Magic Square also has some interesting benefits. With only a 3x3 grid, the math is easy enough for most audience members to do in their head. Sure, you don’t get all the permutations you do with a 4x4, but sometimes simplicity trumps impossibility.
Plus this is an object that everyone is familiar with (more on that below). And it’s a tactile experience that can be shared by several people.
The method is simple, straightforward and foolproof (not to mention very clever). The quality of the “materials” is top-notch, as is the instructional video.
I only have one issue with this product: while a Rubik’s Cube is a well-known object, I’ve never seen one in the “real world” that has numbers on it. So there might be a tendency for audiences to think it’s a special magic prop.
Of course, there are remedies for this. With a bit of creative thinking, I’m sure you can come up with some reason why the numbers are there. In fact, Francis makes an offhand comment about a “Sudoku cube” during the explanation… I wish he would have led with that!
And it’s not just that there are numbers, the whole thing looks like it was manufactured to be this way. The numbers are professionally printed right on the colored stickers.
If I decide to put this into rotation in my repertoire, I’m going to get a fresh set of regular Rubik’s Cube stickers and hand-write the numbers on them. Then I’ll have lots of options for explaining why I put them there. I could take the Sudoku angle. Or maybe it’s a way for me to help learn to solve the cube. But at least now it’ll look like a completely normal cube that I chose to doctor myself.