More Memory Man

Don

As a performer that loves memory, or pseudo memory effects, this routine ticked all of the boxes.

It uses ANY deck of cards, even if it’s not complete.

You show, in different ways, how to memorize a deck of cards with one run-through.

You then are able to name which card is NOT in the deck, which turns out to be an unseen chosen card, hidden away by spectator at the beginning.

Finally, in an almost magical way, the other three matching cards are produced form the exact spots you memorized them from.

Does this routine take practice? Sure, but it’s not difficult at all.

Do you have to memorize a couple of cards and their positions? Yes, but the rest is on-the-go bluff, which is very believable.

Have I actually performed this for real people? Yes, and it nails them hard.

Worth every dollar I paid to learn it. It is very well explained, without overstating everything (can you believe some tricks have over 5 hours of explanation?!?).

This was money well spent, on a card trick, that’s not all about the cards: it’s all about your memory.

Quentin

It was reading the other five star reviews that led me to purchasing this routine. It reminds me of the first time I saw Joe Barry perform and I had no idea what he was doing. The same with Joel's routine.

What Joel has done here should also be seen as a lesson in exceptional routining. The cumulative effect of relatively minor (yet strong) effects lead to a confounding experience on both laymen and magicians.

10 Bravos out of 10

Jeffrey

This very much seems to be a timing type of trick to me. I will be practicing this quite a bit before it sees the light if day but I really enjoy the effect. Oh my poor fiance. She will be so tired of this one.

Michael

The demonstration of this trick blew my mind. Other than actually memorizing an entire deck I could see no possible explanation. Luckily there is an explanation and it amazingly does not involve memorizing the entire deck. Completely impromptu. The deck truly is a borrowed shuffled deck with zero setup. Having bought and done magic for 50 years I can always see or assume the method behind a trick. Not so with this one. I had no clue. All that said it may well be my favorite trick I've seen. As far as doing it I have to say I don't know if I will be able. I hope so because I love it but my meory isnt great. There is nothing difficult it but you will have to keep six random cards in your mind throughout the trick. A few comments mentioned four but in actuality you need six. I only mention this because if you can't do that, you will not be able to do it. Most people will be able to do it no problem. No difficult slights and the trick is a true miracle if you can do the small effort of the memory (less than a telephone number. Highly recommend. Maybe best thing I've ever bought

David

What a wonderful download displaying incredible memory magic without having to have an incredible memory. I believe this is within reach of anyone with a basic knowledge of card sleights all of which are taught on this download. Also the teaching is precise, direct, and easy to follow. Thank you for creating such quality magic

Roger

Hi Guys
Just one word: WONDERFUL!

Mark

This is great card magic! Joel provides a fascinating use of a storyline that utilizes each phase of the narrative to build out the moves for the next reveal, culminating in an incredible overall effect of perfect memory. Simple and brilliant! Love it.

Joel

What more can you ask for? Powerful, simple to learn, a real fooler. I love this trick and I can't wait to put it to use. I think this would be a great "magician fooler". If you're into gambling routines or memorized work, this would crush - especially if you use a mem deck and then have a spectator shuffle, you can jump into this for a closer. Combine this effect with the great price, and you have a winner.

Murshid

Philip

This is, as all the other reviews confirm, an amazing effect and method. If you like the effect then it is perfectly achievable. I think, for it to be convincing then you need to be able to perform close to the speed and confidence that you see on the trailer and it will definitely need practice to be able to do that. There is some memory required and to apply that you need to have your ‘patter’ come automatically. The moves are fairly simple but they are moves and may need practice before you can perform. This of course applies to any effect you perform but just don’t think you will be doing this after 10 minutes. That said, it is incredibly powerful, relatively simple and can be done with a borrowed, shuffled pack and is a winner in my opinion.

Joshua

It passed the girlfriend test, which is always a good sign. I then fried every magician I know, which is also a good sign. It then elicited an uproar of disbelief at a gig this weekend...so it's definitely a keeper! It's as fun to perform as it is to watch!

JAIME TREJO C/O

This is one of my favorite downloads, the people actually believes you that you have a super memory! The best of all is that you don’t even have to use a memorized deck, just borrow a deck of cards and immediately perform it.

I was looking for a memory routine without using a stacked deck, this came into my way while browsing at Vanishing Inc’s website and I knew that this could be the routine I was looking for, and I was right!

Add this to your cart right now. Btw, believe it or not, you don’t need to do some knuckle busting sleights or memorize a lot of things at the moment, this is very practical and combines some principles that makes this easy to do.

Graham

Truly one of the best finds I've come across in many years, hence getting round to actually writing a review. A brilliantly crafted trick which is genuinely impromptu and indeed gives the impression that a deck is memorized in an impossibly short space of time. A perfect sprinkling of sleight of hand and cleverness.

Christian

Top piece BUT lefties will not be able to execute the routine with a standard 2 indexed deck as shown. Sleight adjustments are necessary...pun intended. :)

Mike

I'm not sure that my comments will carry much weight after what you read above, but this is an awesome routine for the following reasons:

1) Can be done with a borrowed deck
2) Spectator shuffles and cuts
3) No actual deck memorization needed (a real plus for people like me with a bad, uh, ... something)
4) Great multiple phases
5) Great energy if you put in the enthusiasm that Givens has
6) No difficult moves. Without too much practice, even beginners can be doing this in a short time.
7) A full 3 minutes of action

The only thing I have against this video is the that the production values and sound are a bit lousy. However, they aren't bad enough to detract from you learning the technique. Plus, this effect is so strong, it still gets 5 stars from me.

Tim

Yes yes yes, this is excellent, worthy of more stars but 5 is the max I could give.

Expertly constructed & makes for a believable demonstration of an impossible feat.

Super excited about this one!!

Skott

What a NICE effect!
I ordered it, watched it, and already want to take it out on the town tonight.
Do your crowd a solid and add this today.
Skott Hughes

Al

I enjoy when I can throw a word in when it comes to tricks I actually do just about daily. It’s one thing to like a certain trick but a whole different thing to adopt it for a lifetime.

I’ve been using this trick for years, since Joel tipped it to me after frying everyone at our local Convention in Charlotte NC (the Convention’s first year, actually). There were a ton of us at the bar late-night, Me, Steve Beam, Lee Asher, Scott Robinson, Eric Jones, Aaron Fisher, Robbie Mooreland, the late great Woody Landers, it was a wonderful session of some of the top guys going -- and as is to be expected everyone was showing off their latest efforts.

I recall Joel breaking this out at the bar and frying literally everyone in the room. You could have heard a pin drop in that room. Needless to say it was More Memory Man which was whispered about in the hallways for the remainder of the weekend. I must have seen the trick four or more times while we Joel and I hung out; I was none the wiser during the performance than I was the first.

I’ve been lucky to live down the road a bit from Joel for the 20 plus years I’ve been in magic and I can say for certain there are few guys anywhere that areas as capable in creating AND doing magic as he is. I use several of his efforts in my own work, but this trick is one I use each time the conversation turns to games of skill of any sort. As a result there are countless numbers of people who now truly believe I can memorize a pack of cards in record fashion. I received three different emails from a local professor of mathematics (from Elon University here in NC) after he watched me do walk-around where I used this trick for his party. Each time he mentioned how struck he was with my memorization of the deck. Point being: this doesn’t have the *feel* of a magic trick, but rather a truly show if skill that’ll leave anyone shaking their head in disbelief.

I was a little sick when the trick was released in his Joel’s book and even more so now that it’s an instant download. You hear people bullshit in reviews all the time saying, “I wish you wouldn’t have released this, I wanted it to myself!” The concept is a bit overused in magic reviews nowadays.
Well, the truth is I hate to see this one hit the mainstream. It’s been all too good to me as a worker that pretty much no one else knew about. I’ve used at least four different versions of the premise including Micah Lasher’s (this trick’s predecessor) over the years and I can confidently say NOTHING comes close to Joel's version for impact as well as ease of execution. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Justin

I personally use a memorized deck all the time. I'm obsessed about learning other memorized deck tricks and routines. This by far is one of the best, well thought out and easiest versions I've seen yet.

This is a psuedo memorized deck. You don't really memorize much at all (4-5 cards in the whole routine) but the impact on spectators is priceless.

This is one of those shuffled deck in play tricks that you can do with absolutely NO set-up and 100% impromptu. It doesn't even require a full deck.

There are a couple sleights involved, especially for the ending. But learning those sleights transfer over to many other routines as well.

This by far will be one of my favorite memorized deck routines.

Aaron

I'm not Ben Train or near close to Michael Vincent, but I have to agree that this is a powerful, impromptu material. I also downloaded it the moment I saw it. I used to perform Pit Hartlings effect (which is also very powerful) but this somehow provides another option is people would hand me a deck. This has no setup, the deck doesn't even have to be complete. However, I don't recommend it for beginners though. It requires enough experience to perform at lot of things at the same time.

The video and audio quality is not top notch compared to other video downloads. The camera even gets out of focus at times...but if you want to get this for the effect itself, this is the best Vanishing Inc has released so far!

Michael

This is an excellent piece of business by Joel Given. I purchased it immediately after viewing the performance. I love routines which combine principles to produce a memorable moment. This routine is 100 % commercial for all situations and also any deck.

Michael Vincent

Ben "Super Stud"

Joel Given's "More Memory Man" is easily one of my favorite go-to tricks for laypeople and magicians alike. It's a masterful demonstration of memory that looks like MORE than just a simple magic trick- it's a demonstration of 'almost' impossible skill. Don't be surprised if after performing this people genuinely believe you can do EXACTLY what you claim to be able to do (please use that power for good!).

This is one of the best approaches to this plot ever published. 5 out of 5 thumb-tips way up.
- Ben Train

Jim

The video is a little grainy, and is very fast paced. It would be nice if the individual steps were noted in a table of contents.

Jonathan

I think the overall effect is good; I'll try the effect out but I'm not sure if I'll perform it on a regular basis. You obviously need to be at a table, and I am, unfortunately, not a table magician. It's hard to tell if the sleights, or the memorization, is more difficult (probably the memorization). Yes, it does call for a good bit of memorization, but luckily you don't need to remember everything at once (that I remember - no pun intended).

I think Joel's teaching is quite fast and could be slowed down, especially during the more difficult parts. I will definitely try a slower variation and some slightly different moves. Joel's performance is good (or I wouldn't have bought it). I may raise my rating if the effect works well with others.

Stuart

Terrific effect! Not too difficult. a few run-throughs and I had it pretty well down. Then it is all fun and playing with the audience. Enjoy it. The recording quality is not great (hence only 4 stars) but it is adequate to see everything you need to. My advice is slow it down during presentation. It's too good to speed through.

Gilbert

The end result looks impressive but it is not accomplished with lots of work.

David

The affect is great but the production is terrible. The video is jerky and not even in focus. How about taking my $10 and buying a tripod.