Matt
My brother used to have the original version of this trick, The Web by Jim Pace. At a lawyer's Christmas party where I was playing guitar, he was doing walkaround magic. He did this for a guy who claimed to eat larger spiders for breakfast. Who then got him into the other room, to do this trick for his girlfriend. Who screamed repeatedly and threw the toy spider across the room in a near-panic. This was caught on video, and the poor gal was probably teased about it for a long time.
I could tell other funny stories about this trick, including how it nearly got my bro a punch in the mouth from the lawyer's husband. Who got the trick as a one-on-one experience before the party really got going.
I think the only person I tried the trick on was our mother, telling her ahead of time the nasty surprise at the end. She did not feel me put the spider on the back of her hand, and still jumped and then kind of laughed when she actually saw it. It scared her for a moment even though she fully expected it. That was when the trick came in the mail, and my brother was still up at our dad's for the weekend. I decided to open it and try it out first. He was the one who really performed it for people later.
Fast forward, I inherited many of my brother's things he no longer wanted when he went to Japan as a foreign exchange student for a few years. He dumped them on our mom, and she dumped them on me. I didn't mind. Many good books were included, and I also got the magic tricks he'd kept. He has long quit performing or even having much interest in magic. Even though he lives in Las Vegas now.
Unfortunately this one got lost somewhere along the way. I was dismayed to see it was no longer sold, and also to see reports that the inventor had gone to prison, a sad undertone that I could not find much information about one way or the other.
Nonetheless, I was happy to recently see this trick being sold again. And I noticed that Brian Brushwood is a fan of it. I was able to see his act when he was still eating fire, and besides seeing David Copperfield, it was about the most memorable magic show I've ever seen in person. Wayne Houchin was similar, but that was a lecture, not a show per se. So I was pretty stoked about this.
However, it is not the original trick, or even very close to it. It is still a good trick, but my main focus here is letting you know what you're getting, how it is different from the original.
First of all, these are not printed as regular playing cards (with a blank face or spiderweb). They are stiff little cards that remind me more of baseball or gaming cards.
Another key difference is that in the original, best I recall, there were three truly blank-faced cards and one with a spiderweb on the face.
By contrast, this set has five cards total. One is blank. One has a spiderweb. One has a spiderweb with a spider drawn in it. One has a spider with no web. And one has several smaller spiders drawn on the face.
The toy spider is designed in a way that makes it easier to stick on the back of the participant's hand (without it being felt). They mainly flattened out the legs. The instructions tell how to make the legs curve downward like in the original, if you are not happy with the change.
One nice touch is that the back of the spider is fuzzier than I remember the old one being. So the shock/scare factor may be a little more.
It also comes with more extra adhesive than I remember that other package having. Again, the detailed instructions tell you how to get more adhesive if you later need it. I find this adhesive better than the old one.
About those instructions though, first of all, there are no written instructions. And I see this as a serious flaw. I liked Jim Pace's original instructions and suggested patter, and they were not translated into the video link you get as a tutorial for this trick. I cannot remember the original presentation, but it was also different from the one Lance Burton used on television. I liked the original storyline for this trick, but apparently it has gone extinct.
And if I was designing and marketing a trick like this, I would include at least one page of written instructions, with the video link being a supplement to those. Instructions for this trick would not be hard to write. The only real sleight of hand is loading the toy spider and doing a flustration count.
Having said that, the video tutorial is a good one. I find the presentation of the original effect weak compared to the Jim Pace or Lance Burton versions. But the presentation of some variations is strong. And the methods are very clearly explained. I do not remember the presenter's name, but he has a street-magic style and makes it all very simple to understand, even for a beginner in magic. I believe the tutorial lasted about 20 minutes. He goes over just about every question people are likely to have, and reminds people to be creative and come up with a plot of their own, using the extra card designs in this new version.
I like the new card designs, other than the fact none of them look like playing cards or are drawn as clearly and distinctly as the playing-card-style edition was. I am glad they added some new stuff.
I do see it as a serious flaw that only one blank-faced card is included. This restricts some of the extra convincers one was able to do with the original trick. If you do decide to get creative, you have to find ways to bluff and show that one blank card several times. Making sure not to flash any of those new designs. If you want to play around with the original version of this trick, that is a drawback.
Recent circumstances have kept me from performing much new magic, so I can't tell you what my first real-world reaction was like. The only person I could have easily shown this trick to is an old woman who is at high risk for a heart attack already.
And please do use common sense who you perform this for. You want a fun scare, like a haunted ride, not someone getting genuinely upset. While I found this trick funny in most cases when my brother was doing it, I did sort of feel bad for that lawyer's husband who was so put off by it. He did not appear to enjoy much of the magic the rest of the night. He was happiest if he could bust a trick, or if someone else could. I think the key to doing this trick right is remembering the difference between eustress and distress. I once heard a writer of horror stories say he wanted to give his readers goosebumps, but not nightmares. There is a fine line to ride with this trick.
I look forward to playing with the new designs and coming up with my own storyline for the trick. I wish it had come with more blank cards, but I guess part of the fun is finding creative ways to create the illusion of several blank cards.
The cards cannot be examined afterward without raising some eyebrows, if you do not use any of the new face designs (meaning other than the blank-facer and the web-facer). It might impress the audience more with your skill if they saw extra card designs after the end of the trick, I'm not sure how that would go over.
So this is not the same trick, and did not satisfy my nostalgic longing.
It is a pretty good trick though, and while I think some things were better in the original, I also like some of the innovations in this new one.
This is worth the price if this style of magic appeals to you.