Mailbag #161

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Matthew Wright just released The Artefact. It looks like it would be a good option for a Wonder Room display. I'm curious for your thoughts on it.—CY

The Wonder Room concept is something I haven't revisited in a while on this site, so this question is a good excuse to delve back into it.

Whatever you think of this trick, no, it's not ideal for a Wonder Room display (from what I gather, at least). Here are the two reasons why.

Examinability - This is the primary reason. Wonder Room tricks are on display, so you want someone to be able to pick it up and look at the props without finding anything unusual about them. Here, if they looked through the cards, they'd see most of them were blank—which is clearly not something you want them to discover before going into the trick.

Now, assuming the relic itself is examinable, you could just keep that on display and then grab the cards and the little parchment thing before your performance. But that feels too disjointed to me. These items are clearly meant to go together. This isn't a relic that has some strange properties that work with any pack of cards. It's meant to be presented with these cards. So the idea of storing them in different places makes no sense.

What Is It? This is the second issue with the effect.

A Wonder Room display should have a theme:

  • Cursed objects

  • Alien technology

  • Psychological tests

The theme can even be as general as "strange objects" and include any of the above and more.

But what you don't want is for it to appear to be just a shelf of your magic tricks. And the relic, in combination with the cards, comes across as just a magic trick. The only purpose it seems to have is so you can do this trick with the cards.

Compare this to something like a "divination pendulum" or "truth-telling compass." Those objects have an implied purpose that exists beyond your performance. Your friend could imagine a use for such an object. But a relic that only makes sense when paired with a specific deck of cards? That says: "magic prop," not "mysterious artifact."

In a situation where you're performing tricks, that's fine. But as part of a "collection" of unusual objects, you want that object to seem to have some sort of purpose or backstory beyond just: "It was made so I can do this trick."

When looking for a strong Wonder Room piece, focus on objects that could plausibly exist independently—things with their own story that happens to allow for an impossible demonstration.

Does the new Holestick effect fit into your “Zero Carry” category? Do you have any thoughts on the effect? —CM

No, it doesn't quite fit into the Zero Carry category. (More on this concept in tomorrow's post.) The fact that it requires a toothpick (or something of similar dimensions—a skewer, your erect penis) makes its requirements a little too specific for a ZC effect.

As for the trick itself, I think it's interesting and I don't know the full details of the secret, but I have experienced it as a spectator.

I was at a restaurant/bar with a friend who also does magic. He borrowed a bill, stuck a toothpick through it, and then restored it. I couldn't tell where the toothpick had gone through and neither could the women we were with.

But… then one of the women took the toothpick, stuck it through the dollar bill, licked her fingers, and pinched and massaged the hole…and the hole mostly disappeared for her too.

My friend's little hole was definitely more invisible. But the difference between his hole and the girl's hole—who just tried it with no method—was minuscule. (That's the end of me evaluating my friend's "little holes.")

So, in the end, the difference between the "magic trick" and someone going through the same motions with no trick was just a matter of microfibers. And while there's something kind of interesting about doing a trick on such a small scale, it would likely not be something I'd do much because I think that type of moment is of limited long-term impact.

(The variation where you move the hole across the bill feels much stronger.)