IBM Ring 115 held its last meeting for 2020 on the evening of 15th December 2020. It was a virtual meeting using the Zoom platform. It was attended by 30 members and hosted by Kenneth Chia and Curtis Choy. The theme for the evening was ‘Magic with Props and Packet Card Tricks’.
IBM Ring 115 held its last meeting for 2020 on the evening of 15th December 2020. It was a virtual meeting using the Zoom platform. It was attended by 30 members and hosted by Kenneth Chia and Curtis Choy. The theme for the evening was ‘Magic with Props and Packet Card Tricks’.
Massimo Sacco was the first performer. Thanks to the virtual Zoom meeting, we were able to see his special show he staged in his own restaurant in Bali, Indonesia. It opened with a traditional Indonesian dance by 2 of his lady staff. He then got on stage to perform the linking rings. He effortlessly linked and unlinked the rings and mysteriously made them spin and float in mid-air on their own accord. The show ended with another dance performance by his staff, this time to modern music.
Enrico Varella gave an enlightening lecture on ‘Packet Tricks and Sleights’. He started off with an introduction of popular packet effects such as Three Card Monte, Wild Card and The Last Trick of Dr Jacob Daley and their inventors. He demonstrated the common sleights used for packet card tricks such as the Elmsley Count, Flustration Count, Rumba Count, the Glide, and how to handle and lay down 2 cards as one. He also mentioned how to blend gimmick cards with a deck of cards.
Charles Choo split a 1000 Japanese yen note into a 50 Singapore dollar note and a 6000 yen note in a flash. Next, he showed a packet of 4 Jack of Hearts. Each of them magically turned face-up one at a time. Finally, they all transformed into the 4 Aces, and their backs became multi-coloured.
Henry Tio shared a pre-recorded video of his performance. In it, he invited a guest to mirror him in his act. Both of them had a deck of cards. After a series of mixing the cards, they both turned over a card “randomly” arrived at – the 2 cards match exactly – they were both the 8 of Clubs!
Wee Kien Meng aka Mr Bottle, introduced his own branded magic set containing numerous magic tricks with a discounted offer for this Christmas season, and invited those interested to buy to contact him directly.
After the break, John Teo gave a teach-in of his own effect that appeared in this month’s issue of The Quantum Ring. He introduced 3 cards, featuring 3 fictional detectives, niz Father Brown, Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. Each of them then randomly selected a card from a deck of playing cards. All the 3 selected cards were found predicted in advance in a photograph taken of the 3 detectives with the same exact 3 cards. John then explained in detail how the effect worked.
After the teach-in, John Teo shared on how to make custom-designed cards with paper. He showed the tools and materials needed such as glue stick, PVC mat, metal ruler, cutting blades, corner rounder, the various types of paper, and self- adhesive lamination roll. He explained how to glue the 2 sides of a card so that they
– 11 –are properly aligned, and how to laminate a card without causing any wrinkles or bubbles in the lamination.
Carson Goh shared a pre-recorded video of a prediction. In the video, he invited a guest to pick one of 4 different colour rolled-up paper balls placed atop a covered box. The guest picked a red paper ball. The lid of the box was lifted to show a prediction inside – it read ‘You will choose red’. The prediction was spot-on!
Jeremy Pei presented a dealer cum magic show. He displayed a packet of 4 blue- backed face-up King of Spades. Each of them magically turned face down one at a time, then 2 of them transformed into an Ace and a Joker, and finally, one of the cards had its back changed to red. Next, he presented another set of 4 red-backed blank cards, which magically became printed with festive Christmas images, in time for Christmas. Jeremy showed a box with numerous tiny scrabbled Rubik Cubes. The lid was replaced. When it was lifted up, the tiny Rubik Cubes magically re- arranged themselves to form the picture of a Christmas tree! A novel Three Card Monte followed. When the audience failed to find the three of clubs, the money card, the last card magically became the 4 Aces and on their backs were printed the words “The”, “Three”, “Of”, “Clubs”. Jeremy demonstrated the following items which he offered for sale at special discounts: Pom-Pom Stick with gift boxes as the pom- pom, Dan Harlan’s “Mind Surf”, and a torn and restored poster with a Merry Christmas greeting.
Victor Heng, in a pre-recorded video, invited a guest to play psychic detective to pick the correct suspect. A card was freely chosen from a packet containing a dozen cards depicting faces of different people. A sticker was placed on this card with its face unseen. 5 more cards from the packet were added to give a total of 6 cards. The cards were mixed underneath the table. They were then brought face-up and spread on the table. After a series of eliminations by the guest, only one card remained. When it was flipped over, it had the sticker on its back, indicating that the “detective” had found the correct suspect!
A lucky draw was conducted and two lucky members, Priscilla Thong and Dr Loke Han Ying, won the 2 prizes sponsored by President John Teo.
The meeting officially concluded with members continuing with fellowshipping and shopping for magic items through Zoom.