The first meeting for Ring 115 for the new year 2019 took place on the evening of 15th January. It attracted 43 people, of which 3 were guests. It was held at a new venue which was on level 2 of Hotel Grand Central at 22 Cavenagh Road.
The theme was “Receive And Perform”. A new deck of Bicycle playing cards would be given to anyone provided this person use the given deck to perform at least 2 card routines. Gimmicked and other cards were not allowed. The decks were generously contributed by our patron Gician Tan.
Derek Lee was the MC and was also the first person to take the deck and perform. He displayed a King and a Queen and transposed them to 2 spot cards. He followed with a triumph effect where the deck was shuffled face-up and face-down and the deck then magically righted themselves face downwards with the exception of the chosen card which was face-up.
Alvin Terence was next. He did an Invisible Palm routine where 4 cards magically travelled from his palm to the table one card at a time. He closed with an Invisible Assistant effect where the shuffled deck cut by itself to locate the selected card.
John Teo did an Elevator effect where each of 4 cards magically travelled up and down the entire deck, with the final card turning itself over in the middle of the deck. He then played a Tic-Tac-Toe game using 9 playing cards on an invisible grid. The game ended in a draw, but the 9 cards formed a 3 X 3 magic square that totalled 15 in each row, column and the 2 diagonals.
It was time for Ng Ek Huang to take her Induction Test. Donning a top hat, a cape and a mask, she performed a kids act which comprised coloured pencils from drawer box, magic colouring book, spelling of a packet of cards to produce the Ace through to the King, and closed with streamers from mouth.
Lim Teck Guan did not perform tricks with the deck of cards. He tore up a magazine and restored it, tore up 4 cards into quarters and mixed them inside a bag. He put his hand in the bag and was able to take out the exact 4 quarters that formed a complete card.
It was dealers’ demonstration time before the break. The first dealer was Jeremy Pei with bank night using ang-pows and a himber wallet, a 5 card 5 chips monte routine, customised deck design of playing cards, Mystery Jar packet trick, and a close-up version as well as a stage version of Mental Logs.
The second dealer was Cassidy Lee with Vegas Dream coins, moving pips on cards, Eclipse colour changing mints, remote control D’lite, a smoke device and monte coin pouch.
The break was held in a different room with snacks and coffee and tea.
After the break, JK Tan used a silks-off-ropes effect to remind members to pay up their subscriptions in order not to lose out the various member’s benefits.
The second person to take the Induction Teat was Priscilla Thong. Smartly dressed with a jacket, bow-tie and a hot hat, she did a 3-bills-repeat routine, and a sucker card trick where she produced a jumbo-sized version of a selected card which was lost in a deck and placed inside her jacket pocket.
It was time to perform with the free deck again. Ashish Lodhavia used his IBM Card to locate 2 selected cards lost in the deck. He then caused another selected card to be stuck onto his forehead.
Enrico Varella mixed up the new deck and then magically restored it back to new deck order. He then tore the centers off 2 random cards and proceeded to link the 2 frames, ala Harry Loyrane’s “The Best Gosh-Darn Impromptu Linking Card Effect You’ll Ever See”. He caused a selected card to be sandwiched between 2 Jokers, then vanished it to be found face-up in the deck.
Chua Eng Hock instructed his volunteer to randomly insert his chosen card into a deck. He then applied a series of dealings and stackings to the deck and located the selected card. He had another card chosen and lost in the deck. Using a “magician’s” card, the deck was dealt into 2 piles. Each time, the pile that did not contain the “magician’s” card was discarded. Eventually, the selected card was found as the last card remaining on the table.
Gician Tan gave a short explanation and demonstration on how to scale playing cards across a room.
Dr Ray Loh impressed the audience with Tenyo’s “Four Nightmares DX” in which ropes were stretched, joined, formed loops, got knotted and unknotted. A selected card was lost in a deck, which was placed inside the case and the case placed inside his pocket. Yet, he was able to extract the selected card out of his pocket.
Oberoi Bhusan Kumar aka Kogi teleported a volunteer’s chosen card in a shuffled deck all the way through to the top of the deck!
Not to be left out of performing card tricks, Jeremy Pei rounded up the evening by picking up the deck of cards, mixed the cards, and then magically cut to the 4 Aces. He had 3 cards selected and signed and then lost in the deck. He used his 4 Aces to trap and sandwich the 3 signed cards in-between the 4 Aces.
