Travel by Mickael Chatelain is a signed card to box routine that is made possible by his double gimmick, for which he claims that there is “nothing like it on the market.”
In the routine, the performer takes a deck of cards and allows the spectator to choose any card freely. The card is signed and placed face up on top of the deck. The performer places his hand over the deck and the face-up selection disappears. Then the card box is opened and the signed card apparently is removed from the tuck box.
Travel is delivered in a ziplock plastic bag with 2 necessary gimmicks and a link to a vimeo streaming 14 minute instructional video in both English and French. I did not watch the French video, but the quality of the English video is mediocre at best. Chatelain’s English is not great and his accent is heavy. It seems as if he shot the video himself so the quality is not professional. Nonetheless, the instructions are easy to follow and understand as the trick is not complicated. The first 8 minutes of the video explains and demonstrates how the gimmick works and shows Chatelain performing the trick to no one – with exposed angles. There are no actual performances to a live or studio audience which is a big negative for this product. I do not think that “there is nothing like it on the market” as he claims. One part of the gimmick is exactly like another gimmick and one part of the gimmick seems to be a modification of other gimmicks. Nonetheless, the “new” gimmick is well thought out and clever, with some issues.
The first issue with the gimmick is that it is noisy when it makes the card disappear. That may not be an issue if you are performing in a bar or other venue with enough ambient noise. Another issue with the gimmick is that it is very angle sensitive. You need to have your spectators standing on one side of you or you will flash something which will have them asking questions. Even in the instructional video that “something” is flashed for a split second. Because of this issue, you should not perform this trick if you have very small hands. Big hands are pretty much essential to perform this trick. There is also a required move to make the card “travel” from the deck to the box which will be caught by any magicians, but likely not by a lay person.
The gimmicks come in either red or blue back USPCC stock. When it arrived, my gimmick broke, due to my intentional rough handling of it and I was easily able to repair it by following the instructional video, using some reading glasses and by using some extra material that was provided with the trick.
This trick sells for $29.95 and if you have the right position and big enough hands you can really kill with this gimmick. I like the gimmick and the creativity behind it. But, for the reasons expressed herein, this product gets a 6 out of 10.
Travel can be found at any Murphy’s Magic dealer.