Fall is a great telekinetic effect by Philip Ryan, Banachek and Vortex Magic. From the spectator’s point of view, the performer places a regular Sharpie marker in the edge of a table (or deck of card, or glass or whatever) so that it is half on and half off. The performer then concentrates his mental energy on the marker and it falls off the table at the performer’s command. After performing this trick a few dozen times I can say that it is almost certainly guaranteed to evoke a scream, gasp or feeling of sheer terror.
Fall is one of those products that I was not too jazzed about before I got it, but once received, I changed my mind and am a big fan. I have made room in my case for Fall and plan on using it frequently.
With Fall you get a gimmicked Sharpie marker that cannot be handed out or inspected. It does not write and the cap cannot be taken off. No matter. A little switch action and your spectators will never consider this gimmick to be anything other than a real Sharpie. The gimmick uses the shell of a real Sharpie marker. You also get a link to an 11 minutes downloadable instructional video, but more on that later.
Fall is extremely easy to learn and perform. You will be performing this trick even before the short instructional video is over. Basically, you set the pen down and the rest is all performance. If you enjoy hamming up a mentalism performance you have all the runway in the world with Fall.
To get this trick to work, there is no external control. There are no proximity requirements (you could be in the next room if you wanted to) and there are no magnets, strings, nothing! You can reset this trick in a few seconds in front of your spectators and they will have no idea because the reset in not visible to the eye. There are no angles to be concerned about whatsoever.
The ad copy indicates that you can set the pen to fall anywhere from 10 seconds to 2 minutes. While it is true that you can set the fall time, it is not precise and in my experience, it can be somewhat tricky to gauge how long it will take for the pen to fall. It is a possibility that if you try and push the length of time between placement of the Fall gimmick and the actual fall that it may not fall. To compensate, I don’t try and set the fall for 2 minutes, which is too long in my opinion.
The secret to the Fall mechanism is not explained or described in the instructional video. Because I only have a basic understanding of the mechanism and do not actually know what it is made of, I have no idea how easily Fall will break or how tough it is. While the video shows the pen falling, it does not warn you about the fragility of the gimmick or if you should avoid certain fall distances.
The instructional video is taught is by Philip Ryan and it basically shows a few performances of the effect without an audience. Banachek does not make an appearance, but he is credited as being the inspiration behind the effect. I would have liked to have seen some live performances with some real spectators. You basically get a video in which you watch a Sharpie marker fall repeatedly and get some tips from Ryan. Notwithstanding this criticism, the instruction are clear and easy to understand. The quality of the instruction is excellent and is shot in HD.
At the time of the writing of this review, Fall is available for purchase for $24.95. This is a must have!
You can find Fall and other great mentalism effects at your favorite Murphy’s Magic dealer.