Starlight is a Chris Perrotta invention brought to us by Paul Harris Presents. It is an effect like none other I have seen before and uses a unique gimmick. If you are into cool gimmicks, this trick is definitely for you. No matter who is watching you perform, with Starlight, you will grab their attention.
Basically, the spectator picks a card which is not revealed to the performer. The performer takes what is apparently the chosen card, without looking at the value or suit, and holds it over the spectator’s cell phone flashlight or any other bright light. Then, miraculously, the dot of light that is shining through the card moves and morphs around the card. The light looks like a snake slithering across the card and then it reveals the value and suit of the card by displaying graphics. First the light stops and shows either a heart icon or an “H” and then continues to slither and reveals a “4” so the performer can announce that the card was the 4 of Hearts. The reveal can be any card in the deck or any two letters in the alphabet. It is visually stunning!
With your purchase of Starlight you get the very cool red rider backed Bicycle gimmick, an envelope to carry the gimmick in, another gimmick that helps you ring in a ditch the gimmick and transparent stencils to allow you to change the reveal. You also get a link to a downloadable hour and nine minute instructional video featuring Bro Gilbert.
The instructional video is very good and teaches how to use the Starlight gimmick, leaving no questions left unanswered. It is very details and perhaps a bit too detailed. During the video, he teaches you how to alter the gimmick for different reveals, how to perform the trick and he demonstrates his trick with a performance, which is also the promotional video.
I really like this trick because it is so new and different than anything else out there. It is something that I will use, but you need to practice a bit to make sure you get the whole routine down. While the ad copy says that it is “Super easy to do. No card skills required” it will take some practice. The handling is not hard to do, but you will need to acclimate to the gimmick and get used to ditching the Starlight gimmick with the ditching gimmick. You will need to be aware of positioning of the cards and gimmick so you can perform this smoothly. A bit audience management is required, but no high level amount of tap dancing is required.
While you can change the two reveals to be any two initials or any card, you really can’t change it without disappearing into a private room where you will need a couple of minutes to change the graphics. You need to be careful so you don’t lose anything and so you are set up correctly. For this reason, if you are doing a strolling gig, you will always have the same forced card… unless you disappear and return. Changing the icons takes a bit of finger dexterity to get everything perfect.
You can perform Starlight surrounded, but there may be an impulse of some to look under the card where the magic is happening. This cannot happen during the trick or you will be busted. You can hand out the card after executing the cleverly crafted moment of misdirection.
The gimmick itself is super cool and cannot be created by any do-it-yourselfers at home. You will need to carry it carefully so that it does not bend or break. With the care that this gimmick needs, it should last a very long time or until someone sits on it or inadvertently bends it.
You will be able to control the speed of the moving light and you can have the spectator use their own light and even hold it under the card, which is preferable. The spectator can touch the top of the card while the light is moving, but they can never hold the card when the light is doing the magical dance. The reset takes about 5 second, maybe less, but because you will want to glance at it to make sure everything is set to go, you will need a moment of privacy.
Because of the need for the ditching gimmick, you will need to have a card box that contains the ditching gimmick at all times. That is not an issue since you can have a totally normal deck of cards inside the box.
You can perform this in dimly lit rooms and even in normally lit rooms and the effect is entrancing. I would however avoid doing this outside in extremely bright light since the light may not be perceptible.
Overall, I think this is a fantastic effect and worth checking out.