Steam 2.0 is a grand slam mentalism effect!
It is easy to learn and perform and will annihilate your spectators. You can perform this trick one-on-one, walk-around, in parlor or on a stage. Paul Harris Presents has done it again with an effect developed by Ali Nouira and with originator credit given to mentalist Marc Salem.
The basic routine with Steam 2.0 is that a spectator writes something on a small card and places it face down on a table (or in their own hand). That card is covered again by a card box, or a dollar bill, or an envelope or another piece of paper. All of that is then covered again by the spectator’s hand. The performer can be out of the room when all this happens. Let’s say that the card with the faced down writing is covered by a playing card box and that the hidden writing contains a card value and suit. The performer would then take back the deck of cards and leave the face-down card with the secret on it on the table under the spectator’s hand without ever touching it. The performer would then be able to pull the thought of playing card out of the tuck box. Again, the performer never touches the paper that contains the secret. More about that in a bit.
With this purchase you receive a small black box that contains everything you need to get going and a password protected link to a one hour instructional video narrated by Bro Gilbert. The video is hosted by Murphy’s Magic on their website. The production quality of the video is top-notch. The instruction is clear and easy to follow and if anything it is just a tad long-winded. Bro teaches several routines and how to deliver them. His teaching on timing and presentation is great. Even if you don’t add your own touches to the trick, copying Bro’s patter and presentation will work excellently. With that said, there is tremendous potential for creation here and any magician should think of and create their own ideas. In addition to the instruction, Bro performs three different routines one-on-one to three different spectators so you can see the mechanics and delivery of Steam 2.0.
The video teaches a basic routine, a routine with one of those red fortune telling fish (two are included with the purchase), a card prediction routine using a selfie of yourself holding a card, a killer routine with an invisible deck, a routine using dollar bills and other great ideas. All of the ideas taught are solid.
The provided supplies will be used up after dozens of performances and refills are currently available. Refill cards, envelopes, pads and pens are all $7.95 each. The trick itself, with everything included, is only $44.95.
The strongest part about this trick is that the performer NEVER touches the paper on which the secret word, drawing or thought is written on. There is no peek at the paper that the spectator drew on. There is no center tear. There is just absolute and total astonishment. This is one of those tricks that you will want to perform over and over again. And, the great thing about this trick is that you can perform the trick repeatedly with the same audience. For only a split second do you have an angle issue to worry about, but it is rather insignificant.
Something that I saw as a negative was the 5 second never-ending and repeating instrumental music in the background which after a while got to be irksome. Fortunately, you only need to watch the instructional video once.
Unfortunately, a few issues with the ad-copy and promotional video exist. First off, the ad-copy claims that “everything can be examined.” This is not true. That statement needs to be removed from the marketing materials. In fact, you are a little dirty at the end of the effect, but in a way that is so small that I doubt you will really need to clean up. Secondly, the promotional video has snippets of many different performances (not contained on the instructional video) that are cut and edited heavily. There is one performance in particular (the one where the bartender writes the word “BEER”) that is particularly misleading. The video shows most of the performance, but inexplicably skips a crucial step necessary to execute the method. And although the video may seem like reality to the spectator, the video edits are unfair. Because most of the performance was shown on the promo video, so should have been the missing step. Ironically, inclusion of the edited-out moment would not really have weakened the effect’s effect on the viewer of the prom video. So, the dilemma here is that had the promotional video contained it all, and the ad-copy not had a false statement, this trick would have received 5 stars! So, what must be deducted in this case? Well, that is totally discretionary and because the trick is so supremely killer (and the ad-copy and promo video issues do not significantly change how the trick is performed and received) I will only deduct half a star.
This is an extremely worthwhile purchase.