The Timeless Project by RSVP Magic comes with two decks of cards and a DVD. It teaches you enough tricks to perform a mini show with Bill Thompson’s Timeless playing cards. With your $45 purchase you get a regular deck of the Timeless playing cards, a gimmicked deck of the Timeless playing cards and a 50 minute DVD that teaches 5 routines.
The production of the DVD is excellent and British magician Gary Jones performs 5 tricks to real spectators and then explains the tricks on an instructional track. The gimmicked deck utilized a method that is very familiar to many magicians, but it is applied in a different way for this project. The tricks presented are very strong and although they are all centered around picking a certain time of day, they all have a different feel to them.
None of the tricks presented are particularly hard to perform, but some require basic sleight of hand techniques (such as a double lift or top change) so this is not for the novice.
The regular deck is meant to be swapped out for the gimmicked deck so it can be handed out because the gimmicked deck cannot be handed out. When performing any of the tricks, you can be surrounded, you just can’t have your spectator handle the entire deck.
The core of this project is that the court card all have different clocks on them with different times. No time is the same. The spectator picks a time of day in different wants and the performer is able to either guess the time or produce a card with the time that the spectator was thinking about.
The ad copy for the project describes four of the tricks as follow. Although the description of “Miracle Clock” does not really describe the trick, and it is named differently on the DVD, it is a very strong trick using the age old clock layout. The following is the word for word ad copy for four of eh tricks.
Second Hand – The magician asks the spectator to merely think of any time — there is no force, it’s never written down or said to anyone. The magician now takes the Timeless Deck (that has been on the table in full view throughout) and spreads the cards, showing that there is one card reversed in the entire deck. For the first time, the spectator names their time. When the card is turned over, that card has their time printed on it! This is a reputation-making routine that really is worth the price of the whole project.
Miracle Clock – A spectator again thinks of their favorite time of the day. Without telling anyone or writing it down, the magician is again able to know the exact time they’re thinking of and reveals it in an unusual and amazing way.
Duel Time – Two cards are selected by two spectators. The magician now takes the first card and shows the face to be holding a timepiece in their hand. He places the card onto the spectator’s hand and asks them to slam their hand down onto the card. When it’s turned over, the clock face is now broken! Taking the card, the magician shakes the card and magically restores it back to its original condition. The second card is turned over and shows a card holding a clock set at ten o’clock. The magician takes the card and moves it slowly in front of the spectator, where it seems to visibly change to another time (this can be a prediction if desired). Utilizing the special printing ideas on some of the Timeless cards, this is a really cool effect.
Just a Second – The magician shows a selected card to be holding a time and the card is placed face down on the table. The magician now shows his wrist watch and asks the spectator to pull the pin out and set the watch to any time. He tells them that their time will match the time on the face down card sitting on the table throughout. The watch is turned over to reveal an hour and the card turned over… the times don’t match! Taking the card, the magician asks the spectator to turn an invisible winder at the side of the card, as if moving the hands on the printed face. When it’s turned over, the time on the card now matches the time on the watch. Truly amazing stuff!
OK, so here is where I come back. The Timeless project is a great buy for any magician that likes the idea of using time as a theme. The tricks are strong and the magic is fooling. It is a well put together project.
The Timeless Project can be found at any Murphy’s Magic outlet.
