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Destination Review

One DVD, 4 "props", one five-page PDF, $45 bucks and one Destination Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Destination Review: Effect

Well . . . it depends. The basic idea is that you divine a thought of poker hand, black jack or a single card. However, don't get too excited yet. There is much to be discussed in an effort to clarify the method and what you're really getting. More to come in the Method section below.

Destination Review: Method

The method is basically verbal direction of the spectator. Using scripting you direct the outcome of the spectator's thought. The method is smart, practical, clever and works very well . . . depending on where you apply it. More to come in the Ad Copy Integrity section below.

Destination Review: Ad Copy Integrity

The ad copy leans a bit on the side of being inaccurate and even slightly deceptive. Let's look at each one individually.

Video Ad Copy

The video claims the following:

• You can predict a thought of poker hand
• You can predict a thought of Blackjack hand
• You can refine these techniques to the point that you can predict a single thought of card

Predicting the poker hand is the only one that I'd say is sure-fire 100%. The technique taught on the DVD will allow this to happen with a success rate of 99.9999999999% accuracy. Predicting the thought of Blackjack hand, however, is not even taught on the DVD. It's briefly glossed over (more on that in the Product Quality section below).

The claim that "you can refine the techniques" to allow you to predict a single card is somewhat accurate. However, the version where you place a single card on the table and it is the thought of card is not fully taught, and therefore you will not be 100% accurate every time. Peter Turner (more about him in a moment) taught a method that is more of a 99.9999999999% hit rate which uses no cards at all.

Written Ad Copy

The written ad copy starts with this bold claim "Imagine being able to place a single playing card down in front of a spectator, have them merely think of a card and even change their mind. THEY NEVER SAY ANYTHING, THEY JUST THINK OF THEIR CARD! They turn it over and it matches perfectly! Sounds impossible? This is Destination."

Well . . . that sounds great, but the method taught by Rus Andrews gives you a 1 in 3 chance of being right, not 100% or even 99.9999999999%. It's hard for me to say much more without revealing part or all of the method.

The written copy also makes the same claims, discussed above, about the poker hand and the Blackjack hand. Again, the Blackjack version is not even taught (more on that in the Product Quality section below).

The next claim is "On this DVD you will find everything you will ever need to perform the perfect thought of card effect."

This is simply not true. As mentioned, some key components are missing, and a whole lot more would have been missing if it weren't for Peter Turner.

With the missteps in the ad copy — they're sort of Product Quality missteps as well — I'd give the overall ad copy rating 2.5 stars.

Destination Review: Product Quality

Let's look at the usual suspects one by one.

Production

The menu is easy to navigate, but the lighting was a little dark, and the audio was a bit low. Also, it appears that sections are missing. There was reference, on more than one occasion, to Peter Turner's performance of "Getting to Know You" (which, incidentally, they spelled wrong on the menu). Yet there is no performance of the effect on DVD. Further, it uses a deck of cards that's been modified slightly. It's an effect using playing cards where a card and/or a thought of name are revealed.

During the explanation of the routine — there was an explanation but no performance — it was discovered that one of the cards was in the deck the wrong way. Peter mentioned that this was due to the "performance earlier." However nowhere in the explanation was there any part of the effect that would cause the card to be placed that way. Thus I'm led to wonder if there was a different version or handling of the effect in the missing performance footage.

What you get

With the DVD, you get four printed "prediction" cards, a five-page PDF and the DVD. The four cards are excellent quality and will last a long time. They're very professional looking and can be carried in your wallet. They're the size of business cards.

The five page PDF is really only 3 pages of info. It's an effect which ads a clever ploy to the original concept found on the DVD. It's very clever and allows you to have a borrowed deck shuffled; then a spectator thinks of a card, changes his mind, then looks at the faces of the deck and focuses on his card. You are able to name it. All of this without touching the deck.

The concept is smart and works well. However, there is a particular scenario that can occur that would make the concept not quite work. This possibility or how to handle it is not addressed. So yet again we have incomplete instructions.

Teaching

This DVD very much felt like "The Peter Turner Project" rather than a Rus Andrews DVD. Peter did most of the talking, teaching, brainstorming, etc. He added several subtleties, thoughts, touches and ideas that drastically improved the method and effect. In fact, he actually fooled Rus Andrews multiple times with these improvements.

The teaching segments from Rus Andrews, largely, were incomplete at best. During the "explanation" for the Blackjack version, he glossed over it in seconds, and did not cover any details whatsoever. I had a lot of answered questions about the Blackjack approach.

The method for having the spectator think of one card, then change their mind and you predict that one single card was not fully addressed, as previously mentioned. Using the technique taught in the video, you still have a 2/3 chance of being wrong. I imagine that he has a verbal technique to get around this, but it is not discussed in the video.

It felt very much like the stuff that was missing was mostly due to lack of preparation for the video shoot. They do briefly, and I mean briefly, discuss a few psychological points about this version of the effect. However, the clip that you see in the ad trailer demonstrates, somewhat, the opposite of the psychological approach talked about. I know that's a bit vague if you're not familiar with the method . . . sorry.

Peter Turner added a lot of value to the project. However, there were still too many pieces missing for the DVD to be "complete" in the sense that it did not fully teach what the ad copy was claiming.

Destination Review: Final Thoughts

Let's try and sum up this wordy review. Essentially, three effects are claimed to be what you'll learn. All three effects use the same idea which is to verbally manipulate your audience into thinking of something.

Two of the three effects (Think of a Blackjack hand and the two cards I placed on the table will match the hand, Think of a Single card and the card I place on the table matches it.) fall short in the teaching segment. The full details needed to perform this are not there. The third effect (Think of a Poker Hand) is taught in good depth and covers everything you need.

In addition to the three effects, there are three-ish bonus effects. Two from Peter and one from both of them. The two from Peter (Think of a Name and I'll reveal it, Think of a Single Card and I'll tell you what it is without using any actual playing cards) are taught well and cover the main concepts you'll need in good depth. The only exception is the missing performance of the think of a name trick ("Getting To Know You") that I've previously mentioned. The third bonus effect is the PDF which, again, is missing some information to make it a complete set of instructions.

All of this for the price of $45 is a bit steep, especially when you consider all of the mistakes and errors and missing details. This one breaks my heart a little bit because I really like Rus Andrews and Peter Turner. I'd also say that all of the subtleties taught by Peter (non of which were part of the ad copy) are probably worth the investment, so if those effects and ideas are interesting to you, then I'd say you may actually be happy with your purchase.

If, however, you are more interested in the three advertised effects, you'll really only get the full details on the one. Finally, the concept taught on here is a very valuable one for a working mentalist, and with some creativity you can apply this concept in your own.

Normally with so many issues I would give this 2.5 stars with a Stone Status of grubble, and if it weren't for Peter Turner sort of saving the day, that is exactly the rating I would give. However, even though the ad copy missed on 2 out of 3 of the major claims, Peter's additions sort of make up for this. With that said . . .

Destination Review: Final Verdict:
3 Stars with a Stone Status of gem with one of the smallest g's I've ever given.

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