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Revolution Review
One gimmick, three specially printed cards, $35 bucks and one Revolution Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Revolution Review: Effect
Spin a playing card or a deck of cards (in the box) on your finger tip like a Harlem Globetrotter effortlessly spinning a B-ball.
Revolution Review: Method
You're supplied with a special gimmick that can be adapted to a deck of cards or a single (apparently) card. The gimmick can be set up to spin the "single" card and still be used for spinning the deck. You don't have to pick one or the other.
The rest of the method is mostly practice, and it will take a fair bit of practice to get good at this. Also, if you have fingertips that tend to crack due to being overly dry, you may struggle a little bit with this. It will actually be a bit painful. Even without the dry skin, there's a mild bit of pain involved . . . nothing major, but it's there. This will definitely take some patience, practice and knack, but it can be acquired.
There are also a few card routines taught that require the use of supplied specially printed cards. The techniques involved (other than spinning the deck) include relatively standard card moves. I would say that a fair amount of the material on here is for the intermediate (and above) magician.
Revolution Review: Ad Copy Integrity
Though the ad copy is just being cheeky with their "difficulty scale," I think their claim is a little off. They claim that it's easier than solving a Rubik's cube, raising one eyebrow or building a suspension bridge. Speaking as one who has done all three — granted, the bridge was a small scale model — and this is definitely harder than those three things. They also mention that this is easy to learn. That's a bit iffy too.
I think the concept is very simple, but "easy to learn" is a bit of a stretch. Like the pass with a deck of cards, the concept is simple, but learning to (properly) do it is not easy. Revolution, for me, fits that category (pass-like) enough that I feel saying it's "easy to learn" is a little bit inaccurate. However, everyone will be different, so it's hard to make a hard line call on this claim. Watch the ad trailer, but keep in mind that Greg Wilson is very, very good at this. It will take a lot of practice to get to that level.
Revolution Review: Product Quality
The production quality is excellent. Well lit, mic'd, filmed, etc. The video is stream-able and download-able. It's loaded with details and finer points and tips and more. You even get to watch Chris Oberle learn it in real time. The two of them work together and cover all the mistakes Oberle made while learning. This is taught in about as much depth as you can possibly teach something. Further, there are several bonus ideas, routines and effects taught as well.
Revolution Review: Final Thoughts
If you like the idea of being able to spin a deck of cards or a single card on your fingertip and you're willing to put in some time to get it right, you'll love this. The method is absolutely solid, doable and realistic and can be kept in your deck of cards at all times.
Final Verdict:
5 Stars with a Stone Status of GEM!
Available at your Favorite Magic Dealer. Dealer's see Murphy's Magic for details.
5 Comments
Yes, I agree with all of the above.
I have just received my “Revolution” and its actually extremely difficult to do.
Maintaining balance even with the Gimmick is tough and even if I did get this to spin without falling I doubt I will ever reach the dizzy heights of the 20 second spin that Greg Wilson achieves.
In fact, how does he get 20 seconds, the drag of the deck on the skin makes this impossible and you can’t (as Greg says himself) spin the deck to fast or it will just jump off the finger.
I doubt that the deck is NOT touching any part of his finger and that the gimmick alone is as this would require almost impossible dexterity to balance?
My best shot after 4 hours with it has been about 2 seconds.
I will continue to fiddle and adjust placement but I doubt in honesty that I will get anywhere near being able to use this in a performance and it will more than likely end up as yet another unused prop in a Magic drawer.
I’m with you, I can get the single card to spin quite well now, in fact about 10 seconds but I’m guessing by 12 seconds it would lose velocity anyway.
The deck however is a different ball game, after 2 weeks with it and practicing every day I can still not achieve anything over 3 or 4 seconds.
Why?
Well firstly as you rightly say, drag or friction slows the deck, secondly the deck is not square in the case and never will be as the cards have movementwithin the case.
Thirdly, spin it too fast and it will just fly off your finger.
So the question is this, has Greg kept something from us, perhaps his gimmick is a little longer and the deck does not contact his finger or nail at all, i don’t know, what I do know is that this is not about practice, I could do this for the rest of my days and I guarantee that I won’t get 20 seconds. I also guarantee that neither will anybody else.
If you do then lets see the video please.
Every day carry, to this day, since I put the time in after receiving it. I can say that about very few ‘tricks’ I do for my customers as I tend to rotate and always adding. It’s an opener and attention grabber. Another winner from Gregory and yet another great review from you Jeff.
That’s great, but how long is the spin of the deck 2 seconds or 20 seconds….?
Good question Gary I never timed it…until now. I can get 5 to 8 seconds which is plenty to give the impression that I actually have skill. It’s been 2 years since I’ve purchased Revolution but I do remember Greg saying that if you spin too long people might get suspicious something else is going on. Are you sure Greg spun the whole deck for that long? The single card is easy to get a long spin. The longest I got was an hour and a half. Ok, that last bit was a lie but you’re smiling now, right? 🙂