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Tab Test Review

One 18 minute DVD, four gimmicks, $30 bucks and one Tab Test Review. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.

Tab Test Review: Effect

You briefly show the tab of your card box to the spectator so she can think of a word on the tab. You "read her mind" and tell her what word she's thinking of.

Tab Test Review: Method

The method involves a gimmick, some very specific instructions for the spectator and little word play. You are supplied four gimmicks, two for a red box and two for a blue box. Having two gimmicks allows you to perform the effect a second time. However, there is some "removing of one gimmick and adding the other gimmick" involved (more on that in the product quality section and the ad copy section).There are a few issues with the method that we need to address. First, you must give your spectator very, very, very specific instructions (more on this in the ad copy section). Second, you must flash the card box "tab" at them for about one second, barely long enough for them to see the words (more on this in the ad copy section). Third, the spectator will, likely, want to examine the card box at the end of the effect (more on this in the ad copy section).

Fourth, this is not something that you can just do anytime you have your card box with you. There is a quick (very, very, very quick) set up required right before performing the effect. Further, the handling and instructions to the spectator are restrictive and suspect. I've only performed it a few times, but here's what happened. One performance totally fooled the spectator. On another occasion, the spectator immediately took a guess at the method and she was wrong. However, the only way to prove her wrong would be to let her look at the tab again which is not possible without exposing the method. In two other cases, the spectator did not properly follow the instructions.

I'll be the first to admit that maybe I didn't do a good job performing it. However, I'm an experienced performer with audience management skills, and — more importantly — I followed his instructions to the letter.

The one thing, however, that surprised me is that the one thing I suspected people would notice, went un-noticed. So there is credibility in the gimmick. However, if the wording and directions to the spectator are not done perfectly and/or if the spectator can't/won't follow the instructions, you have a fail on your hands. That said, I think that the method is valid. It's just a matter of finding the perfect script and the right participant. For those reasons, this is definitely not a beginners trick. More like intermediate to advanced.

Tab Test Review: Ad Copy Integrity

This is where everything falls apart. It's a mess, so let's just dive in and see.

Tab Test Review: Written Ad Copy

Claim: "The unique gimmicks included means there is no fishing involved and the effect is very easy to perform!"

Regarding the claim that it's "easy to perform," see the details above in the method section. I'll say that the physical handling of the gimmick is easy, but properly instructing, chosing and managing the spectator is a little more "not easy."

The big issue with the above claim, however, is the claim that there's no fishing. There is definitely fishing. It's different from the fishing you may be familiar with, but it's still fishing. It's silent fishing, but it's fishing.

Tab Test Review: Package Ad Copy

Claim: "Your spectator thinks of any word on the TAB of a card case. With no fishing you instantly reveal their thought of word. Anytime - Anywhere - No Books Required!" Emphasis mine.

First, the spectator cannot think of any word. Take a look at the image below. I've blocked out part of the tab to protect the method. However, all of the text that is shown (i.e, "Ace of Spades", "THE FOX PLAYING CARD CO", "CINCINNATI, OHIO 45272" & "U S A") are words they are NOT allowed to choose. That's about half of the words on the tab. The instructions tell us to specifically point out those words to the spectator and tell them not to select them.

Next, the claim of anytime and anywhere . . . well . . . if you have your deck of cards AND the gimmick, then yes, that's true. However, keep in mind that the gimmick is something extra that you do have to carry around, and no tips are giving on how to do that (more on that in the product quality section).

Tab Test Review: Video Ad Trailer

About ten seconds in, he reveals that the spectator was thinking of the word "Design." What you don't see is the fishing part of that reveal that was shown on the purchased DVD. Next at about 20 seconds in there is a graphic on the screen that says, "Start Clean / End Clean." This is simply not true. First, you don't start clean. You start with a gimmick on your deck that you have to hold in place manually. There is no information taught, whatsoever, on how to get into this position (more on that in the product quality section).

Next, you sort of end clean. After you've read their mind, you steal off the gimmick and can place the card box on the table. Wayne Fox specifically says, on the DVD, that he does not recommend letting the spectator look at the card box because they might notice that their thought of word is no longer there. He then proceeds to tell us that if they do look and they do notice their word is missing, you can play it off like you forced them to think of that word and that the box was just a distraction.

However, this only works if you happen to be performing the handling where a prediction was made (rather than mind reading). About 36 seconds in, he again makes the claim that the box is fully examinable at the end of the routine. Again, while that's technically true (assuming you stole off the gimmick), it's not advisable due to the above mentioned issue about their thought of word "vanishing."

At about 40 seconds in, he says that the spectator can look at any single word on the tab box. I'm biting my tongue right now and trying really hard not to say "That is a Lie!" Instead, I'll opt for the slightly less rude, "That is simply not true." At about 48 seconds in, you see a clip of him showing the spectator the card box. The camera then cuts away. That could lead one to believe that the spectators get a chance to look at the card box longer than they actually do. The moment the camera cut was the exact moment that Wayne Fox snatched the box away from their eyes.

In all but one of the performances I did, every single person asked me to show them the box again after the first show. I had to flash it to them twice. However, if you leave it in their vision for too long, they WILL spot the secret. At 51 seconds we get the "no fishing" claim again. 56 seconds in we see the same clip from the beginning where they conveniently left off the fishing.

Next at the 1 minute mark with have "multiple revelations taught in detail" as a text overlay. There are few revelations, but nothing was taught in detail (more on that in the product quality section). The whole DVD is only 18 minutes.

Lastly, the last second clip of the ad trailer is Wayne Fox performing and asking if she wants to do it again. Even in the full performance shown at the beginning of the purchased DVD, he shows a full performance of that where he repeats the effect, but nothing is ever taught on the DVD regarding a repeat.

Tab Test Review: Product Quality

We've got three things to cover, production value, gimmicks and teaching. Two of them are easy. The production value is excellent. Easy to navigate; good lighting, audio, etc. The gimmicks are also well made. There are no moving parts. They're simple and look good. They are made out the same material as your card box.

The teaching, however, is a problem. First, let's address the couple of items from above that I said I'd handle down here in the product quality section. At the beginning of the review, I mentioned that the gimmick has to be loaded and unloaded in order to pull this off, and that if you are going to repeat the effect, you have to unload one and load another one.

Nowhere on the DVD does he teach you how to get the gimmick into play. It's not a huge overly complicated thing to do. However, once it's in play, you must hold the deck in your own hands, and you must hold it in a very specific way to keep the gimmick properly in place. He gives absolutely no tips on how to do this whatsoever. Not only does he not teach you how to ring the gimmick in, but he, further, does not teach anything about doing the trick twice even though it's alluded to in the ad copy and performed on the DVD. Also, the revelation he used in one of the DVD performances was not taught. In fact, only two revelations were taught, not "multiple" as stated in the ad copy. The very definition of multiple specifically states that it relates to "several" of something. The definition of "several" is more than two.

During the explanation, he had the gimmick loaded on his box which was sitting on the table. He then picked it up and went into the effect. Due to the nature of the gimmick, you can't just leave it sitting on the table. The gimmick is exposed if you do this. He then says that he'll get to how to put the gimmick on the box later, but later never comes.

Next, nothing is taught about caring for the gimmick, how to carry it, when and how to bring it into play, etc. Granted, some of these things are realtively simple, but if you're going to claim that it's taught in detail, then teach it in detail. While you're at it, give us some pro tips. If this really is something he performs all the time, then he's got stories, tips, tricks, nuances, subtlties, times that it failed, times that it fried, etc., etc.

I once reviewed a product that had a similar problem where there was very little detail in the instructions. When I posted the review on Facebook, the creator's response was that he expects people to "use their brains" and therefore didn't feel the need to give detailed instructions. Well then what the heck are we paying for? Why not just put the gimmick in an envelope and let the rest of us dolts stumble our way through out stupidity and try to "use our brains."

To be fair, Wayne Fox made no such statement. However, I'm attempting to make it clear that there is no excuse for not teaching in detail, especially when the ad copy claims that you're doing so.

When it comes to the teaching of various revelations, again there was no depth. There was one taught that requires you to possibly switch a business card for another one in your pocket. For this, you have one card in your shirt pocket and one sticking out of your shirt pocket. In the video when he talks about switching the one sticking out of the pocket for the one inside the pocket, he says, to pretend like the business cards falls into your pocket and then when you reach back in to retrieve it, you pull out the other card that was hidden in there. However, he doesn't show us how to do that. Instead, he blatantly pushes the exposed card into the pocket and removes the other one. It's a blatant switch that wouldn't fool my four year old. I like the idea of "accidentally" dropping it, but he never teaches it.

Wayne Fox mentions that there is some dual reality going on during the performance. I'm not sure he knows what that means. There isn't any dual reality. Dual reality usually refers to a situation when the main spectator has a different interpretation of the events. Well, if that's going on in this effect, I don't know where it's happening, and he never bothered to share that with us.

Tab Test Review: Final Thoughts

Let's try to sum up this mess of a Tab Test Review. First, the effect is not as clear/clean as stated in the ad copy. So I can't use my standard line of "if you like this effect, then you will (or won't) like this." Regarding the method, well . . . the part that I thought wouldn't work actually does work, but everything else is iffy and too specific at best. However, let's say that a good performer can overcome that.

Then we're left with two things. How well is it taught? Is it what they said it was? Well, it's not taught well. Way too many details were left out. Just the simple handling of the gimmick was left out. In fact, in one section of the DVD, he said to not worry about getting the gimmick on to the box for now, but to just focus on using the gimmick. The implication (or at least my inference) was "don't worry about it right now, we'll get to it later."

So, was the "stuff" taught well? Not really. The basic method for directly the spectator was spoken. I don't know that it was taught. This is the kind of thing that has too many little nuances that need to be addressed from a position of experience. I'm assuming he has the experience (i.e., he's performed this and learned from his mistakes), so why not share this with us?

Finally, is it what they claim? No. Read the ad copy section if you're unsure why I said no. The only thing that somewhat redeems this product is the fact that one particular part of the method is somewhat deceptive, and with the right verbiage and audience management, this can be performed successfully. The problem is that you'll most likely have to learn through trial and error rather than learning from the guy you paid $30 bucks to teach you.

Tab Test Review - Final Verdict:
2 Stars with a Stone Status of grubble with a very small 'g' that you'll only see for a split second before it's yanked out of your vision.

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