Boy oh boy...

before I start, I'll clarify a couple of things...I mainly buy things these days for novelty value, I look at something and think "ok, if I was doing this, it do xyz…" then, once a month or so, I'll pick something and buy it and see how close I get...anything I perform I come up with myself or I adapt a classic...

so this time around, it was Black Note... I had it figured out, but! I was also curious enough to buy it. I was very close. And I'm only writing this review because I'm a little dumfounded about a couple of things. Things which I think might be cultural, but maybe not...

what you get
black notepad with SMAGIC on it in gold! yup! your innocuous everyday pad (with kinda nice paper to be honest) has in bright shiny gold ink, SMAGIC on the front cover. ok I thought - I can recover it if the main gimmick is built into the pad.
The main gimmick is two things. And thankfully neither are dependent on having to use the supplied pad. you can house this in any pad you like. Phew!
The behind the scenes gimmick is easily replaceable too, you can get them on amazon, ebay and generally online.
the second gimmick, the thing the participants see and accept as something else, I think I could make with a little time and effort - its a shame you only get one of these, for the price I'd have thought you should get 5 of in my opinion. Because a) you don't need the pad supplied and b) the behind the scenes gimmick is so cheap to buy. BUt, you're buying the thought process and hardwork, so alls fair in love and magic (not really).

the main thing that confounded me was that they supply you specially printed out sheets of numbers, star signs and a few others that you then glue onto a sheet in the pad.

WHAAAT?!

So you're adding an extra layer of paper on top of a layer of paper. Why?! Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhy?! Anyway, you can ignore those, throw them in the bin, just draw them, either prior or live. You can very easily hide the gimmick that the punters will not know is a gimmick is small enough to be hidden by the thumb.

What are you doing?
basically, you show the pad, its got "stuff" on it. Star signs, numbers, names, whatever you like. Basically anything that someone can choose from. You encircle one, put your marker down, and then ask them to tell you their choice. You turn the pad over and it matches. That's it.

But with a bit of thinking, you can come up with interesting things to doodle and then have encircled. A voodoo doll drawing for example.

What I think
hmmmm, its a difficult one. They've wasted lots of things, the print outs, the pad, and its pricey overall, all things considered. And most importantly, you're using a digit to manipulate one of the gimmicks after they've given you the info. Which means....

yup...

It is the same as using a sw*mi unltimately...so it renders the whole thing moot...

however, with that said, part of me kinda likes this still and I'll be messing about with it for a while. I can see some potential in it, and I think it might benefit from being used with a dictionary test instead for starters. We'll see...

Oh and what I would say is, is that the visible gimmick does look excellent and is made very well. you'll need to take care of it as you only get one, and its thin, so you could bend or lose it if not stored properly.

for the price and all other factors, I'd give it 5/10 as it doesn't really solve a problem, or make anything easier, its just another approach to play with if you don't like sw*mi work.

Is this anything like Ray Piatt's gimmick? G*p pad I believe

Dunno, never seen it!

I remember it now, never owned one, always assumed it was a st#mp of some kind...

Erasable sharpie kind of does this too, in reverse. And I think the thing Bill is talking about is a tick. Even easier to find.

Yes, magnetic. Though I recall some one releasing rubbery-sticky ones too.

A thread with me, Iain and Bev! Throw back Thursday!

Hahaha we've all been on here waaaay too long. You're still to blame for my Post-It madness Bill! (and everything in general)

I do not know if this is still available - I suspect not - but Ray Piatt's gimmick is a very good and effective item.