Trifecta - Simon Lipkin and the 1914
$30.00 (download)
https://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=75046

The Hype:

Trifecta is a trilogy of powerful, practical mentalism for close-up and parlour performances.

Simon Lipkin is a professional actor with a love for mentalism. He thinks deeply about the powers he presents to create believable and personable performance pieces with entertainment at their core. In this hour-long tutorial, Simon is going to share with you three of his easy-to-do, high-impact, signature mentalism effects.

Word Heist

A word is freely chosen from a pocket dictionary and written on the back of a business card. A special gimmick (which can be made in under five seconds) will deliver the information directly into your line of sight in a devious-yet-justified manner. This is the cheekiest book test we've ever seen!

Post It Prediction

Do psychic powers exist? Or is it all just coincidence? These questions are explored and left unsolved, until a folded up Post It note is removed from an envelope, correctly predicting a piece of information the performer couldn't possibly have known! This is a clever, close-up prediction system that allows you to predict almost anything.

Many Happy Returns

Have you ever forgotten someone's birthday? Of course you have (and it sucks). In Many Happy Returns you proudly assert that you no longer forget anyone's birthday because you have memorised the birthdays of everyone you know (over 50)! After you successfully prove this claim, you take it one step further and correctly divine the exact birthday of your spectator! This routine, despite its premise, requires no memory work, no special stacks and no cribs. Everything is completely examinable and justified, and it instantly resets. This effect alone is worth the price of the download and the reactions it receives are insane.

Simon Lipkin is fast becoming one to watch in the magic and mentalism space. We have more projects with him coming out in the near future so grab Trifecta today to experience your first slice of his wacky-and-wonderful mind.

My Take:
The first thing that caught my eye was that Simon had partnered with the 1914. Everything I have seen from that company has been both great magic and great design, so I was looking forward to watching the instruction which is via eight downloadable videos.

To begin with, Simon seems to be a very funny chap. The videos start off with a disclaimer. Simon says this was supposed to be a musical but unfortunately they ran out of money so we will have to be happy just learning mentalism. I have found a lot of mentalism videos to be way too serious. Sure, you are taught some great techniques but did you really have fun learning them? Simon makes sure you do.

The 1914 has made a reputation for quality products and this is no exception. Simon's volunteer for the series is Dee Christopher, who has a strong mentalism resume himself.

This is an exceptional value. I have seen lesser routines sell singly for more than the thirty bucks you are paying here. Good mentalism is not cheap. (Price some of Docc Hilford's releases). These routines are well taught and the instruction will not only give you some powerful tools but keep you smiling while you are learning. Plus, they are easy to do and require no memorization.

Here is what you will learn (and I guarantee you will use these),

Word Heist - I have always been a big fan of book tests. I once did walkaround at a dinner at a magic convention using my MOABT. I managed to involve the entire table (about 8 people) and was told that they had never seen anyone use that type of trick for a walkaround. So, I know the power of a good word test. However, unlike MOABT, there is zero memorization required and you are not limited to which words can be chosen. Any word, any page in the dictionary can be chosen. The method is really clever and deceptive.

Post It Prediction - Your volunteer is shown the five Zener symbols and is told to think of one and a three digit number. You might not always get the symbol right but you will never miss on the number. Requires a simple gimmick that will take almost no time to construct. You definitely have everything you need sitting on your deck.

Many Happy Returns - You show your spectator a pile of cards with names on them. They pick any one and you give the birthday. (Looks like memorization but isn't.) After showing a few of these, you reveal your spectator's birthday. Can be done with a volunteer that you have never met before.

This is one video I believe I will be watching several times and actually using some of Simon's routines. If you do mentalism (or just want to learn some), this is a download you will want to purchase. Easy to do, fun and just as deceptive as a lot of the more complicated methods.

I would rank this as highly recommended and a must have,

I got this and I overall like it. But quickly, Word Heist 3/5, Postit Prediction 2/5, Many Happy Returns 6/5

In Word Heist, the method is good but the clean up needs to be improved. Still the method is very much usable.

In Post it Prediction, the gimmick is a bit cumbersome, the justification needs a bit of ironing and the clean up is really difficult.

Many Happy Returns is the best of the lot. I liked this a lot. A brilliant combo of multiple principles. This one effect is kind of worth the price of the entire package

Wondering if you can use word heist with his tricolour effect to make it more of a modular routine?