It’s midnight where I’m at. So guess what?
IT’S TENYO TUESDAY!
GET EXCITE!!!!
I wanted to do another review of another Tenyo that is friendly for kids to perform. I had about 7 of them lined up and I did ‘Psychic Money’ last week. The others had some idiosyncrasies that might make them unfavorable in some way shape or form such as: coin tricks potentially not being usable with foreign currency (by ‘foreign’, I mean ‘NOT Japan or USA’), tracking down a certain Tenyo (‘Clean Cut’ and ‘Cubio’/’Super Cubio’), and price (holy hell, ‘Clean Cut’ and ‘Super Cubio’…AGAIN!). So I went with the most absolute NEUTRAL, child-friendly-to-perform Tenyo and acquirable one I have on hand. So this week, we’re going with:
CRASH DICE
Inventor: Hiroshi Sawa
Year: 2006
Cost: $15-$25
Type of Effect: 1st effect: EXPLOSION!!!!!! 2nd effect: Color change
Skill Level: Beginner…oh so Beginner…Maybe Intermediate in there somewhere.
CONTENTS:
- 1 clear, transparent hexagonal plastic jar
- 1 black hexagonal lid
- 1 white die
- 1 red die
- 8 TINY TINY DICE
- 99 Luftballoons
EFFECT #1: The magician presents a white die in a jar and places the lid on the jar. The magician shakes the jar and the die moves around. But shakes the jar again, and the die EXPLODES!!!!!!!! into 8 tiny dice!
EFFECT #2: The magician presents a white die in a jar and places the lid on the jar. The magician shakes the jar and the die moves around. But shakes the jar again, and the die turns into a RED DIE….Or…..EXPLODES!!!!!! Into a RED DIE!
REVIEW:
All right, some of you are going to launch at me and say: ‘That’s pretty expensive or what it does. I can actually find this for cheaper!’
I won’t lie, you CAN find this for cheaper. But here’s where I get to drop an ACME anvil on your head for asking silly questions:
Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y-!-!-!-!
I mean sure, yes, go cheap and (pun intended) roll the dice with the integrity of the props AND the prop work consistently. Honestly, I’d rather go with quality and have to purchase it only once. It has been said that when it comes to magic, Tenyo is the mahogany of plastic.
That and this version is inspectable. Not sure if the cheaper brands can do that! Ha ha!
Here’s the thing, this is one of the fastest Tenyo to perform. The set-up is simple, the routine can be simple, and the execution is simple—yet extremely effective.
Because it’s so fast, it’s a bit of a challenge to actually create some sort of routine with it. This is assuming you want to go that route and go beyond the instructions, which the instruction routine, to me, seems a bit…meh…
I’ll provide a couple ideas to get the ball rolling. I mean, I’m going to perform on a volunteer basis only, not like I have any money riding on my ideas:
The one I use frequently is clearly stating that I’m going to change the color of the die and change it red. I heavily trump up what I’m going to do and then sneeze (because sneezing on command is FUN!). In this case, the die has accidentally exploded into 8 tiny dice. Then I act awkward about it, saying I broke the die. Then quietly put it away and pull out the next trick, acting 10 times more excited as if I have completely forgotten what just happened. Like a goldfish.
Now, the other handling I thought of requires a good handling of equivoque. The short of it goes like this: you present a few different colored dice to a spectator, they select one, then you change the die into the color they selected.
OR. You do the equivoque routine and have the dice explode. Then you begin to panic or react in a way that is appropriate to your character. At least, if you have thought enough about your character to act panicky.
One aspect that DOES help is that the red die that comes with ‘Crash Dice’ is a standard sized die. So you can get creative with your color changes by using different colored dice. I have some glow-in-the-dark white dice and told my kids that while the die is still white *turn off the lights* they put magic into the die.
The tiny dice?
Not so much, they’re so abnormally hard to find that you’ll have to buy a completely new ‘Crash Dice’ to replace those wacky little dice.
I believe there is a lot of versatility with this one. Its one of these props that if you think about it enough, you can come up with some neat routines. If you have a younger magician, this is a great one to get as the setup is easy and the execution is fantastic.
When I got it, I was surprised that my twins were going back and forth with it. I really did not expect it to be so child friendly and the effect be so popular.
WHO WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS TO?: For young magicians and adults and their Small Close-up shows! That’s it.
Without giving anything away, I will say that is not travel-friendly for you buskers and walk-around types.
‘Crash Dice’ is easy. The premise sounds simple, but I believe that there is a lot that that can be had in this little thing to give it a little extra push, as the VERY visual change of color or shape is an effect that CAN stand on its own. But there is absolutely no harm in going the distance and constructing a routine and getting more audience involvement…or performing this in a way that surprises your audience more.
I will say on my behalf, that this is one of two Tenyo tricks that has me saving up for some Max Maven DVDs for learning that oh so delicious equivoque.
It’s a thinking piece for those who like making routines, as it certainly has versatility. It’s expensive, considering that there are cheaper knockoff brands. But also consider, this Tenyo is still available and MOST ones available on the market go for this price…Notable exceptions aside.
IT’S TENYO TUESDAY!
GET EXCITE!!!!
I wanted to do another review of another Tenyo that is friendly for kids to perform. I had about 7 of them lined up and I did ‘Psychic Money’ last week. The others had some idiosyncrasies that might make them unfavorable in some way shape or form such as: coin tricks potentially not being usable with foreign currency (by ‘foreign’, I mean ‘NOT Japan or USA’), tracking down a certain Tenyo (‘Clean Cut’ and ‘Cubio’/’Super Cubio’), and price (holy hell, ‘Clean Cut’ and ‘Super Cubio’…AGAIN!). So I went with the most absolute NEUTRAL, child-friendly-to-perform Tenyo and acquirable one I have on hand. So this week, we’re going with:
CRASH DICE
Inventor: Hiroshi Sawa
Year: 2006
Cost: $15-$25
Type of Effect: 1st effect: EXPLOSION!!!!!! 2nd effect: Color change
Skill Level: Beginner…oh so Beginner…Maybe Intermediate in there somewhere.
CONTENTS:
- 1 clear, transparent hexagonal plastic jar
- 1 black hexagonal lid
- 1 white die
- 1 red die
- 8 TINY TINY DICE
- 99 Luftballoons
EFFECT #1: The magician presents a white die in a jar and places the lid on the jar. The magician shakes the jar and the die moves around. But shakes the jar again, and the die EXPLODES!!!!!!!! into 8 tiny dice!
EFFECT #2: The magician presents a white die in a jar and places the lid on the jar. The magician shakes the jar and the die moves around. But shakes the jar again, and the die turns into a RED DIE….Or…..EXPLODES!!!!!! Into a RED DIE!
REVIEW:
All right, some of you are going to launch at me and say: ‘That’s pretty expensive or what it does. I can actually find this for cheaper!’
I won’t lie, you CAN find this for cheaper. But here’s where I get to drop an ACME anvil on your head for asking silly questions:
Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y-!-!-!-!
I mean sure, yes, go cheap and (pun intended) roll the dice with the integrity of the props AND the prop work consistently. Honestly, I’d rather go with quality and have to purchase it only once. It has been said that when it comes to magic, Tenyo is the mahogany of plastic.
That and this version is inspectable. Not sure if the cheaper brands can do that! Ha ha!
Here’s the thing, this is one of the fastest Tenyo to perform. The set-up is simple, the routine can be simple, and the execution is simple—yet extremely effective.
Because it’s so fast, it’s a bit of a challenge to actually create some sort of routine with it. This is assuming you want to go that route and go beyond the instructions, which the instruction routine, to me, seems a bit…meh…
I’ll provide a couple ideas to get the ball rolling. I mean, I’m going to perform on a volunteer basis only, not like I have any money riding on my ideas:
The one I use frequently is clearly stating that I’m going to change the color of the die and change it red. I heavily trump up what I’m going to do and then sneeze (because sneezing on command is FUN!). In this case, the die has accidentally exploded into 8 tiny dice. Then I act awkward about it, saying I broke the die. Then quietly put it away and pull out the next trick, acting 10 times more excited as if I have completely forgotten what just happened. Like a goldfish.
Now, the other handling I thought of requires a good handling of equivoque. The short of it goes like this: you present a few different colored dice to a spectator, they select one, then you change the die into the color they selected.
OR. You do the equivoque routine and have the dice explode. Then you begin to panic or react in a way that is appropriate to your character. At least, if you have thought enough about your character to act panicky.
One aspect that DOES help is that the red die that comes with ‘Crash Dice’ is a standard sized die. So you can get creative with your color changes by using different colored dice. I have some glow-in-the-dark white dice and told my kids that while the die is still white *turn off the lights* they put magic into the die.
The tiny dice?
Not so much, they’re so abnormally hard to find that you’ll have to buy a completely new ‘Crash Dice’ to replace those wacky little dice.
I believe there is a lot of versatility with this one. Its one of these props that if you think about it enough, you can come up with some neat routines. If you have a younger magician, this is a great one to get as the setup is easy and the execution is fantastic.
When I got it, I was surprised that my twins were going back and forth with it. I really did not expect it to be so child friendly and the effect be so popular.
WHO WOULD I RECOMMEND THIS TO?: For young magicians and adults and their Small Close-up shows! That’s it.
Without giving anything away, I will say that is not travel-friendly for you buskers and walk-around types.
‘Crash Dice’ is easy. The premise sounds simple, but I believe that there is a lot that that can be had in this little thing to give it a little extra push, as the VERY visual change of color or shape is an effect that CAN stand on its own. But there is absolutely no harm in going the distance and constructing a routine and getting more audience involvement…or performing this in a way that surprises your audience more.
I will say on my behalf, that this is one of two Tenyo tricks that has me saving up for some Max Maven DVDs for learning that oh so delicious equivoque.
It’s a thinking piece for those who like making routines, as it certainly has versatility. It’s expensive, considering that there are cheaper knockoff brands. But also consider, this Tenyo is still available and MOST ones available on the market go for this price…Notable exceptions aside.
