FUN on TV!

Chicago's WCIU-TV dropped by the FUN compound to film a segment for their morning show. Here it is!

NEW! Bernstein's Linking Pin Routine

Honed to perfection over nearly three decades, the Bernstein Linking Pin Routine is as sharp and mystifying an effect as you will ever see.

The magician links two large safety pins together, fairly and plainly. On his command, the pins visibly and slowly melt apart. The unlinking of the pins actually looks like trick photography. The effect is repeated - the pins unlink again - and the illusion looks just as baffling as it did the first time.

The pins are then caused to magically link together in a seemingly impossible manner. One moment the two are separate, and the next, they are linked.

Finally, an ungimmicked finger ring is legitimately locked onto one of the pins. Despite the fairness of the proceedings, the ring melts off of the pin it was locked on. At the same moment the two pins link together, in full view, inches from the spectators.

At the conclusion of the routine, everything can be examined. There's nothing to find!

The Bernstein Linking Pin Routine requires no specially manufactured gaffs and no complicated sleight-of-hand. Nothing is switched in or out. All that's required are the two pins and a finger ring. There are no external gimmicks. It's ready any time.

Included inside are all necessary props and media: two, specially selected and hand-adjusted three-inch safety pins, a broadcast-quality instructional DVD featuring Bernstein's performance and explanation, and a 17"x22" poster (no page turning required!) with clear line drawings to make learning easy.

Words from those who know:

Hank Moorehouse: "From A to Z - the best linking pin routine I've ever seen."

Phil Wilmarth: "Here is a superb four-part routine... The final phase is a wonderful visual unlinking of a spectator's finger ring from a pin as a separate pin immediately links to the very same pin the ring just left. Bruce also explains how to pass the pins out for examination, upon completion of the routine, without switches. It's a fooler of a routine, yet is no that difficult to do."

Barrie Richardson: "Bruce Bernstein's Linking Pin Routine is one of the most astonishing and entertaining effects on this planet - period!"

FUN Inc. and USPCC Continue to Produce Bicycle Gaffs

For Immediate Release
August 30, 2010

FUN INCORPORATED AND U.S. PLAYING CARD COMPANY
CONTINUE TO PRODUCE BICYCLE GAFF CARDS

FUN Incorporated, America’s largest magic manufacturer, and the U.S. Playing Card Company will continue to produce and distribute gaffed decks and cards on Bicycle 808 Rider Back cards.

“Magicians can rest easy knowing that Bicycle cards will not be supplanted anytime soon,” said Graham Putnam, President of FUN Inc.

All standard Bicycle Rider back gaff cards, including Double-backed, Blank Face, double-face, and Blank Back cards will still be produced by U.S. Playing Card. FUN Inc. has made a substantial investment in these cards to insure that they will remain available through its worldwide network of retailers.

Though recent policy changes at USPCC have limited magicians’ abilities to alter the Rider Back design, these changes will not hinder the production of the most popular gaffed cards. Undoubtedly, the Bicycle gaffs so important to magicians will remain available for years to come.
“FUN will continue making Svengali, Stripper, Invisible, and various other gaffed decks on Rider backs, too,” Putnam added. “Our production methods ensure that all our trick decks meet high standards of quality. Just as importantly, is the fact that they will still be offered on the world’s most popular playing card back design,” he added.

FUN will also continue producing short runs of custom-made gaffed cards on Bicycle Rider backs, a service it has provided to the magic industry for decades. The company counts many of the industry’s most creative minds among its customers, having produced trick cards for nearly every popular cardician of the last 20 years, both domestically and abroad. A wide assortment of modified faces, backs and specially designed cards are regularly produced in the company’s 50,000 square foot Chicago factory.

Contact: John Sturk
Tel: (773) 745-3837
Email: john@funinc.com
-###-

Take cover from the Mandolin Rain!

The big question: Will the new back design replace the classic 808 Bicycle Backs as the standard among magicians?

The answer: Absolutely not.

FACT: FUN Inc. will continue to make gaffed decks from classic Bicycle Backs.

This includes Svengali, Stripper, Invisible, Brainwave, Split Decks, Mirage, Mental Photography, Cheek-to-Cheek, Mene Tekel, and Pop-Eyed Popper. This means we will continue to carry the full assortment of Double Backers, Double Facers, Blank Backers, Blank Facers and Double Blanks.

FACT: FUN Inc.'s screenprinting department makes Bicycle Backs alterable.

Do you need a customized design? We can do it. Our silkscreen department can print what you want, and in much smaller quantities than what other companies would require.

We can't say "Bicycles are back." They never left.

Order today!

What Bicycle Decks are available from FUN Inc?

✔ Svengali
✔ Stripper
✔ Mental Photography
✔ Invisible
✔ Brainwave
✔ Mirage
✔ Split Deck
✔ Cheek-to-Cheek
✔ Mene Tekel
✔ Pop-Eyed Popper

✔ Double Backer
✔ Double Facer
✔ Blank Backer
✔ Blank Facer
✔ Double Blank

✔ Your Custom Design

Infinity Deck - One Deck to Rule them All

Tomás was doing his reading last night, and found his way into "Experience: The Magic of Jon Allen." Inside, he discovered Jon's FISM routine with something called the Infinity Deck.

That's when the (Floating?) Lightbulb went off. "Hey, we still make that trick," thought Tomás. Perhaps we can take the opportunity to supplement the release of this book with renewed push on the Infinity Deck!"

So here it is!

The Infinity Deck is like no other deck of cards! Many gimmicked decks enable you to perform only one effect or many similar effects. This revolutionary deck of cards enables you to perform a variety of different effects without the need for difficult sleight-of-hand! Enclosed are instructions for various effects covering peeks, reversals, think-a-card, visual changes, transpositions and mentalism. All this without the use of breaks, crimps, side-steals, passes, top changes, jogs, glides or false shuffles!

Also enclosed is Triumphinity - the routine from creator Jon Allen’s IBM award winning act! It is the easiest and most effective triumph routine you will ever perform! No other deck of cards manages the variety of effects with a minimum amount of skill required. You will be able to master this deck in just a few minutes!

Sturk's Debut Project

Well friends, your prodding has paid off, and a new post to the blog will be my way of saying Happy New Year!

I'm particularly excited now, because we are ready to put the finishing touches on my debut project, called "Unconquered: Mastering the Three Card Monte." I'll be teaching three different versions of Deland's original PickItOut card routine, two with poker-sized cards, and a third using jumbo cards. Look for a trailer coming soon!

Second, we've got a new project in the works from David Solomon and his take on the classic Oil and Water plot. This one's a fooler for sure! If you're not familiar with Mr. Solomon, you may want to take a look at his two previous releases with FUN Inc., Knaves Gone Wild (one of Tomás' favorite tricks) and Thoughts Across.

Aside from these new DVD releases, I've been working busily on some technical changes to the FUN Inc website, including moving to a new, more reliable host server which will improve our website's speed. I can already hear the industry's collective sigh of relief.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to make it to a big magic convention this year outside of the Midwest circuit. IBM? SAM? Maybe even Blackpool? If you've got a suggestion, let me know in the comments.

Kostya Kimlat products!

With all the hoopla surrounding the return of Fart-Toon, I nearly forgot to mention the addition of products from Kostya Kimlat!

Kostya is a triple-threat: he's young, talented, and good-looking, which just makes me hate him more (j/k KK!).

The truth is, despite his young age, he's widely recognized as a true authority on card magic. His magnum opus (thus far) is his Roadrunner Cull DVD. I first saw Kostya perform back in '04 at the Motor City Close-Up convention. He demonstrated his culling technique, and not a single person was unimpressed. At the time, his cull notes were only written up in lecture notes, and while they were well written, video is the perfect medium for learning such a complicated and versatile sleight.

We also have 2 of Kostya's works available on CD-ROM in e-book formats. Card Work, Card Play includes PDF files along with video files, so you'll be able to see the sleights and tricks described, and keep the PDF files to print or add to your mobile device for on-the-go learning. We also have a double-dose of Kostya with the No Card Tricks/Post-It Prestidigitation CD-ROM, combining two e-books onto one disc in PDF format. I love that Kostya is a diverse magical talent and branches away from cards to become an all-around magic entertainer.

For the time being, Kostya's not giving any of these products to any other distributor. The only place you can find them right now is at FUN Incorporated! Act fast - supplies are limited!

Fart-Toon Returns!

We've had a lot of requests about this trick - but decided to re-release it anyway!

Quite possibly the world's most offensive card trick, Fart-Toon is back! The hilarious sequel comes from the creator of the original Card-Toon, Dan Harlan, along with Scott Alexander.

Instead of finding a selected card by shooting out of a cannon or pulling it from his hat, the world's most famous stick-figure magician devours a taco supreme (with extra hot sauce!), then emits a gaseous cloud from his rear end, with the card revealed among the toxic fumes!

Take a look at it here!

Rune Klan on Danish TV!

Rune Klan has been performing in his own television show broadcast on the Danish TV network Channel 5.

None of us here speak Danish, but it certainly was a surprise when we saw Rune using FUN Inc-made Super Signal on national television!

How do we know this? Because on the back, you can clearly see the logo from 2008's combined SAM/IBM Convention, and FUN was the exclusive manufacturer for the magic kits received by all the registrants, including...

FUN Incorporated: The Choice of Professionals!

NPR's Carl Kasell Does Magic

Roaming around the interwebs, I ran across a YouTube video of legendary NPR newsman Carl Kasell performing Scotch and Soda. Kasell has been the voice of NPR's morning newscasts for years, but most may know him as the announcer/scorekeeper for NPR's news quiz show, "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!" which is recorded weekly right here in Chicago.

I need to make it down to a taping one of these days...

Warning comes Sept 18th!

Kostya Kimlat's WARNING caused a sensation at the recent MAGIC Live convention. It will soon be available to dealers worldwide exclusively through FUN Inc!

WARNING will be available to dealers starting this Friday, September 18. Get your orders in fast, people - this one's going to go quick!

Here's the official scoop:

WARNING is an incredible new magic effect that is fast, visual, direct and amazing. Pick up a lighter, peel off the "warning" sticker, light it, and in a flash of fire the sticker has instantly returned to the lighter! WARNING is easy to learn, fun to practice, and addicting to perform. A completely organic magic trick that will get screams from your audience, WARNING "generates waves of excitement without you having to say a single word!"

It's the perfect ice breaker for any magician, a stunning close-up trick for the bar, street, banquet or corporate boardroom.

Reviews from Professionals

"Visually Stunning!" - David Williamson

"...The impossible in a nanosecond." - David Regal

"So off the wall and visual - what a great idea!" -Chad Long

"Fun, fantastic, f@$&!#% unbelievable!" - Daniel Garcia

"Generate waves of excitement without saying a single word!" - Gregory Wilson

"Organic and Logical. It's as perfect for a dark, loud bar as for an elegant dinner party." -Michael Ammar

"!WARNING is visual, direct, easy to do and looks like magic. It's going into my repertoire right now." - Joshua Jay

John & Tomas on iTricks Clinic TONIGHT!

Tomas and I are the special guests on iTricks clinic tonight, broadcasting live over the web at 8 pm Eastern/7 pm Central.

Tune in, ask us questions. After the introduction, we don't have any material prepared, so help us keep it going!

Click here to view!

Coming Soon: Steve Fearson Exclusives!

I had been holding back on some really good news, and I'm finally ready to announce it: FUN Inc will now be the exclusive distributor for items from Steve Fearson!

Steve is the man behind the Fearson Thread Hookup, Fearson's Fantastic Floatation, and the brains behind David Copperfield's Laser Illusion.

We're very excited to be working with Steve. We'll be bringing two of his products, the Master Levitation System and his Legend DVD to the FUN Inc website very soon. Stay with us for the latest developments!

The ORIGINAL Easy Money

In the last few years, there's been a deluge of releases of the same effect - Turning $1 bills into $100 bills. All of these recent releases all vary in method, but all are based on one original idea: Patrick Page's Easy Money.

Finally, we are able to release to the magic community a DVD featuring noted magician and author John Lovick. Lovick's book "Switch" reads like a complete treatise on magic with bills, so he was a natural choice to host this program.

John goes into great detail on how to perform the trick, how to construct the gimmick, and includes a bonus of his Slow Motion Bill Transposition. This broadcast quality DVD includes over-the-shoulder angles to make following along as simple as possible.

Now available at a dealer near you!

Sometimes Inspiration Strikes

...and you just have to write it down. A challenge to create a magic-related limerick was posted on a forum, so I came up with a little ditty:

I love to do magic for all.

"It was fun," I'll always recall,

but the fun quickly stops

when my chop cup gets dropped

and I have to go chasing the ball!

/fridaysilliness.

Sturk makes the rounds

My new side gig working on The Newest TOPS seems to have generated some interest out in the magic blogosophere. I just completed interviews with both iTricks.com and The Magic Newswire. Take a listen if you want to hear me pontificating on modern conjuring!

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Musical odes to magic

People are inspired to write songs by all sorts of things. Love and relationships, automobiles, locations... but a magic trick?

After finishing our show "Short Guys With Glasses" this past Saturday, Tomas was approached by a man who had seen him before. About 10 years ago, in fact, where Tomas performed The Tic Tac Trick - wherein Tomas shoves 3 Tic Tacs into different facial orifaces and procedes to cough them up (you can find the method to this madness on Tomas' Geek Magic DVD).

Anyway, this incident 10 years ago inspired the man, who was part of a band at the time, to pen a ditty about Tomas' performance.

So here it is, ladies and gentlemen: Download The Tic Tac Trick mp3.

This tune opens the door for all sorts of songs about magic tricks. I can hear it now..."it's the egg bag trick...it's the egg bag trick"...

Spin Out!

Our friends at The Magic Apple have released a new DVD project: Spin Out.

Let's hit the basics: the material is solid, the video quality is top-notch, and the teaching is clear and concise. But I happen to think that this video is very funny. It a witty commentary on the state of some magic DVDs you see on the market these days.

Below is the official pitch:

A card is chosen then placed back in the deck. The deck is placed into the EMPTY card box. The box is tossed in to the air…then the magic happens! The deck is removed from the box and spread to reveal ONE card with a TWISTED, SPUN OUT image! The chosen card’s face and back have actually been twisted 720 degrees! There are NO DUPLICATE cards seen in the deck. The Spin Out card can be examined! Even given as a souvenir. This is just one of the FOUR DIFFERENT VERSIONS of Spin Out! Not only will you lean these great effects, but the tools needed to perform them are described in great detail!

Card + Spin = Spin Out.

"Wow!..I wish I'd thought of it!" - Daryl, The Magician's Magician

"Could be the greatest card revolution ever" - Bob Postelnik, creator of Devil's Doorway

"...it is so Unique." Tony Clark

"This is one VERY creative and EXTREMELY visual card trick" - Shoot Ogawa

Michael Caine's "Is Anybody There?"

For those of you who saw the cover of this month's Genii, Michael Caine stars in a new movie about an aging magician. I was able to catch the film this past weekend, and recommend it highly. If you expect to go and geek out on magic, don't; there's precious little magic in it. Instead, you should go because it's a well-crafted story and beautifully acted by Caine and his 10-year-old co-star, Bill Millner.