Allow your spectator to completely examine a case that is divided into three rooms, and have him screw three metal nuts and bolts into the case. Your spectator locks his own finger ring onto one of the end bolts. A transparent cover is slid onto the case so that the ring is impossible to remove. However, when you cover the box briefly with a handkerchief, the ring has magically jumped onto the middle bolt.
This trick requires no practice. There are three rooms inside of the case, and the ring is really locked into one room by a metal bolt. Despite these impossible conditions, the ring instantaneously jumps into the middle room. Even after examining the props, there is absolutely no way for your spectator to figure out this diabolical secret.
Development story:
In 1997, members of the Tenyo staff visited Angelo Carbone at his home in England, and were treated to many of his original magic creations. The first of his items that was released as a Tenyo product was "
Mini Morphosis." We were thoroughly enamored with the idea of accurately presenting a stage illusion in a miniature version. Another one of Carbone's creations that delighted us was Prison Box. The primary reason that this effect stood out lies in its highly deceptive qualities. Once we learned its surprising secret, we knew that this idea was one that Tenyo would be proud to incorporate into our product roster. As the idea was further developed, we added a locking system, and the product was released four years after our initial contact with this item.
The locking system that enables you to hand out the props for examination is one of the characteristics of Tenyo products. It is commonly accepted that the magician wants to end clean at the end of performing any magic trick. In other words, the props should be examinable by members of the audience.
The locking system that we have incorporated here may be technically defined as follows: "After the magic effect has been completed as a result of the prop being in a certain state, the prop is altered into a second state that disengages the main device from working any longer."
In other words, the trick itself would be entirely the same without incorporating a locking system, with the only difference being the inability to hand out the props for audience examination after the performance. In most instances, a locking system does not exist at the moment that the trick is invented, and such a system is added during the development process.
The first locking system released by Tenyo was incorporated in "
Soft Coins" (1981). In this item, a lock was engaged by pressing on a secret location of the case. Later, in "
X-Ray File", a locking system similar to the Hakone puzzle boxes was incorporated. An even more sophisticated locking system was used in
Crystal Cleaver," whereby the lock was automatically engaged at the end of the tricks performance. We incorporated a new concept in "Prison Box," whereby the movement of the clear panel during the course of the trick's performance automatically engages the locking system. This locking system was created by Shigeru Sugawara.
Angelo about Prison Box on Magic Café :
Let me explain the process for coming up with a Tenyo type trick - Prison Box to be more specific. Like most of my Tenyo creations, it all starts from a blank piece of paper. For Prison Box, I drew a rectangle on a piece of paper. I didn’t know where I was going with this just yet, but it was a starting point. There wasn’t enough information on the page so I made it more interesting by drawing two vertical lines in the rectangle. I then stepped back a bit and asked myself what is it? If I looked at it from a bird’s eye view it looks like a box divided into three sections. Are these sections hollow or solid? I didn’t know. If I looked at it from a side view it looked like a platform on a base supported by 4 legs. I still needed another element to make this random sketch go somewhere.
So I added a circle to the drawing. Now was this circle a ball or was it a ring? It could even be a tube if looked from above. Perhaps a straw? I decided it was a ball. So I thought to myself this is a drawing of a box divided into three sections with a ball in one section. What could the magic be? Well... the ball could go from one section to another. I immediately thought of the monkey bar effect of Acrobatic Silks. The monkey bar effect is where a three ropes are hanging from a bar and a ring is tied to an end rope. It jumps to the other end and then finally to the middle. Ok... so I could do the same effect with this ball. So I just need to get the ball to move from one section to the other. Either by false walls with secret openings or by taking out the ball and inserting a duplicate ball into another section. However I then started to think that it would not be that baffling if people were to think I had two balls. So I decided it had to be a unique item and went back to the possibility it could be a ring. A borrowed ring would be much better as they would know there would not be a duplicate in play. I then figured the ring had to be fixed in play as I didn’t want the ring rattling around inside a box as it could damage a stone. So I added the idea of rods to be inserted into each compartment and thread the ring on. This also made it more baffling as the ring would be trapped and seem even more impossible to escape. So I figured if the ring can’t come off the rod, then the rod would have to move. Etc, etc.
So that is it. From a simple geometric sketch I created Prison Box. To sum up, I draw various sketches and think outside the box and try to imagine what the objects I drew could be. Then I go on from there.
Trivia:
Did you know that there are two different versions of Prison Box? You may be noticed that there is a small detail that changes according to the copy that you have purchased. Some copies are provided with a golden ring while others with a silver ring!
Permettez au spectateur d'examiner complètement un coffret en plastique divisé en trois compartiments. Le spectateur visse maintenant trois écrous et boulons en métal à travers le coffret, un dans chaque compartiment. On en profite pour emprisonner la bague d'un spectateur sur un boulon d'une extrémité du coffret. Un couvercle transparent ferme la boîte, ainsi la bague demeure visible sur le boulon. La boîte est brièvement recouverte d'un foulard et lorsque le foulard est retiré, la bague a sauté magiquement sur le boulon du centre, puis sur le boulon de l'autre extrémité. Le matériel peut être examiné avant et après l'effet. un des mécanisme les plus ingénieux qui défiera l'intelligence des plus malin de vos spectateurs.
Histoire du développement:
En 1997, des membres de l'équipe Tenyo ont rendu visite à Angelo Carbone dans sa maison en Angleterre, et ils ont parlé de plusieurs de ses créations magiques. Le premier tour d'Angelo qui à été commercialisé par Tenyo était "
Mini-Morphosis". Nous avions été vraiment enthousiaste par l'idée de proposer une grande illusion en version miniature. Une autre création de Mr Carbone qui nous a fortement impressionné fut " Prison Box". La première raison était son coté mystérieux et extrêmement intriguant. Quand nous avons découvert l'incroyable secret utilisé dans ce tour nous avons tout de suite su que cette idée était typiquement le genre de tour que Tenyo serait fier d'incorporer dans sa collection. Comme l'idée était nouvelle et toujours en développement nous avons pu y ajouter un mécanisme de verrouillage et la production fut lancée 4 ans après notre premier contact avec ce tour.
Le système de verrouillage qui permet aux magiciens de laisser le matériel au spectateur pour être examiné est une des caractéristiques des produits Tenyo. Il est communément admis que les magiciens aiment pouvoir laisser le public examiner le matériel à la fin afin de renforcer le coté magique de l'effet.
Le système de verrouillage que nous avons incorporé ici peut être techniquement défini comme suit : Âpres que la présentation du tour soit terminée et que le matériel se retrouve dans une certaine configuration, le matériel change alors de configuration et ceci déclenche le dispositif principal de verrouillage et permet au truc de ne plus fonctionner. Autrement dit, le tour lui-même serait entièrement le même si le dispositif de verrouillage n'était pas présent et la seule différence serait que vous ne pourriez pas donner le matériel à examiner après la performance. Dans la plupart des cas il faut savoir que le dispositif de verrouillage n'existe pas lorsque que le tour est inventé, il est souvent ajouté plus tard au cour du développement.
Le tout premier système de verrouillage d'un tour produit par Tenyo fut incorporé dans "
Soft Coins" en 1981. Dans ce tour le verrouillage est engagé en pressant un bouton secret. Plus tard avec "
X-ray Files" une système similaire à celui que l'on peut trouver dans les boites casse têtes de type Hakone à été ajouté. Un système encore plus sophistiqué à été utilisé dans "
Crystal Cleaver", en effet dans ce tour le verrouillage est automatiquement engagé à la fin du tour. sans aucune intervention du magicien. Avec "Prison Box" nous avons à nouveau innové en intégrant un nouveau système avec lequel le mouvement du couvercle transparent, pendant le tour , engage automatiquement le système de verrouillage. Ce tout nouveau système à été crée par Shigeru Sugawara
.
Anecdote:
Savez vous qu'il existe deux versions différentes de Prison Box ? Vous avez peut être remarqué qu' Il y a un petit détail qui change d'un exemplaire à l'autre. Comme vous pouvez le voir sur les photos de package, certain exemplaires sont fourni avec une bague dorée tandis que d'autres avec une bague argentée !
