"CastleMaynia" by Andrew Mayne
Suggested Retail USD$15.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 8 Out of 10

"CastleMaynia", a new effect by the highly-creative Andrew Mayne, is a great idea, a unique production, and one of those things just waiting for a personal touch or two to take it to the next level.

Really, there's little to describe with this one. It's the classic "card castle" production, re-worked by Mayne (with the expected Mayne creativity) to make what usually is reserved for stage work easily done in close-up environments as well as the parlour and the stage. Mayne brings to the table a well-thought-out method of creating the castle so that as many cards are as visible as possible and yet the entire thing folds down to about the size of half a deck of cards. Once unfolded, the thing is big enough to make an impact: it's about thirteen inches high.

And there's little else to say about that. It's a card castle that works close-up; what else do you need to know?

Well, a few specifics, maybe.

"CastleMaynia" comes with an instruction DVD, a single sheet that serves more or less as a schematic to help you out a bit more if you need it (which you won't, but it was a great thought), and the card castle. You're in for some pretty complicated arts-and-crafts work here: you'll need nothing more than scissors and tape and a careful eye to the constructions instructions on the DVD. Mayne does a great job there, so you'll have no serious problems building this.

The castle itself is fairly fragile once you've got it built; that's the nature of the card castle no matter who made it or how it's made. However, Mayne's is made of a glossy, thick card stock that should last a good while with only a little re-taping here and there as needed (especially if you blow off Mayne's suggestion about which tape to use -- yeah, I'm guilty of that one). The only problem with "CastleMaynia" is getting the thing to open quickly, which is a bit "knacky"; until you get that down, though, you're going to lose some of the effect, the surprise, of the production.

Okay, "CastleMaynia" is well-taught and a good piece of construction. So after you've built it, what do you do with it? Mayne gives six routines on the disc, but they are more ideas than routines. Essentially, it's the typical use of the card castle: a weird production and/or a card revelation. Mayne supplies a good enough foundation to get you working with "CastleMaynia", but you're liable to find that's just not enough to satisfy you. Apply a little thought, do a little research, and you'll find there are a few ways of moving this one up the magical ladder a bit.

All in all, I really like "CastleMaynia". The appearance gets laughs if not gasps of astonishment or spectators genuflecting in my general direction. Add an extra touch or two and you can get a bit more out of it. But in the end it's a nice, surprising production item just waiting for you to use as you will.

"CastleMaynia" by Andrew Mayne
In a Blink: 8 Out of 10

Practicality: 9
It's a card castle that folds down to roughly the size of a half a deck of cards, making it a great fit for a pocket, wallet, or your favorite production device. Set-up and reset is as simple as refolding it and putting it away. After that, in terms of practicality, it's all up to you and what you do with this one.

Workmanship: 9
You'll have to build this yourself, but it's quite easy and the material Mayne supplies is extremely well made and should last quite a while with care (though you will have to "patch" it a bit from time to time).

Documentation: 10
Apart from a bit of schematic, the documentation is on DVD, well shot, and is Mayne as usual: wonderfully thorough and thoughtful. Even the slightly complicated directions on making the thing is easy to grasp. Big thumbs-up here.

Effect: 7
It all depends on what you do with it, of course, but the appearance of the castle is a surprise, a nice light moment of slight silliness, and it does get laughs and nice reactions. A better appearance would add to this one, but what you get is really good.

Presentation: 6
Again, it's all in what you use this one for. Mayne does a great job providing some nice starting ideas -- as a card revelation or surprise productions -- which are good enough to get you going, but you'll find yourself wanting to go beyond that foundation.

Shane

Available direct from your favorite dealer. Dealers, please contact Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc. toll-free at 1-800-853-7403 or visit Murphy's Magic Supplies website.