"Overlap" by Joshua Jay
Suggested Retail USD$35.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

Purely and simply, "Overlap", a card gimmick by Joshua Jay, is Theodore DeLand's "Phantom Card" on steroids.

Anyone who has ever bought a magic set has seen DeLand's gimmick -- likely without knowing it, I'll admit -- so I won't go into details about that. Suffice to say it's a great gimmick and a slick idea, but it was badly in need of some modernization and some fresh thinking.

Enter Joshua Jay and "Overlap".

Jay re-worked the original DeLand idea, creating a more natural looking gimmick. If that was all he did, everything would be good. But Jay didn't stop there. Instead of a single gimmick, Jay came up with several different flavors of the card, each one used for specific handlings and purposes. The result is an arsenal of gimmicked cards that can accomplish some gorgeous card magic.

But what good are the gimmicks without ideas and routines to go with them? Jay hits the ball out of the park with a book packed -- packed! -- with some twenty routines on almost 150 pages. You'll find very slick, very powerful versions of just about every classic card plot you can think of: assemblies, collectors, twistings, travelers... it's almost as if you can name a classic card plot, Jay's got a powerful piece to accomplish it.

And powerful really is the right word. The handlings are usually quite simple -- certainly within the realm of any card worker, even those just starting out if they've got the basics under their belt -- and with the gimmick, well, the routines don't get much more direct or stronger than in Jay's work.

To top things off, "Overlap" is more than just a couple of gimmicked cards and a book on how to use them: "Overlap" is a treatise, a dissertation, on using those gimmicks. The book is thick and crammed with photographs and ideas. The supplied gimmicks are numerous; you get seven poker-sized gimmicks (in a weird melange of red- and blue-backs), plus four jumbo-sized cards (one gimmicked, three not) for an extra routine. Then you get the performance-only DVD which is great for seeing some of the effects in action.

"Overlap", with extensive, specialized gimmicks and a virtual bible of effects and handlings, is one of those things that card workers will love and find several pieces good enough to work into their act.

I know I did.

"Overlap" by Joshua Jay
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

Practicality: 10
The gimmicks won't impede the deck from being used for other things and, since you're talking only adding a couple of cards here and taking away a card or two there, the modification to the deck is minor. Things like resets, angles and the like will depend on which one of the twenty-some-odd effects you do, but generally everything is perfectly practical.

Workmanship: 10
The gimmicks are gorgeously done on Bicycle stock.

Documentation: 10
Jay really outdid himself here. The documentation is incredibly thorough and encyclopedic. Big, big thumbs up here.

Effect: 10
With so many effects to choose from, the actual effect on spectators will vary, naturally. But there are no weak effects here and all of them pack a huge wallop.

Presentation: 10
It's all about the visuals and directness and Jay's routines have them in spades (no pun intended).

Shane