"Scraper (Card Through Window)" by Cifer
Suggested Retail USD$30.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 2 Out of 10

"Scraper", a booklet by Cifer, is a different take on the neo-classic "card through window" plot, but in this case different doesn't mean better, or workable, or even magical.

Let's work that list backwards.

Taking a look at the effect highlights the problems with the whole "magical" question (you can see the demo video here).

A card is chosen from a deck (no force) and signed. The performer holds the card and the card case against the window so that the case is held on the outside of the window and the card inside. The performer then pushes the card against the window the releases the card which stays stuck to the window. The audience looks at the card and sees that it is now stuck to the outside of the window. The performer then scrapes the card off the window with the card case so the card ends up into the case. The case is now handed to the spectator who verifies the card in the case is their signed card.

Now, if you read that description and said to yourself in your most quizzical voice, "Huh?" then join the club: I did the same thing. I'll go further: I thought I read the ad copy wrong and had to read it again just to make sure I wasn't missing something (don't bother; we aren't).

What Cifer is missing here is what makes a "card through window" routine work as a piece of magic: clarity. In "Scraper", you're going from a card sticking to a window, to sticking on the other side of the window, to be scraped up in the card box, all of which gets handed to a spectator. With so much going on, the directness, the clarity, of the effect just goes out the window (sorry) along with the whole magic of the thing. It's no longer a penetration, where the spectator's question is "How did that card go through that window?", but something much weaker with the question popping in the spectator's heads being "How'd he put the stuff on the card to make it stick like that?"

Which, unfortunately, is exactly what spectator's will think, which brings us to the next problem with "Scraper": workability.

Oh, it works... mechanically at least. But as an effect, a trick, it fails. The method is simply way too obvious (and, for those spectators that do miss it, leaves a nice little reminder of the method behind just so no one is left in the dark with it). The handling is likewise obvious at times. Then there's the whole thing about bringing the card case into things which, using any kind of "magical logic", simply wouldn't be needed unless it's part of the working, but I won't hit that one too hard.

So what is "Scraper", really? It's a different take on "card through window", that's for sure. But for the money -- a vast sum of money for what you end up with -- "Scraper" is exceedingly weak in places and awful in others. Take the cash you would have spent here and pick up a good version of "card through window" (I love David Forrest's "CTW", but there are others out there).

As I write this, dealers are beginning to pull "Scraper" from their stock; what does that tell you?

Yep... told me the same thing.

"Scraper (Card Through Window)" by Cifer
In a Blink: 2 Out of 10

Material: 1
As "card through window" effects go, this is one and that's about all that can be said of it. The handling looks awkward, the working is obvious (even to the point of leaving behind parts of this in plain view), and the visuals completely lacking. This is one to leave on the dealer's shelf.

Quality: 3
It's obvious from the instructions that the writer is not a native English speaker and the mistakes in spelling and grammar are everywhere. Would it have been hard to find someone to edit this to make it more readable, clearer? I suppose the answer in this case is "yes".

Illustrations: 5
There are plenty of illustrations and they look fine, but the placement -- gathered at the back of the booklet -- is just wrong; you're in for a lot of page-flipping with this one.

Presentation: 1
For a "card through window" to be effective, it's got to be as clean in appearance as you can possibly get. Simply put, "Scraper" is the polar opposite of that and the result is something that simply isn't that magical.

Shane