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GPS Pack Nav

Meech, Oliver

Oliver Meech

(Based on 1 review)
Take your audience on a journey to amazement!

"I absolutely LOVE this trick - it will direct your audiences to astonishment!"
- Liam Montier

"What a lovely fun, engaging, commercial effect!"
- John Carey

GPS PackNav is a signed-card-to-impossible-location routine with a surprising modern twist.

A spectator selects a card and marks it on the face with their postcode/zip code. Now you bring out a 'GPS Pack Nav' - like an in-car navigation device but for playing cards. The spectator holds the GPS Pack Nav cards and reads out the directions, while you follow along with the deck to try and locate their card.

After a series of entertaining twists and turns, you turn over one card and... it's not theirs. Now for the genuinely surprising ending: the spectator turns over the 'You Have Reached Your Destination' card that they've been holding for most of the trick, and it's their marked card. They can keep the card as a souvenir, and you can continue on to the next stop of your magical mystifying tour. Cards custom-printed on Bicycle stock by USPCC Engaging presentational hook Built-in time misdirection Option to re-use selected cards No palming required No need for a table Quick reset Can be repeated with a different card Flexible props - cards can be arranged in different ways Can be used with poker decks of almost any back design Includes alternate chest-height handling and further ideas Comes with the 7 core GPS Pack Nav cards, 20 Destination cards, and clear DVD instructionsN.B. Roddy McGhie, creator of the similar-but-different 'Card Nav 2000' is aware of this release and is happy for the tricks to co-exist.

Reviews

James Sanden

Official Reviewer

Feb 22, 2023

GPS Pack Nav by Oliver Meech combines an intriguing premise with elements of a story trick (a la Sam the Bellhop), a four queen production and card to impossible location, all using a very practical and reliable method. Essentially, after a card is selected, signed and lost in the pack, the performer introduces, not a Sat Nav (called a GPS in the US,) but a “Pack Nav” (a small packet of specially printed cards.) Following the directions on the cards (the way a GPS gives directions to a destination,) you produce the four queens, then the joker, magically change it into the mate of the selection, then for the finale show that the final card in your Pack Nav has “You have reached your destination” printed on the face with the signed selection on the back, creating a genuinely surprising, impossible object.

GPS Pack Nav comes with the special navigation cards, as well as 20 of the cards used for the finale. If you have the selection signed you’ll run through them quickly, but Mr. Meech suggests using a signed sticker so that you can reuse the cards, which is a fine solution. The instruction (on a DVD) is clear, complete and includes additional ideas for the routine.

On the plus side, the effect has a very intriguing premise and the navigation cards are a great hook. The routine allows for a lot of audience interaction, includes humor (your mileage may vary,) and the finale, unlike most card to impossible location effects, is simultaneously surprising, yet inevitable, AND happens in the spectator’s hands.

Unfortunately, the method is a bit of an enigma in that some moments are very clever with smart construction, while others are very heavy handed, if not actually awkward. Clearly Mr. Meech takes the “bulletproof” approach to method construction, favoring practicality and reliability over subtlety and audience management. For example, there is a point in the plot when the performer makes a mistake and produces the mate of the selection, asking the spectator if it is theirs. This makes absolutely no sense when using a signed card as the magician would notice the absence of a signature and immediately know he made a mistake. A failure at this moment in the effect adds nothing and is just a distraction. (If you want to keep the effect of the card change, a simple solution would be to say that the joker changed into a card that tells you something about the selection (value and color,) adding an effect that builds towards the finale rather than distracting from it.)

GPS Pack Nav is a clever premise for an effect with a lot of potential. For my tastes, that potential wasn’t fully reached. The method is not as good as it should be, but also, the printed instructions Mr. Meech chose for the cards, as well as the effects included on the way to the finale, are cheesy, include puns and don’t make as much sense as I’d like them to. To be clear, though, that assessment is a matter of taste. Thankfully, the trailer includes a complete performance so you can watch it and determine if the plot, gags, handling and effect are right for you. If they are, and you don’t mind the somewhat heavy handed method (or are willing to try and improve it on your own,) you’ll have fun performing GPS Pack Nav.
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