Owning The Toystore

When I was a kid and someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was this: “Toy store owner.” The reason was simple, or so I thought. Toy store owners get to play with toys all day long. It’s logical...if you’re five and obsessed with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

When we first formed Vanishing Inc. I thought owning a shop would be similar; it would mean I could play with whatever new toy came through our warehouse, and watch every single download our site carries.

The reality is that I’ve been able to enjoy less playtime with magic (or toys for that matter) since founding Vanishing Inc. A sacrifice we’ve made to bring you all the new magic we roll out each quarter is that we get a lot less time for unfocused magic playtime.

I had a little break in my schedule last week, and so I decided to, in the proverbial sense, crash the toy store and play with some toys. I was able to watch and learn from some downloads we carry that I haven’t yet watched. Here’s a list of the three I enjoyed most:

Hessian by Alex Hansford. I’ll be honest. The routine, a version of the General Card, is of limited interest to me, but his handling of doubles, and the way he handles cards generally is inspiring, and I just wanted to pick up some of the small points embedded in this routine. Incredible talent!

Con Cam Coincidencia by Paul Wilson. When we acquired Art of Magic I knew we had added a ton of great videos, but I was very eager to see this routine, and it was great. Paul also teaches in a way that is low key yet thorough. I’ll be using this.

Triumph and Triumph Again by Asi Wind. This made waves when it first came out on Art of Magic, and I LOVED it, but for some reason never made time to learn it. I collect Triumph routines, so I was eager to follow along with Asi and learn it.