AKM Box May 2016 Subscription Box Review

AKM Box is a monthly subscription box for all those who love magic! Each box costs $25.00 per month, and you’ll receive specialty supplies and instructions that will help you learn magic tricks. The items are all handpicked by Justin Flom and other magicians who wanted to share the joys of learning and experiencing magic. Justin Flom is the author of the hugely popular book Adventures of a Kid Magician. It’s so popular that we weren’t able to read it – it’s coming back into print and will be available soon!

This little box holds three tricks, a puzzle, and a magician’s essential accessory!

As a subscriber benefit, you’ll get access to tutorials and other secret videos from the best magicians of AKM Box community.

The information card lists all the items inside the box.  They tally the value of the items at $67.50.

Everything in the May box!

Wonder Signal ($13):  This particular trick was not very amazing.  The three dots change miraculously as you wave your hand across, the secret being in the sliding handle of the paddle that switches both sides between their respective set of patterns.  This trick was probably much more impressive when it was first conceived, as it probably predated tiny LEDs — changing the color of a small light doesn’t seem like something the public would swoon over today.

This particular item was made in India, and the instructions were obviously written there as well — I can’t really figure out from the instructions how to show “both sides of the paddle the same by the paddle move pass your hand over the paddle.”  Each side of the paddle is unique, so I guess you pretend to flip it around.  The sliding mechanism allows you to effect the other transitions.

But all of this doesn’t matter in the hands of a magician!

My son was much better at this than me!   He really mastered the technique of nonchalantly brushing the sliding mechanism with a flourish of the hand.

Donkey Puzzle ($2.50):  This puzzle is a classic that plays upon our preconceptions.  Nearly everyone will instinctively attempt to solve the puzzle by placing the horses atop one another with the rider in the same orientation as each horse — this leaves the rider upside down!

The secret is actually to place the horses back to back and orient the rider card such that he is laying on top of each horse — the rider covers the backs of the individual horses, and a pair of new, dynamic horses appear perpendicular to the now partly obscured originals.

Here my daughter puzzles over the seeming impossibility of the puzzle.

Color Changing Ball to Jumbo Square ($22):  This was a great trick, and the instructions were very clear as to how it was to be performed.  note bene:  you’ll want to wear pants with pockets for this trick!

With just a bit of practice, I was able to perform the illusion well enough to amuse the crowd.  You begin the trick with a single red ball.  The ball is discreetly swapped for  a “red ball” that is actually an inverted square wrapped around a black ball.  After some distracting gesturing and slight of hand, the red ball transforms into a black ball and a red square.  I am actually quite fond of this trick, because it is done in such a way that the audience thinks they’ve figured you out — when they move to uncover the red ball retained in your right hand, however, they find that it is not a ball at all!  I love the double reveal of the trick that fools both those casually watching and those trying to catch you.

This trick works best with slightly bigger hands.

Pop-Eyed Popper Deck ($22):  I’m not really sure where this deck gets its peculiar name, other than the wide-eyed expression of the face cards.

The box, and the deck itself, appears very ordinary.

Complete instructions walk you through two versions of the trick.  One version pulls the same trick card every time.  The second version, however, can be made to accommodate the mark’s picking of any card within the deck, allowing you to astound cynical onlookers.

The deck looks quite ordinary from afar.  If you look closely, you’ll see multiple instances of the same card.  

The Jack of Clubs is actually makes up half the deck!  Every card other than the smooth-backed jacks is sanded slightly.

The rough back of the cards causes them to stick to each jack, completely obscuring half of the deck.  This allows you to know that the chosen card is the Jack of Clubs when performing one version of the trick, and it also allows you to move a decoy card when performing the alternate, face up version of the trick.  I found that I could also use the deck for a third trick, shuffling carefully and magically stopping on the chosen card (this version only works with the deck face down, and it can only be done once, since the Jack of Clubs is chosen every time).

JF Custom Bandana ($8):  The kit also comes with a JF insignia bandana.

Every magician needs a red bandana!

We got a real kick out of this box.  The tricks were a good difficulty level for a novice, as the prop pieces did most of the work.  Of the three tricks, only the stop light trick may receive a lukewarm reception — the others will bring down the house.  Magic accessories are pretty expensive, so the price on this box is quite reasonable.  I also think it is a great value add to have additional resources and insider video tutorials available online.

Visit AKM Box to subscribe or find out more!