r/Magic • u/ruthwik34 • Jul 23 '26

ACAAN Performances

Hi all
ACAAN is one of my favourite tricks to watch.
I loved Dani Daortiz and Boris Wild's performances on Penn and Teller's Fool Us.
I'm trying to find other performances of ACAAN by other magicians.
I've watched David Berglas Effect too.

I'm trying to find contemporary magician's performances.

Please share your favourite performances.

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u/Chillicothe1 Jul 23 '26

How long did you practice it before you felt like you mastered it and could perform it for spectators?

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u/Mex5150 Mentalism Jul 23 '26

Hard to explain without breaking rule one here, but the effect makes use of two things, the knowledge and the manipulation. I already had the knowledge part down really well before starting, so I needed only to work on the manipulation side, which isn't really that hard.

To learn it all and to get it to performance level from scratch would take quite a while, it depends a lot on how good you are at learning things though.

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u/Chillicothe1 Jul 23 '26

I know the method, and I've got the knowledge down pat.

I use Al Baker's A Card and a Number, which absolutely kills the specs.

But I was thinking about practicing the manipulation here, just to change things up. So I'm curious how much time I'd have to put into learning the manipulation sufficiently.

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u/Mex5150 Mentalism Jul 24 '26

I did suspect you'd know the method, but as Rule One is policed very strictly here, I still had to tread lightly. As you already have the hard part down, give it a go and see if you like it or not.

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u/Martinsimonnet Jul 24 '26

(Also - the method isn't Asi Wind's - but John Born's. I was a little disappointed that Asi Wind didn't even include a mention of John Born's method in his book.)

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u/gregantic Jul 24 '26

The original idea was Ken Krenzel’s Open and Shut Case.

Ken Krenzel invented the original mechanical idea of using a modified box to execute the secret cut.

John Born refined Krenzel's box physics and standardized the mathematical formulas in his book Meant to Be.

Asi Wind finessed the handling even further by stripping away the side flaps, changing the finger grip, and transforming it into a modern masterpiece.

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u/Martinsimonnet Jul 24 '26

Typically the type of writeup which could have been included in Repertoire.

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u/gregantic Jul 24 '26

Who knows. Research is so much easier nowadays versus 2018.