Review: Super Quick Cube by Syouma and Takamiz Usui
You may already be aware that there’s an awesome smorgasbord of highly visual Rubik’s Cube magic available today, so I thought I’d just share my favourite effect. It’s a nifty one by the internationally respected grandmaster of cube magic, who featured this very routine in his live shows and TV appearances…
Description
“An eye candy effect by the father of modern Rubik’s cube magic. An instantaneous solve both deceptive and easy to perform technical wise. A great catchy opener for your Rubik’s cube routine” – Pipo Villanueva
“This is the most Visual & Practical cube solve, created by the most Legendary cube Magician of all time!” – Nicholas Lawrence
“Yet another devious idea from the grandmaster of cubes!” – John Michael Hinton
As performed on Penn & Teller: Fool Us! The master of the Rubik’s Cube is back with one of the fastest and most visual solves you can do. Created by the undisputed pioneer of Rubik’s Cube Magic this simple gimmick will allow you to go from chaos to order in the blink of an eye. This is Super Quick Cube by Syouma and Takamiz Usui.
Super Quick Cube comes with an examinable Rubik’s Cube that hides an amazing secret, and a gimmick that hides in plain sight. If this is your first entry into Rubik’s Cube magic you’ll learn some of the techniques behind some of the most visual magic ever to appear on Fool Us. If you’re a seasoned pro, this will pump up the wow factor in your visual Rubik’s Cube restorations.
To learn how to use this amazing gimmick, you get expert instruction on how to perform this effect from Nick Locapo in English. As a bonus, we have included complete instructions in Japanese from Takamiz Usui. In addition to the ultra visual solve, you also learn an amazing sympathetic cube routine where another cube isolated in a bag matches the cube you solve. As easy to do as it is fun to perform, this is a magical puzzle that just can’t miss.
Unboxing Super Quick Cube by Syouma and Takamiz Usui
I’ve been a big fan of this genre of magic when it first came about and I was especially delighted when Takamiz Usui made an appearance on Penn and Teller’s Fool Us. The Japanese magician wowed the audience with this very effect, which I’m so chuffed that Penguin Magic has decided to produce.
The production quality for the Super Quick Cube is good; as usual the well-designed packaging is worthy of a brilliant product, and inside the nice sturdy box with a magnetic flap you’ll find a standard Rubik’s cube, and a custom made gimmick specially produced by the team at Penguin Magic. Don’t you just love it when things are ready to go and no DIY work is required?
My first thoughts after inspecting the two items right out of the box are that the custom gimmick is well made; the colours are well matched and the metal shim (so thin it is nearly invisible!) does the job very well with no fear of failing on you. The included Rubik’s cube is pretty decent. Granted, it’s no competition speed cube but it works okay IMHO and there’s nothing stopping you from gimmicking your own speed cube if you really need it to glide like butter. I reckon if Nick and Takamiz can do it, anyone can with due diligence and practice.
Treated with respect, these props should last you forever.
Let’s talk USP (unique selling points)
The entire duration of the Super Quick Cube tutorial is a little over half an hour long, with the last third of the video conducted in Japanese with Takamiz in the Penguin Magic studio with a translator. Nick from Penguin Magic hosts the front portion for the rest of us non native Japanese speakers, and everything is very well covered. So no worries there if you’re completely new to cube magic.
If you’re wondering how accurate the ad copy is, you’d be glad to know that it’s true you don’t have to be a Rubik’s cube expert to be able to do this. Heck, you actually don’t even need to know how to solve the puzzle. Nick does a phenomenal job teaching how to set the cube stack in just 4 simple moves that are easy to do and not at all difficult to remember.
Obviously, there’s a bit more to this than just being able to solve the “mixed” cube… you need to do it magically, at speed, and a lovely presentation with some spectator involvement is shared which requires you to get another cube and a paper bag. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but it’s always nice to have options. You also don’t have to stick to what’s taught in the video tutorial. Feel free to try and solve it blindfolded or behind your back, or maybe have more than one Super Quick Cube in play.
People instantly know what a Rubik’s cube is, so do what makes it seem impossible or highly interesting, and this highly visual routine may just elevate you to genius level in their eyes.
TLDR: Super Quick Cube by Syouma and Takamiz Usui
Easy to do, fun to perform, guaranteed great reactions, and no DIY thanks to a well made custom gimmick, what’s there not to love about this brilliant trick? Super Quick Cube by Syouma and Takamiz Usui gets a full 10 stars from me and comes highly recommended. Pick yours up today from the good fellas at Penguin Magic!
