Hot Rod Chakra Trick: $25 Standard, $50 Pro Version, by Don Fickles Available at TheCoinMancer.com Review by Jim Kleefeld Tired of doing Hot Rod? Here is a nice variation. Don Fickles has had coins specially designed and minted for this effect which plays a little like Hot Rod but with several advantages. Instead of a square rod with six gems which you show and flip, you work the effect with a coin that has six inlaid color dots and a colored outer ring on it. Show the coin on both sides, point out the colors and have someone choose any number form one to seven. (Yes, seven!) Now you turn all of the six inlaid color dots into the color that matches the number they chose. For anyone familiar with a Hot Rod, this is essentially the same trick, but with colored spots on a round coin instead of colored gems on a square stick. One side has all seven colors, the other has six of the same color spot. Just like a Hot Rod, you have to secretly turn the coin over to make it look like both sides are identical, then secretly turn it over again to make it look like the spots have changed to become all the same color. There are two different but easy ways to do a fake or double turnover in the instructions. Thus, the handling is a little different that the standard paddle move, but not really any more difficult. What is especially nice about this prop is that, unlike a clear plastic rod full of gems, it looks like something that might actually exist outside of magic. The coin says Health and Chakra on it, and could easily pass for a “lucky coin,” or an inspirational or new-age spiritual token of some sort. The coins are heavy, milled, carved with recessed inlaid color. They are the same size as Liberty Silver Dollars, great looking, heavy weight and very handle-able. You can perform Spellbound, Copper/Silver or other standard routines with these. The coins come in several varieties. You can get a standard one with a force color on one side, or a same-both-sides coin with the seven colors, or an s-b-s coin with all one color on both sides, or a coin with all the same color on both sides, but in two different colors. These combinations allow you to force your color coin when anyone chooses any number with no spelling. In other words, no matter whether the spectator says 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7, you can count and land on the right spot. No spelling “O-N-E” to get to the third space. That’s a tremendous advantage over any Hot Rod, where the spelling force has always had several weak spots. The words Health and Chakra are clearly engraved, but upside down to each other. Which means that either word could be considered “right-side-up” or the 12:00 position. Which means that you can always count 1-2-3 properly, from the left. In addition, there are some fancy curlicues in the engraving that, if you look closely, can be taken to represent “3 of Diamonds” or “1089,” so you have two additional effects to go into if you choose to use those features. Plus, because the coins are double-sided, you can perform Copper/Silver, Spellbound or other standard coin effects with them. Hot Rod Chakra is a great token to toss in your pocket and always carry with you. Be ready for any close-up at a moment’s notice with something that looks like you would be naturally carrying it around anyway. You will be very pleased with the high quality of the coins’ milling, engraving and painting detail. They are excellently done props. Get the standard one and play with it. I’ll bet you love it enough to come back and add the Pro model to your arsenal.