T-201 Mystery China Box

[JohnM]

Name: Mystery China Box

T-Number: T-201

Inventor: Tomoyuki Shimomura

Year: 2001

[JohnM]

[Roberto B.]

Standard presentation:



Star Wars presentaton:

[SimonC]

I. Love. This. Trick.
Tenyo mechanical mystic marvelousness in it's slickest form.
Very easily scratched though.

[Rob Rand]

Extremely clever mechanism, virtually invisible.

[David DeTenyo]

Fantastic illusion! One of Tenyo's best.

There are some stories about why it was discontinued so soon. The most plausible is that it was too expensive to produce and therefore Tenyo would have needed to sell it for too much, and as you know Tenyo's main customers are Japanese laymen and children who are not willing to spend that much on a magic 'toy'.

The first time I performed this trick was for my grandmother. She immediately said she could see my finger 'push' something. Again this proves even the easiest to do tricks need practice. In the case of MCB some misdirection is needed when you operate the gimmick. Two possibilities:
- -move your hands up and down or sideways (the famous 'large move covers the smaller one' principle) and/or
- apply some misdirection, for instance do the move while you point to the ball(s) and ask the spectator to give them to you.

The locking mechanism is extremely clever, but I have read of people who said theirs didn't 'lock' anymore, the sliding part, after being operated a lot, becomes too loose.

Noise could be an issue when the surroundings are quiet (tick - tick noise ) - applying some felt on the bottom of the tubes can help.

As for routines there are several possibilities, but the basic one is good as it is of course.

Mentalism version - MD-version
A possibility is to use MCB as a prediction apparatus. My favourite is using Promystic's Multidimensional color cube.
I have 6 colored balls. The spectator can choose one of the six colors on the MD cube and cover the cube.
I take a few balls and the one he choose will be in the litle tube in the box.

Mentalism version - Jens Schröder's version
Use X-Ray file or Mindscanner in the same way as above. See here

Mentalism version - force
Force the color with for example (color spot) cards, a magician's force, ... .

Mid-Air Ball Flight by Kazumasa Shimizu
This is an effect you can perform before the basic effect. You pretend the three balls are put into your hand while in fact you already palmed the three extra balls. see here: http://www.tenyo.co.jp/magic_en/tips/index.html

[Elliot W.]

I like to push the switch down very slowly. While I am reaching for the next ball and talking about what I am going to do, I am slowly pushing the switch down so that by the time I am ready to drop the ball in the switch is all the way down. That way there are no sudden moves to attract attention.

I would also not give this out to be examined. Pretty much every time I have handed it out the spectator hasfigured out how to unlock it fairly quickly. I've even had a couple of times where the spectator decided that the way the trick worked was the small cup somehow slid over to where the larger cup is. So the first thing they did when I handed it to them was to try to slide the bottom of the box over.

[JohnM]

Here is an alternate routine that I like to use with my nephews.

[SimonC]

that's a great idea
I've never handed this one out for inspection. it's too precious!

[Pete1805]

Still looking for one

[Joel1902]

Pete,

There's one on ebay now:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tenyo-T-201-MYS ... 4ad7a4d056

Joel

[Pete1805]

Yes thanks i'm watching it
Pete

[kellebotond]

Pete if you are still interested I have 3 for sale right now:

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=792

[JamesMA]

FINALLY got a hold of one of these!
I now see why it is so highly regarded of Tenyos.
It definitely epitomizes Tenyo ingenuity.
I watched the videos a dozen times and couldn't guess.
After learning the secret, I still said wow.
Definitely a top 10 in my book.

[SimonC]

I remember when I opened mine up and saw the gimmick work for the first time, I just could not believe it! so slick and stealthy too. this is up there with the best in terms of engineering, it all looks so innocent!
have fun with it James:)