Card in Mousetrap
by Jarle Leirpoll
Type: Close-up, Walk-Around, Parlor
Skill Level: 
Retail Price: $10 (Depends on exchange rate)
Order direct from:
Jarle Leirpoll
Dagfinn Gronosetsv. 34,
N-2400 Elverum, Norwaywww.leirpoll.com
Effect: Magician borrows or produces a deck of cards. The spectator
freely selects a card, signs it and draws a little mouse on the card face.
Magician takes the card places it in the deck and allows a the spectator
to shuffle the cards. The magician takes a mousetrap, sets the trap and
places it on the spectator's outstretched hand. One at a time cards are
taken from the top of the deck and placed on the mousetrap. Nothing happens
until the card with the mouse drawn on it touches and springs the trap,
causing it to close on the selected card.
Performance Time: 2 - 5 minutes depending on how much by play you
choose to incorporate.
Reset Time: None
Angles: 
What you get: Not much really... a mousetrap and an eight page manuscript.
To perform you use your own cards. The mousetrap is the standard issue.
The manuscript is well written and illustrated. It is printed on bright
blue paper, which makes it a little hard to read, but otherwise it's fine.
Mike Maione: When you buy 'Card in Mousetrap', you're really buying a write-up Jarle Leirpoll's routine... the mousetrap is ungimmicked, something you can pick-up in any variety or hardware store for under a dollar. So the question becomes, "Is the manuscript worth $10?"
It's a card revelation... pick a card... return it to the deck... find it. To me most are pretty boring, the challenge is to come up with an entertaining way to find the card that will add some comedy and drama to an otherwise ho-hum event. 'Card in Mousetrap' is that. There's plenty of comic possibilities with a mousetrap... when you produce it, it can snap on your finger... ouch. There's plenty of tension too... with the trap sitting there on the spectator's hand... ready to spring at any moment. And even though the spectator knows what to expect, she still lets out a wail when the trap snaps closed on the selected card.
Sometimes when you buy magic that is basically just a manuscript, you are really buying a rough idea put to paper... it's only an embryo of a trick. It has not been field tested enough. The handling, the mechanics, and the patter still need time to incubate. Well, Jarle must have performed this effect thousands of times and it shows. He tells you pretty much everything you need to know and gives you the nuances that make the trick work best. He even tells you what kind of spectators to pick and how to tell if they are right-handed or left-handed... necessary information if you plan to use the control Jarle describes and have the deck shuffled by the spectator. There are also lots of additional performance ideas provided at the end of the booklet to stimulate developing your own presentation. (Although I can't imagine using a rat trap and having a spectator draw on a card selected from my expensive jumbo deck.)
Are there any drawbacks? Sure, your spectator marks a card so, you'll wreck a deck... most will say big deal and I would agree... again as long as we're not talking jumbo deck. Also I am not completely comfortable yet with the technique Leirpoll uses to control the card, a special crimp, which according to the Leirpoll allows the spectator shuffle the cards. I'll need to work on it.
So again, the question is, "Is the manuscript worth $10?" Answer: I have a mousetrap in my close-up case that comes with me to all my close-up and walk around shows now.
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