Britain's brightest independent magic magazine

Issue 28 - Sept. 09

Review

Games-ability DVD  

Jimbo (Jimmy Carlo)
Available from: www.jimbosmagic.co.uk

Price: £20.00  

The companion DVD to go with the Kid-ability one reviewed elsewhere in this issue is this one - Games-ability. This one hour DVD offers you 8 action packed games for use at children's parties. The first four games shown, Torch Race, Swat A Balloon, Big Foot Race and Hang-Up Race, are part of a set that Jimmy calls Crazy Olympics and which are available complete with props from Jimbos Magic. All four games are designed as team games and require you to have plenty of space for the children to run up and down. This will therefore only work in a hall or maybe outside on a non-windy day, but are not really suitable for someone's front room. Two of the other games on the DVD , Big Balloon Bloomers and Big Head And Ball Race, are also team games requiring similar space. The other two ideas, Bumps With A Difference and Action Statues can be worked in a smaller environment with fewer children, although they are also fine for larger parties.  

On the DVD you see extended footage of the games in action (some of these could actually have been cut in length because you soon get the idea of how it all works and if there are no variations in the way the game works, you don't need to see the same thing repeated many times), and then after each game Jimmy talks about it. For the most part, poor Jimmy was struggling to find things to say in these parts of the DVD , because a game is self-explanatory, and so he just ended up telling you again what you'd just seen, but it did give him the opportunity to explain other ways in which some of the props could be used, and also to do a 'dealers pitch' for those items which he can supply you with.  

All the games are huge fun, and if you haven't done games before, hopefully seeing this will encourage you to give them a go. As I said with the Kid-ability DVD , I would have liked Jimmy to share more background information with the viewers about games and the principles of how to run them. He could have talked about his use of music, his amp, where he gets his prizes from etc. All this would have been of interest and use, especially to those new to games. However, all 8 of the games shown offer even the most experienced performer some new material and help to make this DVD of practical use to any entertainer seeking to provide games as part of their show. ML  

What's Hot: good games for larger parties in suitable venues
What's Not: the explanations could have been more wide ranging
Star Rating: ***  

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