Turning an everyday object into a playing card is a plot that magicians have explored for years. With FUEL, Craig Petty and Lloyd Barnes take the idea in a particularly direct direction:
A lighter becomes the spectator's signed playing card – even while they are holding it in their own hands!
A card is selected and signed before being lost back into the deck. A lighter, which has been in play, is placed into the spectator's closed hands. They have seen it. They can feel it.
Now imagine asking:
"Would it be amazing if your card appeared under the lighter?"
"What if it appeared inside the lighter?"
And finally:
"What if your card became the lighter?"
When the spectator opens their hands, the lighter is gone. In its place is a playing card printed as a lighter on one side – and bearing their own signature on the other.
That's the wonderfully strange moment at the heart of FUEL.
And here's an important detail: you don't actually need to use a real lighter. Craig performs many of the routines without one. There is no need to light anything beforehand and no mandatory lighter switch. If you prefer using a real lighter as part of the presentation, a switch is also taught in the tutorial.
Two versions – two different moments
You receive 40 FUEL gimmicks in total:
The large version is designed for a visual transformation. The lighter is openly held in your hand and, while everyone is watching, it unfolds to reveal the spectator's signed card.
The mini version is designed for the transformation in the spectator's hands. They believe they are holding a lighter right up until they open their hands and discover their signed card instead.
Same basic idea, but two quite different ways of performing it.
Please note: A real lighter is not included, but if you don't already have one, a suitable model is easy to find locally.
We can understand why FUEL has attracted so much attention internationally. The premise is extremely easy to grasp, the transformation happens at exactly the right moment, and the final object carries the spectator's own signature.
Watch the trailer and you'll immediately understand the idea – and why FUEL is creating such a buzz among magicians.
