Pinky Swear by Doug Conn Review

What is the best way to learn the Pinkie Count? That’s a question that comes up quite often on the Discord. This DVD/Download frequently gets suggested. As a big fan of the Pinkie Count, I thought it was about time I did a review of this and answered the question: is Doug Conn’s Pinky Swear the best place to go?

Who is Doug Conn?

If you spend any time on the magic side of YouTube, you’ll almost certainly know Doug’s name. He’s being doing great work on the platform for quite a while now and is well worth checking out if you don’t already know him.

What is Pinky Swear?

It’s a DVD (and now also a download I believe) that’s just shy of fifty minutes long. Originally released back in 2012 it covers a few effects that use the Pinkie Count (Doug incorrectly spells it Pinky rather than Pinkie, but let’s not hold that against him), and the Pass and teaches how to do both. It has either four effects or six, depending on how you count (there are three variations of the first one). Followed by a discussion of using the Pinkie Count with a stack.

Is it the best way to learn the Pinkie Count (or the Pass for that matter)?

No, not really. That’s not to say Doug teaches either badly, he just doesn’t go into enough detail for a total beginner coming in completely cold to easily get them down. If it’s just a case of you wanting a refresher of a move you’ve not used in a while, this really will be all you need. But as it’s often suggested to people learning the move for the first time, it doesn’t really go into the specifics deeply enough in my view.

How good are the Tricks?

That’s a personal preference thing really. I quite like them all, but can’t see myself doing any professionally as they don’t really fit my performance style, I probably will do one of the dice variations down the pub socially at some point though, hell, I may even do the spelling one, and I normally HATE spelling tricks.

Verdict

If you get this for the tricks rather than to learn the moves from scratch, you’ll be very happy with the purchase. If you want it for the opposite, you may not be quite as happy. Again, I’m not saying the teaching is bad, it really isn’t, it’s just you are likely to want a little more guidance if you are completely new to the Pinkie Count (or Pass for that matter). It’s a really good DVD/Download, and I do recommend picking it up, just be aware of what you are getting.