Light Year by Kyle Purnell

When Kyle Purnell wants to disintegrate the minds of magicians at any magic convention, he asks a simple question, “Name any two-digit number.” He then immediately displays that named number in holes that have been permanently drilled through solid acrylic plates. Just when the magicians think they have it figured out, he hands the plates out for examination, and then he watches their brains dissolve into madness. Lay people don’t even stand a chance. This closely guarded secret is now available for you to make your mark on the universe. This is Light Year by Kyle Purnell.

Here’s what happens:

The magician has a two-digit number secretly written down. Eight black acrylic tiles are introduced, each with holes randomly drilled all over their surface. The tiles are mixed and then shown to the participant, who is asked to play a mental game of connect the dots, tracing their number over the holes with their eyes. The tiles are then fairly dealt into two piles and placed on a white phone screen or held up to the sky. When the tiles are squared, light shines through the only holes that align, and the light forms the image of the two-digit number the participant was merely thinking of. The tiles can then be handed out, and no one is able to line the holes up to produce any other number.

The 2021 Penguin Magic Creator of the year, Kyle Purnell, has been working in secret to create a system to display any named two-digit number with light. This fries magicians and lay people alike. The tutorial explains the system in play to code the numbers into the tiles, and it’s shockingly easy to perform. There are no moving parts, no flaps, magnets, or extra tiles. There is nothing to switch or ditch. These precision-engineered gimmicks make this an absolute miracle. The method is something that would excite the engineers at NASA. The best part is that it’s immediately repeatable with a completely different number.

You will never leave home without Light Year by Kyle Purnell.