Price$165.00
Media TypeUtility Props
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedFeb 06, 2014
Annihilation Wallet
Carnazzo, Paul
Paul Carnazzo - MentalVoyage.com
(Based on 1 review)
Some of the features are:
- Perhaps the most deceptive peek ever!
- Dedicated "Business Card" slot
- One 9 pocket "billet" sized index
- 8 playing card sized pockets - use as storage or an index
- S.U.C. (Sight Unseen Case) Feature - Approved by Mark Strivings!
- Loading slot (loads to a zippered compartment)
- Zippered compartment is perfect for storing lots of mentalism/magic items
- Plenty of room for all of your business cards, wallet mentalism cards, photos, and other mentalism items.
The Annihilation wallet is made of quality black Nappa leather, and includes an instructional DVD.
Reviews
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Random I-Tunes Song of The Moment: Holy Diver by Dio
Paul Carnazzo: Annihilation Wallet Review
One DVD, One wallet, a whole bunch of things to do with it and $165 bucks. Is it gem or is it rubble? Stay tuned to find out.
Effect/Method
This is not so much an effect, but rather a tool. It's a wallet that can be used as your everyday wallet. However, built into the wallet is a peek device, a billet index (9 billets), a card index (8 cards), a billet load (into zippered compartment). For the "everyday wallet" usage, it includes 6 credit card slots, an ID window, a business card holder (holds about 8 to 10 cards), and a section for your cash.
Included with the wallet is a DVD with some ideas and sample effects. It shows you how to use the peek device in the context of a routine. It shows you how to use the billet index as well. It also offers a few suggestions/ideas on using the loading feature as well as couple ideas on how you might use the card index.
The methods for the effects, for the most part are simply relying on the wallet to work the way it should, so any further discussion about the method should be moved to the Product Quality section below.
Ad Copy Integrity
The ad copy basically just mentions the features, so there's not much to say about it. It is what it says it is. The only (small) issue I have is the claim that the "Zippered compartment is perfect for storing lots of mentalism/magic items." This is also the place that "loaded" stuff ends up. That being said, obviously, something that is in the zippered compartment can, theoretically, "unload" itself when you don't want it to. However, due to the nature of the construction of the wallet, anything flat/paper-like, etc. is probably safe, especially when the wallet is closed. So let's take a look at the meat of what most of you are probably looking for in a review of this type of product.
Product Quality
Let's look at three things:
- The DVD
- The wallet as a whole
- The wallet features
The DVD
The DVD production is of average quality. You can see and hear everything you need to, and it's easy to navigate and use. It's hard to say much about the teaching segments because it's pretty much a simple walk through of how the gimmicks work. There's not much there. Everything is covered, so this is not a problem. There's just not a lot of "teaching" needed to learn how to use the wallet.
You'll be taught how to perform a design dup effect using the peek feature, and you'll be walked through an effect using the billet index, and you'll be shown how to use the rest of the features with some brief comments. If you're looking for a bunch of routines detailed out that can be done with the wallet, you'll likely not be thrilled with the DVD. However, it's clear that the target audience is someone who is already a mentalist who knows how s/he might use the features.
It's kind of like buying a deck of cards as a magician. It doesn't come with card tricks. You likely already know what card tricks you're going to do. I think the same thing applies here. Even so, there are still some ideas, suggestions and a routine taught, and another routine walked through.
The wallet as a whole
The wallet itself is sturdy, good quality and well built and will, likely last you a long time. It will certainly need to be broken in a bit, so if you're getting this, you'll need to make sure that you start using it as your regular wallet right away. It's a good looking wallet and looks like the kind of wallet a man would carry around in his back pocket. It has space for up to six credit cards, your ID, your cash and about 10 business cards.
The wallet features
Let's take a look at each feature individually:
The Peek
This is, by far, the best feature of the wallet in my opinion. It's very easy and invisible to get the peek. Have the spectator write something on your business card and place it face down into the business card "pouch" in the wallet. All this is done while you are turned away. In the simple act of either closing the wallet or moving it, you will get the peek. It takes a second and is undetectable by the spectator. It'll take a very small amount of practice to get this down, and it's very clearly explained on the DVD.
The Card Index
This can be used for cards or photos, or anything of the approximate size of a playing card. Of course, you can use it to perform effects like Kenton Knepper's Kolossal Killer, this is perfect. The cards are easy to access and remove from the wallet with no fumbling and no issues at all.
The Load "Chamber"
This is a zippered compartment that you are able to secretly load a billet into and even use as a substitute for Mark Striving's Sight Unseen Case (S.U.C.). It can be used for Confabulation style effects and more. Loading a billet in is super easy. On the DVD, Paul Carnazzo mentions that you could load a card in. It can be done, but it's very difficult, awkward and super not smooth to do so. Stick with billets here people. Other than that, this part of the wallet is very usable and easy to work with.
Billet Index
There are a couple of issues with this part of the wallet. It contains 9 slots for holding billets, 3 columns of 3. However, the far column is in the corner of the wallet making it a bit tricky to put the billets in there. The bottom holder of the far column is the most difficult. However, I was able to get it loaded; I just had to play around with the way I folded my billets. Paul suggests using business card sized (not actual business cards) slips of paper. This is a good size and they fit just fine.
Getting the billets out of the slots is very easy, even the ones in the "bad" corner. The other problem I've dealt with is the top row. The pockets on the top of each column are deep, and so the billets in that row tend to slip down into the pocket making them a bit tricky to access. If you have tacky fingers or you don't mind a quick lick to the finger tip, then you'll have no problem extracting those three billets.
I struggled quite a bit to get this part of the wallet to work for me. I was finally able to do it to a point that I would feel comfortable using it. On the DVD, Paul admits that the last column is a bit of struggle to get the billets in place, but says that it'll be easier as the wallet gets broken in. Once you get the billets in place, you're good to go for a performance. During the performance, getting the billets out quickly and easily is a breeze, with the caveat about the top row slipping down sometimes. But even that is fine with the lick of the fingers (or natural tacky skin, or Octopalm).
The only thing that may be an issue is if you're strolling and you want to repeat the billet effect at the next table, you'll have to re-insert the billet back into it's appropriate slot before moving on. If that happens to be the bottom corner one on the last row, it'll be a little awkward, but it's not insurmountable. You'll need to practice and make sure that the billets are the right size. Once you've got that down, you'll be fine.
Final Thoughts
This is a well built quality product overall, and it does what it claims it does. You'll have to exercise some patience in a few places while you're learning to get the feel of the wallet, but once you've put in the time, I think you'll be fine. If you have a need for a peek wallet, billet index, card index and/or billet load chamber/S.U.C. system, then you'll be happy with this wallet, especially if you're wanting it to be used as your regular wallet.
The only other thing you may want to consider is the bulk. The wallet is about the size of a regular billfold, but it'll be a little bit thicker, especially if you have it loaded with all the stuff you can do with it.
Final Verdict:
4 Stars with a Stone Status of gem.