Stash is one of the latest card to impossible location magic effects to be released. Read our review to get all the pros and cons.
What is it?
A card is selected (free choice) and signed and lost in the deck. Before this happened you showed your audience your phone with a ‘lucky card’ clearly visible under the transparent cover. When you remove the cover the card is found to be the spectator’s chosen signed card!
What do you get?
You get a small cardboard envelope which contains the gimmick and a link to a 22 minute online tutorial.
The gimmick is supplied made up – no fiddly craft work here. But it will need to be attached to something else. You could use a bank note or travel ticket or anything else that is flat and larger than a playing card. The ‘final construction’ job will take only minutes to do and is very straightforward indeed.
You’ll also need a clear phone case on your phone. I just bought my wife a new Motorola G6 Play phone (an excellent phone by the way!) which actually came with a perfect case included for free. But you’ll easily be able to pick up a suitable one for whatever phone you have.
The Teaching
The teaching is very clear. The first 12 minutes or so explain exactly what the Stash gimmick is and how to set it up. The remaining 10 minutes take you through the routine itself. Everything is simply explained – but you will find it easier if you already know how to control a card in the deck since a basic control is taught rather quickly.
The Verdict
There’s a lot we like about Stash. It is a clever gimmick – which quite unusually will work for either a blue or red backed bicycle deck.
The gimmick is a little fiddly – and I think I would be worried about how well it would last. There are a few possibilities for it to go wrong if not set perfectly. Reset will take a few moments and really needs to be done out of sight, so it loses a couple of points for that.
One massive plus point is that unlike almost every other card to impossible location effect out there at the moment you don’t need to do a Mercury Card Fold! On the flip side of that, however, you will need to be able to do a Gamblers Cop! But a version is taught which doesn’t require this.
Stash is a really interesting solution to the card to impossible location plot – and since we all seem to carry our phones around everywhere these days makes a very logical routine. Clever as the gimmick is, I have just a few reservations about its use – and the reset means I would be keeping this for a special occasion rather than using it in my regular set. But if the plot appeals, then grab a copy to take a look.
You can pick up a copy of Stash from the Merchant of Magic for only £22.99 (at the time of writing).
Review copy kindly provided by Murphys Magic to whom dealer enquiries should be directed.
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