"Cash Vault" by Mark Southworth
Suggested Retail USD$40.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

"Cash Vault", a new effect by Mark Southworth, is a fascinating take on a mentalism idea, adapted to cards, to make an easy, clean, and in the end, jaw-dropping "card-to-really-impossible-location".

Here's the way "Cash Vault" goes. First, two dollar bills with a playing card between them are shown paper-clipped together. These are placed on the table in plain view -- the card is easily in sight. A playing card is freely selected and signed by the spectator and then lost in the deck. The paper clip is removed, the dollar bills separated, and the card turned over to show it's the selected and signed card.

Now I have to say when I saw the video of this, I wasn't all that impressed: the handling looked fishier than beer-battered halibut with a side order of salmon. But Southwork's other works, while not perfect, have been quite admirable in certain ways. Watching the explanation, I saw the handling in the video and cringed -- still fishy, still looks like there's something going on somewhere. When I saw the alternate handling, though, I brightened up. It's a much cleaner handling, the card appears to never leave sight, and it's more natural.

Then I saw the third alternative and really started liking this one. That third handling has the card between the bills a blue-backed card while the chosen card came from a red-backed deck. Needless to say, not only is the selected card impossibly between the bills, but it's also now blue-backed. This is a nice re-working and, perhaps, could be considered more magical.

But it showed the flexibility inside of "Card Vault". Yes, "Card Vault" can be done with the card between other things than bills (lottery forms are mentioned, but really any flat items a playing card could be hidden under would work), but there's more to it than that. While"Card Vault" is ready to go out of the box with playing cards, it's easy enough to re-tool it a bit and, essentially, take it back to its mentalism roots and switch out predictions on billets, business cards, or the like.

In short, there's a lot to play with here and, if you don't feel like goofing around with it, the impact in the original routines is solid and strong and will probably be enough to satisfy.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind here before making a decision about this one (aren't there always?) and it's all about the gimmick.

First, the gimmick is well made, but don't abuse it. Treat it carefully the first few times you play with it. I didn't and end up having to put the thing back together. Fortunately, that's a pretty easy task and takes only a minute or two with the material on hand.

Second, the gimmick is part of whatever you use to put the card between (the bills, the lottery tickets, the whatever). These cannot be readily examined, of course, and you'll need to figure out a way of dealing with that because -- yes, Virginia -- people will want to see 'em up close and personal. Depending on what you use, this is mechanically an easy matter and, really, some audience management will also get the job done for most spectators. Still, plan for it just in case.

At the end of the day, "Cash Vault" is a very slick piece of work with a lot going for it and little going against it. It's simple to do, very practical, and it's a powerhouse that hits the spectators between the eyes.

That's not shabby at all and makes "Cash Vault" worth checking out.

"Cash Vault" by Mark Southworth
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Practicality: 9
The reset is quick (I wouldn't call it "instant", but it's close), the set-up easy, repeating this with different outcomes is a piece of cake... Really, the only thing you need to be on the lookout for here is getting the heat off part of the gimmick (which isn't hard at all).

Workmanship: 10
The gimmick is very well made (for both red- and blue-backed Bikes), but exercise some care. I didn't and paid the price. Luckily, getting it back up to par is more a minor inconvenience than a problem.

Documentation: 10
Southworth's instructions are on DVD and they are excellent. You get the basic workings, of course, as well as a alternate handling of things and a very nice additional routine, all explained excellently and shot very well.

Effect: 9
This one can be a solid jaw dropper. We're talking stunned silence, shrieks, all the little things we love so much. Even done in a lackluster style, it still plays huge. This is very good stuff.

Presentation: 9
The verbal component you will definitely want to change -- it's way too common and you can do better with it than Southworth's idea -- but it's going to be hard to improve on a couple of the handlings which make this look completely impossible.


Shane

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