Here is a brief overview and my thoughts on each of the effects within The Gimmicks Lab:

Unholy- This gimmick is the perfect companion to Jay's famous effect Holy Moly, as it allows you to vanish the hole off a metal washer with no sleight of hand or funny moves. Jay has essentially taken the principle of the Chinatown Half coin gimmick and applied it to a washer, for which it works beautifully. In my pre-order set, Jay also kindly included a complete set of Holy Moly washers, and explains the handling of the effect which incorporates Unholy on the DVD. This gimmick is machined by Roy Kueppers and is beautifully made. It will last you forever. I think this is a beautiful, striking alternative to the original Holy Moly effect. Maximum Capacity- Easily my favourite gimmick included in the set. In performance, a Tic Tac box is emptied of it's contents, and surprisingly transforms itself into a solid block of clear plastic like an Omni Deck. This gimmick is gorgeous. Again made by Roy Kueppers, it looks IDENTICAL to a normal box of Tic Tacs until you remove the lid and show that it is in fact a solid block. My mind has been running wild with ways in which you can use this, and Jay has many handling ideas on the DVD... some of which draw focus to the Tic Tac box for a magic effect, and other's in which the magic occurs in a casual, non-performance setting. Either way, I'm extremely excited about this and I think you will be too. Scar Tissue- In this, a corner is torn off of an old taxi receipt out of the magician's wallet, and the corner is impossibly fused to the back of the receipt! The corner has melted into the fibers of the card and it can be completely examined. Jay includes 5 specially printed taxi receipts that are printed on very thick high-quality stock and look totally legitimate... he even leaves all the spaces on the back of the card blank for you to fill out your own information. The taxi receipt is such an unassuming, normal, organic object, and the payoff of this effect is strong. The amount of handlings for this that Jay explains on the DVD is very overwhelming. You can tell he's put a ton of thought into this one. Only the 5 receipts are included, but most of the handlings Jay explains allow you to use the same card over and over again. You'll want to carry this one in your wallet immediately. Metamorph- This is a gimmick that accomplishes a super visual change of a bill, playing card, or other paper object. Before I received The Gimmicks Lab, I had a sneaking suspicion of how this effect was accomplished, and I was correct. It is very useable and practical, but I can see many people being disappointed by the method. The method seems like a bit much for a bill change, but it is incredibly visual and leaves you completely clean with a completely examinable bill. While the method is a bit fidgety, Jay has provided many easy and practical ways of getting in and out of the effect. There are some clothing considerations, but these considerations will be no problem for most workers. At a first glance, I'm a bit underwhelmed by this one, but I'm also more than willing to give it a try and test it out. The gimmick has obviously been given some careful thought. Some of you will love this one, some of you won't. Infiltrator- This gimmick is included as a bonus with The Gimmicks Lab and it's explained on the DVD as well. You are provided with a small starter pack of a new gimmick, co-created with Jeff Stone, that allows you to load any small object into a completely examinable sugar packet. I didn't expect what I got, and I was admittedly a bit disappointed at first... but then I watched the DVD, and it made me unbelievably excited to work this. You will use up one gimmick each time you perform this, but it's totally worth it. This is practical, workable, and devastatingly cool. The amount of powerful possibilities for Infiltrator are extremely exciting. As I stated, you do use up one gimmick each time you perform this, and you get a very small amount, but I'm sure there will be refills available on Sankey's website very soon. You can do

everything from load a coin, ring, or folded card into the sealed sugar packet, to turning the sealed sugar packet inside out by magic without spilling a single grain of sugar, and so much more. Creative thinkers will have a field day with this one. Temporary Insanity- A borrowed finger ring cleanly melts on and off of a normal drinking straw. I love the handling on this one, and when I wathced the explanation on the DVD, I was totally surprised to find out that this effect uses a gimmick. It looks totally innocent and unassuming, and I never would have guessed it. This is one of eight other effects on the DVD that use a sort of 'on-the-fly' gimmick that you can make at a moment's notice with common materials. The effect looks great, and the method is just as good. Outbreak- I'm not a fan of this one. Essentially, this allows you to impossibly squeeze two potato chips out of a factory-sealed chip bag. The most interesting part of this effect was gimmicking the bag itself, but I personally would not go to the effort. I feel like, despite the factory-sealed bag, this will still come across as more of a gag than anything. The thinking is certainly clever, but I can't imagine anyone doing this. Party Animal- LOVE the thinking behind this one. In this, a straw transforms into an animal balloon. Very offbeat, surprising, and cool. This is a great effect for restaurant workers, especially if you also do ballon sculptures. It makes great use of the fact that a white drinking straw and a white animal balloon can look almost identical to each other. Cluster- This is an updated version of an effect Jay published a while ago called 'A Twist in Time'... though here, he makes use of a more common object than a twist tie. In this, a spectator ties a regular drinking straw into numerous, obviously impenetrable knots. The knotted straw then impossibly melts onto the finger ring the magician is wearing. I like this simply for the fact that spectators just won't see it coming. The handling is very natural and completely above suspicion. While there are minor limitations that could turn some people off, I think this effect would make a great opener for a restaurant set. Magic without cards with powerful impact. M+Mental- Predict which colour of M&M candy the spectator will choose with 100% accuracy. While the method and thinking behind this isn't new, Jay nicely draws all of the elements together by keeping the method contained within the bag of M&Ms (it's hard to say much without giving away the method). I would, however, eliminate one of the possible choices of colour to get rid of one piece of the effect I feel doesn't fit. Use only three colour options, and I dig it... that would make the entire effect self contained. This isn't going to set the world on fire by any stretch, but it's solid, practical, and organic. Dislocation- I'm a huge fan of this one. The magician offers the spectator of piece of gum from a blister pack. However, before you give them a piece, you tell them it will cost them one penny. When the spectator hands the magician a penny, an odd yet visual moment of magic occurs in which the penny penetrates the blister pack and transforms into a piece of gum as it falls into the spectator's awaiting hand. So far, so what? Then, incredibly, the magician removes the blister pack from the cardboard cover and shows that the penny is now INSIDE the bubble where the piece of gum was moments before! The penny is popped out of the blister pack to finish. This reminds me a lot of Ultra Gum, although it requires minimal preparation. It may not be as fair as Ultra Gum, but the impact is, I feel, identical. This is strong, strong, strong stuff. The method put a huge grin on my face. I think you'll love this one as much as I do. It's one of the effects on here that I literally can't wait to try out. Deranged- The Starbucks logo on a coffee sleeve distorts itself in a neat, visual, disarming

magic moment. Another effect I'm not particularly fond of. It's really not my style, or something I'd ever desire to try, but I can't say for sure whether anyone else will feel similarly. The effect certainly looks very cool visually and it's a nice way to mess with someone's mind, but I'm not too fond of the method or effect really. I'm only one person though, and I'm sure others will love this one. There's just nothing about it that made me want to get out and try it. Inpossible- This impromptu gimmick is a way to make a marked coin impossibly appear in a SEALED packet of jam or honey. The spectators can actually see the marked coin through the clear bottom of the packet. This uses a clever on-the-fly gimmick for a very fair looking effect and revelation. The coin genuinely appears to be inside the sealed packet, when it, cleverly, is not. The retrieval of the coin from the packet may strike some people as being a bit fidgety but, in the moment, there will be no heat on the "dirty" object, especially because the display of the coin inside the sealed packet looks so fair. Next time I'm at breakfast, or anywhere else I can get some jam packets, I will certainly be trying this out. A lovely solution to an impossible effect.

So, at $75.00, is The Gimmicks Lab worth it? In my opinion, yes. The gimmicks you get are beautifully made, and the DVD is incredibly thoughtful and thorough. This project is clearly not something that was rushed to the market and it's obvious that these effects have been in development for years. You're getting a wealth of information here, as well as truly clever gimmicks for very strong, practical worker's effects. I'm not a person who is very fond of gimmicks, but I can tell you that I will be using at least one of these gimmick on a regular basis. Maximum Capacity is something I'm very excited to start carrying in my pocket, and Scar Tissue is never leaving my wallet. While there are a few effects I consider weak, the amount of great material completely outweighs this and makes The Gimmicks Lab a fantastic new release.

Hey guys, I will give you my full review on The Gimmicks Lab, but first let me mention this; A month or two ago, I was derping around facebook and noticed that Sankey was about to launch a contest. Took a quick look at the rules and joined it. I've won the gimmicks lab and some extra free stuff. First, he claimed I didn't win the contest, after receiving tons of e-mail and messages from other contestants about the fact that I have won, he decided to send me the prizes. Getting into that situation left lots of question mark in my mind about Sankey. Anyway, I have just received the package. And here is my review.

1. Metamorph I really feel bad to say this, but this gimmick has no use at all. It is simply impractical. And I say this as a performer that uses IT and ITR in a regular basis. I can handle IT in a close-up session without worrying about all the hard work and risk. But I definitely will not use metamorph. And it uses one of the oldest principles in magic while being advertised as something new. Ditching it to my "never-gonna-use" box. 2. Scar Tissue The idea behind this, and the effect is very nice. Very practical. But if you are not living in an English speaking country you will also ditch this to the box. As I had to do. Well of course, you can build custom gimmicks that will serve the same purpose. 3. Maximum Capacity Now this is something. This gimmick is the only thing I think I will use from this package. I use it with my home-made smoke gimmick (similar to pure smoke). A regular tic tac box, coming out of a puff of smoke as a plastic block right in front of the audiences eyes leaves an amazing effect. I am adding this to my repertoire. 4. Unholy Same thing with Holy-moly with an extra effect? I wonder if Jay accidentally ordered more holy moly washers than he can sell, and just trying to get rid of them. I mean, the quality is nice. It can be used. But as a street magician I can't find a way to add logic to the reason of carrying washers in my pocket. May be used as a side-kick to the famous ultracinese trick. 5. Infiltrator As said before in this topic. This is not a gimmick to put stuff in sugar packs. Therefore, has the same problem with the Scar Tissue. I just cant take out foreign sugar packs from my pocket and claim they are regular sugar packs. This HAD to be said before selling the product. It just feels like a bad scam.

6. Slyder Slyder is not included with the gimmick pack. But I also won it via the contest. Will give a quick review about it. Slyder is simply impractical. Too many problems with it. Book test routine is impossible to do, since there is the risk of hitting empty lines. It is not possible to use it as a "mind-reading" tool as advertised by Jay, since sliding without looking at the list/page there is a big risk of hitting the middle of two items on the list. The only way of using it is to looking at the list directly while spectator is deciding when to stop. This kills the buzz. I mean, there are better ways to force something, without using a paperclip. Even the thought of using this in a routine makes me feel uncomfortable.

I am truly sorry about this negative review. But these had to be said. I am still happy that I have the Maximum Capacity gimmick. But it alone does not worth 75 bucks.