Whiplash (Gimmick and Online Instructions) by Josh Janousky
Murphy’s Magic –  $ 20.00      

First, let me include the marketing promo.. I’m not going to say ‘hype’ because that implies there may be more to the language than the product itself.  

“Whiplash is a hyper-visual utility gimmick that will let you vanish, transpose, and transform cards. Learn Josh Janousky’s signature routine with the Whiplash gimmick: Whipped Across, his take on the cards across plot. Cards visibly vanish and reappear one by one at the fingertips, the final occurring in a spectator’s hands.”

“Also, learn an updated variation of Oil and Water, a multi-phase sandwich routine, and a Monte game with a killer kicker ending. You will receive a custom gimmick printed by the United States Playing Card Company, ready to go immediately. In addition to the four routines, Josh shares how to repair and customize your gimmick – a new feature for gimmicks of this nature. It’s an entire lesson on splitting cards, and is worth the price of the download alone.”  

If you enjoy packet tricks.. you’ll truly appreciate Whiplash. Although the gimmick could be used with an entire deck of cards, it’s much more efficient when combined with three cards of the same value but differing suits. This allows you to perform all the taught routines with ease – after a very reasonable amount of practice.

Josh teaches, in detail, how to perform his version of Oil and Water, called WOW:Whipped Oil and Water. The performer can transform two black cards in one hand and two red cards in the other into one black and one red in each hand. Cards are stacked in varying configurations and change instantly to very different combinations with a wave of the hand. You do the handling and the gimmick does the work.

The same applies to Whipped Sandwich, except Whipped Sandwich is the one full deck routine Josh teaches. The performer begins with two black cards in hand.. the spectator selects a card from the deck.. returns it to the deck.. and the card suddenly appears between the two black cards in the performers hand. Just a suddenly the selection vanishes.. and reappears, upside down, in the deck. I know this ‘sounds’ like hype, but it’s one of those things a magician can do with a well-designed gimmick.

Whipped Across is the third effect taught.. and perhaps, in my humble opinion, the most visual of all the effects. The performer shows two cards in one hand and two in the other. With a magic word or two, two becomes one in one hand – and two becomes three in the other.

And the fourth effect taught is Whipped Monte. If you enjoy a three card monte, you’ll enjoy performing Josh’s version. The gimmick makes the seemingly impossible… possible.  

Almost forty minutes of the instructions, following the teaching of the effects, is devoted to teaching both how to repair the gimmick should a repair be necessary, and how to create your own gimmick from scratch. I appreciate the effort put into Whiplash much more after seeing how time-intensive creating a gimmick can be..

In all fairness, if you are NOT comfortable with packet tricks then perhaps you should buy yourself a good book. Because the majority of the effects are Oil and Water, Sandwich, and Monte type effects, it only makes sense to stress the packet aspect.

As for skills… you will need to know how to do a decent double lift and conceal a card behind another card. A couple of the moves are a little tricky and will require a degree of practice.. but nothing knuckle-busting. Whiplash is also advertised as ‘not’ angle sensitive. I would agree.. in most cases. Personally, I try to conceal the angle of double lifts and turnovers.. but it’s certainly not a deal breaker.  

You receive the gimmick and an address to access the online instructions. You DO NOT have to download anything, as you can watch all the instructions on Murphy’s dime.. but you can also download the instructions and watch offline, as I did..  You will also have the option of joining a closed Facebook group of purchasers of Whiplash, discussing the possibilities.

The gimmick itself is a well designed utility device. You can achieve magic with a gimmick that’s virtually impossible without one. If you have any degree of creativity, you’ll be devising your own routines using combinations garnered from Josh’s years of developments. I suspect he had a little help along the way.. as he gives thanks to Mark Mason, Jon Armstrong, Eric Jones and Mathieu Bich.  

With all the instructions, an hour and thirty-five minutes total, and the fact that it’s very affordable ( Remember, you should never have to purchase another Whiplash ).. and available from any dealer who sells Murphy’s Magic products…  I gladly recommend Whiplash.  

Available from dealers selling Murphy’s Magic products..  $ 20.00  
https://www.murphysmagic.com/product.aspx?id=58255