Review of Kartis Visible Bill Change

Kartis Visible Bill Change offers a visual effect where a small, blank sheet of paper quickly turns into a dollar bill. The transformation occurs through a gimmicked prop. You bring out a small sheet of paper about the size of a dollar bill and show it on both sides, and in the blink of an eye, the sheet turns into a dollar bill, which may again be shown on both sides. Note that the image in the picture is misleading. The bill doesn’t change in a visible gradient as shown, but it’s a quick change that is almost instantaneous.

This is a fast effect. You bring out the paper, show it, and it changes. You can display your hands empty at the end, but the bill can’t be examined by spectators. Furthermore, you can’t change the bill back into paper.

The prop is cleverly gimmicked and does most of the work. You will need to practice with the prop to perform the effect smoothly. From an angles standpoint, you’ll want your audience mostly in front of you. But if you need to, you can probably block off the bad angles with your body to a certain degree, however, you’ll look suspicious with your hands working that close to your body. An accompanying DVD offers adequate instructions to learn and perform the effect. In the promotional video, the effect does look great (as one would expect).

I have been working with the prop not necessarily to perform for live audiences, but to perform for one of my “video demos.” Something I encountered while working with the prop is that it’s difficult not to momentarily show (“flash”) some of the workings at certain stages. It’s not a major flash, and it’s hard to say whether spectators will notice.

Looking at the promotional video, the handling is designed to minimize the “flashing,” however, when I’m specifically looking for some aspects of the workings, I can spot them briefly. For purposes of the product’s promotional video, the camera tends to move a lot to provide some cover. I’m working on a demo video to see how the prop may look in my hands.

Another consideration is that the prop is rather fragile. In just practicing, the prop broke. It was easily fixed with a little tape, but it did come apart.

The real question is whether this effect is a worthwhile one for real world situations and close-up audiences. When compared to the bill changes that rely on the Pat Page “Easy Money” gimmick (Hundy 500, Karl Hein’s Heiny 500 (click here to read my review.), Tom Isaacson’s Prophet (click here to read my review.), I find “Kartis Visible Bill Change” to be slightly lacking since the bill can’t be changed back into paper. The Pat Page gimmick allows for a full routine: a wad of papers turn into bills and then back to paper.

When compared to the Koslowski-style bill changes, the advantage with the Koslowski method is that not only can a single bill change and then be changed back, but the bill can be handed out for thorough examination as there’s nothing to find.

As a result, while “Kartis Visible Bill Change” looks great, I find that other methods and approaches provide more opportunity for creating routines and building involvement with spectators. Another consideration, with the Pat Page gimmick and Kozlowski change, you can always make additional gimmicks when your props wear out. This occurs constantly for me. But when the “Kartis Visible Bill Change” prop wears out, you’ll either have to buy a new prop or figure out how to make your own.

For these reasons, I’ll be staying with my routines based on Pat Page’s “Easy Money” (as taught by Shawn McCree in his “Paper Money” routine on this “Stand and Deliver” DVD - click here to read my review, and Koslowski bill change.