Product description : Peek methods have been around for ages, with envelope, wallet, pad or just a simple business card, you have a lot of options. Akkelian Envelope is a recent addition to the plot, with a tinted envelope. The idea is very simple, somebody writes anything on a business card and place it in the envelope, while you’re closing it or putting it aside, you are able to get a peek at what they’ve written. Then, it’s up to you to find out what you will do with them, they’re plenty of routines already published with peeks. This is more a utility device than a trick in itself, let’s find out if it works and if it’s worth your money.
Price and where to buy it : This is sold at $24.95 and you can find it on Theory11 website : https://store.theory11.com/products/akkelian-envelopes
What you get : You receive a very pretty little box, with a nice metallic red ink inscription on it, Theory11 are spot on when it comes to packaging, they know what they’re talking about. Inside, you’ll find a small card with the link for the explanation video, unfortunately, you can’t download it so you need to watch it online. The quality of the video is amazing, Spidey does a great job explaining why he thinks those envelopes are the best and he is also teaching you 2 of his most favourite routine. It’s approximately 30 minutes long and I enjoyed watching it. And of course, you’re provided with the envelopes, you get 5 non gimmicked envelopes in case you want to switch the gimmicked ones in order to give them to the spectator at the end. You also get 20 gimmicked envelopes, they’re made out of white paper and black tint, they do look good ! And most important, they work well. For $25, I do think this is a pretty good deal !
The pros and the cons : Here is the core of my review, let's begin with the cons, as I will usually be doing, I prefer to keep the good things for the end.
THE CONS :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The envelope size is a little bit awkward, it’s not common ! But the routine taught by Spidey deals with this, and gives it a good justification in my opinion.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The envelope isn’t directly examinable afterward, but again, most spectators won’t look at the envelope.
THE PROS :
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The tint does give a good counter intuitive thinking for the spectator, it’s a convincer that you’re not able to see through the envelope !
[if !supportLists]– [endif]Spidey’s first routine addresses the envelope size, by saying it’s something you would put on a birthday present and to me, this is the best explanation possible.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]You get a full and clear peek, so people can write names, numbers, drawings or anything they want, you will be able to peek it.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]The way the envelope is made allows you to show both side completely opaque to the spectator, I think a lot of thoughts has been put into it.
[if !supportLists]– [endif] Even if a spectator looks inside the envelope, I’m not 100% sure they will find out anything strange to it, because they don’t know what to look for. But I wouldn’t be confident handing the gimmicked envelope to my audience.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]You do not need a lot of practice to get the peek correctly which means you can fully focus on your presentation, which is the most important in mentalism routine.
[if !supportLists]– [endif]You’re provided with a lot of envelopes so it doesn’t matter if you lost one or rip one during your performance. It’s a nice touch they included regular envelope too so you can give them to your spectator or use both envelopes (gimmicked and non gimmicked) in a routine like Spidey teaches you.
Overall rating : This is a good peek utility device, maybe not the most groundbreaking one but it works, and works well ! Personally, I wouldn’t use it since I’ve got my peek techniques but if you like the look of it, you won’t be disappointed, 3/4 hearts.
As for the difficulty level, no difficulty at all, but please focus on your presentation, I would say 1/5 stars.
Similar products : Larry Becker, Scott Creasey, Matt Mello, Bob Cassidy to name a few people who have been into peeking devices or peek techniques.