Effect:

A small tube of Advil is displayed. It is sealed. The magician displays the receipt for the medicine. It vanishes. In his hand now is a few loose Advils. The spectator then breaks the seal on the tube of Advil and opens it to find that the pills are not in there. Instead, the receipt is found there in place of the pills. Everything is examinable.

Method/Preparation:

It’s a simple matter to unseal and reseal these tubes of medicine. Very carefully start to peel off the pull tab. Normally, this is just ripped off around the lid, and you open up the tube to get your medicine. However, in our case we’re going to slowly and steadily peel the tab. As you start to peel it, you’ll feel it break loose from the body of the wrapper one “click” at a time.

Slowly pull it all the way around the tube until you get to the very end. Leave the last half-inch-ish attached. At that point, you can safely remove the lid without removing the strip entirely. Take off the lid; dump out the drugs and put in whatever your load is, in our case, the receipt for the pills.

Take a moment to look at the images above to get a sense of this process. Once you’ve loaded whatever you’re going to load (e.g., dollar bill, receipt, card, etc.), replace the lid. Then slowly, but surely reseal the tube by carefully lining up the “teeth” from the strip to the “teeth” on the rest of the tube’s label. Get in there closely and look at it carefully as you reseal.

If you get the teeth lined up perfectly — this is easy to do since we didn’t remove the strip entirely — when it’s later reopened by the spectator, it’ll have that oh so satisfying ripping sound that sells the illusion of it being truly sealed. Once you’ve got the teeth all lined up and the strip is resealed, run your thumb around the tube starting from the part that remained connected, all the way around to the pull tab. The idea, here, is to get out any possible air bubbles and to make sure the adhesive really re-sticks itself. This will further aid in the illusion of it truly being sealed.

That’s part one of the prep work. Well, technically, it’s part two. Part one is to go to your local gas station — that’s the most common place to find these tubes o’ drugs — and purchase at least two tubes. However, pay for each one as a separate transaction. You want a single receipt for each one. So if you buy ten at once, you’ll have ten receipts and an annoyed cashier.

The idea is that you have a duplicate receipt with the same time and date stamp. If you do the transactions quickly enough, you can get two identical time stamps. Obviously, buying ten will not end up with ten identical time stamps, but you’ll get a few with one time stamp and few more with a different time stamp. If the system that prints the receipts records the seconds (in addition to the minutes and the hour), then you’ll need to cover it with your thumb during the performance. Alternatively, you can just ignore the time and only mention the date, or you can ignore both. We’ll discuss this more during the presentation.

Typically, the receipt will be wider than the height of the tube, so you’ll need to fold it over first. Then roll it up. I just roll it around a Sharpie. It’s about the perfect diameter. See the images below for clarity. Once you’ve opened the tube per the previous instructions and dumped out the pills, you can place your rolled up receipt inside and reseal as described.

Part three of the preparation is the rattle gimmick. Have another tube of Advil that has not been tampered with and either tape it to your arm under your shirt sleeve, or use a rubber band. This way, when you shake the tube that’s loaded with the receipt, you can give the illusion that the pills are in the tube as long as you’re shaking it with the hand that has the tube up the sleeve.

Step four is to get a few Advils and put them in a thumb tip. You’ll need a deeper thumb tip than you may be used to. Look at the image below to see the thumb tip I use. You can get a sense of the height (i.e., depth) of it by looking at it relative to the tube of medicine. Put the loaded thumb tip in your right pants ticket pocket.

The Vanish

The vanish I use is an old cigarette vanish. I roll the receipt up to be roughly the shape of a cigarette. I say “roll,” but in reality, it’s mostly folding. Then for the last “fold,” I roll it up like a cigarette. I hold it in my right hand between my first and middle finger just like you would a cigarette. Note: the two images below are kind of upside down. This only to give a better angle of the position of the receipt.

 

Then as I start to place it into my left hand, I secretly shift the rolled up receipt to right thumb clip.

While in thumb clip position, the receipt is placed in the left palm without actually letting go.

The left fingers close around the receipt as the right hand moves away to the right giving a very powerful retention of vision that the receipt is in the left closed fist.

The right hand dies: it just drops to your side. Next, draw attention to your left hand as you casually ditch the receipt in your right pants pocket. At the same time, load the thumb tip onto your right thumb. Depending on your pants, this can usually be done without having to put your hand in your pocket. You can just stick your thumb in your pocket as you let go of the receipt inside of the pocket. You can also load the thumb tip from this same position, again, depending on the style of pocket and where the ticket pocket is.

However, even if you have to put your hand  in your pocket, this is no big deal. The illusion that the receipt is in your left hand is very convincing, so there’s no reason for them to care about your “dead” right hand. Once the tip is loaded on your right thumb, slowly open your left hand one finger at a time. While all attention is there, casually remove your right hand from your pocket.

Once your left hand is fully open, bring your hands together and brush them in that universal gesture of “washing your hands of it.” Of course be careful not to expose the thumb tip. Next, you’ll ask the spectator to pick up the tube and shake it. As she does this, load the thumb tip into your left fist. This is easy. They’re all staring at the tube. When she shakes it and no sound is heard, pause, and say, “listen.”

Place your left thumb over the opening of your closed left fist and shake your fist. They’ll hear the Advil inside of the thumb tip. Don’t worry about the sound of the pills against the plastic of the thumb tip. I’ve tested it, and it sounds exactly like a fist full of pills without the thumb tip. The thumb tip just makes it a little louder, but the sound is the same. After the sound has registered with them, slowly pour the pills into your right hand (concealing the thumb tip, of course) or ask them to hold out their hands so you can pour into their hands. After that moment sinks in dump the pills from your hand to the table (or have her dump them from her hands to the table).

Ask her to open the Advil tube. While she does this, load the thumb tip back on your right hand (or left if you prefer). Casually hook your thumb(s) into your pocket(s) and unload the thumb tip. Have the spectator remove the seal, lid and receipt. Have her check the date and time. Point out that the date is the same (more on that in the presentation section below).

You’re done, and you end clean.

Presentation:

Magician: Things are so expensive these days. Gas prices, medical bills, groceries, etc. It gives me a headache, but I can’t even afford a headache.
Spectator: What do you mean?

Magician: I’ll show you. Look here’s a receipt for some Advil. I had a headache at exactly 2:30 in the morning last Friday. [Point out the date and time on the receipt.] It cost me $4 bucks! I don’t have that kind of money
Spectator: Maybe you shouldn’t have quit your day job.

Magician: Maybe not. Anyway, by the time I bought the pills and got home, the headache was gone, so I never opened them. Here they are (take them out of your pocket and shake them).
Spectator: You’re weird.

Magician: Your face is weird! I kept the receipt so I could take them back to the store, but they won’t take medicine back.
Spectator: All sales are final!

Magician: Yep. I guess I don’t need this (i.e., the receipt) anymore. [Make it vanish. More on that later.]
Spectator: Wow. You’re magical.

Magician: I know. Right? Listen . . . [Shake your closed fist. Pause. Dump out the pills.]
Spectator: That gave me a headache. Can I have one?

Magician: You’re funny. Would you mind opening the Advil tube? Just rip it open. What’s inside?
Spectator: The receipt.

Magician: Wow! Can I see that? That gives me a headache too. See . . . it gave me a headache at exactly 2:30 AM, last Friday. I guess I can’t shake this headache.
Spectator: Thanks a lot. Now I have a permanent headache last Friday at 2:30 AM too.

Alternate Ideas:

When I first figured out how to open and reseal these tubes, I had a totally different idea in mind for how to use the concept. Over the years, I’ve had several different ideas as well. Below is a short list of a few of them.

Lazy Shopper

Rather than swapping the receipt, you can swap a five dollar bill. The presentation would be slightly different of course.

Magician: I don’t have much time these days. I’m always running around like a headless chicken. It gives me a headache, which is weird since I’m a headless chicken. But I don’t even have time to buy drugs for my headache.
Spectator: Stop whining so much.

Magician: Sorry. When I’m too busy to buy medicine, here’s what I do. I sit at home and cause the medicine to come to me. Of course, I don’t steal it. I send the money to the store.
Spectator: I don’t believe you.

You then perform the same effect as previously described, but with money instead of the receipt.

Much Simpler

The above two effects (receipt and five dollar bill versions) appeal to me because they have a somewhat reasonable story line. However, this next idea is more direct with less story and even less props. You start by borrowing a dollar bill. You then say that this trick is so amazing that it’ll give you a headache. As you say this, you’ve removed the tube and started shaking it. Place the tube on the table. The spectator can shake it if they want.

You then vanish the dollar bill using your . . . wait for it . . . favorite method. Have them open the tube to find that the dollar bill is inside the tube with the medicine. To do this, roll up the bill in the same way that you’d do the receipt. Then carefully unseal and open the tube. Dump out the pills. Load the dollar bill in. It will unroll enough to fit the inner diameter of the tube. Then put the pills back inside the tube right inside the rolled up bill. You’ll be able to fit all ten back in there. However, it will be too tight, and you won’t be able to hear any noise when you shake it. So only put 9 pills back in, and it’ll sound just fine.

The advantage of this is that there are no loose pills, no rattle box and no thumb tip (unless that’s your “favorite method” for vanishing the bill). Also, you can memorize the serial number of the bill in the tube, and miscall the serial number on the borrowed bill. Have someone write down the serial number as you “read” it. Of course you’re really reciting the memorized one from the tube.

If you want to get even more clever, you can get a handful of sequential bills from a bank and scratch off the last digit of the serial number thus giving you several bills with the exact same serial number. Then when you borrow a bill, you can switch it for one of your bills. Then have them read the serial number as someone else writes it down. This will, of course, match the one in the tube. Of course, with this method, you can have several tubes prepared so you can repeat the effect multiple times throughout a night of strolling. Remember, each time you perform it, you destroy the seal, so you’ll need a fresh one each time.

In this scenario, you can either do the switch as mentioned above to have the serial number read by the spectator. Or you can just memorize the serial number as suggested earlier. You’ll only need to remember one serial number since all the tubes are loaded with duplicate bills.

Cards

You can also fit a card in there as well. However, you’ll have to fold it in half as shown below.

Then roll it up and put it in the tube. You’ll be able to fit all ten pills in there as well. The first picture below shows the inside with only 7 pills. This is just for clarity’s sake so you can see the card. The next picture shows all ten pills. When sealed up, you can hear the pills rattle just fine.

Again, with this effect, you use the same premise . . . this trick is so good it’ll give you a headache. I know John Bannon and Jay Sankey both have used similar lines in their own work. I’m pretty sure that’s where I got the idea to use it with this effect.

The advantage of using the card is that you can do a simple double lift vanish or some other move that requires no extra props. You just need the tube and a deck of cards.

Photos

Of course, you can tell the story of your ex-girlfriend/ex-boyfriend and how much of a pain in the neck they were. Thus you always carried Advil with you. Old habits die hard; you’ve still got some in your pocket. In this case, you pretend to “realize” that you have it in your pocket. Then you tell the story of what a pain s/he was. Then show a picture of them . . . tear it up and/or vanish it. A nice touch with this is that you can have something written on the back of the photo . . . a note from your ex, or something like that. Of course you  put it on both photos: the one in the tube and the one you’re going to vanish. This is as close as you’re gonna get to signed object to Advil tube.

For this, all you need is the tube in your pocket, and a picture in your wallet. This kind of thing is perfect for more casual performances. If you wanted to do it strolling, you can have several pictures in your wallet (assuming that you’re going to tear one up each time you perform). Then have several tubes in your pocket.

Experimenting

As you can see, this idea has a lot of potential. The best thing to do is experiment with several different objects that you may be interested in loading in the tube. Just buy a tube and rip it open. Don’t worry about saving the seal. I mean . . . save the baby seals, but don’t save the Advil seal in this case. Then just try rolling up stuff and seeing what’ll fit and what won’t. You might be able to fit small coins from other countries. Also, magic & novelty shops sell miniature coins.

You could put matches in there and cause them to vanish from a match book or matchbox. Maybe you could figure out a way to do a Tic Tac/Advil transpo where the Advil ends up in a sealed Tic Tac container and the Tic Tacs end up in the Advil tube.

Stuff a few super soft sponge balls in there. Then at the end of a sponge ball routine, the sponge ball vanishes, but in its place is a red pill, or the tube itself. I like the symmetry of the red pill and the red sponge ball.

Load it will small dice and patter about how taking drugs is always a gamble. On and on and on and on. Take some time to experiment and find out what fits your personality and style.

I’ve also played around with producing the tube. Maybe causing a dollar bill to magically turn into the pill tube. You can still start the routine off by saying that this effect is so good, it’ll give you a headache, but you never show the pills. Then you perform the effect and cause the object to vanish,  or rather: transform into the pill tube.

Another untapped idea is the wrapper around the tube. It actually unrolls. See image below.

I’ve experimented with writing a prediction on there (on the inside), or trying to hide something rolled up in there. I’m not sure what or how yet, but once you get something in there and re-roll it and reseal the pull tab, it should stay in place and can be handled with no problem. You can even glue it a little if needed to make sure it stays in place.

The Rattle Box

The rattle box (i.e., the tube strapped to your arm up your sleeve) is only needed in effects where the tube is pre-loaded with no pills in it. The only example of that above is the original effect where the pills trade places with the receipt. The rest of the effects do not require it. However, you may not even need it then. The fact that it’s sealed may be enough.

For me, however, I prefer the rattle box. I want to make sure that all things point to “This bottle is a legitimately sealed, untampered-with tube of Advil.” I have experimented with wearing the thumb tip that has the pills in it while shaking the tube. It actually works and even sounds right. However, it’s very awkward to hold the tube and properly conceal the thumb tip. I’ve played around with different grips, but never quite found one that worked for me. I like the simplicity of forefinger on top of the tube, thumb on the bottom and just shaking it.

You can, of course, feel free to experiment and see if you come up with something that’s comfortable for you and your style. In fact, I encourage it.

Multiple Repeat Performances

As you’ve seen, there are versions of this listed above that can be done by simply carrying around the tube and maybe one other item. For example the photo version only requires the photo and the tube. The dollar bill version only requires the tube if you borrow the bill, etc.

Although it’s a huge impossibility to have an object appear in a factory sealed tube, if the tube wasn’t sealed, it would still be a good effect, especially if the spectator holds the tube the entire time. So, if you want to carry a tube around with a dollar bill loaded into it, you can be able to repeat the effect without having to carry around a bunch of tubes. In this case, you’ll not be able to use the serial number because as soon as you remove the bill from the tube, they’ll want their bill back.

They think the one in the tube is theirs. You could, of course, be prepared with a bunch of duplicate bills in your wallet if you wanted to use the duplicate serial number idea mentioned earlier. Since this is not a sealed tube, but merely a tube with a lid, you’ll need to do something to make sure they “know” it’s the same bill. You could use a torn corner switch.

Then each time you perform, you have a new corner and new bill to load into the tube because you gave away the one in the tube, but you got a new one from the spectator. This is the one you vanished a moment earlier. This does mean, however, that you’ll have to carry around the loose corner where ever you go.

You can also do the photo version, however, you’ll need to have multiple copies of the photo in your wallet. The nice thing with the photo, you have the built in “duplicate” if you have a little note on the back of the photo — you’ll need this on all of the photos.

Final Thoughts

Stuff like this make my mind go in a thousand different directions. I’m assuming you guessed that after reading this effect. Take the time to play around and experiment with this idea. I’m sure you’ll find a ton of ideas that fit you. Good Luck!

What Should You Perform?

The last thing you want to do is “turn on” some “character mode” during the interview. They should be meeting the same person they’re going to see on stage. The tricks may be different, but the “guy” should be the same. An interview for any job is all about being prepared. You need to be prepared with a few things. First, have something handy that’s quick, surprising and magical looking. For example, something as simple as an easily reachable cigarette pull for vanishing a pen or a rolled up dollar bill.

Also, be prepared for something with a little more meat that can showcase your showmanship. Maybe a simple coin routine or a simple card trick. Nothing too elaborate. Three coins across, not 5. A signed card to impossible location, not a 7 phase four Ace routine. Finally, have a couple of other well rehearsed powerful effects ready to go in case you need them.

When Should You Perform?

As I mentioned earlier, the interview may be such that you don’t necessarily have an opportunity to perform. This is why you have prepared the way suggested above. The quickie effect is perfect for the beginning and/or the end of the interview. Produce your business card from thin air. You can do this at the beginning or end of the interview. That way, if the opportunity to do an effect during the interview doesn’t present itself, you can still leave the client with a memorable moment.

If, however, during the interview you are able discuss the show and talk about why your magic is different from most magicians, etc. (whatever your selling points are), you’re able to show them what you mean. This is the place for the quick coin routine. Of course, if that goes well and things feel right, you can perform one or two other effects as mentioned above.

You’re Not “Other” Magicians

Oftentimes, people have misconceived notions of what a magician is. There is, of course, the stereotype of the top hat and tails. Then there’s the other extreme: birthday clown. You need to show them with your speech, mannerisms, dress and of course, magic that you are different. This is your competitive edge. This is how you set yourself apart and get a phone call back from the client. It also makes it easier for them to swallow your fee if they might have thought it was a bit high for a birthday clown.

Be prepared to prove you’re better than any other magician they’ve ever seen, but say it with actions, not words.

Until Next Month . . .

Effect:

You borrow 3 one dollar bills and crumple them up into a ball. They keep magically jumping from your pocket to your hand. Then at the end you’re left with two of the bills merging into a single two dollar bill.

Method:

This is a standard “two in the hand, one in the pocket routine.” For the unfamiliar, the basic idea is this:

• Three bills (wadded up into balls) are on the table and a fourth is secretly hidden in your right hand. A two dollar bill is wadded up in your right pocket.
• Grab two of the bills with your right hand placing all three (apparently only two) bills into your left hand as you quickly close your fist as you say, “two in the hand.”
• Then pick up the remaining bill from the table and apparently place it in your pocket, but actually finger palm it as you say “and one in the pocket.”
• Show that there are three in your left hand (apparently the one from the pocket has magically returned).
• Place the three from your left hand onto the table and repeat, but slightly different . . .
• This time, however, leave the bill in the pocket for real. But finger palm the $2 bill.
• Again show that the third ball has magically reappeared in your left hand.
• Drop them on the table and repeat, but slightly different . . .
• This time, pick up one bill and place it and (secretly) the $2 bill into your left hand as you say, “one in the hand.”
• Then pick up the two on the table and legitimately place them in your pocket as you say “and two in the pocket.”
• You then reveal that the two bills came back, but they merged together as you open your hand and reveal a $1 and a $2 bill

Notes:

For those familiar with the standard two in the hand, one in the pocket plot, you’ll see some advantages to this handling over some of the others. For one, most handlings like this with a kicker ending require you to do an unnatural looking vanish when putting the bills in your hand for the final time. Also, the versions that require switching an object like this are often awkward as well. In this case, it’s simple and magical.

Further, the nice thing about this is that you can give the two dollar bill back to the spectator and let them keep it. It doesn’t cost you anything, and $2 bills are relatively easy to come by. Just ask your bank. As you hand the bills to the spectator you can “apologize” that their bills are now merged together. The beauty of this is that they’ll likely want to keep the bill because most people think that $2 bills are very rare. Further, they probably won’t spend it, but instead, tell their friends about the magician who made their borrowed $1 bills merge together. You might consider putting your contact info on a sticker on the $2 bill.

Also, it’s possible to crumple up a $2 bill in such a way that it can look close enough like a $1 bill. That being the case, you don’t need a fourth $1 bill to perform the effect. You just need the $2 bill and nothing else. When secretly loading into the left hand, it will blend in with the $1 bills and you don’t draw attention to it. It’s all about the number of objects going from 2 to 3. As long as you can keep track of the $2 bill during the performance, you can still perform the entire trick without the extra $1. Keep a pocket full of crumpled up $2 bills in your right pocket and you can do this any time. Just borrow three bills and go.

Coins

Of course, you can use coins instead of bills. You’ll just need to secretly have a quarter and a half dollar on you and you’re good to go. Borrow three quarters and do the effect as described above. Then at the end, you have to modify the handling a little bit to avoid the coins clinking together when there’s only supposed to be one coin in your hand. So you’ve just made the three quarters appear in your hand the second time. You’ve already ditched the extra quarter in your pocket and secretly finger palmed the half dollar in your right hand.

This time say that you’re going to change it up a little bit. You’re going to do one in the hand and two in the pocket. Then, with your right hand secretly hiding the finger palmed half dollar, you pick up one quarter at your right finger tips as you say, “one in the hand.” Then with your left hand, grab the other two quarters from the table and place them in your left pocket as you say “and two in the pocket.” Then with a shake of your right hand, you bring the quarter into your hand and let it clink against the half.

The sound will catch them off guard. It appears as if the coins have jumped from the pocket back to your hand. They’ve already seen it happen twice; now they’ve heard it. However, when you open your hand, you show that two of the borrowed quarters have merged into one fifty-cent piece. You end the same by letting them keep the coin.

Root:

Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root is . . . be prepared . . . you know, the Boy Scout motto. Let’s learn how to be Boy Scouts (even if you’re a girl) or at least live up to their motto. There are various ways to prepare yourself for this type of situation. First, just knowing some basic sleight of hand and simple magic principles (timing, misdirection, etc.), you can pick up just about any small object and do “something” with it . . . whether it’s a simple vanish or transposition or whatever.

That’s one way to prepare. Another way is less improvised than this, but is still effective. Maybe you know that a certain friend of yours subscribes to Time magazine. Go purchase a copy in advance and memorize a few key elements on a few pages. Then when you go to your friend’s house next Friday, if the opportunity presents itself, force a page on someone . . . another page on someone else . . . etc. You get the idea.

A third way to prepare is to just know a lot of tricks with a lot of ordinary items: keys, coins, rubber bands, silverware, salt shakers, pencils, dollar bills, straws, etc. There are plenty of great resources for this kind of stuff. Here are a few of my favorite options:

• Off The Cuff By Gregory Wilson
• On The Spot By Gregory Wilson
• Amazing Magic & Mentalism Anyone Can Do Vol. I By Jay Sankey
• Amazing Magic & Mentalism Anyone Can Do Vol. II By Jay Sankey

I’m not suggesting anything revolutionary here, but rather, just reminding you of some classic principles and ideas that you should be thinking about.

Branch:

Let’s build our branches. Here’s your assignment for the next few weeks . . . start right now. Look around you. What do you see. I just looked around and instantly saw my iPhone, a bunch of loose change, my Little Caesar’s rewards card, a binder clip, a straw . . . a bunch of other stuff, but not what I would consider things that you’ll likely find kickin’ around when someone asks to see some magic.

Next step, ask yourself what you can do with this stuff. I see four quarters. I can do a four coins across routine. Or I could just do a simple coin vanish. Maybe Miser’s Nightmare (from my DVD, Gemstones, and a ton of other things. I’m sure you can think of a bunch of easy coin effects. What about the straw, the iPhone, etc.? I’m not gonna give you all the answers. You need to figure this out yourself. Your goal is to be ready (without having to carry anything on you) to impact people with the simple props found in the environment. Next month we’ll talk about the other extreme.

Now go study the classics and go discover your true magical self.

The hottest new trick came out today. Every magician in the world is running around frantically trying to get a hold of the trick somehow. One magician ran up to me waving his arms around and screaming, “Oh my gosh like, totally did you like hear about like the hottest new trick that came out today?” I said yes because (of course) everybody knew about the hottest new trick by Jeff Stone.

I decided to find out more about this trick so I drove downtown to the magic store and parked on the street because the parking lot and the whole mall were packed full mobs of people chanting, “Jeff Stone, Jeff Stone, Jeff Stone”, and walking through the crowd was Jeff Stone himself waving around a couple of coins and an index card. He was looking right at me and started to walk towards me.

When he reached me, he reached his hand in his pocket and pulled out four coins and another index card and handed them to me. I bet your wondering “Why you?” Well, I’m Jeff Stone’s son cause I’m awesome like that.

Required:

Three small coin purses, approximately 50mm x 50mm. I use Jerry O’Connell’s single coin purses available from: www.topsecretmagic.co.uk or . . . some banks give customers similar plastic wallets. At a push . . . you can use three coin envelopes. You also need five coloured discs. I use five x half-dollar sized Chinese coins – one red, two yellow and two blue. Finally, you need three coloured stickers one red, one yellow and one blue – about the size of a five pence coin.

Preparation:

Cut a small hole in the rear of one purse (about a quarter of an inch in diameter and near the bottom centre). On the back of each purse, at the centre, place a coloured sticker, but stick the red sticker on the back of the purse that has the small hole in it.

Set Up:

In the purse with the hole you place one red, one blue and one yellow coin. In the purse with the yellow sticker . . . place the yellow coin, and in the purse with the blue sticker . . . place the blue coin. Pop the yellow purse into your left pocket and the blue purse into your right pocket.

Presentation:

Start by removing the three coins from the purse with the hole in it – keeping the side with the hole and red sticker hidden. Ask the spectator, whilst your head is turned, to slip any one of the three colured coins into the purse – which you are still holding onto. Ask them to close the purse and to then place one of the remaining two coins into their left closed fist and the other in their right closed fist. When they have done this you turn back and, as you patter, you raise the purse and see what colour coin is inside. If you see that the coin in the purse is the red one . . . place the purse down on the table – with the sticker/hole underneath.

So, you now know that the blue and yellow coins are in the spectator’s hands, but you don’t know which one is in which, so the wording here must be delivered correctly! Say, “Concentrate on the colour of the coin in your left hand.” Look at them and hold your palm down right hand over both of their fists in turn. Stop with your right hand hovering nearer to their right hand then say, “Yellow!” They will either open their left hand and show that you are correct – in which case you now know the blue coin is in their right hand, and can now reveal it! Or . . . they will shake their head in which case you say, “I didn’t say the yellow coin is in your left hand. I said yellow because I could feel that the yellow coin is in your right hand (touch their right hand with your right hand) and the blue coin is in your left hand. “ They will now open both hands to show that you are correct. You then pick up, from the table th purse with the red sticker on its back, open the purse and show that the red coin is inside, but as a kicker finish . . . turn over the purse and allow the red sticker to be seen (keeping your thumb over the small hole).

If, however, you see that the coin in the purse is the yellow one . . . place the purse into your left pocket (where the purse containing the yellow coin is). You now know that the blue and red coins are in the spectator’s hands. Say, “Concentrate on the colour of the coin in your left hand.” Look at them and hold your palm down right hand over both of their fists in turn. Stop with your right hand hovering nearer to their right hand then say, “Red!” They will either open their left hand and show that you are correct – in which case you now know the blue coin is in their right hand, and can now reveal it! Or . . . they will shake their head in which case you say, “I didn’t say the red coin was in your left hand. I said red because I could feel that the red coin is in your right hand (touch their right hand with your right hand) and the yellow coin is in your left hand.” They will now open both hands to show that you are correct. You then remove the ungimmicked purse (with the yellow sticker on its back from your pocket, open the purse and show that the yellow coin is inside, but as a kicker finish . . . turn over the purse and allow the yellow sticker to be seen. The purse can now be examined.

Finally, if you see that the blue coin is in the purse, do the same as above, but pocket the purse in your right pocket, etc.

Time out For this Station Break

Note From the Editor:

Ghost In The Machine Comes from David’s Excellent Book, More Power To You: The Very Best of David Acer.

You can read my review of the book here: Review of More Power To You

You can see a sample (14 pages) of the book and order it here: More Power To You