"POSH" (#146)

" POSH" (#146)

What you need.. Two quarters and a Sharpie. This is a nice coin routine.

Remove a quarter from your right pants pocket, give it to a spectator and ask them to put their initial boldly across the face with your handy dandy Sharpie marker. Announce that you are going to vanish the coin in either a visible or invisible manner. Stick the hand with the quarter into your right pants pocket, coin at fingertips, and state... "This is the visible method". Apologize for your lack of magic, take your hand out of your pocket with the coin still a fingertips, and announce that the invisible method will probably be more impressive.

Naturally, when the right hand was in the pocket it dropped the marked coin the the pocket and picked up a second quarter, which just conveniently happened to be in your pocket beforehand.
As you bring the second coin out of pocket, don't pause, but casually toss it from the right hand into the left hand. Finger palm the second coin and 'pretend' to toss it back into the right hand.

Using dramatic effect, slowly open your right hand to show that the coin has 'vanished'.

Show your hand totally empty, slide it back into your right pants pocket, and then make 'em wait a moment as you slowly bring the coin out of the pocket, at fingertips, and show it as the initialed coin. Give your audience time to catch it's collective breath...

Now, you're holding a coin in each hand, with the marked coin in the right. Take the coin in the right hand and perform a 'false transfer' to the left hand, making it appear as if you put the right hand coin in the left hand then opening the left hand to show a coin while keeping the right hand coin in finger palm.

Using your right forefinger as a pointer, explain how to intend to make the coin in the left hand travel up the left arm, across your chest, down your right side... and right into your right pants pocket... again. As you point to your left arm, run your right forefinger up the arm, across the chest, down the side, and into your right pocket for only a brief second.. just long enough to drop the marked coin in the pocket !

Now, you're so far ahead its pathetic..
Personally, after I finish with the Sharpie, I drop it... where else .. into my left pocket. As you stand there, coin in left hand for all to see, perform a french drop, or whatever else excites you, to make it appear as if you transferred the coin into the right hand. Keep the right hand closed as you quickly stick the left hand into your left pants pocket to get the Sharpie.. and leave behind the coin of course..

Tap the right hand exactly three times with the Sharpie in your left hand, uttering some sort of mumbo-jumbo, and again open the right hand VERY slowly to reveal that the coin has AGAIN vanished. Show your right and left hand clean.. wonder where 'o where could the little coin be.. and slip your right hand into your right pocket to retrieve the marked coin..

Remind them that you told them your were going to make the coin go up the arm, across the chest, and into the pocket and, if nothing else, you're a man of your word...

"3 dice guessing" #145

Pick a subject and give them the three dice, and a pen and paper or calculator if their mental arithmetic isn't up to scratch. Ask them to roll the three dice so that you can't see the resulting numbers (with your back to them or with a throwing cup to cover the dice). Then ask your subject to follow the simple steps listed below so that you can miraculously guess what the numbers thrown are. For example if they have thrown a 3, 6, and 2 they...
Multiply the number on the first die by 2 6Add 5 11Multiply by 5 55Add the number on the second die - 6 61Multiply by 10 610Add the number on the third die - 2 612Subtract 125 487
All you have to do is ask for the resulting number and subtract 125 from it. This gives you a three digit value with each digit representing a number thrown on the dice. i.e. 487 - 125 = 362 or 3 - 6 - 2. Try and make this last step seem difficult, as if you are using some magical power.

"Business Card"(#144)

"BUSINESS CARD" (#144)

Here is an idea I have been playing with, it has weaknesses andI've started working some of them out but here is the original,creases and all. See what you can do with it, discover which newdirections you can take it in and get back to me.Hand 4 or so people business cards. Ask one of them to write downthe name of an animal he or she once owned. Ask the remaining threeto make up names that could be associated with animals. Now thecards are all mixed. One at a time the cards are held in the air bysomeone else, and although your back is turned or you are otherwiseprevented from seeing, you call STOP on one of them, open it up toreveal that it is indeed the name of the only real animal. Themethod is really good fun. You simply peek the name of the animalthe first person writes down. Stop at any point you like,. open thecard and misread it, so no matter what it really says on the cardyou read it out saying the name of the animal you peeked earlier.Of course one in 4 times you will be correct and you can even offerproof. To cover the times you don't get it right just casually foldit and toss it back in to the pile with the others.

"red & black"(#143)

"RED & BLACK"(#143)

Take a deck of cards. Split them in to 2 piles. Red and Black. Stack the deck so that it alternates red-black-red-black all theway through. Now in performance you talk about par-optic vision and how it's possible, if you just trust yourself, to sense colours with the finger tips. Spread the deck face down. Have the volunteer touch the back of any card. Ask her to touch the face of the card without looking and decide whether she thinks its red or black. Just trusting her intuition. She says and you turn it over to show she is correct.

When she touches the card you cut the cards at that point and look at the card above. That card will be the opposite colour to the card she has touched. So for example that card we just looked at is black, we know the card she touched is a red one. Ask her which colour she thinks it is. If she says red, that's fine have her turn it over. That will happen 50% of the time. If that is not the case the most you have to do it either double lift to show she is correct

"jigsaw" #142

"JIGSAW" (#142)

You show an (almost) complete jigsaw puzzle, stuck on to a piece offoam core board. It is only missing one piece, but that piece isvery significant. It is one of the eyes of the famous Mona Lisa."Its a good job my aunt is a psychic, well that's what we'll callher as each Christmas she manages to buy me something that Ialready own. This Christmas it was the very same jigsaw again. Allwe need to do is find the one missing piece."5 people come on stage to help solve the puzzle, they each reachinside the box and remove a piece of jigsaw. Even though you haveyour back turned as they remove them and the pieces remain insideof their clenched fists you eliminate everyone until one personremains, that person holds the missing piece of the puzzle.For me this gives a significance to locating the right person, farbeyond just working out where the coloured gem is hiding. Everyonecan identify with the frustration of having lost one

tile of a jigsaw. SECRET: There are a few approaches you could take tothis. All of the pieces in the box could be the same, so theelimination process is just a charade.

"Coin Pass Through" (141)

Coin Pass Through(#141)

Materials Needed:
2 identical coins
a small piece of transparent adhesive tape or magicians wax

The Trick:
You ask the spectator to hold out his or her hand palm up. You in turn place your hand on top of theirs, palm down. With your other hand you place a quarter or other coin on top of your hand and explain to the spectator that with one quick slap of the coin you will make it pass through your hand and into theirs!

When you place your hand on top of the spectators open hand, you will already have the coin in your palm. If you place your hand on theirs quickly enough , the coin will not fall nor will the spectator already feel it in their hand ! You then place the "other" coin on top, on the back of your hand.
On the palm of your hand which is not touching the spectators, is where the tape or wax will be. Then with a quick motion, you smack the top of the coin,which actually gets stuck to the tape/wax. Slowly remove your other hand to let the surprised spectator see how it "magically" passed through your hand!

""Easy Levitation" (#140)

Easy Levitation(#140)

First make some really strong salt water, pretty close to 25% water 75% salt (or even more salt).
Then soak a peice of string or thread in it for an hour or two (let it set over night for best results).
Hang the thread from somewhere to allow it to completely dry and straighten.

The Trick:

After you have your super salty but dry peice of string ready, you can perform the trick.
Ask to borrow a small light object from someone such as a ring and tie the string around it and let the ring dangle like a pendulum.
Allow the ring to settle and stop moving. Light the string on fire with a lighter or match... the string will burn but the salt crystals left should hold the ring and it will appear to float.
Note: you might want to wear gloves of some sorts or other protective gear to keep the heat away from your hands.