money magic – Page 4 – MagicShow.Tips

Taxing Them…

I’m not even halfway through the run here at this two week fair and my challenge of getting a new joke or bit each day is already getting pretty hard. Today is the fifth day, and I’ve got an idea for today, but pretty much dried up with ideas as of right now for the rest of the run.

Today’s idea is going to be with my Object in Ball of Yarn magic trick. I’m going to ask the kid to sign a W-9 tax form to get the dollar bill. I’m also going to try doing a torn and restored bill, instead of just folding to get to the mismade bill. What I’m planning to do is that in lieu of the kid signing the W-9, I have to do some tax withholding. I’ll then tear the bill, and eventually restore it.

Ideally if I end up doing a torn and restored bill in the Object in Ball of Yarn trick, that frees up my mismade bill routine to be used in a different show. That will help me build up my second show.

A Baby Step Forward…

One of the tricks that I started working on this week is my drawing and dollar routine. It’s been playing very well, and I think it’s something that’s going to stay in my show for a while. It’s a good piece where I get to interact with the audience.

The nice thing is that there aren’t a lot of props, but plays fairly large. It uses a small clipboard, marker, three thumbtips, a wine glass and ball of yarn. that sounds like a lot, but it’s packs smaller than most magician’s change bag routines. I can use a borrowed clear wine glass for this, so

So far I’ve done the routine five times, and yesterday I learned that I need to find a place for the wine glass that holds the ball of yarn to be in view, but away from me. Right now the table it too close to me, I want it somewhere where I’m not constantly reaching over it. This trip I packed my 3D printer with me, so I’m printing a stand that will fit on top of a straight microphone stand.

The picture above is upside down, the tube will fit over the shaft of the stand and the foot of the wine glass will slide into the cut out notch. The solid side of the holder will go towards where they are pulling the string from. I’m hoping that the weight in the base of the mic stand will be enough to keep the whole thing from falling over. I also foresee a redesign once I try out this initial design!

Never Restore It!

One of the “impromptu” tricks that I do is the mismade bill. It’s an amazing trick, and I’ve got a great routine for it. The flow of the trick is that I borrow a dollar, rip it up and it ends up mismade. I leave the dollar bill with them and don’t restore it. When … Continue reading “Never Restore It!”

Mismade dollar bill magic trick — image from www.mismadebill.com

When I do the trick I normally don’t turn it back, I offer to buy the dollar bill back. It’s a much stronger trick to leave it messed up and give them the option to keep the bill. If they want a dollar back, I simply give them a fresh dollar out of my wallet.

Here’s why I never turn it back. People at that point try to bust you. They’ll remember the condition of the bill, or serial number and call you out on the switch. You are in a much better position buying back the bill with a separate dollar or ideally letting them keep it.

Sketch Money…

Right now I’m on the road performing in Alaska and I tend to practice more when I travel than when at home. There are a few reasons for this, but the big one is that I think I just have less distractions. All of the things that I can use to put off practicing at … Continue reading “Sketch Money…”

For my summer show I needed a way to produce a dollar bill and I remember seeing a review of this trick. This is follow up to the trick Sketch, which was a similar production of a card. The one with the dollar bill was also very poorly reviewed, where the card got good reviews.

I think the main reason for the difference in reviews was that the card one was better for close up where the dollar one has a problem, that can really only be solved by distance between you and the audience. I think most of the people that bought it were looking for a close up trick and that’s the why no one liked it.

The solution on the instructional video was for you to simply step back 6 feet from the audience. That’s a horrible solution to the problem, as it’s strange if you are table hopping and doing stuff under the audience’s noses, then step back two meters. This is a platform trick, not a close up.

I did some reworking of the gimmick to make it slimmer, and I’ve got some ideas to improve it even more, however they were beyond what I could make in a hotel room. The gimmick supplied could be made better, however I understand why it is the way it is. It’s got to be made to hit a price point, and make it reasonably easy for the average person to be able to make.

This is where being willing to rebuild something you paid for is a good trait. You can take something and make it better than the mass market version. Your custom version will be better 99% of the time!

Borrowed Item Production Before the Item Vanishes…

There’s a trick I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s never played how I want it to. The trick is object in ball of yarn. Over the years I’ve done it in various form, like coin or dollar bill. I know why it doesn’t play (for me) is that once the coin is gone, it’s … Continue reading “Borrowed Item Production Before the Item Vanishes…”

There’s a trick I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s never played how I want it to. The trick is object in ball of yarn. Over the years I’ve done it in various form, like coin or dollar bill. I know why it doesn’t play (for me) is that once the coin is gone, it’s not a surprise where it will reappear when the ball of yarn comes out.

About a year ago I thought, what if the ball of yarn is being unraveled before the dollar disappears? Would that make it more of a mystery when the dollar is on the end? I think it does.

One hurdle I’ve hit is a presentation one, why are they unraveling the yarn in the first place? I played with it being a race, if they could unravel the yarn before I completed a task, they got the dollar. This felt too manufactured.

Another hurdle is how to make the dollar disappear. I don’t use fire, so burning isn’t an option. I dislike the idea of a shredder because the item doesn’t disappear. Ideally the vanish would be subtle. Like the bill is folded up and dropped in a glass, then after the dollar reappears in the yarn, it’s gone from the glass.

I’m not sure the direction this will take, but I think it’s a great idea.

The Dollar Dilemma…

It’s been years since I really borrowed anything from the audience to use in my show. The reason for that is simple, it’s a huge time suck, with no guarantee. Sure you can ask to borrow a dollar, but that does mean you aren’t going to spend three minutes asking for one and never get one. I wrote about one solution to this the other day and you can read that here.

Another solution that I came up with is to have a two dollar bill. I know what you are thinking, “aren’t those rare?”. The government still makes two dollar bills, I get them at my bank, just ask for them. You are going to set up the borrow a dollar that’s sort of like preshow, but doing it openly in the routine before the one where you need to borrow a dollar, so it’s pre-routine.

The trick before the trick where you need to borrow a dollar bill you need to tell the audience that in about five minutes you are going to do a trick with a dollar bill. If you use your own dollar bill, everyone will think it’s a trick dollar, so you’d like to buy a dollar bill off of someone for two dollar. Bring out the two dollar bill and tell them the first person to offer you a dollar bill when you ask in a few minutes gets the genuine two dollar bill.

Offering to buy the dollar bill I think takes away the fear that you will destroy or somehow ruin their money. Giving someone in the audience something more interesting that a dollar bill and an immediate profit should motivate them to give you a buck.

Mentioning you need to borrow the bill before you actually need it gives people time to dig it up. Also the idea that it someone else could get the two dollar bill gives people incentive to get the money out sooner. You could ask to borrow the bill within the same routine that you need it as long as there’s some set up that gives you something to do while people are getting out the dollar bill.

The big problem I think that magicians have is that they don’t realize how long it takes to actually borrow a dollar bill. They then end up with a dead spot in the show, that’s not just a dead spot, but an uncomfortable dead spot.

PreShow for Non Mentalists…

There is nothing worse than a magician asking to borrow money from the audience and then waiting. I’ve experienced this from the stage as the performer and from the audience watching a show, it’s rarely ever fun to watch.

The problem with borrowing money is that it takes forever, and sometimes it looks like someone else is going to do it so you don’t dig. In the best case scenario the performer asks for to borrow a dollar. Someone immediately takes out their wallet, finds the appropriate bill, holds it up and volunteers it. In this scenario it’ll take 8-10 seconds.

In a more common scenario the performer will ask to borrow money. There will be a pause while everyone looks around to see if someone else is offering it. Finally someone will say they have it, then take out their purse and start digging for their wallet. Once they find the wallet, they’ll start digging for a bill. In this more common scenario it’s 90+ seconds to get the borrowed bill. That’s a lot of dead time!

Until recently I didn’t do magic with borrowed money because there’s too much dead time. Now what I do is I put a dollar in my pocket and go out into the audience before the show. I introduce myself to someone in the audience and I tell explain that I need to borrow a dollar from someone in the show, and ask if they have a dollar. I then explain how big of a time suck it is to borrow money, so if they have a dollar can the take it out now and keep it somewhere accessible and to offer it when I ask. If they do not have a dollar bill, I give them the one in my pocket.

Setting up that person to give me the dollar bill really makes a huge difference in the flow of the show.