Twinkie Picker
As ya’ll know, I’ve been working on my latest book for well over a year now (on an off – of course). The book is filled with everything from full-blown routines that I’ve used in my own act for years to essay to theories to ideas that I’ve never tried, but make for an interesting discussion to bizarre magic fantasies that are just crazy. What follows is right out of the book and somewhere in the middle of the road of all of the above genres I just mentioned.
The style of the explanation below will give you a real sense of the style of the book. Most of the content is mentalism or “mental.” However there are a few pieces (like the one you’re about to read) that are more in the “magic” genre. The book should be out sometime this year. Meanwhile . . . Enjoy Twinkie Picker:
In my Gemstones DVD, I published a bonus effect called Epicenter. It is an effect where a dollar bill (or whatever) ends up inside of a sealed Twinkie that the spectator has been holding from the beginning. The spectator can open the Twinkie and remove the dollar bill himself.
The method requires you to preload a duplicate of the object before the show. You then perform your favorite Twinkie force to get them to pick one from the box. Vanish the dollar bill or playing card (using a torn corner ruse), and bam you’ve got a pretty darn solid bill in Twinkie.
Well since then, I’ve matured a bit, and have had some further thoughts that I think you’ll appreciate. First, rather than using a torn corner for proving, you could do the old bit where you (ahead of time) scratch of the last number of the serial number on two sequential bills. In that scenario you now have two identical bills with the same serial number.
Not bad, but what about this: Get a series of bills in order and find one that ends with 3 and another that ends with 8. Then scratch of enough of the 8 to make it look like a 3. Then you have two matching bills with the correct number of numbers and identical serial numbers. And you don’t have that awkward gap between the last number and the letter.
Further, using an idea from Danny Archer’s effect G.I. Bill, I thought it would be cool to use the Twinkie as the object that you toss out into the audience to select a member of the audience to help.
So pulling this all together, you get this:
Before the show starts, you go to the bank and get a set of sequential one dollar bills (or hundreds . . . whatever). Find the one that ends with a 3 and put it aside. Then find the one that ends with 8 and using a X-Acto blade, gently scrape away enough of the 8 to make it look like the three.
You now have two identical bills. Load the legitimate “3” bill into the Twinkie (per the Gemstones instructions). Place that in a box of Twinkies with its poor (i.e., no dollar bill loaded) brethren. Make sure you know which Twinkie it is.
During the show, it goes a little something like this:
“I’m a firm believer in inspiration. I believe that many things inspire people, but I’ve found that only two thinks inspire people to participate in a magic show.”
Hold up the box of Twinkies.
“One of them is treats. So I’m going to toss one of these Twinkies out into the audience. Whoever catches it gets to keep it, but you have to promise me not to eat it until after the show is over.”
Throw the loaded Twinkie out into the audience. When someone catches it, offer to let them keep it or throw it again. Ultimately when you’re done, someone will be holding the Twinkie. That person will be your volunteer.
“As I mentioned, there are two things that get people to participate in a magic show. I gave you a Twinkie so that you’d participate, now you must give me a dollar so that I’ll participate.”
If they don’t have a dollar, have them choose someone in the audience who does. As you get the dollar bill, using your favorite secret switch, swap it for the “8” bill that’s been converted to a “3” bill. Then have a volunteer chosen by the Twinkie person come up on stage and read aloud the serial number.
You may even want to have him write it on a white board or a large piece of poster board. You can get a couple of people to verify it, etc. When all is said and done, you hold up the bill and thank the person who gave it to you. You then vanish or (my favorite) change the bill into a receipt which turns out to be the receipt for the Twinkies.
They unwrap the Twinkie, break open the Twinkie and remove the dollar bill. You then have them read the serial number aloud.
Post Effect Palaver:
You’ll want to keep handy a small garbage can (or paper bag), a towel, and maybe even some wet wipes. Let the spectator quickly clean up and throw everything away. Then as a reward, give them another Twinkie that they can have after the show.
You could use this as a publicity piece. What I would do in that scenario is open a box of Twinkies and load up the entire box with dollar bills that have had the entire last number scratched off (not just part of the 8, but the whole last number).
This’ll give you a box where most of the Twinkies are loaded with the right kind of bill. Of course you have to keep one bill for yourself so that you can perform the effect. Next put all the Twinkies back in the box and seal it back up (when you open it, do so carefully and then re-glue the box shut. Make sure you know which Twinkies are the loaded ones.
Next, you’ll have to either sneak the box into a grocery store or get with a manager ahead of time and have him place it with the other Twinkies at the right time.
When the camera crew or newspaper (or whatever publicity venue) gets there, you grab a box of Twinkies (the box) off of the shelf and have someone open it. Hand out a couple of Twinkies (all of the ones that are NOT loaded) to a few people and have them open and eat the Twinkies. Then once you’ve done this, you’ve “proven” that the box is normal. Next, you have someone reach inside and pick out a Twinkie. Then perform the effect as described previously.
I’ve never tried the above publicity piece, but I think it’s worthy of consideration. One other thing you may want to do is switch out the remaining Twinkies. If you have the manager in on it, you can hand him the box after you’ve allowed one of the loaded Twinkies to be chosen. You just casually hand it to him in a gesture that says, “would you mind holding these.” While the focus is on the guy holding the loaded Twinkie, the manager can just set the Twinkies down on a table or near a bag or whatever you’re going to use to facilitate the switch.
Then at the end when the dollar bill appears inside the Twinkie, what’s left on the table is another box of Twinkies with the exact right amount of Twinkies missing but none of them are loaded with dollar bills thanks to your manager-friend-stooge.