BINGO

Effect

You predict which bingo spot the spectator marks with a bingo dauber. Not to be confused with Dauber.

Method

A pre-marked bingo card and a dried out dauber (google it). It’s basically a bottle of ink with a sponge on the tip. It looks kind of like roll-on deodorant. But instead of a roller ball you get a sponge. Dry out the dauber by turning it upside down and squeezing the ink out of it. Some daubers let you remove the sponge and you can just pour the ink out. Clean the sponge and put it back together. If your dauber won’t come apart, then you can squeeze out the ink and soak the upside-down dauber sponge in water until the ink has exhausted itself. Dry it and you’re ready to go.

By the way, I hope you haven’t emptied your dauber yet. Before you do, daub a number on the bingo card (somewhere in the center-ish). This is the card you will give to your spectator. Stick this with a few blank bingo cards in an envelope, and BAM! You’re ready to go. The handling is simple. Remove the card from the envelope covering the daubbed number with your thumb. Hand the card to your spectator behind his back. Hand him the open dauber behind his back and have him daub a random spot on the card behind his back. Yep. That’s it. Since the dauber is dried out, it won’t mark the card, and thus your pre-mark appears to be the one he made.

A tip to keep the daub happening in the center is simple say, “don’t get to close to the edges . . . you might get ink on your fingers.” This leads them to the middle and sells the fact(?) that there really is ink in the dauber – a point you should never state out loud.

Presentation

Gambling is always an interesting topic. So it could be funny to start off a presentation by talking about gambling leading the audience believe that you’re referring to playing cards, poker, etc. Then break out the bingo cards. It’s all about what fits your personality.