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There's a trick I do, with 5 envelopes. Each one contains a piece of paper with the details of their prize written on. The volunteer eliminates an envelope, one at a time, and each time we read out the paper within and realise they've just eliminated a week in Las Vegas, a brand new car, a 50" TV etc. When they open the last envelope, the one they have ended up with, the envolope contains something silly, or depending on the audience, filthy.

On Saturday, I'm performing to a open forum of 75 parents, each with their children of 6 - 8 years each. People will be wandering around and stopping on an ad-hoc basis to see my magic stuff.

I've toyed with some ideas as to what to put in the envelopes for kids, but I can't have it where I eliminate the good prizes and leave them with the rubbish because it's kids and they would be disappointed. i can't do it the other way around because I'm not being paid for the gig and a big TV is too much money.

I thought about having pictures in the envelopes of the man you will marry, or something.... but each idea I come up with is c*** (not the best), frankly.

Any ideas?????

First idea that comes to mind...

4 out of the 5 envelopes have something to represent a trip to the dentist / vegetables / school... etc and the "winning" envelope could have a lollipop or something like that?


G

you are so doing this trick the wrong way around.
The whole idea of this routine, is the spectators get something that sounds great, ( a 3 piece sweet for example) yet recieve something else (in this case A mars bar, cut into 3 )

by showing that they didnt win a good prize, but you did, you set up a barrier between you and the audience.

however, this is normaly a stage, or Caberet effect. I wouldnt repeat it over and over again in close up.

As you are an experienced magician I value your opinion, but don't understand your answer. How do you go about awarding a 3 piece suite as a prize to the spectator - surely you have to give them the booby prize otherwize you are out of pocket?

eh? It is a booby prize!

They think they are getting furniture.

they end up with a broken mars bar.
you have different joke prizes in each envelope except for the one you end up with, which has cash. your cash.. which you keep.. so in effect you dont win anything.

A three piece sweet! Damn I'm slow sometimes.

This sound like a bad way of performing to me. Who would ever enjoy loosing? I Really like the way Richard Osterlind performs this by having 4 lottery tickets in the second two last envelope, that way the 4 participants get a little something in the end anyway.

I know it's aq bad way of performing - I usually do it as part of something bigger, and it makes sense - but this is why I am asking for help in making a nice version.

I like that lottery idea...

Any more?

A lottery ticket.

Once they win it you can say something like "now I have demonstrated my powers, be sure to check these numbers I specially selected. I have a ticket with the same numbers on for myself so I'll see you in Hawaii!"

There is sure to be a better line than that but you get the idea!

Alec

You can't really give kids lottery tickets, can you? How about adding in a minature of brandy and a cigarette lighter, just to make it really fun?

I like the lolly idea. Each child wins a lollipop, and the performer wins something else. If this were a full kids show party, I'd suggest a custard pie. And we know where it would end up.

Of course, what with food intolerances, hyperactivity and the old "never take sweets from strangers", thing, it might be as much hassle to try and give the kids sugary sweeties as giving them scratchcards.

How about giving them each a picture to colour in later (although I suppose eight year olds might have outgrown even that), and the performer has something like a fully coloured in Mona Lisa. Or maybe even one of those magic pictures that seems to colour itself in?

I was actually wondering if you could get away with your picture being a photo of an attractive lady (nothing too racy, of course), but I think it's best you steer clear of that entirely.

Or perhaps the kids get cute animals, cowboys, etc. to colour and you get this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jawbonerad ... 171460301/

I'm not sure I explained my idea enough... you are having them eliminate the "bad" stuff (like going to school - eating vegetables - sitting in the dentist chair) and they will win the prize (in this case the lollipop) - or something like that.

But I'm sure giving a 6-8 year old a lottery ticket and telling them you'll see them in Hawaii might not be the best idea.

I do this routine at parties. If it's a female who is hosting the party, I will print off a pic from Facebook and keep it in "the" envelope. I use a male spectator for a Blind Date quiz, he eliminates contestant 2 - open it up... picture of Cheryl Cole. Shame. And so one until 1 envelope remains - his actual date. Open it up... the party host. Never fails to entertain.

Andy Nyman - he's a genius.


If you're in a restaurant - have the big prizes eliminated... and the spectator wins... the restaurant bill.



G

The joke in this effect is the delight the magician takes in the prizes. It isnt that he laughs at the volunteer because he gets an old tissue but because he thinks that winning an old tissue is a great prize.

Audiences and children are a lot tougher than some magicians suggest. Kids can take having the mickey taken out of them for a while. They also think that the smallest prizes are AMAZING. Not old tissues though.

I got the urge last night to look up why it’s called the PATEO force, and saw a comment saying, “isn’t it ridiculous that a force that is so well known makes up a large component of how the judging in the X-Factor works?”
So here’s what I came up with this morning:

“You know, I love the X-Factor – I’m hooked. How many of you 6 – 8 year old kids love the X-Factor?
The thing is, I never vote. People ask me why, I tell them, it doesn’t matter – it’s only a TV show. It doesn’t matter if you vote or not – the same person will always win every time.”
Tell you what, I’ll prove it to you. Inside these envelopes there is a picture of one of the X-Factor finalists. You can be Danni Minougue, I’ll be Louis Walsh”.

Then we PATEO down to the last envelope, doing deliberately terrible Louis Walsh Impressions at every turn – “Oh Dermott, it’s so hard, you both came on stage you gave it your all” etc..

When we get down to the last envelope, the child opens it to reveal Matt Cardle proving he would be the winner all along. To add to the effect, we then turn over all the pictures and they all say “ELIMINATED” on the back, apart from Matt’s that says “WINNER!”

What do you think?

Nice... I really like that


Thanks
G

I like that, Dumpster, but consider having someone funny as the winner. Maybe it's a picture of a doormat. "And the winner is... Mat." Well, that or something that is actually funny. I feel that showing a picture of the actual winner of last year's show somehow lacks the x factor as a finish (ironically enough).

A comedy winner also means you don't have to go back and show that all the other pictures have "eliminated" on the back, which I think might also inhibit a good clean finish.