talkmagic.co.uk

Hey everyone.
Sick of the awkward "can I keep it" moment when you change someone's bill to a higher denomination?

Try this out
With people you know in a bar, you say you've got no cash (can show an empty wallet if you want) and ask to borrow £5 with which you'll buy a round of drinks (especially good if the round costs more than £5). Take the £5, say you'll only need it for 10 minutes as you're going to get the round for free. Do a visual switch changing the £5 for a £20, and explain that you'll make the £5 look like a £20 note. Go and buy your round of drinks (making sure you get a £5 note in the change). Bring the drinks back and give the person their £5 back.

You have motivated the magic, no-one has been short changed. Magic has bought you a round of drinks (or lunch, or sweets, or a Cd- use your imagination). What a useful thing this magic lark is.


Shanester

Personally I always change the denomination downwards such as a £20 note to a 5 euro note as I find that it gets better reactions and specs are less grabby.

I wonder if others have the same thoughts and experience?

I have only performed a few Bill switches to Joe Public,

I have done things both ways, but like Dat says, downward is often nice if you are doing the effect for effect's sake as part of a routine ... but i prefer the whole improptu thing... go to buy somthing in a shop, like a movies for 15.99 or somthing ... pull out a ten pound note and go ... 'hang on .. wrong one" ... then change it into a 20 ... the cashiers are usualy ammused.

Rob

Rob

That's a classic scenario for a bill switch and an exception to doing it the opposite way

If you change down you can usually hand the note out safely knowing that you'll get it back as the spec(s) won't leave short changed. Handing out the lower value note which they will pass around, gives you an opportunity through the misdirection to do a prep for re-producing the original note in some other way (bill from impossible location as an example), particularly if it's signed.

If you take a £5 and then hand out a £20 then they'll vanish quciker that you can say abracadabra

Good points Dat.

If anyone wants some alternatives for the bill switch they should scour Jay Sankey's catalogue of stuff. He has one involving moving punched holes in a bill, and a transposition of two signed bills fromhis hands to a purse to name two off the top of my head. The details can be found on Very Best of... Vol 2, No Card Tricks, Secret Files Vol 1, and probably a few others which I haven't delved into yet.

I haven't tried any Bill Swicth tricks yet as my bill switch still needs work and I'm a busy man (too busy to practise it at the moment). Despite my personal experience with it (or lack thereof) I can really see some value to Sankey's approaches to the Bill Switch that are a refreshing alternate to the value changing. Also, in the playing about I've actually done with the bill switch, I don't see any need to use an actual bill.

Here's an idea. If you're out to impress some girls in a bar or whatever then fry their brains with some of your general magic, then as you're finale do the bill switch with a piece of paper with her name or something on it and change it for a peice with your name and you're phone number on. Or even better, get her number first then switch it for your number.

Congratulation's, you've just pulled.

I don't like the moving holes Sankey thing- don't feel like permanently destroying two notes (minimum investment £10).

Why would you, if you could do real magic, change a £20 to a £5?
Think about it - it's not logical (and remember we should be thinking- how would this look if I could do REAL magic?)

Just because changing a note into a smaller denomination makes things easier, doesn't mean it's better.

In fact any normal person can change a £20 into a £5 (cue all jokes about peoples wives)

Shanester

magic evmeister wrote:

Also, in the playing about I've actually done with the bill switch, I don't see any need to use an actual bill.

That's certainly true and the principle can be applied to many things with some thought.

What I like about switching money is that there is a psychological shock for a short time in that the person usually worries that they're going to lose out when you chenge downwards and you usually then have their focussed attention which is one of your aims in performing.

You then go through the remainder of your routine and end by seeing their relief when you finally give them back their bill.

I don't like the moving holes Sankey thing- don't feel like permanently destroying two notes (minimum investment £10).

Not if you use Dollar bills.

Try this out
With people you know in a bar, you say you've got no cash (can show an empty wallet if you want) and ask to borrow £5 with which you'll buy a round of drinks (especially good if the round costs more than £5). Take the £5, say you'll only need it for 10 minutes as you're going to get the round for free. Do a visual switch changing the £5 for a £20, and explain that you'll make the £5 look like a £20 note. Go and buy your round of drinks (making sure you get a £5 note in the change). Bring the drinks back and give the person their £5 back.

Nice idea although you just know you will be stung for every round there after.

Shanester wrote:

Why would you, if you could do real magic, change a £20 to a £5?
Think about it - it's not logical (and remember we should be thinking- how would this look if I could do REAL magic?)

Well if we're attcking this one with logic then if you could do the opposite (Change a five into a twenty) then why would you be out exhibiting these skills for the public. I know if could REALLY do this MAGICALLY, i wouldn't be typing out this post I'd be sitting in my arm chair with a huge stack of five pound notes, wouldn't you?

Shanester also wrote:

I don't like the moving holes Sankey thing- don't feel like permanently destroying two notes (minimum investment £10).

This is why I've cunningly asked my Scottish boss to get me some Scottish £1 notes next time they visit home. Also I like the way he presents it "this is not a trick, it's a puzzle" which really catches the audience off guard when the climax comes.

Also Happy Toad, I - personally - would have a problem with using US currency. As I have to establish my credibility DURING my perfromance rather than already having a headstart by being noted as a professional I have to use something a little less suspicious than American Currency. If I could afford to use a couple of English £5 notes I would but my magic hasn't made me that rich yet, lol.

magic_evmeister wrote:Also, in the playing about I've actually done with the bill switch, I don't see any need to use an actual bill.

This is true ... I ALWAYS win when playing Monopoly!

Rob

As I have to establish my credibility DURING my perfromance rather than already having a headstart by being noted as a professional I have to use something a little less suspicious than American Currency. If I could afford to use a couple of English £5 notes I would but my magic hasn't made me that rich yet, lol.

This can easily be covered by saying you have been on holiday or a friend has and had a few dollars left over. I couldn't think what earthly use a few American dollars were in the UK till I came up with punching holes in them. Yeah seriously let me show you what I mean......

First magic_evmeister, I wasn't attacking you and sorry if you felt I was.
I do think that diminishing a note just for the sake of an effect is a pretty unmagical thing to do. And maybe you do have a pile of £20 notes at home but are just the sort of guy who likes to act like everyone else but is secretly stinking rich.
Or maybe the notes only appear to be a £20 and only look like that for 20 minutes before they change back to a fiver, which is why you borrow one just before going to the bar.

Remember these are only opinions.
I personally think that if you are going to do a bill switch with cash, at least one part of it should be local currency (although I do like the moving hole thing with foreign currency -"look the economy in Bulgaria is so weak, even the notes have holes in them!"). If you are making money change from one bill to another you are trying to get an emotional rise from the audience, so it should be as relevant to them as possible ie I am magically creating money (subtext- haven't you always wished you could do this)

That's just the way I see it.

By the way, has anyone been to the pub and tried my routine out yet. If you do you'll see it gets strong reactions

Cheers

Shanester

Sorry if my use of language (i.e. "attacking with logic", etc) led you to believe I was offended. No offense was taken, and I hope you took none form my comments either. You shared your opinion and I shared mine to the contrary. I merely just trying to express my opinion in the most colourful way possible.

You will know if you've offended me because I will be very direct about it and I'll write something like I did with Blademaster inthis thread.

I do like you're idea for getting the round in, though. But as happy toad points out, you may get more pressure than usual from your audience to repeat this trick. Let someone try it and let us know how it goes.

I still think if you're goal is to pull then you should try my phone number switch, I think that could be really effective.

An alternative...

I've mentioned before on the forum that I like to do a 'borrowed till receipt' to bill switch.

I call the routine 'refund', and it plays well, because the till receipt has no value, so there's no cross-purposes to denominations.

Plus, it gives perfect reasoning for something a Magi would do...

1. Magi borrows or produces till receipt.
2. Explains about refunds, how it's quicker to do it yourself rather than travel to the shops.
3. Switches receipt for £20 note
4. Realises that the item the refund is for only cost £10
5. Magi explains 'even though I'm a magicians, I still have a conscience!', and switches the bill back to a receipt
6. Hands receipt back to speccy
7. A very clean finish!

Give it a go, it makes far more sense than the standard bill switch.

Nice routine.

And of course the "receipt" that you give away can be from your own magic store, with a tag line, your name and contact details on.