Treasure Hunt Prediction

EFFECT: The magician introduces 4 different colored treasure chests and 4 different colored paper bags. The magician explains that in each chest is a treasure. A spectator is asked to arrange the bags in any order. The magician then places Post-it notes numbered from 1 to 4 on each bag in the order the spectator arranged them. The magician then asks another spectator to determine which colored chest to place in each colored bag.  

The magician places a prediction envelope on the table and hands a deck of cards to a spectator. The spectator is asked to shuffle the cards and deal cards face up until an Ace, 2, 3, or 4 comes up. The first number to come up, the spectator gets the chest from that numbered bag. Two more spectators are asked to shuffle the cards and deal cards face up until a number comes up that corresponds to a bag that contains a chest.

The magician asks a spectator to open the prediction envelope and read out aloud what’s written on it. The predication states what color bag the magician will end up with and the color of the chest inside the bag.

The spectators each open their chests to show that they contain coins, beads, and a bug. The magician opens his chest and produces a roll of one-hundred-dollar bills.

PROPS:

-4 different 5” x 10” colored paper bags (red, green, blue & yellow)

 -4 colored plastic or wooden chests (3” x 1-1/2”) purchased from a craft or party store and painted red, green, blue & yellow (Fig. 1). Chests can also be purchased on-line from www.orientaltrading.com)

  -Small pack of post-it-notes; pre numbered 1, 2, 3 & 4 and left on the pad.

  -Several plastic gold coins, cheap beads, etc  and a $100 bill .

                                     Fig. 1                                              -4 decks of playing cards

                                                                                            -4 Envelops containing a prediction.

PREPERATION:

1- Place the $100 bill in the Blue chest and gold plastic coins, beads, etc in the remaining three chests.

2- From one deck of cards, remove all the aces (D-1). From another deck remove all the 2’s (D-2), from a third deck, remove all the 3’s (D-3) and from the last deck remove all the 4’s (D-4). Mark the deck so that you know which deck is which. Place Deck-1 in your left pant pocket, Deck-2 in your right pant pocket, Deck-3 in your left jacket pocket and Deck-4 in your right jacket pocket.

4– On 4 pieces of paper, write the following predictions and place each prediction in an envelope.

     “The last bag standing will be Yellow with a blue treasure chest inside the bag.”

     “The last bag standing will be Red with a blue treasure chest inside the bag.”

     “The last bag standing will be Green with a blue treasure chest inside the bag.”

     “The last bag standing will be Blue with a blue treasure chest inside the bag.”

Mark the upper left corner of each envelop with the letters Y, G, R and B that corresponds to the colors of the bags and place 2 envelopes (Y & G) in your left coat breast pocket and 2 envelopes (B & R) in your right coat breast pocket so that you can easily retrieved one of the envelopes.

PRESENTATION: Introduce the 4 bags and the 4 Treasurer chests.

1. Have a spectator arrange the bags in any order.
2. Place post-it notes 1 to 4 on the front of each bag (Fig. 2), in the order arranged by the spectator.
3. Have a second spectator decide in any order which bags to place each chest in.  It is at this point that you will know the color and number of the bag that contains the Blue chest.  
4. From one of your breast coat pockets, remove the prediction envelope that corresponds to the color of the bag that contains the blue chest (envelope Y, G, R, or B) and place it on the table without calling attention to it.
5. From one of your pants or jacket pockets, remove the deck of cards that corresponds to the post-it-note number on the bag that contains the Blue chest (D-1, D-2, D-3, or D-4).
6. Have a spectator shuffle the deck and deal cards face up until an Ace, 2, 3, or 4 comes up, and give the spectator the chest from that numbered bag and collapse the bag.
7. Have two more spectators shuffle, and deal cards face up until numbers come up that represent numbers on bags remaining; giving the spectators the chests inside the bag and them.
8. At this point, there is one bag remaining that the magician gets by default.
9. Have a spectator open the envelope and read out loud the predication.
10. Have the spectators open their chests to reveal their treasurers and you open your chest to show the $100 bill.

NOTE: You can use other type containers, such as plastic eggs that come apart, and present the trick as an egg hunt. For a kids’ show, let the kids win candy while your chest contains a booby prize or a “Happy Birthday” silk, etc.