Here's a great routine with a theme that's not performed very often. It's all about "shortchanging," that con man skill of making change and stealing money in the process. Jim Steinmeyer's "Bunko!" provides an excellent routine that requires no sleight of hand, all you have to do is memorize the sequence and the bills do the dirty work. The trick also comes with two first rate and entertaining presentations.
Back to the Twenties
You tell a story about Al Capone and his experiences with a notorious short-changer named Florrie Ireland. With slow and deliberate counting, $20 Becomes $19, then $14, then $20, $19 again and finally $24. For the climax, the sucker ends up with $13. A second presentation involves a story where you lose your money to a carney short-changer.Initially, you may react negatively to the fake bills, but they make sense. The bills are designed specifically for the effect and make the counting easy, and the different denomination bills are different colors so they’re easily identified when changes occur.
Gimmicked Bills
The trick is not difficult to learn and perform. If you can count bills from one hand to the other, you can perform the trick. This is the kind of effect where you must commit a sequence to memory. And should you have the misfortune of making a wrong turn and mixing the bills out of order, it can be hard to recover. The instructions are excellent (they were written by Richard Kaufman).
Count On This One
As you would expect, a routine about shortchanging money has lots of counting involved. But the trick is baffling, has a great, built-in story and is entertaining magic. For something different, get fleeced with “Bunko!”-Wayne N. Kawamoto
MSRP: (US) $25
Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.
