Flash Transpo

by Shane

This one was originally created by Bruce Elliott many moons ago. Back then, it relied on a Grant
gimmick you'll be hard-pressed to find now (eBay doesn't have it; I checked). However, I really
liked the effect (it's one of only a handful I do that has anything to do with fire) and set about
getting around that gimmick with the use of a subtlety here and there. The result it a tight routine
that is just far enough off the beaten path.

Because of the use of fire, there is a risk of some sort mishap and physical injury. Know that by
following these directions and performing this effect, you do so at your own risk; all liability for
injuries or damages is strictly yours.

Scared away yet?

Effect: Two boxes of matches are shown, drawers opened and the matches seen inside to be
whole and unlit. One box is handed to a spectator while the other is held, a match from it struck,
and the matches inside the drawer lit. The matches ignite and burn brightly and are quickly
extinguished. The drawer is closed and the box of now-burnt matches handed to another
spectator. One Magical Gesture™ and the spectator with the burnt matches open the box to find
the matches complete and whole. The first spectator opens her box and finds all the matches
used and burnt. Everything can be examined.

Setup: This is just plain fiendish. It's almost all a psychological bluff which works beautifully.
You'll need two boxes of matches and a secret ingredient: flash paper. Here's how you set
everything up:

Take one of the boxes of matches, remove a match, strike it, and ignite the remaining matches
inside the drawer. As the matches ignite, blow on them, extenguishing them almost as quickly as
they ignite. You'll be left with a box of burnt matches and a scorched cardboard drawer.

Dump out the matches on a non-flammable surface (the matches will still be hot) for cooling. It
won't take but a minute. When you can handle the heads of the matches without feeling anything
warm, you're ready for the next step.

Dump out the unlit matches from the other box. Place these unlit matches inside the scorched
drawer from the first box. Pick up all the burnt matches and place them inside the drawer from the
second matchbox. This is an important piece of psychology: the effect is that the matches change
places, not the drawers; this little bit helps subliminally cement that thought.

You now are the proud owner of two boxes of matches, one of which contains nothing but burnt
matches. In the box of matches that is unburnt,.place a piece of flashpaper at the end of the
matches away from the matcheads. It's this piece of flashpaper that you'll really light when the
spectator's think you're lighting all the matches.

Close up the matchboxes, put them in your pocket, and you're ready to go.

Performance: This is a remarkably simple effect to pull off. Between bluff and subtlety, it really
does achieve an impossible effect.
1) Bring out the two boxes of matches, with the burnt matches in the box on the bottom. Hold the
boxes, one on top of the other, in the left hand between the thumb and fingers, drawers pointing
outward toward the spectator.

2) With the right hand, push open the drawer of the top matchbox, showing the unlit matches.
Close the drawer by bringing your right hand over the matchboxes, thumb at the rear, fingers at
the front, and squeeze the drawer closed.

3) Perform the simplest, easiest, most invisible pass you're ever going to do. Yes, you're actually
going to perform a classic pass with the matchboxes under cover of closing the drawer of the
topmost box. When the right hand comes over the left and closes the box, use the left fingers to
pull the upper box to the right and off the lower box. Square the two boxes together imemdiately,
then, with the right hand, take the upper box and hand it to a spectator. Have her hold the box
tightly. You've switched the box of unlit matches for the box of burnt matches, and your
instructions to her to hold the box tightly will keep her from looking inside.

4) Open the box you're still holding, show the matches, remove one, then close the box. Ask
another spectator if she minds helping out or simply ask her name, and under that cover rotate
the box in your hand so that the end with the flashpaper is now facing toward the spectator
(where the matchheads were facing before.

5) Strike the match you removed before and ignite the flashpaper. It will appear to the spectators
that you have just lit all the matches in the box. In reality, the matches remain unlit and the bit of
pyrotechnic is the convincer that the matches have, for sure, been ignited.

6) Blow on the flashpaper as if blowing out the matches (you practiced this part during the setup,
if you'll remember). Close the drawer. Feel the bottom of the box as if you're making sure it's not
too warm for her to hold. Hand it to her and have her hold the box tightly. Make a point of asking
her if it's too warm. It won't be, of course, but it anchors the fact that she is holding the burnt
matches.

7) You're finished. Get to the presentation and the acting. Pick up the match you used to ignite
the flashpaper and gesture with it. Ask the first spectator if she can feel anything warm (she
probably will admit to such a thing). After a short time, have the second spectator open her box to
reveal the unlit matches; have the first spectator open her box to find the burnt matches in her
matchbox.

Notes: Quick and to the point. The biggest pitfall in this bit is the delay between getting the
matchboxes into the spectators' hands and revealing the transposition; this time should be as
short as possible before the delay between preparation and climax weakens things. Do any by-
play you feel like before the whole scene is set -- once the boxes are in their hands, get to the
ending quickly.

As a rule, this is one of those things I hold off on for the proper moment of impromptu
astonishment. In such a setting, it plays pretty darn well.