Seer-ial

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A couple months ago I wrote…

“If I wanted to do a serial number divination here is what it would have to look like:

The spectator takes out any bill of any denomination from her wallet. With your head turned away she folds the bill up so the serial number is completely hidden away. You never touch the bill—nobody other than the spectator touches the bill—and yet you’re able to tell her what the serial number is.

That would seem impossible if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve seen my friend do that exact trick about half a dozen times. [It’s] designed for social, one-on-one performing and in those situations it’s a really strong effect.”

And here is how it’s done.

I’ll explain the simplest version first and then give some alternative ways to perform it so it’s even more fooling.

You have a spectator remove a $20 bill and fold it into eighths and crease it sharply so it stays closed. You ask her to place the bill on the table near you. The bill is covered with a mug or cup so you can’t see anything and you are able to divine the serial number, apparently without ever touching the bill.

This uses a switch I originally described in the trick, “Cup of George.” There is a bill with a known serial number already in the cup. When the cup is turned down, the bill on the table is kicked into the lap with the pinky finger. It looks like this in action…

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What makes this so strong is—from the spectator’s perspective—the bill is never touched. They remove it from their pocket, they fold it up, it’s isolated under a cup. And yet somehow the magician can name the serial number. And it’s the spectator who removes the cup and unfolds the bill. It really kills people.

Here’s how my friend does it with any common denomination. He has a $1, $5, $10, and $20 folded in eighths in his pocket, or in different pockets. The spectator removes their bill and he locates the required matching bill. As they are folding their bill, he is cleaning out his cup with a napkin and in the process he leaves the matching folded bill inside.

He has them place the bill in front of him. He covers it with the cup, doing the switch in the process, and has them place their hands on the cup.

[Don’t overly justify the cup. The cup is there so you can’t see or touch the bill. I wouldn’t even bother stating that.]

Then he divines the serial number.

He either writes it down on a business card, or a blank page in a small notebook, or types it into the notebook app in his phone. But in actuality, he does none of those things. Each bill’s serial number is already written on an individual business card, on an individual page in the book, or in a note on his phone.

So, if he’s using business cards, he’ll just remove the one for the right denomination bill, act as if he’s writing the serial number down, and then set it down on the table. If it’s a page in the notebook he’ll just act like he’s writing the number down then rip that page out of the notebook. If he’s using his phone, he’ll have all the serial numbers in one note and erase the ones he doesn’t need.

Of course, you can just ask for one specific denomination if you want, and then you just have to memorize that one serial number if you prefer going that route.

Bonus Convincer: Each serial number that is pre-written down has the third digit from the end incorrect. It’s lower than it should be by two. So he will set the business card down at the end, go back one final time to “sense” the bill, then he turns the business card over and corrects the wrong number. Although they shouldn’t have any reason to doubt it, this should have them fairly convinced this was all written in the moment.

There you go. A serial number divination isn’t really my style, but I’ve seen this one in action and it is both very strong and very straightforward. If I was going to do one, this would be it.