Bingo
By Stewart Judah and John Braun

Bingo, the modem version of Lotto, has become so popular in the last few years that it is known in every city, hamlet and town in the land. The mere mention of the word Bingo arouses interest, and for that reason we have used it as the title of an interesting little trick for the club or stage performer, although it will be seen that the trick about to be described bears little resemblance to the game itself.

The performer exhibits five sealed coin, or pay envelopes, and hands them to a spectator to mix thoroughly. Taking them back again, he explains that one of them contains a valuable prize, and this prize is to go to the winner of a game of simplified Bingo, that he intends to play with four spectators. He explains that the word Bingo has five letters and, as he holds the envelopes, he proposes to award one to each of the four spectators by a process of elimination. The performer himself will keep the last envelope. He says that he will spell Bingo, transferring an envelope from top to bottom of the stack for each letter, and award the envelope at the last letter to the first spectator. This spelling process is to be repeated until but one envelope remains, which he will retain. The spelling begins as the performer stresses that the envelopes were mixed by a member of the audience. In fair and deliberate fashion each of the four spectators now gets an envelope. Each spectator opens his envelope and finds inside a slip of folded newspaper or the performer's business card. The magician, good honest man, finds a crisp $20 bill in his envelope.

Five coin envelopes are needed. One is marked with a pencil dot in the upper left hand and lower right hand corners of both sides, so that after the mixing, the performer can locate it at a glance. Seal a $20 bill in this envelope. In each of the others seal a folded piece of newspaper the size of a bill, or a business card or advertising piece.

Come forward with the envelopes. Have a spectator mix them. When you take them back, hold them fanned in the left hand and locate the marked envelope. This must be brought second from the top before you begin spelling. This can be easily accomplished by a shuffle, or cut while explaining the rules and conditions of the game. If this is not done, your money is lost. We wouldn't want that to happen. Step up to the first spectator, spell and transfer an envelope from top to bottom with each letter. Hand the envelope, at the letter O to the spectator. Repeat this with the other three spectators. Keep the last envelope yourself. If you have made no mistakes, you will hold the marked envelope. When the ends are torn away, the performer will be the winner and a gasp of surprise will be heard when the spectators see the valuable prize.