I know this sections about paper money, but we poor Aussies are stuck with plastic cash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_dollar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_banknote

It doesn't fold well, it's hard to tear (there is a way I've worked out) and it doesn't burn nicely at all. All the things we like to do to our 'paper' money! It's also a federal offence to deface or maul Australian cash...unless you can magically restore it of course!

Plastic money has these properties that our old paper currency does not have that I can think of:
[list]
[*]Waterproof
[*]Somewhat slippery surface
[*]Has a transparent window in it
[*]Colorful
[*]Looks pretty
[*]Lasts longer than paper, is robust.
[*]There's tiny almost microscopic writing on it. e.g. FIFTYDOLLARSFIFTYDOLLARS
[*]There's a little star with three points on one side of the note and two on the other...they line up when you look through the note against light.
[*]All notes are the same width, differing only in length.
[*]Supposedly impossible to forge. Though cashiers are regularly fooled by color photocopies on paper.(Perhaps I should be doing magic for them. )

I see from the web site listed above that there are several other countries with polymer banknotes.

I'm trying to brainstorm some effects up that use some of plastic currency's unique properties. I'm fiddling around with a few ideas using the clear window, perhaps for a peek at something. I noticed that on the $10 you can see part of the serial number through the window.

The waterproof nature of the note might be interesting to use. It's easy to dry off and clean up after a spectators note has appeared in a can of beans, bottle of beer or something.

Also I have been thinking along the lines of a bit of strongman note tearing business. It is actually quite hard to tear an intact note with the bare hands...

The contrast in colors also seems like something to use: $5 pink/purple, $10 blue, $20 orange, $50 yellow, $100 green.

The notes are made from polypropylene. It melts at about 160 degrees C. It's a thermo plastic...(goes off to fetch his chemistry set and organic chemistry textbooks)

Any more ideas out there? Are there any published effects that I could buy that use polymer banknotes?

We Romanians have the same problem. Plastic bills are aweful. You can't do anything with them. Well, you could come up with a torn effect as these bills can't be torn in the hands...lol

-Matt

We have the same problem, New Zealand notes are the same !
From memory they are also different widths (My wallet is empty at the moment !)

Tricks like Hundy 500 just cannot be done, without modifying the trick severely. Eg changing newspaper into bank notes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Dollar

IIRC, the Jay Sankey "triangulate" trick uses bill-sized pieces of tyvek. Maybe you could do it with plastic currency. Perhaps you could melt the ends and make a loop, mismade bill, mobius strip, or something like that. Or perhaps you could chemically fade/remove the ink from one side of the bill.