NICE!!!

Am sure you will like paul draper version he present it in his penguin live

Two spectators: The Man and The Woman.

In each of the three envelopes, respectively: a slip of paper with a picture of 1) a crayon drawing of a man, 2) a crayon drawing of a woman, and 3) a photo of the performer.

The method we leave as an exercise for the reader. (In other words, I have no idea, but someone should be able to figure it out. )

Thank you, yes I have a less aggressive and more "everyone is a winner" version on my Penguin Live Act video.

Best,
Paul

In my version of Bank Night, I remove myself from the routine entirely.

I play it like a fairground raffle where most of the prizes are awful and every now and again there's a fantastic one hidden amongst the mix. The whole routine is themed around luck and there is already a member of the audience who is on stage who is supposedly "lucky". The envelopes are randomly handed to various members of the audience who each receive awful prizes (e.g. tickets to a lecture on the history of plastic lid covers) and the lucky audience member on stage is left with the only great prize (which in itself leads to the next part of the routine).

Making an audience member win stops it being a 'me vs them' and makes it much more of a demonstration of how luck can be manipulated.

Just my thoughts, hope they help!

As presentation that leaves the audience member as a winner, there's " When you wake up tonight" by E. Raymond Carlyle.
Its a 7 keys to baldplate type of effect with a comedic presentation where the spectator selects the only key that opens the lock.
In the presentation Carlyle prefers, he gives away a percentage of the fee he receives for the show.

Now the only problem with it is that you have to do the presentation very well and tongue-in-cheek enough so in the end the audience will know that this is what was supposed to happen all along. Otherwise it may look as if something went wrong.

While I like this presentation I have to admit that I never used it myself.

One of my favorite banknight presentations is a hands-off presentation where the spectator uses his own banknote. He seals it in an envelope en mixes it among other identical envelopes each containing a banknote sized piece of paper ( so they feel and look the same).
The spectator then selects audience members who each receive an envelope until only one envelope is left.

During the presentation I like to remain on the side of the stage or will sit in the front row. At each phase, I like to make remarks and comments on how the spectator needs to follow his own intuiting and if he would lose his money he only has himself to blame since he is choosing the audience members and envelopes to give away ... etc.

So in the end all envelopes are opened and the audience members find blank paper in theirs while the spectator on stage has the one containing his bill. Just before he walks of stage, as an afterthought the spectator is asked to concentrate on the serial number of his bill. I then go into a serial number reveal.

I believe it's in "Artful Mentalism of Bob Cassidy" but, regardless, Cassidy talks about an approach where the performer loses, and loses big. I don't believe it's his position that is what you necessarily *should* do but more an illustration of what happens if you do lose.

Taking that lesson to heart, here is some of what my approaches are around this:

• Don't make it a competition. The "You vs Me" aspect, while offering some easy comedy and byplay, isn't the objective here. I'm not saying it's never good, just staying on topic. Plus I don't like to foster that sort of relationship with my audience
  
• So if it isn't a competition, what's the framing? I'd put forward that a nice framing is also one of the most common, so you should be able to leverage other effects and scripting. Something around the lines of: "Who here has heard the old adage that two heads are better than one? It's an interesting concept but not always accurate. I think the underlying idea, that together we can accomplish more than we can individually, is fascinating. Today I'd like to try an experiment where, if we work together and everything works out, we all win. Here, let me show you what I mean."
  
• That's all well and good but how does one take Bank Nite and make it fit this sort of premise. Lots of ways but let me think of a simple one I don't mind sharing. What about...:
  

Proceed with your preferred Bank Nite approach, ending with the person getting the cash (which you may have to take out yourself, but they get the cash so they are happy). Don't show the other envelopes have checks or more cash, then they have lost, which is contrary to the entire point of this thread, this example, AND this post.

Now the cash (in this example, or maybe a free ticket or $5 gift card, etc.) is something you're out, so you have to figure out what you are comfortable giving away in this regard but look at what's happened.

1.) You've communicated that only by working together can amazing things happen
2.) You've complimented your participant and fostered a feeling of graciousness and giving
3.) Most people will inherently realize that you are facilitating the proceedings (i.e., they won't assume they are the ones with the power). I point this out because I've noticed many mentalists shy away at letting the spectator get any of the credit.
4.) If you don't think giving somebody free money, even just a quid or two, will increase their attention on you, you really need to read up on your Adam Smith. Money and sex are incredibly strong attention grabbers.

There are a few thoughts on creative ways to make bank night less win/lose and more collaborative.

I realize the example (which I have never used) could be construed to devalue your business cards, that wasn't the objective. So maybe your phone number or something equally innocuous (but I would argue that something related to marketing WOULD be a good idea). I also realize the example I gave is quite mental magic-y but it's an example to get people thinking/talking. Take a deep breath.

Hi, Another routine that I used to play is with 5 bags numbered. In each of them they would find a different action or moment. One of them will be granted a hug (or the opportunity to hug somebody they prefer), listen or tell a joke, listen or tell a short tale, make or hear a idea or statement, and the last bag is for me. For a time I put money in there and play it like sad, but it was confusing because I was not getting to the point of express correctly the idea. Then I started to toy with the possibility of having a pseudo confabultaion ending. So, at the end, in the last bag, the "prize" is the chance to generate an experiencie for people, in which the lady X will tell us the joke of X, and the gentleman by the name of X will hug X and...you know, a sort of prediction in the form of a letter that was clear it was only possible be meant for me, but described (sometimes more vaguely, with double senses and wording like "Your Name") the experiencie of the whole act. It is maybe not that direct like havin 500 euros in an envelope, but the result is very personal, intriguing and fun to watch, because how you involve everybody on it, doing or telling something fun, nice or emotional.

Other idea that I had played with is with 5 smaller coin envelopes, and a snail or slug...four of the envelopes are supposed to be filled with greens and food for the slug/snail, but the one of them is filled with salt...(look on the internet what happens if a snail or slug touches a grain of salt). So we are all together triying to not open the salt one, triying to save the little friend (or not, depends how you play it)...is a bit extreme and dark but if you play it in a light manner people see that you are not really triying to harm any creature but to create a different atmosphere...(the method, you guessed it, is and old friend of us and handkerchiefs)...

But my take right now on the Bank Night plot is one in which no envelopes or anything like that is used, but a phone (of the audience or mine) and some cables, or cords...or whatever. One of the cables is tied to the phone, the others not, and they have to find it out. I had been having a lot of fun performing with it. More than just the risk of loosing something economicly expensive as a phone, what I like about is that phones are now a days part of our lives, full of photos and great memories, the potential communication with our loved ones...Even more, I had explored a lot in the plot the idea of the adicction to the social media, so what I like to ask them is to risk spending some time disconnected, and in the real world, sharing an experience with the friend to whom I am performing...and the end, they win back their phone, but more important, that experience. It´s quite powerful for the right people...and allows you to not have that "winner/looser" ending that has been troubling us since the beginnign of the plot. You can put a specific photo on the savescreen of the phone, and suddenly the photo is the protagonist of the plot, with all of the options and implications that you can create with that...For instance. Imagine that you take a photo of them, the group of friends that you are performing for. You put it on the screen, and tie the cables around. Now you can talk with them about the risk of loosing the friendships, the bonds, the love or families, the things that we have to do to take care of them to keep everyone tied together...Maybe! or any other thing, for instance, you can do a photo of your loved one, and explain to her or him how you felt connected since the first time...That´s what I love most about my approach, that it has a lot of possibilities to create engaging, emotional plots and hooks, and also, the effect is super powerful and could not be more easy to perform. You almost have to do nothing. You want to leave them with a memento of your magic? take a selfie with them, and then, perform the effect. The photo and the experience will live in their phones, as a memento and also...as a publicity trick for you they can keep it to remember you and your magic, or share it in their own social media to promote you...

I had called it Power Bank, as a joke with Bank Night

I love the plot Fernando Figueras used in his Penguin lecture. He wants the audience to decide on how the show begins. Every envelope contains one possible opener. The chosen ones are very funny and the left envelope has the proper opnening: Applause. I didn't like the technique, so I use a utility device Scott Creasey published and it works like a charm. A graet opener in my opinion.

I have "Change of Mind" by the late John Pomeroy. In it you have five different coin envelopes, each with a different amount of change. My presentation is to have the different participants represent the various folks who take their percentage of every dollar that I earn. They each get different amounts (under a dollar) and I'm eventually left with just "my two cents worth." Obviously, I let the spectators keep the change and I'm out no more than $2 each time I perform the effect.

Would a bank night routine be enhanced by using 5 blank envelopes and the $100 Bill be seen to be put into 1 of the envelopes first before mixed with rest and handed out upon spectators choice ?

Hi Dervish,

I might be a little late on this thread but I will post a performance of a friend of mine in Bulgaria's Got Talent show from 2022.

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOeOSgJidrg

He utilises the Bank Night effect in a really clever presentation. The video is in Bulgarian language but you may use the auto-generated subtitles from YouTube. You will get the gist of the performance.

Hope the above helps.

Best,
Rado

P.S. If you further need help understanding the performance, feel free to DM me.

I could be shameless and recommend my "Your Lucky NITE" from my eBook 'The Safwan Papers' but I'll plug Richard Osterlind's take on my effect in his amazing book Mystique:

https://osterlindmysteries.com/store/ind......ts_id=14

Bryn

Anybody think of a way to combine it with Rex Ignis,for some real drama to bank night

The question is really, why did bank night become so popular in the first place?