This interesting little box, invented
by Floyd Thayer in the 1940's, will force a dime or a penny of
certain date, a color (by using colored tiddlywinks), or tags
upon which letters or numbers or words have been printed. One of
these boxes today costs over $250, if you can get one at auction.
I'll show you my Wizard's secret for building one for a buck
($1.00) along with my "new and improved" method of
working it.
Before you buy these
instructions, go to your local Dollar Store (Quid Store in the
U.K.) or craft or hobby store and make sure you can get something
that looks like this:
The
glass window in the top isn't absolutely necessary, but it's a
nice touch if you can find one; the spectators get to shake up
the contents and they can see the pennies or tiddlywinks moving
around inside so they know it's a real random mix going on
inside. I found the box in the photo at Dollar Tree.
With the box, and
some simple home workshop tools, you are ready to imagine that
you are Floyd Thayer in the 1940's, working in his magic
workshop. Achoo! Dusty in here, isn't it?
I was responding to
someone on The Magic Cafe Forum and just realized that
my version of the Forcit Box has an advantage that Thayer's
original box didn't have. The box can be reset in front of the
audience to force any number of items. In other words, you could
force a red tiddlywink, and then a green one, and then a yellow
one... etc., in any order you wish and each time the box makes it
seem like a random event, not a force. Maybe I should charge more
for this feature? Naah!
MM-01
Thayer's
Forcit Box
$5.00
Buy all 10 articles from this
Mini-Mysteries Collection $40.00
