(Music playing)
Male: Alright I am going to show you guys something with a book of matches, just say stop Debbie where you like.
Debbie: Stop.
Male: Okay, somewhere round about there, that is great and they get you hold on to this as well but first let me light the match. Hold on to that, it is going to be a real strange. I do not have much sleeve in fact, it goes somewhere even more impossible, did you let go the book of matches?
Debbie: Yes.
Male: Open it up.
Debbie: Oh my god.
Male: Yeah. Okay, this is the explanation for match back; this is got to be one of my favorite effects. There is a little bit of preparation before you start, how? You need to use a book of matches, so at the start you must take out three or four matches from different positions of the match book. The center match gets to bent up away from the other matches, I cannot stress this enough, make sure it is away from the other matches because what you are going to do, you are going to take one of the matches light it, and then light the match that you bent up. And then you can leave this inside the match book, and this is how it is set.
Now when you are ready to do the performance, you open up the match book, bend forward this match and hide it under your thumb and although you can see it at this angle you just make sure that you keep this top part of your thumb toward the spectators at all time.
You can then as well, actually fold up back under and you can start in this position and literally say, do you want to see something? Can I show you something with this book of matches? You open up the book, the matches obviously hidden under your thumb, you do not change this grip and you say to them, “Say stop” and you move instantly to one in the center of the matchbook. Pull it up and break it out.
From this position now, this is the only sort of slight of hand you have to do; now performance speed, literally all you do is just close it like that but they are not looking at for it. Now at this point, you are going to vanish the match. Now, before I light the match I am going to show how I do that. What I do literally, I will not going to use this one, I will use the one that is already dead from this side; you can have thrown it after one side. I know it is bizarre, nobody ever sees it, do not worry about it.
But you light the match and literally it is a timing thing, I will do it right now, it is just the timing thing that is all you do. The matches lit, there is a bit of smoke, you shake it and you literally just throw it off to one side. And then let go. In the studio it just gone off that way and then either by you just throw it down toward the corner.
Nobody ever sees anything you just throw it but you must do you always look at where the match should be. Even after it is gone you look straight at the position where the match should be you focus on that position, do not look away where it should have gone. You know as it hits something, as it you know gone into the corner, as it gone near anybody, do not worry about it just focus on where it should be.
But here we go, this is the same thing now performance speed, we are going to light that match, this goes into the spectators’ hand. That goes into the spectator’s hand, get them to hold on to it, they will forget about it, then it is all down to presentation. Blow it out, do the move, and then drop it on to the match book. This is a wonderful moment, they will be looking like you like, “what the hell happened there?” You know it just looks like it dissolves and just finish off with that little action as if you just dropped it by magic into the match book and then say to them, “open up the match book yourself”. Do not tell them, “Hey it is back inside,” just say, “open up the match book,” “Open it up
Male 2: “Wow”
Male: Their face, when they open that up, their jaws will drop, they will not believe it. They can check that. It’s fixed in there. When I do this at parties people ask me to sign the match book sometimes and I have met people many, many years later, they will come up to me and say “Do you remember when you did this trick?” and they have carried the match book around for years. It means that much to them. This is one of my favorite effects, it is called match back.
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