David & Leeman

Lottery Trick

Revealed

In this amazing trick, magicians David and Leeman play some lottery with the judges of America's Got Talent. They ask each of the judges to pick one of the five color balloons lined on the table and then name a number from 1 to 99 when David pops the balloon they picked.

The four numbers that the judges picked are written on a big lottery board which is positioned on the stage. The judges pick 6, 69, 41 and 86.

David and Leeman then reveal that the the prize of the lottery is hiding in the yellow balloon – the only one that remained on the table. They take the balloon to the judges' table and when they pop it, a folded lottery ticket falls out.

They ask Howard Stern to unfold the ticket and scratch it off. It tuns out that the lottery ticket inside the yellow balloon correctly predicted the numbers picked by the judges! Well, almost. The numbers on the ticket are: 6, 69, 41 and 85. The last number, picked by Howard Stern, is one off!

But just when we thought that the trick failed, David and Leeman surprise us once again. They take off their jackets, and written on their back, it says: »Howard will be off by one«.

It's a really amazing illusion. See the performance in the video, and then read how it was done in the explanation below.

 

Explanation:

How could David and Leeman possibly predict the numbers that the judges picked? And how could they know that Howard Stern will be one off? It all seems pretty impossible.

You are probably know what we think about it: they didn't really predict the numbers, it was just a really clever magic trick. But then how did all the correct numbers end up on a lotter ticket inside the last remaining balloon?

First of all, there was nothing inside the yellow balloon. David and Leeman didn't know which balloon will remain on the table. Notice that the message on the board doesn't say »What's inside the yellow balloon«. Rather, it says »What's in the last balloon«. If the last balloon remaining would be the red one, they would just use the red one and continue the trick in exactly the same way. There wasn't anything in any of the balloons.

But when they pop the balloon, the lottery ticket falls out! How did that happen if the balloon was empty?

The lottery ticket didn't fall out of the balloon, they just made it look like it did. Leeman held the folded lottery ticket in his left hand and let it go exactly at the moment they popped the balloon. This creates the illusion that the ticket was inside of the balloon and then fell on the table when the balloon was popped.

Ok, but this still doesn't explain why correct numbers were on the ticket.

This is the main part of the trick. The numbers were written on the ticket only after they were already known. David and Leeman have an assistant on the table behind their huge lottery board. The assistant has a blank lottery ticket. As the judges say their numbers, the assistant writes them on the ticket. For Howard Stern, the assistant writes 85 instead of 86 – that's all part of the trick.

After writing down all the numbers, the assistant covers them with scratch off ink, which is the thing you scratch off on lottery tickets. This can be done very quickly while David and Leeman are reviewing the selected numbers and talking about the prize.

When Leeman goes to get the huge quarter coin, he reaches behind the board. The assistant hands him the quarter and the ticket. Leeman hides the ticket in his left hand, you can see him doing it in the video. Notice how his left hand is not relaxed but slightly clenched? That's because he's holding the folded lotter ticket.

When Leeman then goes to get the balloon, he grabs it with his left hand. The ticket is now between his hand and the balloon. He creates some space between his hand and the balloon, and then shakes the balloon. This creates the sound we hear, which makes it sound like something is inside the balloon. The ticket is actually bouncing between the palm of his hand and the outer side of the balloon!

When the ballon pops, the folded ticket automatically falls to the table, creating the illusion that it fell out of the balloon. Well played, guys!