Here’s one of those bar tricks that confounds anybody who’s weak at math. If you paid attention in high school, this is pretty easy to grasp. For the rest of you, it’s entirely your own fault if you ever fall for this one.

This is your script:

Ask someone to pull some small amount of change from their pocket, any amount from 0 to 20 coins would be good. You pull out all the change from your pocket, which you’ve pre-counted as $3.70.

Now say, “I bet I have as much change in my hand as you do, plus a quarter, plus enough extra to bring your total up to $3.45.”

First, have the other person count out their change. Then you count out the same amount as them, plus another quarter, plus enough to bring their total up to $3.45, which leaves you with no more change.

The effect will be an exact count every time, no matter how much money they had to start with. It’s in the math. By counting out the same amount as they had from your own change, you’re just replacing their coins with yours. The quarter is just a red herring.

• Point One: In this case, you start with $3.70 in your pocket. That’s $3.45 plus the quarter.
• Point Two: The other person must not have more change than $3.45. If you think they’ll have more (as in Canada, where pocket change always includes one and two dollar coins), you should start with a higher amount, such as $12.70.
• Point Three: You can start with any amount of money in your pocket for this to work. Just be sure to add the quarter to the amount that you’ll count their change up to.
• Point Four: Instead of one quarter, you can add two quarters or three dimes or six nickels or any amount. This step is merely a distraction, something to confuse the mark. It means nothing to you other than being the amount you’ll add to your pocket change above the stated $3.45.
• Point Five: This works with paper money as well, and can be done in any currency in any country in the world.

The math behind it:

X = the amount the mark has
Y = the red herring amount
Z = the amount you have

Z = X + Y + ((Z – Y) – X)

Using the values from the example above:

$3.70 = X + $0.25 + (($3.70 – $0.25) – X)

No matter what the value of X is – up to $3.45 – this trick will work. I’ll bet you a beer it does.

Scrud Kelley

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