How to Perform the Three-Rubber Band Office Magic Trick

If your audience thinks they've figured out how you are doing the two rubber band office magic trick, you can place a third rubber band around your hand to confuse them even more. Take this trick to another level by using three rubber bands.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Place one color rubber band (we will say blue for this example) around the index and middle fingers on your right hand and a different color rubber band (green) around your ring and pinkie fingers.

2. Take a different color or plain rubber band and place it around the tip of your pointer finger, then twist the rubber band once and place it around your middle finger. Twist it again and place it around the tip of your ring finger and then twist it again and put the rest of the rubber band around your pinkie so that the rubber band is even and around all four of your fingers, above the blue and green rubber bands.

3. Use all four fingers on your left hand to pull the blue rubber band that is around your pointer and middle fingers toward you with the back of your hand facing your coworkers and your palm facing you.

4. Reach underneath the same rubber band to grab the green rubber band that is around your index and pinkie fingers. Pull both rubber bands together with your left hand, holding them with all four fingers.

5. Close your right hand in a fist. Stretch the portion of the rubber bands that you have pulled toward you around the closed fingers of your right hand.

6. Tell your friend or audience that you will snap your fingers and make the two rubber bands change places so that the blue rubber band on top around your pointer and middle fingers will be on the bottom around your ring and pinkie fingers and the green rubber band will move to your pointer and middle fingers. The other rubber band that is around all of your fingers will pose a threat to this process because it closes off the fingers making it impossible for these rubber bands to slip off and jump from finger to finger.

7. Snap the fingers of your left hand and open your right hand at the same time. If you have positioned the rubber bands correctly, their positions will now be reversed just as they were when you did this trick with only two rubber bands.

Tips & Warnings

• Pull the rubber bands and place them quickly and subtly so that your coworkers will not notice that you are setting up the trick.
• If you only have two rubber bands, that will work too. Use one of them to wrap around all four fingers and have the second one jump from your pointer and index fingers to your pinkie and ring fingers.
• If you don't have two colors of rubber bands to switch places on your fingers, just draw a ring all the way around one of the rubber bands with a marker or pen so it can be distinguished from the other rubber band.