One of the most magical effects performable is "Chink-A-Chink." From Yank Hoe to Mohammed Bey to Albert Goshman, the genre has seen many variations. David Roth redefined "Chink-A-Chink" by stripping the props to their bare essentials - only four apparent coins and the performer's two hands. He titled his ground-breaking routine the more politically correct, "The Original Chinese Coin Assembly." Multiple variations of Roth's effect soon appeared, and they continue to do so - a testament to how wonderfully magical it is. Michael Ammar, Homer Liwag, Jason Alford, and Chad Long have all applied themselves to the genre (as have I). Doug's contribution to the assemblage is "Scramble."

Doug has taken that venerable household item, the Scrabble™ tile, and applied its distinct properties to "The Original Chinese Coin Assembly." In fact, Doug employs both Roth's routine and Liwag's "Flash Rice" routine within "Scramble." Not only is Doug's routine magical, but it is one that will be talked about after your audience goes home - the familiar Scrabble™ tiles practically ensure this happenstance.

In effect, the performer places four small, familiar-looking wooden tiles on the performing surface in a square formation. While waving his hands above the tiles, they jump around the performing surface as if they had life of their own, eventually collecting into one corner of the square formation. The magician turns the tiles over and their familiarity becomes apparent - Scrabble™ tiles! The four tiles show an E, an O, a G, and an N.

The performer repeats the effect, this time with the letter sides of the tiles visible. As the tiles collect and jump around, they form different words that are in synch with the performer's patter. Finally, as the magician says, "Just say go, and they're GONE…" all four tiles jump to one corner and spell the word "gone!"

You will need five Scrabble™ tiles: one G, two O's, one N, and one E. One of the O tiles should be a slightly darker shade than the other O tile. If you cannot find an O tile with a different shade, then you must mark one of the O tiles very slightly on the blank side so that you can distinguish it from the other tiles. The routine is best performed on a close up mat.