I’m going to start off by telling you that this is a very situational trick. It’s more of a retelling of something that happened to me, but if you ever find yourself in this position…
I was heading home with someone after a concert. A local band, nobody you’d know. He was crashing at my place, so I went there. When he got out of the car, I got out several seconds after, and we headed inside.
“I wish I’d gotten something to eat before that, I’m starving.”
“I’ve got some frozen food if you want to microwave something, or we could do delivery,” I said, standing a distance away from him.
“Frozen’s fine, thanks,” he said, going to the freezer and checking it out.
“Hey, do you mind if I try something on you?”
“I guess not.”
“I’ve been learning a type of pickpocketing.”
“Can I change my answer?”
“No no, it’s fine. You can choose what I take. Don’t check, but from memory, what’s in your pockets right now?”
“Uhhh,” he said, taking a mac and cheese from the freezer and prepping it. “I guess my wallet, keys, a lighter, my phone…”
“Alright, and what do you want me to try and take? I guess probably not your phone or wallet-“
“The lighter. Wait no, my keys,” he said, starting the microwave.
“Those are pretty noisy, I’m still practicing this. Is the lighter okay?”
“Okay, my lighter then.”
“Cool. Give me a second.”
He turned around and looked at me. I took a step towards him, getting closer than I had since we got out of the car. Waving a hand near his pocket, I stepped back again.
“Alright, I think I did it.”
“What?”
“I got your lighter,” I said, showing that I had it in my hand.
“What the fuck?”
“You didn’t catch me, right?”
“Catch what? How the fuck did you get that?”
“Now I just have to get your keys. Or, maybe we can leave that for another time.”
This is an Encyclopedia Brown sort of retelling. There’s a hint within the text that could help you figure out how I did it. But it’s pretty hard to find, so I’ll just get on with it.
I stayed in the car several seconds after he got out because I noticed that his lighter had fallen out of his left pocket, was about to call out to him, then had this idea and just took it.
Like I said, situational.
Since I noticed it was the left side of the seat, I was able to wave my hand towards the correct pocket. If I were doing this again, I’d probably opt to do something that involves a little more contact, even if I only swiped my hand against their pocket.
You could just say you’re going to pickpocket the item you grabbed, but if you can, it’s better of course to “choose” it. In this case it was the only item that wasn’t sensitive or personal, though I should’ve anticipated his answer being the keys. If you can’t figure out some way of guiding them to the right item on the spot, just actively go through the process of choosing it yourself in front of them. You’re already asking them to help you out with something, if you seem to be realizing a reason why the lighter/pen/coins/whatever would be easiest they’ll likely just agree, and then you can show just how easy it was. Easy.
Whatever you do, don’t use equivoque. It’ll ruin the conversational nature of the situation, and make them realize this is a trick of some sort too early. People can be fooled by equivoque while still recognizing it as something you only do when you’re doing a trick, even if they don’t know it’s a Hobson’s choice.
If they don’t remember the item, it’s pretty hard to recover, though you could just say you made them forget the item you took. Mentalism plus pickpocketing!
Obviously, if it’s their phone or something that they leave behind, you should just tell them off the bat. Don’t be a weirdo. It’s one thing to pickpocket someone in the moment, but that’s not what you’re doing. Grabbing a wallet or a phone that could have a revealing notification pop up any moment ahead of time? Don’t do that.
But, if you ever manage to do this trick ethically, be sure to send an email letting us know. Thanks! themagicoval@themagicoval.com