The Flip Flop is a nice example of a Jacob’s Ladder, and it can be used as a simple magic trick.
There is a series of cardboard rectangles, held together with ribbon. Place the Flip Flop on the table, and you will see that the topmost rectangle has 2 ribbons joined to it at one end, and a single ribbon joined to it at the other end. Pick up the topmost rectangle at one end and lift the Flip Flop into the air, and a series of little fans will open, made of foil. Each of the fans is a different colour.
However if you pick up the topmost rectangle by the other end, the Flip Flop will open in the other orientation, revealing all the fans the same colour.
There are a number of ways in which you can work this into a simple magic trick. Either starting with the single colour, which you ask the audience to remember, and you then produce the multicoloured version; alternatively if you are able to ‘force’ a colour onto the audience, you could start with the multicoloured version, and then switch it to the single colour.
