IDEAS AND ROUTINES FOR THE PROFESSIONAL MENTALIST by GIDON SAGHERTo Sharon, and our three amazing daughters Maayan, Yarden, and Yuval ow To my mom, who read me English magic books since I can remember myself, And to my Father's memoryPREFACE First of all, thank you for your interest in my work and for investing in purchasing this book. My name is Gidon, and at the time of writing this I have been doing magic and mentalism for about 36 years as an amateur, with 20 of those years professionally. | really enjoy close-up magic and magic in general, but since my first paid performance in front of a live audience, and until today, I have continued to perform exclusively mentalism on stage. A few years ago, I joined a leading high-tech company and the art of mentalism shifted to be my hobby again in the sense that it is not my main occupation. I Jind a lot of pleasure in the fact that I have the freedom to choose which shows I am interested in performing, and which I recommend my friends to the gig. this freedom allows me to perform an amount that works for me, to be creative and experimental live on stage, and to perform in front of audiences of my choosing. 1am very proud of this book you are holding in your hands. “Ori, the talented illustrator of this book and a good friend and I were just laughing that we started working on it seven years ago. ‘The process was not continuous, and sometimes I did not advance with the writing for an entire year. To put it simply this was a side project between primary occupations like family, work, performances, training, and some ventures.The coronavirus stopped the world for three months, and in parallel to my day job some extra time freed up, which was the perfect timing to complete the task. When I sat down to finish the book, I noticed that since I wrote it, I have had a lot of new ideas and updates, but because I do not know if there will be a second wave of the coronavirus (I hope not) that will enable me to write more, and since I know that “the enemy of the good is the best” - I am resisting the urge to add more content to the book and am finally releasing it to the world. Maybe one day Tl write another mentalism book. Let’ talk a little bit about what is in the book. And what is not in the book. First of all, so that it is clear, all of the routines described in the book were written after I performed them in many shows in front of paying audiences. It is important for me to clarify to you, the reader, this point because nowadays T find a lot of mentalism books and downloads that at least from my perspective, were written without the intent to be performed for a real audience. There are trends in our industry that I likely do not understand. The book is separated into five chapters. The first chapter is about billets. here I'll teach some ideas and principles that possibly will lead you - even if you have never thought to ask a participant on the stage to write something on a billet - to change your opinion. also some other uses like billets as paper balls, envelopes techniques, black art in full lighting, mathematics, and a few classic twists. The second chapter focuses on one of my obsessions: chair tests. | think that I have all of the existing chair tests in the market and despite that - when I perform a chair test routine - I use mine because in my opinion it is the best there is. Seriously. Especially the variation with three people and four envelopes in the chair-less routine. Cards are the subject of the third chapter, and so, the long discussion about mentalism with playing cards is thrown out of the window. In this chapter you will find one close-up routine, another that is appropriate for a close up and parlor that deals with my original card-force and is one of the best in my humble opinion, as well as a routine for stage with a hypnotic vibes, that smoothly transitions us to the fourth chapter - hypnotic effects. In this chapter you will Jind strong effects without any use of real hypnosis but I highly recommend using /ypnotic presentation to make them more powerful. The chapter features my takes on two classic effects and a few interesting ideas. The last chapter, like the last segment of most of my shows, finishes with predictions. And the last one is my take on confabulation. In all of the predictions, you will find the use of a tool I particularly like - the Dunninger Ploy. Ina certain sense, with all the propless mentalism on the one hand and all of the electronic mentalism on the other, one can say that this is an old school book, and to my taste, as a person who likes the old books, in the good sense of the word. 1 very much hope that you will enjoy reading this book and that the ideas here will awaken in you new original thoughts and creative ideas, and that you will leave your comfort zone and try to perform at least one of the routines in the following pages. If that happens, I have done my part. Wishing you much success, pleasure and fulfillment. Gidon, June 2020CONTENTS Chapter 1: Billets Peek Plus Odd Note ... d Envelope Text ‘The Watchmaker's Game..... Chapter 2: Chair Tests Chair Less ...... Lazy-Ghairless errant at ine entre rrr Chapter 3: Cards.... Invisible Force How To Open A Table......cssccssee STM (Short Term Memory)...... a ea Chapter 4: Hypnotic Effects . Hypno Heavy ...... Je eee eee st Ue rtr tate Caa ere tae eae ft Voodoo Touch ‘The Phantom Link Chapter 5: Predictions ......::..c0:sssssssssssssssseisssessinnssseinses Geometrical Ahead ..... House Always Wins ..0.0...cc secs Anne Ha RETR Confetti-Lation... 71 7 a1 99 103 107 i 131 137 151 163 167 _ 7 183‘The Mind of the Mind Reader : Jeet Gidon Sagher CHAPTER 1 BILLETS (STAGEWORK WITH SMALL PAPERS) 2 r ¥ | ¥‘The Mind of the Mind Reader Gidon Sagher BILLETS — PREFACE we had the ability to read minds — really — we would not need |F the person whose thoughts we are ‘reading’ to write them down on billets. Therefore, the billet is a visible compromise for which we must provide context and a reason. However, the reason should not come across as an excuse, and there is no need to state the reason for taking out the billet every time we do so, since this will only serve to direct everyone's focus and attention to the billet. The justification must be for us — the performers, not for the audience, since if we know the reason for using the billet we will feel comfortable taking it out, thereby conveying a more natural process to the audience. Any reason with which you feel comfortable enough will serve this purpose, but the following are my ‘excuses’ for having the participant write down their thoughts on a billet. When using a center tear, I ask the participant to write something down on a billet and show it to the person sitting next to him, since I want a witness to his thought. This is preferable to him whispering something in his neighbor's ear, because I might hear him. After the process of informing another audience member of his thoughts, the billet can be destroyed. AWhen using a peek, the reason given for having the participant write down the billet is so that he can ‘commit’ his thought on paper and cannot change his mind, and also so as to make it easier for him to focus on it. In Q&A, for example, my excuse for having people write down their thoughts on paper is that I will be unable to answer everyone's questions, and that is why we choose only a few in a draw. 16 7‘The Mind of the Mind Reader I never use the explicit word ‘billet’ and I never use the word ‘write,’ because the words themselves anchor the audience's memory. So instead of asking the participants to write something down, I ask them to ‘commit or ‘focus’ while pointing to the billet on which they should write it down. If the routine is constructed in a logical manner and I feel comfortable enough with my ‘excuse,’ often the audience will not even remember there was a billet. Billets can be used to perform very powerful effects for large audiences and they require almost no props or preparations, rendering the effect almost impromptu, which is a great advantage in and of itself. 18 Gidon Sagher PEEK PLUS One sentence description: ‘The performer reads the mind of a random audience member. Preliminary thoughts: This is sometimes my opening routine, since it has 4 great ‘WOW? effect. It is also very fast because it requires little process, involves the entire audience, and even the sharpest minds fail to back- engineer the method. There are many methods for knowing what is being written on a piece of paper, however, not many performers employ this type of communication both ways — from the performer to the participant and vice versa. What the audience sees: The performer selects a random female audience member and invites her on stage. He asks her to think about someone in her life, hands her a small piece of paper and asks her to step aside, write down that person's name, fold it into four and come back. ‘The participant is then asked to place the piece of paper in her pocket. Ihe performer tells her he will attempt to guess some details about the person she thought of, and that she must maintain her poker face and reveal Aothing, He also asks the audience to join him in trying to understand, according to her body language, the details he himself is attempting to guess. He begins by asking the participant whether the person she is thinking of is male or female, while alternately snapping his right fingers when saying ‘male’ and his left fingers when saying ‘female,’ repeating this process several times. He correctly guesses that the person the participant thought of is male.‘The Mind of the Mind Reader The performer turns to the audience and asks who amongst them also deduced that this was a male, and several audience members claim to have also guessed correctly. He then asks the audience to try again as they will see that fathoming the correct answer is possible. Next, the performer asks the participant whether the person she thought of is a family member or a friend, repeating the process of alternately snapping his fingers with his right and left hands. He cortectly guesses that it is a family member. ‘The performer then asks the participant whether she knows the age of the person she thought of and asks her just to confirm it without actually saying the age out loud. The participant thinks about it and confirms that she does indeed know the person's age, and then the performer asks her whether the age is comprised of one or two digits. The participant says the age is comprised of two digits and the performer asks her to think only about the first digit and to count out loud from one to nine. She counts out loud, and the performer tells the audience that when the participant says the correct number, her tension level will rise. The audience is instructed to pay close attention. The performer takes a pad of paper and a large marker, walks over to the front of the stage and writes down the number three, so that the entire audience can see the number, The participant is standing behind him and cannot see what is being written on the pad. ‘The performer then asks the participant to think about the second digit and count out loud again from one to nine. When she finishes counting, the performer asks her to count again since he was unable to discern any change in her tension level, and then smiles and nods, writing down zero next to the number three already written on the pad, before showing it to the entire audience. The performer asks the participant to say out loud the age of the 20 _Gidon Sagher person she thought of, and she says, "30." The audience begins to clap, and the performer shows her what he wrote down on the pad. She reacts with reat surprise. Ihe performer tears off the sheet of paper and throws it away. He asks the participant to look him in the eyes and tells her that he is about to ask her to do something slightly embarrassing. He instructs her to greet him out loud while imagining that he is the person of whom she chose to think. Immediately after saying hello, she is to think and say in her mind the name of the person she thought of, but of course without vocalizing the name. The participant says "hello" out loud and the performer turns to the audience and says that they may not have noticed it, but she slightly nodded her chin twice after saying hello. ‘This indicates that the name has one or two syllables. Ihe performer then takes the pad and marker, writes something down and asks the participant to face the audience while he holds the pad up behind her head, towards the audience. On it, the name ‘Mike’ is written in large capital letters. He asks the participant to reveal the name, and she responds, "Mike." ‘The audience goes wild, and when she turns to look at the pad she too is amazed.The Mind of the Mind Reader What the audience doesn’t see: ‘The principle: In billet work, when asking someone to write something, it is clear to everyone what type of information is being written down. If the performer guesses the contents of the billet it will surprise everyone. This is one layer of deception. If anyone assumes that in some way the performer managed to peek at the billet, they will have solved the mystery. However, if additional information is written on the billet, without anyone else knowing that this information has been recorded, this creates two layers of deception for the audience, and the effect achieved is much stronger. Props and setup: A drawing pad, large marker, pen, and one business card - blank on one side. Write on the blank side of the business card the following: Name: What's his/her ge You can use your preferred way of peeking, and below I shall describe my way, specifically for this routine. I recommend using the peek technique here rather than a center tear. 22 Gidon Sagher Pre-fold the business card, with the blank side on the inside. The left side is folded over the right side, with the upper left corner of the card slightly lower than the upper right corner, and also slightly protruding over the edge of the right side of the card: Turn the business card, with the crease on top, and fold the right side over the left in the same way,with the upper right corner slightly lower than the upper left corner, and also slightly protruding over the edge of the left side of the card: 23‘The Mind of the Mind Reader Place your thumb under the top flap to lift it and place pressure on the crease of that quadrant so as to enable it to easily open at any time, thus creating the card's ‘muscle memory’ of where the card should be folded: Unfold the card and you are ready for your performance. The performance and the secret: Invite a female audience member on stage. Naturally, you can invite either a man or a woman, but on average, women have better penmanship and therefore for this effect a woman is preferable. Ask her to think of a name of a family member, pause, and then say that it can be a man or a woman, it can be a family member or a friend, and it can be any person who is not currently in the room. The pause after asking the participant to think of someone is so that she will already fixate on a family member in her mind, and only after discerning that she has already decided on one person, expand the circle of people from whom she can choose. The manner in which you say everything must be very casual and natural, so that you appear to grant complete freedom of choice. 24 Gidon Sagher lake out a pen and the business card you have prepared and ask the participant to write down only the first name, while pointing to the line with the pen. Then ask her "to fill this in," while pointing with the pen to the line underneath asking for the person's age. Ask her to go aside to do it, and to then fold it into four, while yourself folding the card, as if to show her how to fold it. Hand her the folded card and the pen to write down her choice on the side, and then she will return holding card and pen. | highly recommend that while she is writing down the information, you speak with the audience instead of waiting silently for her to finish — so as to avoid a prolonged silence over the course of the act. Unintentional silence that is not created for dramatic effect makes the entire performance less successful because every single second of the act must be either Jiunny, surprising, or interesting. Another reason is that people remember dead air-time’ and we do not want the audience to remember that she wrote down the name on the card. While the participant is writing down the name, you can, for example, speak about the envelope everyone can see (from a different routine) containing the prophecy, and say that what is inside the envelope will surprise everyone. You can also talk about the fact that one audience member has the chance of winning $1,000 (see the Chairless Routine). Another option is turning to an audience member and tasking him with doing something or telling a good joke. the participant returns. Usually, she is holding the pen in her right hand and the folded business card in her left hand. Reach both hands out while approaching her and say, "please hand it over." Your right hand is directed towards her left hand holding the card, and your left hand towards her right hand with the pen, 25‘The Mind of There are several reasons for not expressly using the word ‘ard’ in the request. Saying the actual word ‘card’ will anchor it in people's memory. The second reason is because you do not want people to think that you asked for it at all, rather than just asking for the pen. She handed you the card as well, due to her misunderstanding, and therefore you give it back to her. ‘The participant then hands over both the pen and the card. Immediately place the pen in your pocket with your left hand, turn your head slightly and ask her whether she is right or left handed. Subsequently open the card slightly with your right hand so that it is ready for the peek. When she answers that she is right handed, reach out your left hand with the palm facing upwards and ask her to reach out her right hand, and only then turn your head back as if to look at her outstretched hand, while in practice your right hand is in your line of sight right in front of her outstretched hand. Peek to see the name and age written down: Immediately fold the card into two, close the flap, and with your right hand place it in the participant's right hand and ask her to put it in her pocket. At this point you have all of the information; you know whether it is a man 26 Gidon Sagher or a woman because you have seen the name, you know whether it is a {amily member or a friend because you forced the participant to think of a amily member while making it appear as if it was a ftee choice, you know \he age of the person although the audience members do not know that the jurticipant wrote it down, and the participant also does not know how you juessed the age, despite writing it down. All of this information provides you with sufficient ‘time misdirection’ to make everyone forget the business card, including the participant herself. At the end of the act, you correctly sjuess the name. Variation I (The audience becomes the mind reader) What the audience sees: After completing the main routine, the performer tells the audience that of course he succeeded in guessing the name and age, and now he would like to give everyone else the chance to also attempt to read the participant's mind. The performer asks the participant to think of any number she chooses, and to confirm that it isa free choice. The performer turns to the audience and asks them to try and read the participant's mind by thinking of any number. The participant says the number she chose out loud, and the audience gasps in amazement, confirming that most of them correctly guessed her chosen number.The Mind of the Mind Reader What the audience doesn’t see: The business card the participant receives so as to write down the name and age is as follows: Name: What's bit/her age: Choote one of the follooing numbers: 37 or 68. It must be a free choice; and remember the number you chote. As you probably noticed, the numbers are ‘psychological forces’ numbers. When asking the participant to think of a number, ask her, "you have a number in mind — correct?" and she will confirm. Then ask her to confirm that she chose it freely, which she does, as the note stated that the number she chooses must be ‘a free choice.’ The audience will naturally think that ‘free choice’ means a choice between all numbers, while the participant confirms that this is a free choice between the two numbers proposed on the card. You then ask the participant to tell the audience whether this is an even or an odd number, so as to know which ‘psychological force’ to use on the audience. If the participant chose 37, ask the audience to think of any number of their choosing, that is less than 50, and comprised of two odd digits that are different from one another. If the participant chose 68, ask the audience to think of any number that is higher than 50 and comprised of two even digits that are different from one another. Gidon Sagher Hetween 70 — 80% of the audience will think of the correct number, and when the participant reveals the number she chose, a ripple of awe spreads across the audience. there is a gap in the reality between the audience and the participant. The participant does not understand how the audience knew the number the performer instructed her to keep in mind. The audience members’ reality is that they do not know how the participant could choose any number, while they still succeeded in guessing it correctly. Variation 2 (‘The participant changes her mind) What the audience sees: The performer asks the participant to think about 4 person from her personal life then hands her a business card and pen, and asks her to step aside, write down the name, fold the business card and return. The participant is then asked to put the card in her pocket while the performer says, as casually as an afterthought, that she should change her mind and chose someone else. She can change her mind as many times as she pleases, until she settles on one person. At this point the performer reveals the person's details, name and age, as detailed above.‘The Mind of the Mind Reader What the audience doesn’t see: The business card the participant receives so as to write down the name and age is as follows: Name: What’ his/her age: To enter your subconscious, when I atk you to ¢ your mind and choote tomeone elie, don't - and focut on the ame written on the card. When the performer asks the participant to change her mind in front of the entire audience, the audience will be made to understand that she is thinking of someone else and that the card is no longer relevant. On the other hand, the participant thinks that this is part of the process to help you delve into her mind. Variation 3 (Perfect Baby prediction) Preliminary thoughts: This is another idea using the peek method, although personally I am reluctant to use it, since it requires the use of dual reality in which one reality almost completely tramples the second (the audience's reality at the expense of the participant's). However, I chose to include it in the book as it can inspire similar methods for effects and affords another option you may wish to use while performing. 30 it Gidon Sagher What the audience sees: The performer invites an audience member on siige, hands him a business card and asks him to choose any celebrity he wants, walk aside and write down the name on the card, fold it into four and ieturn, While the participant is writing the name, the performer takes out 4 large envelope and presents it to the audience, jokingly saying that if the envelope contains a photo of the celebrity now being chosen, he does not know how the audience will react, but he himself would certainly stand up and clap. Ihe participant comes back and is asked to put the card in his pocket. The performer takes another envelope out of the large envelope he is holding and throws aside the latter. A large question mark is drawn on the new envelope, and the performer instructs the participant to tell the entire audience which celebrity he chose. The participant reveals that he chose Tom Cruise, and the performer responds, “this is unbelievable!” He extracts the contents of the envelope and tell the audience he has a photo of Tom Cruise when he was six months old, showing them a photo of a cute baby. Ihe audience starts to laugh, and at this point the performer tells the audience that he is sure everyone thinks the baby is cute, but he is also sure that the women in the audience believe him to be cuter today. He turns over the photo of the baby to reveal a head shot of Tom Cruise. What the audience doesn’t see: This effect is different than the others detailed in this chapter because it is a prediction rather than mind reading. | is also different in that the dual reality here can be easily broken, using the participant almost as an ‘instant stooge.’ For this reason, I do not perform the Perfect Baby prediction in front of my usual audience in company and corporate events, in which case the audience members can continue to 31the Mind of the Mind Keader discuss the performance amongst themselves after its conclusion. At times, I will perform it when the audience members do not know one another because after the performance, the secret will be dispersed as they leave. ‘The business card the participant receives so as to write down the name is as follows: drrite on the top line the celebrity you chote freely, out of the following: Grad. Pitt; Tom Cruise; Brace Willis; Salvester Stallone. ‘When instructing the participant to freely choose a celebrity and write down his name, point to the card to make sure he sees the instructions on it. While the participant is writing down the name, retrieve an envelope with four outs, as follows: inside the large envelope there are two smaller envelopes, and each one contains a sheet of paper folded in two. On one side there is a photo of a baby, on the other side of the folded paper is a photo of a celebrity, and when unfolding the sheet of paper, there is a large photo of a different celebrity. Ihe famous baby-gag can be performed to leave a much stronger effect than 1 mere joke, Ihe audience will naturally think that the participant chose whichever celebrity occurred to him, while the participant is surprised that his selection out of four celebrities was predicted. Ihe prediction effect that the audience receives is much more powerful, at the cost of sacrificing the impact of the effect on the participant. An electronic peek device can be used in this variation (such as 'Mindbuster' by Labcomagic). Your distance from the peek will help compensate the reduced impact experienced by the participant, which was diminished because he knew that he chose one name out of four given names. Credits: Richard Osterlind; Oz Pearlman; Bob Cassidy; Al Man; Richard Busch.eee ‘The Mind of the Mind Reader ODD NOTE One sentence description: ‘Ihe performer succeeds in separating three liars {rom a person telling the truth, and then manages to read private thoughts. Preliminary thoughts: This is a typical truth teller/liar routine. Over the years I have learned many methods to perform this effect, whether by using clectronics, magnets, special balls, etc. However, one day, while playing with pieces of paper for an entirely different routine, I began to think of using balled-up paper instead of other objects. Sometimes when you focus on one sinall detail, all of the pieces of the puzzle start to fall into place, revealing the larger picture. It is always a joy when this happens. ‘This is an ‘Odd Ball routine, and because of the different method used, it is completely hands free and almost entirely impromptu. What the audience sees: The performer invites four random audience members on stage, asks them to stand ina line and then hands a small bag to the person standing closest to him. He asks the participant to put his hand in the bag, shuffle its contents and take out one piece of paper. The participant is asked to pass on the bag, and each subsequent person in line is asked to repeat the process. the performer turns to the audience and tells them that inside the bag there are four notes rolled up into balls. Three notes instruct the person to lie, and one note instructs the person to tell the truth. The performer's task is to discern who is lying and who is telling the truth. The performer turns to the participants on stage and asks each one of 34 35‘The Mind of the Mind Reader them to open their note, read it, fold icand put it in their pocket. Throughout the process, the performer turns his head away from the participants, to ensure that nothing is given away. ‘The performer instructs the participants that the person who was told to lie must lie throughout, and those instructed to tell the truth must also do so the entire time. After the participants place the notes in their pockets, the performer turns to them and asks one of them to step forward and answer according to the instructions given on the note. He asks the participant to tell him if he prefers red or white wine. The participant answers that he prefers white wine and is then asked to step back in line. ‘The performer then calls on another participant to step forward, asks him whether her prefers a salty or sweet pastry, and the participant answers that he would prefer a sweet one. The performer immediately discerns that he is lying, tells him that he is a terrible liar, and sends him back to sit in the audience. This process is repeated with all participants on stage with various personal and funny questions. One by one the performer manages to detect those who are lying and sends them back to their seats in the audience, leaving the only person telling the truth on stage. ‘The performer then turns to the person telling the truth and asks him to close his eyes and think of the name of one person. Next the performer turns to the audience and asks them to try and guess the name of the person that the participant chose. He takes a drawing pad and a marker, writes down a name and shows it to the audience, and hands the pad and pen to an audience member. “The performer then asks the participant to open his eyes and say out loud Gidon Sagher the name he thought of, revealing that this is indeed the name written on the pad. What the audience doesn’t see: the principle: Giving the participant instructions that are not known to the audience, while the participants on the stage are unaware of the fact that each participant is given different instructions. Props and setup: ! Drawing pad, a large marker, an opaque bag and four notes stating the following: You wre wm liar, Crvmple +his paper and put ¢ in Your \chr side Frout pocket You are w liar. Cruwple this paper ond put A in four le back pocket You wre the Aruth ‘eller. Crumple this paper aad put at in four right side Kear pocket You wre wo liar Crumple this paper ond put 1 in four righ Yack, pocket Ball the papers up and place them in the bag.The Mind of the Mind Keader Sie era Le ‘The performance and the secret: Each participant takes out a balled-up paper with the role assigned to him or her written on it, then puts the paper in their pocket. The audience views this a natural action since the participants were asked out loud to place the balled-up paper in their pocket. Only you know that the truth teller will be the participant placing the paper in his right front pocket. In practice, the notes constitute signals made in full view, but both the audience and the participants are unaware of this fact. ‘Throughout the process do not look at the participants, except after they place the notes in their pockets. Therefore, in order for you to know who placed the note in their right front pocket, ask them, as an afterthought, to take out their notes and place their hands behind their backs. All the rest is showmanship. MOL Sage Ihe routine can sometimes end at this point, since it is impressive enough that you are able to discern the liars from the only truth teller. As for the second part of the routine - guessing the name the participant is thinking of - write on the note handed to the truth teller the following: You wre the truth teller. Choose one of those celebrities: Bruce Willis, Marilyn Monroe, Mickael Jackson When asked, Focus on he one jou chose. Crusmple rhis paper and put + in your right side pocket. When the performer asks the participant to think ofa celebrity, the audience will think this is someone from the participant's personal life, while the participant can actually only choose between three options. he participant is asked to close his eyes and tell che audience only the hair color of the celebrity he is thinking of, revealing to the performer exactly who he chose. Ihe performer writes down the first name of that celebrity, while asking the audience to also try and guess who is on the participant’s mind. ‘The performer hands the pad and marker to an audience member, and the participant on stage is asked to say only the first name of the celebrity on his mind. This does not disclose that the name refers to a celebrity, therebycontinuing to maintain the audience's reality that this is a person from his personal life. Throughout this step, the participant's eyes are closed. When the participant says the name out loud, the audience will begin to clap. As he opens his eyes and sees that an audience member is holding the pad with the correct name, he will think that the audience member is the one who wrote down the name. Variation You can present the first part of the routine, discerning between who is lying and who is telling the truth, as follows: When asking the participants to take out the notes from their pockets and hold them behind their backs, instruct everyone to put the note in their back pockets. However, instruct the truth teller to pretend to do so, but in fact to continue to hold the note in whichever hand he wants. Following this, turn to all of the participants and say that whoever is still holding the note should decide whether they are holding it in their left or right hand. All of them are then asked to bring both hands forward in a fist, thus making it impossible to know who is holding a note in their hand and who is not. At this stage it is possible to guess the hand holding the note, eliminating all of the rest. From the moment you know who the truth teller is and therefore who is holding the note in his hand, you can use the well-known Max Maven ‘Kurotsuke Method of Elimination.’ In other words, the performer tells the participants that in order to know where the paper ball is located, he needs to know where it is not. Approach the participants and pretend to feel the ‘vibrations’ from each of them. Subsequently, go to the truth teller and ask him to open one of his hands. If the paper ball is indeed there, you succeeded in your effect, having guessed the hand holding the paper. 40 Gidon Sagher If the paper ball is not in that hand, immediately move on to another participant whom you know is holding nothing. Point to one of his hands und say, "itis also noc here," and repeat this process with all of the remaining participants whom you know are holding nothing. Make them all open their hands, one by one, and say every time, “it is not here either," until you are left with the truth teller holding the note — thus concluding the routine by showing that as promised, you indeed knew where the note is NOT located. Credits: Max Maven, Mare Oberon, Derren Brown. 418 ENVELOPE TEXT (MY TAKE ON) FOURTH DIMENTIONAL TELEPATHY One sentence description: The performer reads the minds of three random participants. Preliminary thoughts: For a very long time I did not like the classic three envelope test, but I still knew many variations of this effect. The reason I was not fond of it was that it felt to me like a very procedural effect, requiring too much handling, and the method felt too repetitive and transparent. When I gave some thought as to how I would like such an effect to be performed, I decided to write on the envelopes in bold lettering, so that a large audience will be able to closely follow what is taking place. I wanted to have only three envelopes and three billets, without having to hold a stack of envelopes. I also wanted the method to be simple, but one that cannot be back-tracked. | believe that I have succeeded in my take on this effect, to address the things that prevented me from performing it, and I think that whether or not you are already using some variation of the three envelope test, you will find this \o be a new and refreshing approach that you will love, What the audience sees: The performer invites three members of the audience to the stage, asks the first participant, a male, to sit on a chair to the performer's left, asks the second participant, a female, to sit on another chair to his left, and asks the third participant, also a female, to sit on a chair \ his right. He begins by saying that many people believe what he does to be merely a suggestion, but he is now going to demonstrate actual telepathy —ae ee ee, or the closest thing to it. The performer takes out several books and asks the male participant to his left to select one of the books, while holding up one of them in an exaggerated manner, waving it about. The participant chooses another book and the performer hands it to him, saying that it is amazing how reverse psychology works every time. The performer then passes on the remaining books to the audience, asks them to open them up and choose random words from the text, and then return the books to him. Subsequently the performer turns to the second participant sitting to his left, next to the man, and asks her to think ofa name of someone from her private life who is not in the audience. Then the performer turns to the woman on his right and asks her to think of an image that is casy to understand, Ac this point the performer produces three business cards, hands participant no. 3 a card and a pencil, and asks her to draw on the back of the card the image of which she was thinking. He tells her that it is very important that while drawing, she make sure that no one can see what she is doing. When she finishes she should place the drawing face down on her palm and place her other hand on top of the card. ‘The performer then turns to participant no. 2, who was asked to think of a name, and hands her a business card and a pencil. She is asked to write down the name and place the card on her palm facing down, as participant no. 3 was also instructed to do. He then turns to participant no. 1, who chose a word from the book, and hands him a business card and a pencil with instructions to write down the word with as large letters as possible. He explains that later the participant will need to show the card to the entire audience, emphasizing that it is important that in the meantime, no one see the card. While the participants are busy writing and drawing, the performer STAGE) DARE produces three small pay envelopes, fans them out showing that they each bear a number: 1, 2 and 3, written boldly with a black marker. He hands the envelope marked 1 to participant no. 1 who was thinking of the word. Ihe performer takes the envelope marked 2 and takes from participant no. 2, who was thinking of the name, the card she wrote on and places it inside the envelope, while the card is still facing down. At this point he instructs participant no, 1 holding envelope 1 to mimic his actions and place his card in the same way into the envelope, and turn down the envelope flap. Ihe performer then holds up envelope 2 and asks the participant holding enyelope 1 to do the same with his envelope and verify that the envelope is opaque, and its contents cannot be seen from outside. Next the performer takes the envelope marked 3, places the drawing into the envelope face down, closes the flap and takes the envelope from the participant holding envelope 1. He places all three envelopes on the table. Ihe performer then picks up a pad of paper and a large marker and lifts envelope 1 from the table. He brings the envelope close to his forehead in deep concentration, and places it back on the table. He writes something down on the pad and holds it close to his chest. The performer then hands envelope 1 back to participant no. I and asks him to open the envelope and show everyone the word he chose. ‘The participant takes out the card and shows everyone the word written on it. Then the performer instructs him to say the word out loud because there may be some audience members who cannot see it, Participant no. 1 says the word is ‘mountainside,’ at which point the performer turns over the pad in his hand and reveals the word ‘mountainside’ written across it. ‘The performer then takes envelope 2, again places it next to his forehead and concentrates, He hands it back to participant no. 2 and asks her to bringThe Mind of the Mind Keader the envelope up against the light so as to verify that its contents cannot be seen. The performer writes something down on his pad again and takes envelope 2 from participant no. 2 while handing her the pad. Alll the while he keeps the writing hidden and asks her to hold it tightly against her chest and not peek. The performer then opens envelope 2 and takes the card from inside, turns to participant no. 2 and asks, "Who is Jane?" Participant no. 2 answers that Jane is her sister. The performer instructs her to show everyone what is written down on the pad, and she turns it over to reveal the name Jane’ written in bold letters. ‘The performer asks participants no. 1 and 2 to return to their seats and turns to participant no. 3 to ask her if she can recreate her drawing. He hands her a drawing pad and a large marker while also taking a pad and a marker for himself. She is asked to turn around so that she stands with her back to him, making them back-to-back. He instructs her to step closer to him, while he himself moves back towards her. He asks her to approach a little more, and after a few steps they are standing with their backs touching. The performer playfully asks her if she can maybe move closer and when the audience begins whispering and giggling, he turns to the audience and says, "People, come on, I am a professional." He asks participant no. 3 to recreate her drawing on the pad and to make it as big as possible, while he draws at the same time. He then asks her to place the pad close to her chest and turn to face the audience, while he does the same. The performer instructs participant no. 3 to show her drawing, and she turns the pad over to reveal a drawing of a Christmas tree. ‘The performer looks a little disappointed and says, "Well, I don't always manage to draw the same thing.” He turns over his pad and reveals that he too drew a Christmas tree, points to the participant's drawing Sidon sagher and says, "I missed the star you drew on top of the tree, but I think it's close enough.” The audience cheers and claps while the performer sends the participant back to her seat As an afterthought, the performer can reveal two or three additional words thae were selected by the audience. What the audience doesn’t see: ‘The principle: Numerous layers of deception making it impossible to back track of reverse engineer. Props and setup: Two large pads of paper, two big markers, three pencils, three business cards blank on one side, and three small pay envelopes that must be prepared as follows:The Mind of the Mind Reader For the preparation of the envelopes you will need a box cutter, a rigid piece of cardboard or plastic the same size as the business cards to serve as a divider inside the envelope, a big marker, double sided tape and blu tack, a few spare envelopes and a surface suitable for cutting paper on. Don't worry, you do not have to make these preparations before every performance, and the three envelopes can serve you for multiple shows. Usually, once I take the time to prepare them, I prepare five or six sets of envelopes, and the envelopes I use fit perfectly into an empty pack of cards, which is also how I keep them in my bag. On the first envelope write the number 1 with a bold marker. On the other two envelopes write the number 2, while trying to duplicate the writing on both envelopes as much as possible. Take one of the envelopes marked 2, insert the plastic divider, and using the box cutter, cut out a rectangle containing the horizontal middle segment of the number 2 drawn on the envelope. It is not necessary to be precise, just make sure you are cutting on the inside border of the number drawn. Gidon Sagher Do not discard the rectangle you cut out : as you will be using it > \ Henebetnind envelne Cut out the front panel from a spare envelope, color it black using your inarker and place double sided tape on the back of the colored paper. Slide it into the envelope, with the side you colored black facing the cutout window you made in the envelope. ‘The end result should be that the black from inside the envelope will appear from the outside to be part of the number 2.‘The Mind of the Mind Reader Slide one of the business cards all the way into the envelope and on the outside of the envelope, place a tiny dot on the bottom part of the cutout window with a pencil. Then with the business card, draw a line just a little underneath the dot you made on the card and write "Name:" on the left side of that line. Name, You have just prepared your second envelope, that will serve as a disguised window envelope. With the rectangle you cut out while preparing envelope 2, cut it so that it is just a little larger than the space on the bottom part of the number 2 drawn on the envelope. Using the last envelope with the number 2 on it and a small amount of blu tack, stick the cut-out square you just made on the number 2 so that the end result will appear to be an inverted number 6. Just before the show stack the envelopes, with the one numbered 1 on top, envelope 2 with the cutout window behind it, and envelope 2 that looks like an inverted number 6 at the bottom. Place them in your pocket in that order, Put three business cards in your pocket as well, with the middle card being the one with "Name:" and the line drawn on it. Place the three short ncils on the table or in another pocket. The performance and the secret: Many variations of the fourth-dimension telepathy routine place great emphasis on the envelopes and on a certain procedure that is relatively cumbersome. The focus should be on communicating with the audience, talking with them and asking them to think about their choices. | use some type of force on participant no. 1; you can use any force, but it must be a very strong and ‘clean’ one, since the choices made by participants no, 2 and 3 are completely free, and it would look unnatural if I ask participant no. 1 to choose a card or any kind of force with very strict and limited options. I personally use the ‘Mother of all Book Tests’ by ‘Ted Karmilovich. This illows me to be very ‘clean’ and open and have the participant write down his word on the card and place it in the envelope himself. This approach will give the audience the impression that everything is above-the-board and fair. While all three participants are writing down their choices, the performer turns to the audience, tells them that he has three envelopes and produces them from his pocket, fanning them out so as to display the numbers. When doing so, envelope 1 is on the far right, and the envelope with the inverted 6 is on the far left. Consequently, the numbers 1, 2 and 3, as envelope no. 2 hides the left part of the inverted 6 on the third envelope.The Mind of the Mind Reader haniaisdatentiocin steal {hen bring your right hand to the envelopes and turn them over, continuing to hold them again in your left hand, and remove only the envelope with the number 2 on it. Continue to hold the remaining envelope with the inverted ho. 6, so that the writing on it is concealed in your palm. Stack the envelopes back into one pack and hold them with the left hand, making the number 1 visible to the audience. Hand participant no. 1 the envelope while casually holding in the left hand the other two envelopes. The number is clearly visible in a seemingly unintentional manner without drawing specific attention to it. Jake the business card from participant no. 2 and place it inside the envelope in the correct orientation, so that the name the participant wrote down is clearly visible through the cutout window.the Mind of the Iviind Keader While doing so, instruct participant no. 1 to insert his card into the envelope in the exact same way. Close the flap and again instruct participant no. 1 to follow suit. Then turn the envelope over, so that the number 2 is facing the performer, who can clearly peek and see the name that the participant wrote down. Place your thumb over the cutout window to conceal it, lift the envelope and proceed to show it from all sides while asking participant no. 1 to do the same and to make sure that he cannot see through the envelope. ‘This is further convincing that the envelope is ordinary, since it can be seen from all sides. Ibaccistendeciebatiahts - sean Hold the envelope between your index and middle finger and place it undemeath the envelope in your left hand, slightly clenched. This enables you to remove the third envelope with the inverted 6 with your right thumb und index finger, leaving envelope no. 2 in your left hand, while concealing the cutout window behind your palm. Immediately pinch the envelope with the inverted 6 with your left thumb and index finger, so that the thumb covers the bottom left part of the number. Ihis gives the impression that the number 3 is written on the envelope; swing out your arm to show it to the audience.Place the envelope face down, insert the drawing and close the flap. Next, bring your left hand closer, turn over envelope 2 (which is being held towards you), and place upon it the envelope with the drawing, also facing you. The end result is the writing faces the performer for both envelopes - envelope 2 with the cutout window is behind envelope 3 with the inverted 6. 56 llenuedaaied meas sake Ask participant 1 to hand you his envelope and at the same time, with your tight thumb, peel off the small piece tacked on to envelope 3 and stick it in your palm. Now, this envelope will be un-gimmicked with the number 2 written on it. ‘Take envelope 1 from the participant and place it at the top of the stack. then place all of the envelopes on the table in preparation for the revelations. At this point the performer is not just one-ahead, he knows the contents of both envelope 1 (the forced word) and envelope 2 (the glimpse). In order to reveal envelope 1, ask the participant to take the card out of the enyelope and show it to the audience, rather than having him simply say out loud the word he chose. This has several purposes. First, it proves that this is indeed his envelope and his card, and no envelopes were switched or any other sleight of hand occurred. Second, this sequence of actions creates a pattern that the performer can replicate with respect to the second revelation, when he himself opens the envelope and removes the card from inside. lor the second revelation pick up both envelopes, turn them over on the tuble and hold out the envelope now bearing the number 2 (which is in factthe third envelope) and hand it to participant no. 2. Ask the participant to check the envelope against the light to make sure it is not transparent, thus reinforcing the belief that the envelopes are ordinary and un-gimmicked. This is the perfect condition for the one-ahead principle since the numbers written very clearly on the envelopes serve as proof that there is no way of switching between the envelopes (not that anyone suspects it). When writing down the name on the pad and passing it to participant no. 2, take the envelope from her, as if to help her hold the pad. Open the envelope and remove the card, and now you have all the time in the world to look and memorize the drawing made by participant no. 3. ‘Then ask participant no. 2 who is Jane, as if you are just now reading the name off the card. When asking her to turn over the pad towards the audience, and everyone claps, casually place the card back into the envelope, take it together with the envelope left on the table and pocket them or toss them away. Now you are ready for the final revelation, during which time it is not even necessary to mention the envelope, to the great amazement of the audience, Variations For the first revelation in the un-gimmicked envelope no. 1, I prefer to use the aforementioned force, but any strong force can be used. Another option that exists is using an anagram for a zodiac sign or Proteus by Phedon Bilek, for example. ‘Another variation I have played around with is similar to the one used in the first effect in this book, Write on the card "Please choose between the number 37 or 68 and write your choice down on the card, remembering Gidon Sagher the number you chose." Then, instead of the performer figuring out what is written in the first envelope, give it to the audience as a challenge, and ask the participant to only tell the audience if the number he selected is odd or even. Using the suitable psychological force, both the participant and the audience will be surprised at their success in reading minds. Another variation on this effect is done using two window envelopes. Write the numbers 1, 2 and 3 on the envelopes. Envelope 1 is un-gimmicked, cnyelope 2 is gimmicked in the same manner as in the main routine, and envelope 3 has a window cut out on the lower part of the number 3, where the business card placed inside it has written — on the part coinciding with the window on the envelope ~ "What did you draw?” hab to hen | = this way there are peeks for both envelopes 2 and 3, which the performer places one after the other in his breast pocket or the inside pocket of his jacket. Keep envelope no. 1 with the other two envelopes. You can now make three revelations without touching the envelopes again. Credits: Theodore Annemann; Bob Cassidy; Marc Paul.‘The Mind of the Mind Reader _ THE WATCHMAKER'S GAME One sentence description: The performer distinguishes the truth tellers {rom the liars and then reads their thoughts. Preliminary thoughts: | am very pleased with this routine. It requires almost ho props and can fill the stage for five minutes using only a business card anda pen, Perhaps on paper the process appears somewhat monotonous and repetitious, but in real life on stage, it is a short process and it gives space to the performer to speak and show his personality. What the audience sees: The performer selects four random audience members to stand in a row on the stage and tells them that they will play an association game. He turns to the person in position 1 and asks her to think of a word of her choosing. The performer hands her a card and a pen, and asks her to write down the word. When she finishes, she is instructed to pass the card to the person next to her, who should write an association word — whatever pops into his head - on the card next to the first word. The process is repeated for the participants in positions 3 and 4. Ihe performer then requests that the fourth participant fold the card. She then hands him the pen and folded card. He inserts the pen into his pocket, folds the card once more, and turns to the participant in position 2. He gives him the card and asks all four participants to put their hands behind their backs.‘The Mind of the Mind Reader ‘The performer then turns to the crowd and tells them that before the association game begins, everyone altogether will attempt to read the participants’ body language. Then he turns back to the participants and tells them that every time he claps his hands, each of them should pass the card on to the person standing to their right or left. But it is important that the performer and the crowd do not see to which direction the card is being passed, so they must stand close to one another. ‘Then he claps his hand and they pass the card. “The performer distances himself and claps again, and tells the audience that they should try to recognize, according to their facial expressions, who is holding the card. He claps once again, for the third time, and then a fourth time. ‘Then he turns to the participants and as a passing thought, he says he still does not know where the card is, so please pass it once again — clapping for the fifth time. He turns to the participants and tells them that he will ask each one of them who is holding the card, and that each one should in turn answer him “no,” even if he or she is the one holding the card. That means that one of them will need to lie. The goal of the performer is to ascertain who is lying. The performer turns to the person in position 1 and asks her if she has the card. She answers no. He then proceeds to ask each of them until he reaches the final woman on stage. Then he turns to the man in position 2 and tells him that he looks like a trustworthy guy, and his “no” seemed very authentic and honest. Therefore, he is sure that he is really not holding the card. He is instructed to bring his hands forward and show that they are empty. ‘The performer then shakes his hand and sends him back to the audience. then the performer asks of the remaining three participants, at the next clap of the hand, to stand in a line in a different order, but with their hands remaining behind their backs so that they do not reveal who is holding the card, He claps his hands and they move. Now that they are standing in a new order, they are instructed to pass the hote once again, and after another clap they do. He pauses for a moment and then claps once more; they move the card for a third time. Ihe performer tells the participants again that they should all answer him "no" when he asks them if they have the card. He proceeds to ask each of the remaining three participants, and they all oblige by answering no. ‘Then he looks into the eyes of the last person in line and says, “I think you are telling the truth, you really don't have the card.” The participant shows his empty hands and then is sent back to the audience. He does the same with the woman in the first position, and she is sent back to the audience. Now only one woman remains on stage. The performer tells her, “Alright, | don’t think any options are left, you must have the card. Please show it to the audience.” She shows the card and the crowd applauds enthusiastically. Subsequently, the performer asks her to throw the card behind her and tells her, “you have an associative word in your head that you've been thinking about, right?” then he turns to the audience and asks them, “who was the first participant on the stage that wrote down the first word? Please stand up.” Gidon SagherIn the meantime, the performer takes a drawing pad and a marker and writes something down, then puts it on the side without anyone seeing what is written. He turns to that participant standing in the audience and asks her what word she initially wrote on the card. She answers “sun.” Then the performer asks, “who was the second person, that thought of an associative word with sun?” He stands in the audience and the performer asks him for his word. “Sea,” he answers. Then he asks for the third person to stand, who answers, “sky.” Following that, the performer turns to the woman on stage and says to her, “you were the last one, what's the word you thought of” and she responds, “clouds.” ‘Then the performer turns to the audience and poses a question: “is it possible that I could’ve known that you would write sun, and all of the associations would lead to the word clouds?” Finally he asks the remaining participant on stage to take the drawing pad, look at what is written, and show it to everyone. Upon seeing “clouds,” the crowd claps wildly. The performer takes the drawing pad from her, tears out the paper, gives it to her as a memo, and sends her back to the audience. What the audience doesn’t see: The principle: A little mathematics, a quick peek, and a lot of presentation. Props and setup: For this routine, you will need only a pen or a sharpie, a business card, and a large drawing pad. On the card, write numbers 1-4 in each of the four corners, with a line leaving space to write a word by cach number, as shown in step 1. Fold the left side of the card to the right side, with the left corner slightly past and beneath the upper right corner, as shown in step 2. Then fold the upper half of the card over the bottom half, like in step 3. This fold leaves a flap on the bottom part, which sticks out slightly, and enables the performer to place his right thumb between the bottom layer and the one right above it. By holding the business card with the thumb under the flap, the performer will be able peek at the fourth word: 1 2 3the Mina of the Mind Keadel Open the card with the premade folds now in place, and keep it in your right pocket together with the sharpie. ‘The performance and the secret: The performer should select both men and women to stand in aline. The woman in the fourth position will be the one who writes down the peek word. When removing the card from your pocket and giving the participants instructions, use the pen to point at precisely where to write down the words. “The audience members do not know that anything is written on the card, since they will assume that the participants are simply writing on a blank card. After cach of them writes their words, and the fourth participant folds the card according to the pre-fold, the performer takes the card from her. Without looking at it, you will be able to feel where each of the four corners are located. Hold the card with the following orientation: each of the four corners face the performer and are directed to the right side. This position makes it very — easy to execute the peek, so there is no need to rush. Since you are holding the card with your thumb strategically located under the flap, there is all the time in the world to direct your gaze at the peek. An opportunity will arise to sneak a quick glance when the performer is pointing and gesticulating at the participants, so it need not be immediate. Once you do see the fourth word, it is time to fold the card again in half and give it to the second participant in line. ‘This is important to ensure that the mathematical sequence works as desired. Subsequently, the participants should pass the card around according to the following guidelines: The one who has the card can only pass it to the person immediately to his left or right, and altogether they must pass it an odd number of times. | prefer that they pass it five times because it is difficult for the audience to follows three passes or only one is too few. The performer counts in his head the number of claps (passes), not out loud. ‘The odd number of passes will lead to a situation of 50% certainty regarding who has the card. The performer knows that the card is either with the woman now in position 1, or to the man who stands in position 3. The performer knows with certainty that the man in position 2 or the woman in position 4 do not have the card. The woman in position 4, whose word the performer knows from peeking, must be kept on stage until the end: Knowing that the man in position 2 does not have the card, ask him to show his hands. When he demonstrates that they are empty send him back to the audience. Now you are left with three participants.Atthis point there are two options. Either request that the woman in position 4 stand in the middle of the other two because there is now a gap between them, or tell them that when you clap, they should stand in a new line to reorient their positioning. In the latter case, it is ideal if the woman who was in position 4 now stands in the middle. [f after one clap she is not standing in the middle, clap again for them to change their positions, until she is standing in the middle. Ac this point, it is almost certain that she will stand in the middle. If necessary, do it a third time until she does: Now tell them once more that every time you clap they should pass the card to the left or the right, again doing so an odd number of times. I prefer three times in order to guarantee 100% that the woman who is now in the middle will have the card: Send each participant on either side of the woman in the middle back to the audience after revealing that they do not have the card. Then request that the woman who is holding the card shows it to the audience, before throwing it behind her. This is to ensure that she does not take it back with her to the audience, After writing the fourth word on the drawing pad, the performer is free here to make a big performance leading the audience to believe that he knew all four association words. Finally, we reach the big revelation. The audience is mesmerized to see that che word written on the pad is the same one announced by the final participant on stage, and clap wildly as the performer rips the paper from the pad and hands it to her as a magic memento. Credits: Milard Longman, Drew Backenstoss, Bob Cassidi, Mark Paul, ‘Tim ConoverThe}Mind of the Viuni header! oe ee ea snc aha hatha again ores ae AR fe aici eal pte ere OR CHAPTER 2 CHAIR TESTS (WITH OR WITHOUT CHAIRS)eee ‘The Mind of the Mind Reader _ CHAIR TESTS — PREFACE believe that the more organic the mentalism show, and the less props used, the better it will be. ‘The best ‘prop’ is participants from among the audience members. When performing chair routines, it is possible to fill a large stage with a lot of action through the use of people and their active participation, rather than props. Chair routines should usually demonstrate influence and suggestion affected oyer the participants on stage. It is recommended to refrain from a lengthy, convoluted and unclear process, which is rather common in many chair routines. Over the years I developed more than a dozen chair routines and in the following chapter I shall reveal two of them.‘The Mind of the Mind Reader 74 CHAIR-LESS One sentence description: The performer influences and predicts the decision-making of four participants and wins $1,000. Preliminary thoughts: "The ‘Chair Test’ is a favorite effect of mine. Mentalism can at times be visually very boring, so typically, such routines involve numerous participants and interesting events on stage, thus making them visually more compelling. I also like my act to require small non- cumbersome props, easily packaged in a case, according to the principle of ‘Pack Flat and Play Big.’ In this version I usually perform the following routine with five envelopes, but I also perform the routine with only four envelopes when circumstances require it, such as in trade shows where the majority of the audience is male. This version is explained at the end of the chapter. What the audience sees: The performer informs the audience that someone in the room is going to win a $1,000 prize, adding that he too is one of the people in the room, Chances of winning are one in five. He calls upon four audience members to join him on stage and stand in line, produces five envelopes, and tells the audience that one of the envelopes contains a $1,000 bank note. Whoever gets the envelope will get to keep the money. He asks one of the participants on stage whether they are a poker player, and after the participant says they are not, the performer gives that participant the 75.‘The Mind of the Mind Reader five envelopes. He is asked to shuffle them, and the performer jokingly asks whether he is sure he is not a player, because he shuffles very professionally. The performer takes back the envelopes, produces a marker and writes on the envelopes the numbers one to five, according to the order in which they were given to him. He asks the first female participant in the line to choose an envelope between one and five. He tells this participant that most people choose envelope 3, but now that he told her that, she will not want to be like most people. He adds that since he just felt the envelopes, he can tell her that the bank note is in envelope 2, but that she does not have to take his word for it and may choose whichever she likes. She chooses envelope 5 and the performer hands it to her. ‘The performer then moves on to the next female participant and asks her to choose one. She chooses envelope 2. The next participant chooses envelope 1 and the last one chooses envelope 4. The performer asks the participants to hold up the envelopes so as to show their number to the entire audience. He then hands the remaining envelope 3 to one of the audience members in the front row for safekeeping, warning him to safeguard it as he will be asking for it back shortly. After each participant chooses an envelope, the performer asks them to play the game ‘1 out of 4’ in which the winner gets to decide with whom he or she wishes to change place. Just to make it more random, the remaining two participants also switch places amongst themselves. When asking the winning participant to choose his or her desired position in the line, the performer names each position, numbering them from one to four, thus making it clear to both the participants and the audience the number assigned to each position on the stage. Gidon Sagher ‘The performer then asks the participants to open the envelopes and see who is holding the bank note. Each participant opens his respective envelope and finds a different colored note. In position 1 there is a blue note In position 2 there is a red note In position 3 there is a green note In position 4 there is a yellow note ‘The performer tells the audience that usually at this point, in Europe, the audience claps — and the audience begins clapping; but then the performer stops them from clapping and says, "but we are not in Europe." He walks over to the front row and takes back envelope 3, saying that it seems that no one believes that this envelope contains the bank note. He opens the envelope and pulls out the bank note, and then asks the person who safeguarded the envelope to examine the bank note and confirm that it is indeed a bank note for $1,000. The person confirms, and the audience claps again. Ac this point the performer says that all that has occurred up to now seems like a one in five chance because there are five envelopes, but in reality, he influenced every move and every decision made by the participants. He asks the audience member holding the bank note to turn it over and read what is written on the back. And this is what he reads out: In position 1 there will be a woman with dark hair, holding a blue note. (And everyone sees that indeed this is the case, and the dark-haired woman begins laughing.) In position 2 there will be a blond woman, holding a red note. In position 3 there will be a man, holding a green note. In position 4 there will be a man, wearing glasses, holding a yellow note.The Mind of the Mind Reader Everything "predicted" in the bank note is indeed represented on stage. The performer takes the bank note, kisses it and puts it in his pocket, and tells the participants on stage that they will not be leaving empty handed and that their note is their consolation prize. They can take it to the bank where they will be told exactly what they can do with it. The four participants leave the stage, and the performer continues with his act. What the audience doesn’t see: ‘The principle: Using multiple methods, thus creating several layers of deception. In this case, force and multiple-outs. Props and setup: Take five small pocket size envelopes, fold a 4-inch x’ 78 6-inch red sheet of paper twice and place it in one of the envelopes, the: 6-inch red sheet of tw id place it f th | then place a tiny mark on the envelope's upper right corner. ‘The same process is to be repeated with a blue, yellow and green sheet of paper. On each envelope place a tiny mark in a different place. ‘The marks on the envelopes correspond to the participants’ positions on stage, from the performer's perspective (1, 2, 3, 4). (OF course, the marking can be done in any way you wish, as long as you know which participant receives which envelope). ‘Take three bank notes, each for $1,000, and on the back of each bank note write the following: On bank note no. 1 — Ln position 1 there will be a woman with dark hair, helding a lolue note Ln postion 2 There vill & lnlond woman, holding a red note, Ln position 5 there will be a wan, holding a green note. Ln position 4 There will le a man, wearing glasses, holding a yellow note, 79____Gidon Sagher On bank note no. 2 — An position 1 there will be a man, vearing glasses, hilding a yellow nrte. An position z there will be a man, holding w green neve, An position s there will a Vnlond woman, holding a red note. An position ¢ there will be a woven with dark hair, holding a blue arte. On bank note no. 3 — Ln postion 1 there will he a man, holding a green rete, Ln position 2 there will be a wan, wearing glasses, balding a yellow neve. ‘Take a standard sharpie pen and one swami gimmick in the same color as Ln position 5 there will be a woman with dace heir, bolding a blue arte, | the sharpie pen. Ta peste 4 there wil oo Olnnd etiam, Uilding wo eed eete, When preparing the stage, place the envelopes in order, take the sharpie and clip it onto the envelopes so that it holds them together, then take the swami gimmick and place it on the clip of the sharpie pen, holding the envelopes. Place a different tiny mark on the top left corner of envelope 5. Fold bank — note no. 3 twice with the back of the bank note on the inside, with only the amount showing. With blu tack insert the bank note vertically in the bottom left corner of the envelope and affix it into place by pressing on it. Fold bank note no. 2 and affix it in the same way, vertically, in the bottom right corner. Fold bank note no. 1 in the same way and affix it horizontally, right on the crease of the envelope using blu tack, and seal the envelope. ‘The end result is an envelope with three bank notes, placed in the order: 1, 2, 3, from the top, clockwise:‘The Mind of the Mind Reader Place the entire packet on the table or in your case. ‘The performance and the secret: Invite a blond woman on stage, and ask her to stand in position 1, without mentioning the number assigned to the position. Then invite a dark-haired woman on stage and ask her to stand in position 2. Do the same with a man wearing glasses, who should stand in position 3, and finally invite a man without glasses and ask him to stand in position 4. Take out the entire packet, including the pen and the swami gimmick, remove the pen and the swami from the stack of envelopes and ask one of the participants to shuffle them, while demonstrating how you want them shuffled, in a manner suggesting to him that he does not turn them over or upside down while shuffling. Take back the envelopes and pretend to write the numbers 1 to 5 on each envelope with the sharpie, then move each envelope to the back of the pack after ‘numbering’ it. Place the sharpie in your pocket while still holding the swami gimmick and the envelopes in your hand. Approach the blond woman in position 1 and ask her what number envelope she wishes to select, find the envelope intended for her and place it at the top of the stack. Write the number she selected with the swami gimmick and hand her the envelope. Repeat this process with the woman in position 2 and the men in positions 3 and 4. On the last envelope containing the bank notes, write down the remaining number not selected by the participants, hand it to an audience member and ask him to keep it safe. Ask the participants to play ‘I out of 4’ and have the winner choose which ___ Gidon Sagher position to move to. At this point it is important to state out loud the number assigned to each position, then ask the remaining two participants \o exchange places as well. Ihe apparently random process of the four participants changing places suggests multiple options in their placement, but since they have been placed from the outset in the positions preassigned to them, they have, in practice, only three options as to where to place themselves, with each option represented on one of the bank notes. Initial position:‘The Mind of the Mind Reader ‘After the change in the participants’ positions, there is no need to follow all of them, other than the position of the blond participant, which tells us what bank note to take out from the envelope. If she stands in position 2 — take out bank note no. 1 affixed to the upper part of the envelope. How is it done? Take the envelope from the audience member, open the envelope flap, insert two fingers of your right hand into the envelope and extract the bank note, while crumpling the envelope containing the remaining two bank notes with your left hand. Place it in your left trouser pocket. os g If she stands in position 3 — take out bank note no. 2 affixed to the lower right corner of the envelope. How is it done? Tear the envelope in half with your right hand under bank note no. 1, which is placed at the top of the envelope. Crumple the part you’ tore away immediately and remove with two fingers the bank note from the’ lower right corner. When the bank note is outside the envelope, use your left hand to crumple the remaining part of the envelope containing bank — Gidon sagher note no. 3. Hand over the bank note to the audience member and place the envelope sctaps containing the two remaining hidden bank notes in your pocket. If she stands in position 4 — take out bank note no. 3 affixed to the lower left corner of the envelope. The process is the same as above, when the bank note removed from the envelope is the one in the bottom left corner.the Mind of the Mind Keader The 4 envelopes 3 participants version ‘This version can be used when one of the participants described in the envelope cannot be found among the audience. This usually occurs when the audience is relatively small or predominantly male. A quick scan of the audience before the show makes it possible to determine this fact, and a decision about which version of the routine to be performed can already be made. In this version, the selection of participants from the audience includes a woman, a man with glasses, and a man without glasses. Place the woman in position 1, the man wearing glasses in position 2, and the man without glasses in position 3. Hand the woman the envelope containing the red note, hand the man with glasses the envelope containing the blue note, and hand the man without glasses the envelope with the green note. Your envelope contains only two bank notes, with the following written on the back of them: Bank note no. 1 — Ln position 1 there will be a wan, holding a green note, An position 2 there will be a woman, holding a red note, Ln position 3 there vill le a man, wearing glasses, holding a blue note ery eee Bank note no, 2 — La position 1 there will he a man, wearing glasses, holding a blue note Ln position 2 there will he a man, holding a green note. Ln position 5 there will be a woman, holding a red mete, Bank note no. 2 is placed horizontally at the bottom of the envelope, and bank note no. 1 is placed horizontally at the top of the envelope, affixed with blue tack, near the envelope crease: {he routine itselfis carried out in much the same way as the four participants version, except for the step of having the participants change places amongst themselves, Instead, simply ask each one of them to move to a different spot.The Mind of the Mind Reader pol COnaeush sal position Amir Lustig variation er My friend Amir started to perform chair-less straight after 1 showed it to him. Immediately he started to play around with his own ideas and he came up with a very good one, which he allowed me to share in this book. Instead of calling the positions of the participants on stage (position 1, position 2, position 3..), the performer arranges them in a much more visual manner for example one participant is standing, one is sitting on a chair and one is sitting on a chair with this back to the audience. On the bank note is written the position of each participant is in as well as the color of the note and the description of the participant. You can think of your own positions and be creative with it. Credits: Gary Kurtz, Bob Hummer, Patrik G. Redford, Max Maven. If the woman is standing in position 2, open the envelope and remove the bank note placed at the top with two fingers, and simultaneously crumple up the envelope containing the other bank note. If the woman is standing in position 3, tear the top part of the envelope under the bank note with your right hand, and crumple it up immediately. Then, if you so choose, allow an audience member to remove the bank note at the bottom of the envelope himself. * Note: Naturally, this routine can be performed while using actual chairs and having the participants sit on them. I sometimes use chairs, depending on the stage itself and on the conditions at the venue of performance.‘The Mind of the Mind Reader LAZY-CHAIRLESS One sentence description: ‘the performer influences and predicts the decision-making of three participants and wins $1,000. Preliminary thoughts: This is another variation of the chair test. | will not elaborate on the presentation as this was explained at length in the previous routine. This routine is much more hands free, when the price is in the invisible compromise. What the audience sees: The performer informs the audience that someone in the room is going to win a $1,000 prize. He invites three audience members on stage and asks them to stand in line at center stage. He then produces four envelopes, each one in a different color (red, blue, yellow and green). The performer gives the envelopes to the participant standing in position 1, asks him to shufHle them and then to choose one for himself, and pass on the three remaining envelopes to the participant next to him, who repeats the process, shufHles the envelopes, chooses one and passes it on to the last participant, who returns the remaining envelope to the performer after selecting one. Everything is completely hands free and the performer does not touch the envelopes until receiving the last remaining one. The performer tells the audience that ina moment he will clap, and each participant will be asked to stand in a different spot. He also tells the participants that if they would like to exchange the envelopes, they may. ‘The performer informs the audience that each envelope contains a specific‘The Mind of the Mind Reader message to each one of the participants. Now he asks each participant to peek into the envelope and see its contents. All three participants remove an index card from their envelope. The performer asks the participants to each memorize their personal message and to return the cards back to the envelope. “The performer then opens his own envelope, removes a bank note from inside and asks an audience member sitting in the front row to read out loud the amount written. The audience member confirms that it is $1,000. Next the performer turns to the participants on stage and asks the participant in position 1 to reveal the message he was given. The participant responds that the message was to cross his arms over his chest, so the performer asks him to cross his arms. He turns to the remaining two participants and asks them to also carry’ out the instructions given on their index cards. “The woman standing in the center places her hands on her hips and the other man puts his hands behind his back. ‘The performer turns to the audience member holding the bank note and asks him to read what is written on the back out loud. It says, "In the first position there will be a man with his arms crossed over his chest; in the center there will be a woman with her hands on her hips; in the third position there will be a man with his hands behind his back. All three will have a disappointed look on their faces, for not having won the bank note." What the audience doesn't see: ‘The principle: This is my variation on the very smart principle of the “Lazy Mentalist’ routine by Barrie Richardson in his book Theater of the Mind. Gidon Sagher It is dual reality at its best — the required props have been narrowed down and an element has been added. Props and setup: Take 4 envelopes, each in a different color (red, blue, yellow and green), when each one must be made into a double envelope, as follows: You take the envelope, cut from the same colored envelope only the front panel, and place it inside the envelope, as an internal divider: Repeat the process for all four colored envelopes. Prepare eight bank notes, each for $1,000.