B a SMART ALEX xander Marsh’s sture Notes - M:Alexander Marsh is the pen-name of professional mentalist Alex McAleer, who has been a working performer since 2007. As well as performing at the usual private parties and corporate events, he has performed his one-man show at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and to sell-out crowds in Perth, Australia earning himself a Fringe World Cabaret Award Nomination. Since 2014 he has toured nationwide as one of the Champions of Magic. Under his pen-name he has written and contributed to several mentalism books including works by Jerome Finley and Banachek.Contents: Death to the Envelope - The Lost Wallet Game - The 60/100 Chance Two Tenners Tel. 37> Deception 37 Deception Revisited Sixth Sense Ploy Low-High-Tech Folie A Deux Do I have to write it down? Business Card Peeks - The Ambitious Peek Rub-A-Dub DD wumfuaagtere.actReuceseepivoayemaaDeath to the Envelope: The Lost Wallet Game & The 60/100 Chance I distinctly remember the first ever mentalism show I did; it was ok - a little under rehearsed in places, a little bit Derren--Banachek-Osterlind- Cassidy-ish, but one thing that really stands out is how ‘envelopy’ it was. With the benefit of over decade worth of hindsight, the show was essentially a product demo of various types of envelope; Osterlind’s bank night to open, Cassidy’s 8 Envelope Test, a multiple-out prediction of a smaller envelope sealed in an A4 sized envelope, a serial number using Ted Lesley’s Teleport Envelope... Imay as well have come out wearing a t-shirt branded with the logo for Ryman’s (American's reading this please substitute the word ‘Ryman’s’ for ‘Staples’ to make this joke funny) ‘What was more excruciating was that I realised how envelope heavy the whole ting was half way through the set, which only further added tos my already jangling nerves at the time. mA Ever since then I have been very aware of not making my act look liki have some sort of stationery fetish (my safe word is ‘self-seal’), and “2 trying to develop effects and routines that would traditionally rely onl) the use of an envelope. B I don’t always succeed but where possible I try to write predictions in real time on my pad, fold them up, and place them somewhere to be revealed later, rather than have them pre-written and sealed in an envelope. Instead of using envelopes for a chair test style routine, I use present boxes. In fact, in this very book you will find a serial number divination that does no rely on the bank note going into an envelope or indeed any receptacle, which was born out of this desire. What about a bank night though? It’s such an appealing premise, introduces the enticement of money into a performance, and, whether you like it or not, allows the chance for the spectators to outwit the mentalist; something they always like to do. The Lost Wallet Gam« As you will see from several of my effects, I like to motivate props and actions by giving them a logical context, With that in mind, where's the most natural place to keep money? A wallet obviously. ‘Thankfully there are plenty of wallets available to us Mentalists, specifically ones that can be shown as containing one thing or another; this or that, empty or full.Ipersonally don’t like the look of Himber wallets as they just don’t look like a ‘normal’ wallet to me, but a Sho-gun wallet however does; it is a conventional looking bill-fold wallet but with two separate money compartments accessible depending on which way up you hold the wallet. The way I use this for a bank night style effect should be obvious to you; acquire two or more sho-gun wallets and load one compartment in each wallet with cash - the JOL sho-gun wallets have the classic embossed logo in one corner that can act as an organic mark allowing you to keep track of which end to open for each wallet. One or more spectators in the audience can be invited to choose a wallet; either the left, middle, or right. The spectator, who remains in the audience, makes their choice and you very fairly open their choice of. wallet to reveal if it contains money or book tokens... or monopoly money, or receipts, or is simply empty, whatever you prefer. It is just cleanly revealed that Mr. Mentalist’s wallet contains the cash. 8 1 don't want to spell out a presentation for you but Iwill tel you anoti element that inspired this idea. A few years ago I read about a g psychological experiment involving ‘lost’ wallets and their contents. oe Richard Wiseman, you know him, conducted a social experiment in Edinburgh to test what could influence the taking or returning of a B wallet. 240 wallets were scattered in the streets about a quarter ofa — mile apart, containing: Family photos containing children (48% return rate), Photos of puppies (53% return rate), Photos of elderly couples (28% return rate), Baby photos (88% return rate), and a Control group with no additional photos (15% return rate). ‘This means that 9/10 people returned the wallet containing a baby picture, whereas 1/7 people returned the control wallet containing no picture. All this could make for an interesting presentation. Enjoy. The 60/100 Chance: Thave a fondness for 50/80 effects. Inevitably this is because Derren Brown was a major influence on my interest and eventual carrier in Mentalism, which I know is not ‘coo!’ to actually admit but SCREW YOU “strokes taxidermy cat, does a twitchy-head-nod, listens to opera* I wanted to create a simple effect; the participant would be given a choice of two different sums of money, one of which I actually had, and if they guessed correctly they would win the money. As ever, I didn’t want any extraneous props like another bloody envelope, or a large glass box - everyone’s got one of them laying around the house haven't they?Although something like a briefcase full of money or a shiny domed cloche covering a plate of cash would be more aesthetically pleasing, I didn’t want to use a prop that could easily be assume to be gimmicked by an audience member. This meant the only option was to gimmick the money itself, After experimenting with various pre-existing ideas, such as Extreme Burn, I settled on my own method, which although different from the aforementioned Richard Sanders effect, certainly owes a nod of inspiration to it. Essentially this method allows you to openly count and display either three or five bank notes, without taking or adding anything, Using $20 notes for this means you can display either £60 or £100. The construction of the gimmick is very simple, all you need is some Rubber Cement, and crisp five £20 notes. 8 g Take one note and orientate the right way up with Queen's head facing, you Le. so Her Maj’ isn't upside down, and fold the note in half from “&, right to left; like closing a book but leave a Smm step on the left hand side. This ‘step’ will help with the handling during performance. Mak the fold crease sharp by firmly pinching your finger and thumb on thi crease and running it down the crease a few times. Do this to all five notes. B Take one note, unfold it so the Queen is facing you and apply Rubber Cement to the entire half of the note on the left side of the crease, leaving the right side untouched. Now unfold another note so the Queen is facing you but then flip it over top to bottom; with a £20 note this would mean Queeny’s head would still be on the right but on the side now facing away from you. Apply Rubber Cement to the left side of this note; this is the opposite corresponding side to the other note. The above preparation with Rubber Cement will allow you to glue these two notes together in such a way that when perfectly aligned, only the left side of the note is glued together and looks like one note, and the other right side is not glued and looks like two; you will have a flap of half of a £20 note. If you were to pick up construction and use your fingers to hold the loose left sides together, they would align neatly and the whole thing would look like one note. The reason, by the way, for using Rubber Cement on each half, allowing it to dry, and then sticking the notes together is that you oan still peel the notes apart when the notes become tatty from performance, or you find yourself in a tricky situation and in desperate need to spend the cash.Do the same preparation to another pair of notes, leaving one note unprepared except for having been folded like the others. Now stack these notes on top of each other so they all face the same way and the unglued note is on top. On the left is the glued sections of the two lower notes, and on the right is the loose sides. ‘Thanks to the earlier creasing of each note you should be able to fold this stack in half again, like closing a book, and still have the step on the left. Now for the handling; place this folded stack in your upturned left palm (assuming you are right handed) orientated so the loose side is touching your palm, glued side uppermost, and the step is nearest your body with the folded edge furthest away; this is the starting position. To display five notes, reach for the folded stack with your right hand and flip it so the folded edge is now facing you, retaining the stack ong the left hand. Then use the fingers of your right hand to unfold each loose half of the note and count them as you do so; you will naturally", count five notes as you are peeling back each individual note from the! loose end. This is a very natural way to count a stack of folded mone; and in performance I count off the amount money like this; ‘... that’s “3 twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, one-hundred pounds’ . B To display three notes start with them in the starting position, reach for the folded stack with your right hand and use your right thumb to find the step and pull up; the step acts as a break of sorts between the lower loose half and the upper glued half. Having pulled up you will naturally unfold the entire stack in one motion, then with your right thumb and index finger you can spread the notes which will, due to this half being glued, spread and show only three notes. Your left hand will natural hold a fan of notes at the bottom and prevent the loose ends from separating; when done properly this looks very natural and just like you are holding three notes. Once comfortable with the prop you can try the following extra display for three notes; having fanned the notes holding them by the lower loose end in my left hand, I count them into my right hand; first dealing the unglued note, followed by the gimmicked notes. The larger action of counting the notes from hand to hand, and the unglued note being nearest the audience obscuring the others, makes for a very convincing display. One final tip for you is if the notes are not as crisp as you would like, or have become alittle tatty after a few performances, you can use a very small amount of repositionable glue on the loose end of the gimmicked notes; small enough to not affect the counting of five notes, but justenough to hold the loose end of each note together for the three note display. Amalgamation: Those of you who don’t mind carrying around a large sum of cold hard cash could make three sets of 60/100 gimmicks, or of course 80/50, and put one each in three sho-gun wallets. In the other compartment of each wallet place a book token - or $1 bill, £5 note, or similar small prize. The spectator then makes their choice of the wallet on the left, middle, or right, and maybe they are offered the chance to change their mind several times. Whichever one they end up choosing, let's say it is the middle one, you cleanly display they have won book token or whatever. ‘You then show that had they chosen the wallet on the left they eer have won £60, but had they chosen the right one they could have received £100. wumtoaagstore.Tel. ABold Effect First Published in Hybrid Mentalism (2008) The performer removes a pen and half an index card, folded into quarters, from his pocket. He gives both of these simple items to a spectator, whom we shall call Dave. Dave is asked to write a four-digit number, specifically the last four digits of a phone number he knows “off-by-heart.” The performer looks away throughout this process and requests that Dave re-fold the card when he has finished writing the number. ‘That done, the performer turns back to face Dave and takes both the pen and the folded card from him. Dave is asked to keep repeating tl number in his mind; he is to forget about whose phone number it is to focus solely on those four digits. The performer gives Dave back the folded paper and requests that D: hold it up to his forehead. Whilst Dave is doing this, the performer removes the other half of the index card from his pocket and uncapsis pen. B B He asks Dave to focus on the first digit and after afew momentsof 5 silence he writes something on his piece of the index card. The same procedure is followed with the second number, the third and finally the fourth, until the performer has apparently received all four digits. The performer places his card onto the table and says: “Now, I'm not one-hundred percent sure about the last digit... it’s either a 6 or a 9, I'm not sure but I have committed now to what is on that piece of paper. Can I take a look?” The performer takes Dave's folded paper from him, opens it up and reads it silently to himself, “Ab, it was.a 9, 4- 1-5-9 to be exact. Well, it’s not always easy to get this right one-hundred percent of the time, but I did my best... 4- 1-5-9, Take a look at what I got.” A spectator is invited to open the performer's half of the index card and read what he has written, which needless to say are the numbers 4 - 1 - 5-9, an exact match! ‘The performer shakes Dave's hand and adds a somewhat chilling, final comment:“Thanks Dave, you did that brilliantly. If only I got you to think of your PIN number!” This effect first appeared as a supplement to Elliot Bresler’s excellent e- book Switchcraft - The Billet Work of Elliot J. Bresler and then later in my own e-book Triptych. As it stands, this is quite a direct and impressive piece of mind reading: the participant thinks of a four digit number, writes it down and holds the paper against his or her forehead. Mr. Mind Reader then asks him or her to think of each digit, one by one, and writes each digit as he ‘receives’ them. He is 100% accurate. However, I feel adding the final, somewhat cheeky, line about their PIN ads a slightly sinister undertone to the effect. It acts as a kind of loaded pattern interrupt that will get them thinking about your mind readi abilities as real and perhaps even a little scary, due to the potentially: invasive nature of being able to pluck important numbers from peopl@s heads. Hopefully this elevates the effect from being a puzzle to be solved or some piece of trivial entertainment. SB g ‘The inspiration for this effect came from two places: firstly, the classig Your Number Ploy, but I wished to perform the effect (orasimilar “2 effect) without it being a throwaway gag or ‘instant stooge’ effect; and, secondly a brief but amusing gag in an episode of British TV siteoom 5, ‘Spaced (staring and co-written by Simon Pegg before the brilliant films, Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead). The ‘gag’ transpired thus: Daisy: “How was your night-out last night?” Tim: “Not bad. I met a lovely girl. She's a psychic, she gave me her number.” [Tim hands Daisy a piece of paper. Daisy opens the paper and reads it.] Daisy: “This is our number!” Tim: “Really! ? Man, she’s good!” OK, it may not read brilliantly, but it tickled me at the time. ‘When I first started developing this effect, I intended to ask the participant to write his or her PIN Number but I soon realised that this. was a foolish and impractical idea as I certainly wouldn’t be happy writing down my own PIN and then handing it to a stranger, never mind allowing a mind reader to divine the information!So, I replaced the PIN with the last four digits of a friend’s telephone number but decided to keep the notion, and hopefully the gravitas, of using the participant's PIN by adding the final line: “If only I got you to think of your PIN number!” Just to mess with the participants head a little. The modus operandi for this effect is really quite simple. Firstly, you will need to know a good billet switch. Unfortunately, I have nothing new to add to the fraternity regarding billet switches, so I'm. forced to request that you use your favourite method such as the classic Annemann Billet Switch, the Al Mann Switch or even one of the brilliant variations from Switchcraft - The Billet Work of Elliot J. Bresler. The other piece of business you will need for this effect is a Twin-Tip Sharpie Marker. This is a Sharpie brand pen with the classic ‘fine poi marker tip at one end and an ‘ultra-fine point’ at the other. Si = The ‘fine point’ end, as seen on the right in the image below, writes with a FAT line. This is just like the ones you are probably familiar with as they are commonly used by magicians to sign playing cards. ofmanyosest The ‘ultra-fine point’, as seen on the left in the image below, writes with FINE line, not much thicker than the line created when writing with Bic Biro Pen. © EINE’ FA Togs Please understand that you do not have to use a Twin-Tip Sharpie Marker. You can simply use two different pens; one, which writes with a FAT line, and another that writes with a FINE line, e.g. an ordinary Sharpie and another pen with a smaller nib. However I would avoid using Biros or pencils due to the method, which will be discussed in a moment. Also, the two pens will have to be the exact same colour, black works best. Ipersonally prefer to use the Twin-Tip Sharpie Marker as it makes the handling for the effect much simpler, so for ease of explanation I will assume you are also using a Twin Tip as well. They don’t cost much; you only have to carry one pen instead of two and they can be found in moststationery shops so you won't have to shop around too much to find one. Go and buy one, you'll thank me for it. Preparation for this effect is minimal: all you need is your Twin Tip, as it shall now be known, and at least two billets in your right trouser pocket ~ assuming of course you are right handed... and have not, of course, forgotten to put on your trousers. As for the billets themselves, I prefer to use two halves of one index card i.e. a single index card cut exactly in half. I then fold both halves into quarters and put them in my pocket ready for performance. The bare bone of this method is as follows; Begin with your two pre-folded billets in your right trouser pocket along with your Twin Tip at the ready. g During performance you will give one of these billets to the participamt, whom we christened Dave, to write his four-digit number on. Dave wil} write this number using the ultra-fine poinéend of the Sharpie; this 18 the end which writes with a FINE line. g As he is writing you will look away and as you do so, casually reach your pocket and palm the other billet. This billet, your dummy, will of course need to be palmed in a manner suitable to whatever billet swit you will be using. When Dave tells you he has finished writing, ask for. your pen back and tell him to re-fold his billet. Turn back to face Dave and explain that you would like him to: “,.keep repeating the number in your mind. Just forget about whose phone number it is, forget about the rest of the number... Just focus on these last four digits.” During these words, take the billet from Dave and switch it for your dummy. Explain, as in the presentation, that you need him to hold the billet up to his forehead and give him back the billet to do this. It is during the motion of taking the billet from Dave and holding it up to my own head, as if clarifying what I want him to do, that I switch the real billet for the dummy. Now, with the dummy billet in Dave's hand (and against his forehead), the real one is secretly palmed in your right hand. Reach back into your trouser pocket with the same hand that palms his billet and apparently take out a new piece of folded card from your pocket - but of course in reality this is Dave's previously palmed billet.Tell Dave to focus on the first number as you are removing the cap from your pen. Specifically, removing the cap from the fine point end of the pen; this is the end that writes with a FAT line. Now open the billet you just removed from your pocket and trace over the first number using the FAT end of your Twin Tip. Repeat this with the other digits, asking Dave to focus on each number before you write over it. That, as simple and as bold as it seems, is the core method for this effect. You will literally write over the numbers Dave has written whilst apparently writing on a blank billet. I said it would make you smile. ack Now, because Dave has written with a FINE line and you are re-writing over the top of his numbers with a FAT line, you willdestroyany 3 evidence of Dave's original numbers. aga Iwill admit that this is quite bold but there are a number of nuances and subtleties that are used during the routine to both disguise the meth and ‘visually distance’ Dave's numbers from your own, despite the fe that they are essentially the very same numbers written on the very ;} same billet. At the very beginning of the routine, when you reach into your pocket: and remove a billet for Dave to write on, don’t just take out one billet, take both out. More if you have them. ‘You don't need to point out that there are two (or more) but let it be silently seen and understood that you have more than one folded billet in your pocket. The reasoning behind this is to stop any potential alarm bells ringing later when you go back into that same pocket and pull out what is apparently another, different billet to write on. ‘You may think of this as running when you’re not being chased, but I still feel it’s worth putting in this minor piece of extra effort, and anything you can do to make an effect stronger, I feel, should be done. So, you are now holding a couple of billets in your hand. Take one of them and open it up, placing the others away in your pocket. Remove your Twin Tip from your pocket and uncap the end that writes with a FINE line. It is quite a natural action to uncap a pen for someone when handing it to them to write with, so there is no need to make a big deal out of this.‘When you tell Dave to write his four-digit number, open the billet that you will give to him and draw four dashes just below the middle crease of the card. These dashes are there to indicate where Dave is to write each individual number, ‘This should force Dave to space out his numbers a little, making it easier for you to trace over them using your FAT marker pen later. Turn away as Dave writes, seemingly not wishing to catch a glimpse of what he is writing and casually put your hand in your pocket and obtain the dummy billet in a finger palm. When Dave has finished writing asi him to re-fold his billet and onee this is done, turn back to face him, vaio the pen from him and recap it. oxytond Now, you have a number of options as to how and when you switch. Dave's billet for the dummy, depending on the switch you intend to ul and how you are comfortable you are with it, = Almost as justification for taking the billet from Dave, I like to hold oe now dummy billet up to my forehead as I explain that I would like Dai to do the same. I then hand the now switched in dummy billet to him, retaining the real billet in finger palm. As stated earlier, I then reach into my pocket and apparently remove a new, fresh billet to write on but, of course this is actually Dave's original billet. Iwill then uncap my Twin Tip from the end that writes with a FAT line, open up the billet and hold it flat against my palm, ostensibly to steady it for writing but also to hide Dave's original numbers as they may be seen through the card. numbers. In terms of presentation, I think the effect, ‘works much better if you remain silent through out the 4 A apparent mind reading process, only speaking to ask | | 1 ‘Now we come to the act of tracing over the original Dave to focus on “the next digit,” rather than calling out the numbers verbally as you apparently receive them. 7 F Just tracing over each numbers with a fatter pen is not quite enough to hide the method, so there are a number of other things I like to do. You will notice that some 29 numbers, such as 1, 4, and 7, can be subtly changed to look different, and by ‘different’I mean ‘not like Dave's handwriting’. For example, a numeral ‘1’ can be written 3 3 asa single vertical line ( | ) ie. ‘sans-serif’ or with an ag?added diagonal dash at the top with the possibility of a horizontal line at the bottom. See the examples on the left for clarification. So, if Dave has written his ‘1’ as a single vertical line then you trace over that line but also add the diagonal dash and the horizontal line at the base, making the number not only appear different due to the change in thickness of the writing but also in the way it is written. ‘The number ‘4’ can either be written so that the vertical line meets the diagonal line, or it can be written in such away that the vertical line does not meet the diagonal. Changing a ‘4’ in which the lines do not meet becomes easy and again makes it look different form Dave's original in a logical and subtle manner. Another good example is a ‘7’. Some people write a 7 as a.short horizontal line (-) with a diagonal line (/ ) below it. This can be changed by adding another short horizontal line, about half way down the diagonal line i.e. ‘French/European style.’ ‘You may also find that numbers such as 2, 3 and 9 can also be changed depending on how Dave has written them. For example, a ‘2’ with a loop could become a ‘2’ without a loop, depending on how Dave has written the number and how ‘fat’ your pen writes. A curved/rounded ‘3’ can often be changed into a ‘3’ with a straight, un- curved top and diagonal line. A ‘9’ drawn as an upside-down ‘6’ can potentially be changed to a ‘9’ with a vertical, straight line. Again, this all depends upon how Dave has written the numbers. You may also wish to ‘fail’ on one number, so a ‘2’ might become a ‘3’, a ‘1’ could become a ‘4’, and a curved/rounded ‘3’ can easily become an 8. Essentially, anything you can add to the participant's original numbers that is logical and natural, such as the examples mentioned above, will help to disguise the original numbers, and thus the method. Another ‘visual distancing’ ploy I use is to draw a box around the numbers. After I have traced over the original numbers, changing them in logical ways, I will trace over and ‘join-up’ the dashed lines below them. I can then use this line as the base of the box, using it as a guide to draw the rest of the box around the numbers. ‘The image on the next page shows how different these ‘visual distancing’ ploys, as I like to call them, can make the numbers look. It’s not a dramatic change but it is different enough and keep in mind that people won't be able to compare the original with your own!1743] The last nuance comes in the form of presentation. Once I have done all of the above, i.e. traced over Dave's numbers, changed them in any way I can and drawn a box around them, I will say the following: “I'm not sure about this last number... it’s either a 3 ora 2.I think, however, I'll commit myself to this...” Obviously replacing the ‘either or’ numbers with the last digit of Dave's number and a similar number. Ithen place ‘my’ billet (number side down) on the table or give it to a near by spectator, and take the billet Dave holds, open it up and apparently read it. This billet is of course blank but a nice subtlety here is to open the billet and then turn it 180 degrees, as if you opened the billet and saw that the numbers were upside down. “Anh! It’s a 3. In fact the numbers you were thinking of were 1-7 -4-3, Not 1-7-4-@but 1- 7-4-8, Well that's good, because that’s exactly what I wrote...” Repeating the numbers like this will make sure that everyone knows what the numbers are and has heard them a couple of times as you can not display Dave's original numbers for comparison due to the methods at play. After delivering the penultimate line, I will pick up ‘my’ billet from the table and display it to the group, casually placing the blank billet away in my pocket and adding the final line as written in the effect’s description.‘You may recognise this as a variation of the classic Dead Name Duplication effect. There are numerous versions of this plot, five of which (A through E) can be found in Mainly Mental by C. L. Boarde. Several additional renditions are included in the excellent e-book ‘Switchcraft - The Billet Work of Hlliot J. Bresler. If you don't have “a favourite method” for switching yet, then I highly recommend you buy a copy of Elliot’s book. It has more switches and supplements than you can shake a billet knife at. Elliot was also kind enough to include this effect as a supplement to Switchcraft and included The Temple Switeh, which works wonderfully with this routine. I first came across Dead Name Duplication when watching Jay Sankey's Boris Pocus DVD. I liked the basic effect but disliked the method for destroying the original writing (Version A in Boarde’s Mainly Mental), so I came up with the alternative idea of tracing over the original writing with a fatter marker pen. Talso realised that, due to the widely varying and unique ways different people write letters, my idea would work better with numbers.The Two Tenners Introducing The Subconscious Fist Published in ‘Head Wired’ (2018) The participant is invited to take part in a wager with The Mentalist. They are asked to put a £10 note in the kitty; the mentalist does the same and is seen to quickly write something on his note. The two tenners are set-aside while the bet takes place. The wager is the classic pseudo-strategic guessing game of Rock Paper Scissors. The Mentalist and the participant play a best-of-three game and the Mentalist of course wins. He goes on to say that he feels bad for taking the participant's money so graciously says that they oan keep their own 810 note and just give The Mentalist his back. “My note has my signature on it, so you'll know it’s mine” The participant looks at both notes and clearly sees that one note has The Mentalist’s signature scrawled across it and dutifully returns it. As he takes back the note The Mentalist proposes one last bet: “Tet I can tell you something that even you don't know by asking three simple questions; I bet I can tell you the serial number on your £10 note” Using his own note to demonstrate what and where the serial number is, ‘The Mentalist asks the participant to conceal their note behind their back while he asks them three questions: what they do for a living, where they live, and what they had for lunch today. He reveals what he believes to be the serial number of the participant's bill and is of course shown to be correct. The Method, Handling, etc. Talways feel a serial number divination works best when there is a reason and motivation for paper money being used in the routine, such as a wager or a bet. I also feel that the revelation of the number needs to come as a surprise kicker to the preliminary routine; adding an extra punch of impossibility to a preceding simpler effect. A classic example of this might be that of borrowing a note from the participant, having them place it inside an envelope which is then mixed with other identical envelopes containing blank paper. Envelopes are then eliminated and destroyed one-by-one, leaving the participant with only one which thankfully contains their note. Of course, the note has actually been switched, via something like Ted Lesley’s TeleportEnvelope for example, which allows you to divine the serial number... for some reason. The money is justified by the Jeopardy needed for the routine, even if it is alittle hackneyed, and the revelation of the number is a kicker ending to the whole routine. However, what I wanted was a snappier preliminary routine that motivated the money being involved as a wager; essentially this preliminary routine would be what the bet was based on and therefore be the reason to have money involved. I wanted this to be a game that most people are familiar with, not a game the performer has invented, and also has the potential to be the kind of game you'd think a mind reader would be good at. It's also a chance for the participant to have a battle of wits with The Mentalist, something the public often enjoy. For me, Rock-Paper-Scissors fits the bill perfectly. I'll talk more about the why and how later, but for now we'll get back to the serial number divination. ‘The money being a wager in a bet means the money becomes secondary; the focus is on winning the task and thus winning the bet, most people will assume that there will be some sort of trick to the bet which means Mr Mentalist can’t lose. All of which means there is little attention on the actual bank notes, pushing their importance and relevance out of consciousness early on. For this to work properly the money has to be organically in play, so placing it an envelope you just happen to have, or a suspiciously empty matchbox is out of the question. Which only really leaves sleight based bill switches but as this would be a wager, ie. I put £10 in and you put £10 in, I would need to have two bills on me; one to be my wager, that the audience is aware of, and one with a memorised serial number to be switched-in. I'd also have to get the participant to fold their bill ina particular way, several times, all of which was more trouble than it was ‘worth for what is supposed to be a simple wager. Eventually, I stumbled on a very simple but bold idea; if I can convince the participant that their £10 note is actually my £10 note, then they will naturally assume that my £10 note is actually theirs. In essence they will do the switch for me in their own mind. I have audaciously dubbed this ruse The Subconscious Switch.The Swami Swindle & The Subconscious Switch As the title suggests, not only will you need a £10 note of which you know the serial number, but you will also need a swami gimmick. My preference in general and for this routine in particular is a China- Marker Lead in a Thumb Tip style writer. ‘You may have noticed in the Effect’s description it reads; “The Mentalist takes out his 810 note and is seen to quickly write something on it” and that later The Mentalist points out which £10 is his by explaining that he signed it. This is the crux of the ruse; casually and nonchalantly you are seen writing ‘something’ on your £10 note as the participant approaches the stage. In reality you won't write anything on the note by using a pen that has had its ink source removed, or by simply placing the tip of your index finger over the nib so it never actually makes contact with the note. It is important that you don’t make a big deal out of apparently signing your note and don’t verbally state what you are doing; just let it be seen ‘that you took out a pen, quickly scribbled ‘something’ on your £10 note, put the pen away and greeted the participant. All of this will be happening as the participant is making his way to the performance area. Lalso feel it’s important that the moment you apparently signed the note happens on stage in front of everyone and not before the show. ‘That way when you tell the participant, and the audience at large, that you signed your note they can think back a few minutes ago and remember seeing you write ‘something’ on your note: ‘Ah, he was signing it.’ At this point in the routine, the participant has just joined you on stage and you are putting away your pen after writing ‘something’ on your note. As you place your pen in your pocket you will secure your Swami gimmick. I personally use a Sharpie to apparently sign my note, hence my preference for using a China Marker Swami but a pencil or whatever preference for nail-writing you have will work perfectly well. Place your own £10 note in the same hand that wears the Swami so that the note hides the swami from the audiences view. Using your free hand, take the participants $10 note from him and place it in-front of your note, nearest your body, so your thumb and the Swami gimmick it is wearing are touching the participants note ready to write on it. As you take the note from the participant, say something along the lines“T'll take your money and my money and place it in the kitty over here. This will be our prize fund.” As you say ‘..and place it in the kitty’ move over to a nearby table or stool, wherever is convenient, and place the money there. If working in a parlour show setting, give the money to a trustworthy spectator to look after. It is in the action of moving over to the table or spectator that you will nail-write your signature onto the participants note; the larger motion of you moving from one place to another will hide the smaller action of ‘the Swami work. I don’t advise that you hold the notes for too long, and don’t directly look at them; be casual in your actions. It doesn’t even have to be your real signature just something that looks like a signature; a collection of loopy, joined-up letters will do just fine. The entire action should only take two seconds and should look exactly how it is supposed to look; you are taking the participants money and your money from one place to another. The serial number part of the method is pretty much finished as the participant will perform the switch for you; not physically but subconsciously. All you need to do is perform the wager part of the routine, which in this case a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, and no matter who wins, tell the participant he can keep his £10 note adding that “You'll know which is mine because I signed it.” ‘The participant will naturally look at the two tenners in front of him, see that one is indeed signed, which of course must be yours, and unconsciously assume that the other unsigned note is his. He will then hand you what in reality is his own note with a swamied-seribble on it, and keep your note with the serial number you have previously memorised believing that it is actually his. This, dear reader, is The Subconscious Switch. So now let’s discuss the game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, or RPS for short. I will disappoint you now and say that I do not have a method for this part of the routine; I just play RPS. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose, but either way we have the kicker serial number divination to finish with. So if win RPS, I look like I've used my Mentalist powers to do so but because I'm a nice guy, I let the participant keep his money, which, incidentally, I bet I can tell you the serial number of.If] lose RPS then the participant looks good because he has outwitted Mr. Mentalist but obviously I don't want to lose my money so I propose one last bet; that I can tell him the serial number of his bill. Of course ‘we'll know which one is theirs because I signed mine. Playing a best-of-three game of RPS is quick and snappy, even with some jokes and amusing patter thrown in about how ‘men always start with rock... every time... without fail’ or how ‘intergalactic ray gun is not allowed’ or even referencing the alternate version played in the television show Big Bang Theory. Having a quick and simple game that relies on audience banter suits my style and means we can get to the more interesting feat of divining the serial number sooner. For you however, this could be a series of genuine bar bets that you beat the participant with, only to conclude with not really taking his money but to teach him, and everyone else, how they work. You then perform one last seemingly impossible feat; the serial number divination. Another alternative might be to use a gimmicked Coin in Which Hand effect with the coin in one hand and the notes hidden in the other. ‘Whatever you choose to use for the preliminary routine my advice is to keep it a wager based effect, keep it fun, and keep it simple so the serial number divination comes as areal kicker ending. Alternative Handling: The Peek Method This is an alternate, and personal favourite, handling that does not require you to have a Swami gimmick, so it is suitable for more informal and impromptu situations. You will, however, still need a £10 note of which you have memorised the serial number. ‘This method requires both you and the participant to fold your respective £10 notes in the same way, that way being as follows: Begin by holding the £10 note so the serial number is facing you. Obviously the serial number kicker is a surprise ending, so rather than telling the participant to have the numbers facing them, tell them to make sure the Queen's head is facing them. Then fold the note in half from left to right, in the same way you would close a book. Then fold it in half again, from top to bottom. ‘You will now be able to peek the last few digits of the serial number using a modified Acidus Novus peek. | am not at liberty to discuss theworkings of Acidus Novus here but the following instructions should be clear to anyone familiar with the technique. If you are not au fait with this essential billet peek then stop what you are doing and learn it now. In performance you will give these folding instructions to the participant while demonstrating with your own note; he will very kindly be preparing his note for you to peek whilst you are preparing a duplicate. Ina similar manner to the Swami variation you will take his now folded note from him and place it with yours in an impromptu kitty. As you take his note, insert your thumb slightly into the folds in the appropriate way allowing you to peek the last three digits of his notes serial number and memorise them for later. Use your note to cover his from the audiences view by placing his note behind yours, i.e. his note is nearest your body, and peeking the numbers as you point at them with your free hand asking a nearby spectator to ‘keep an eye on the prize fund’. Ipersonally feel it’s very important to strongly motivate having the participant fold their note in such a particular way. Saying something like ‘we need both notes to look the same’ isn’t good enough for me, 80 instead I recommend you make the folding and following of your actions part of the wager itself. Explain that thisis the bet; if he can copy your actions exactly he wins your £10. Begin by holding the £10 note so the Queen’s head is facing you and see if he is copying you exactly, he might need some guidance to begin with. Then rotate your note over 360 degrees and see if he copies you. Once he has got the idea fold your note in half as if closing a book and then fold it up so it is now in fourths, exactly as described previously. The participant will naturally follow your actions because it is apparently part of the bet. ‘You then explain that this was just a warm-up and to make things harder you place both hands behind your back, along with your £10 note, and explain that you will put the note in one hand and bring them both out in clenched fists. All the participant has to do is put his note in the same hand as you. Of course without seeing which hand you put it in he can’t possibly Know; it's a fifty-fifty gamble. ‘You can get a bit of playful banter out of this part of the game by saying some quasi-psychological lines such as ‘I should tell you that every time Ido this, I always put it in my right hand. Every time.’ ‘You may find the participant gets it right first time, so you do it again, this time wondering aloud if you should put it in the same hand again. Ifhe is correct again then the third time I would personally cheat and secretly put the note in my pocket and reveal both hands to be empty. “That was unfair so let's try one more thing. You'll need both your hands free for this...” ‘This is the moment you take his note from him and peek the last three digits of the serial number as descried previously. The money is now safe in the kitty but we need some time misdirection between when you briefly touched the money and the big reveal. To do this I then get everyone involved by doing the well known stage routine ‘You Can’t Do As I Do’, sometimes known as ‘Thumbs Up’, which can be found in Body Magic and even Magic for Dummies. Trust me, you know the routine I'm talking about - the one where the entire audience can not turn their hands over so their thumbs are pointing up but the Magician can. With the money safely in the kitty, invite everyone in the audience to get involved in this last part of the bet, including the participant on stage, to copy your actions exactly. Begin, in the usual way, by demonstrating and asking them to hold their arms out in front of them, cross them over, turn their palms to face each other and interlock their fingers - so their thumbs are pointing down - and then ask them to turn their hands over so their thumbs are pointing up. If you know the routine I am referring to you will know that none of them will be able to do this except you. It follows on nicely from the first part of the bet with the £10 notes but gets everyone in the room involved, which also means you are not just bullying the participant and tricking him; everyone fell for it this time. After everyone has reacted to not being able to twist their hands around, I usually make a joke about all of ther now owing me money which draws attention back to the £10 notes. “Tam going to give you your money back but before I do, I want to try one last thing. The point of these games and bets was not to trick you or win your money; it was a chance for me to see how you think. Having had that opportunity I think I can now tell you something that even you don’t know, a seemingly impossible bet; I bet I can tell you the serial number on your £10 note. Do you know what the serial number on your £10 is? No.I know that the last three numbers on mine are 125 (or whatever number peeked earlier), so person-with-the-money-now, take a Jook. My one ends in 128, but I assume his does not...” The spectator with the money will unfold both notes and look for the one that ends in 123. ‘They will confirm that ‘your’ note does indeed end in that number but the ‘participant's note’ does not; the subconscious switch has taken place and you are now free to reveal the unique serial number of what is apparently the participant’s note. Further Thoughts One final thought on The Peek Method: Instead of asking just one spectator on stage to copy your actions of folding the note, ask everyone in the audience to stand up and copy your actions with their own note. After folding the notes, you can eliminate people by asking them to sit. down if they put it in the wrong hand during the Which Hand section. ‘You then choose one of the remaining spectators, someone with the same denomination that you have, to join you on stage to take part in a wager. You helpfully place both your notes somewhere safe and either perform the Thumbs Up routine or Rock-Paper-Scissors before revealing the serial number.The Sixth Sense Ploy First Published in Hybrid Mentalism (2008) There have been countless suggestions, presentations and ideas throughout mentalist literature as to what that ‘dramatic fashion’ could entail, ranging from having it appear in blood on your arm, writing it, backwards on a mirror in blood or even the frightfully entertaining and knock’em dead presentation of having it written on a dry erase board Gn blood). ‘What follows is one such presentational idea that I have been working with. This idea of mine first saw print in Jerome Finley’s Thought Channel but appears here for the first time in full. It's a very enjoyable presentation to perform and can add that air of tension and dramatis ‘that is all too often lacking in a mind reading performance. Iloosely refer to this as ‘The Sixth Sense Ploy’, not because I weave some ridicules story of people having a sixth sense into the presentation but because in the film Sixth Sense, there is a scene in which Bruce Willis, who plays a child psychologist, challenges the young boy (the one who sees dead people) to a ‘game’ of sorts. Bruce is trying to prove that he can help the boy and knows a lot about him just by observing him and his life. He tells the boy that he will say a few statements that he believes to be true about the boy, every time he says something that is correct, the boy is to take one step forward, for every statement that is wrong, the boy must take a step back. In short, for every ‘hit’ take one step forward. For every ‘miss’ take one step back. The strong image and overall tentative feeling that was created in this short scene stuck with me. That and the fact that I guessed he was a ghost in the restaurant scene. If we apply this to a mind reading performance it can also add a strong, visual, theatrical element; ee can insist upon absolute silence from the participant, only allowing them to think intently of the thought we are attempting to receive and not in verbally communicate it in any way, giving an almost ‘test conditions’ feel to the presentation. They must also not move unless you have made a direct statement about their thought; toward you for a ‘hit’ or away form you for a ‘miss’. The large amount of silence combined with the tension the audience will feel as they watch and wait to see which way the participant is going to move will be deeply affecting. This tension will be greatly increased if after a, couple of steps forward, one step is taken backwards, which is something that can be engineered. into the performance.Using the example given in the previous effect of having the on stage participant think of an old school friend, I shall set out how such a performance might pan out using the Sixth Sense Ploy. Have the participant stand facing you on the other side of the stage. Explain the ‘rules’ to him i.e. for every statement that is correct he is to take one step towards you, for every statement that is wrong he is to take one step back. In this example lets assume we know that the participant is thinking of an old school friend and the name peeked was David. We can safely assume that ‘David’ is male, so this will be the first statement. “Just keep focusing on this old school friend, picture them in your mind. Imagine them back at school sat in class with you. Say their name to yourself in your mind...” “First of all, I'm getting the impression that this friend is male. If that’s true take one step forward, if not take one step back. At this point they should of course tale one step towards you. Iwill always make sure that the first two statements are things that I know to be true, in this example the sex of the person being thought of and the following: “This person's name. It begins with a hard sound, like a Dora B. I'm going to go for a D. If their name begins with D, take one step forwards...” Again, they step towards you. It is now, on my third statement that I take a gamble. IfI was unsure about the sex of the school friend, it is now that I would make my fifty- fifty guess, or perhaps take a wild guess at the age. I have also used Banachek’s brilliant ‘Letters In A Word Ploy’ at this point which I'm sure you are very familiar with. However, in this example I will take an educated guess as to which class they imagine this friend in: “As you imagine this friend, can you see them in class with you? dust imagine which lesson you are in... I'm seeing numbers on the board. Are you in Math’s or something? Take a step towards me if 50..." This is just a minor statistical gambit but at this point in the presentation it doesn't matter if you miss and they take one step back, it ‘will add tension and realism.Also notice the wording about ‘seeing numbers on the board’, this is something of an ambiguous statement and could refer to several school subjects such as History, Maths, or even any of the Sciences, so if you are wrong all is not lost in the participants mind as it could seem as if you were close; it did involve numbers but you just made the wrong judgment call by assuming it was Maths rather than History, for example. The participant will tend to be more than willing to spread the word that you did get it right, you just picked the wrong subject! No matter how this third, not sure-fire statement went, my next few statements I make sure are fully acourate. I tend to make five statements in total before revealing the name in full. These final two statements will involve the letters in the name itself. “Ok. We know it begins with the letter D but... it also ends with D, correct” “Five letters long” As they take their final step forward I pick up a pad and pen and write the name to reveal in a moment. I explain to the participant that they can now speak and they should clearly say the name of the old school friend they had in mind. They do so and I reveal what I wrote to much applause. This should give you a, good idea of what the Sixth Sense Ploy is but below is a more general breakdown. Although I've used five statements in this write up feel free to jazz it up in performance. I hope you use and enjoy this presentational ploy. First statement - Something you know to be true but doesn't give away too much, i.e. gender of person being thought of. Second statement - Something you know to be true but this time more specific, i.e. first letter if name or word. ‘Third statement -Take a gamble and say something that if it hits, you have a minor miracle, if not it simply adds tension and realism. For example Banachek’s ‘Letters in a Word’ ploy, take an educated guess as to the environment of the memory, or what the person in the memory looks like. Fourth statement - Something specific that you know to be true, i.e. repeated letters in the word, last letter, that it ends in ‘ing’ or a‘y’ sound. Fifth statement - Very specific, giving the impression that you now know the name or word being thought of.Low-High-Tech The following idea is a combination of high-tech and low-tech to create what in essence this is an almost unlimited multiple-out method with no need for complicated pooket indexes, gimmicked and suspiciously thick envelopes, or anything of the sort The dirty work of this method is not the result of technology but rather atried-and-tested mentalism technique you are almost certainly already fully aware of combined with a freely available, modern, and familiar technology. All you need is a business card, a pencil, and your trusty swami gimmick. The basic effect would play out as follows; you write a prediction sight unseen on one of your business cards, the participant makes their choice, and you reveal your prediction to be a website link URL. The participant enters the URL into their {Phone browser and is presented with a web page that predicts their choice. I've been intentionally vague as to what is predicted and how that prediction manifests as you are limited only by your imagination, but for the sake of explanation let's say the prediction is a photograph and participant had to choose one of the five ESP symbols - although it’s a real waste of an almost unlimited index system. The method couldn't be simpler but does require some one time set up; either on your own website or using a URL shortening service with a lnk customization feature, such as TinyURL or Bit.ly, you have created five different links to five different pictures (hosted on your own website, Facebook, Google Drive, anywhere). ‘When you create the customized links you make them look like a, random collection of letters and numbers, just like one of the genuinely random and un-customized links, save for the last digit or letter of each one. Again using ESP symbols, and the built in mnemonic of a circle being 1 as it is made up of 1 line, plus sign being 2 as it is two lines, wavy-lines is made up of 3 lines, square as 4 sides, and the star as 5 points, the links would look like this: Circle: tinyurl.com/7Hjuzg1 Plus: tinyurl.com/7Hjuzg2 Wawy-lines: tinyurl.com/7Hjuzg3 Square: tinyurl.com/7Hjuzg4 Star: tinyurl.com/7Hju2g8In performance you write the first part of the URL on your business card, i, “tinyurl.com/7Hjuzg” in the example above, and depending on the participant's choice you swami the appropriate last digit. So if they chose the Star you would swami a 6 at the end of the URL. Like I said, it is a phenomenally simple method but opens the doors to many possibilities. Just using a photo as the prediction would be a waste of a method that allows for the prediction to be link to a video, a website, a tweet, an article on a blog, almost anything that can exist on the web. The choice for the participant can also be far greater, as long as you are confident enough in your memory skills to remember what to swami at, the end of your URL. Theoretically you can easily swami numbers from 0 - 999 as you hand them the business card, or use letters of the alphabet allowing for a further 26 predictions, or a combination of the two Le. Al, BI... A2, B2, ete. ‘You can even set up multiple sets of predictions for different items, all with the same opening URL. Set up five photos on your website for the ESP symbols using something like www.yourwebsite.com/YOU_WILL_CHOOSE_THE_STAR.html for each symbol, the shorten each URL as described above. Set up various videos of you drawing each of the most commonly drawn items. Google ‘the 10 most popular holiday destinations’ and see what comes up. Set up custom links to the tourist information sites for each of those 10 destinations, maybe use the countries letter code in the URL e.g. GB for Great Britain, AUS for Australia. During performance ask your participant to Google the same phrase and choose a destination. Your prediction will be a link to a website alll about that location! Set up links to the IMDB page for Oscar Winning actors, the iTunes page for singers and bands, the Twitter profile of reality TV stars... Ifyou can remember the last few digits and letters for each one by flexing your mnemonic muscles, then you have a miracle on your hands with nothing more than few simple items and your participant's Phone.Folie A Deux Iam immensely proud of this creation. It has its roots in an effect called “Tervil’ by Orville Meyer found in Anneman’s Practical Mental Magic, or Practical Mental Effects if you are both old and/or pernickety. The crux of my own and the original method stays the same; the notion of displaying a prediction and having a participant write down a thought - a word, name, number, anything. The prediction is then opened and read by another spectator who confirms the prediction matches the participant’s choice. ‘The secret lies in the fact the prediction is actually the first participant's original billet. The performer switched the participant’s billet for a dummy, and then switched the prediction billet for the participant's one. Obviously the first participant would instantly see through this ruse if he were to look at the prediction billet, but mindful staging and audience management can easily overcome this minor problem. This kind of deception has always hugely interested me, and this particular effect allows me to perform the kind of prediction usually only achievable through secret writing, secret assistance, or secret pre- show work. However, the original required the performer to handle both billets a little too often for my taste so I decided to create the following method, which also adds another layer of deception; the prediction is genuinely sealed in an envelope. Set-Up, Handling, etc. For this effect we will be combining three items you are no doubt: already familiar with; the flapless envelope switch, the Shaxon flap envelope, and the use of rubber cement to create a self-sealing envelope. Obtain a stack of pay envelopes that you probably already have plenty of laying around, and prepare one in the following way: seal the envelope with a small sticker - this will make opening it later much easier for the participant. Then use a pair of scissors to cut off millimeter from the bottom of the envelope. Apply a thin layer of Rubber Cement on the inside edge of the now open bottom end of the envelope ~ from the bottom edge up to about five millimeters in. Buckle this envelope so the two sides don’t touch and allow the glue to dry creating a ‘self-sealing card to sealed envelope’ - this will be our ‘prediction envelope’While you let this envelope dry, take another two envelopes and create a shaxon flap by cutting off the envelopes flap plus a small amount of the address side from one envelope. This extra flap, the shaxon flap, at the bottom should be slightly shorter than the envelopes proper flap it is below. Now take the other unaltered envelope and place a folded dummy billet inside it; it goes without saying this dummy should be the same size and shape as the billet you will be using when performing this effect. Now glue the shaxon envelope flap you created to the dummy envelope’s flap so they perfectly align and the shaxon flap is allowed to move freely. You should now have what looks like an ordinary pay envelope, the only difference being there is a small flap below the envelope flap proper - this is our ‘dummy envelope’. (Aside: I'm sure you already know how to make a shaxon flap - if not you really should; it’s invaluable ~ I just wanted to see if I could describe ‘how to make one using only words; turns out it’s pretty hard and you use the word ‘flap’ a lot.) ‘You are probably already ahead of me here but, now that your rubber cemented prediction envelope is dry you can use this in place of what, ‘would normally be a flapless envelope. With the prediction envelope facing sticker side down, address side facing up, carefully insert the shaxon flap into the open end and align it so, just like a flapless envelope switch using a shaxon flap, it looks like the flap of the dummy envelope belongs to the prediction envelope. Place these two gimmicked envelopes on top of the rest of the stack and you are ready to go. ‘The shaxon flap will prevent the rubber cement from sealing until you of course you perform the switch by placing the spectators billet in the ‘prediction envelope’ which to them is just the uppermost envelope of a stack, and pull on the flap of the ‘dummy envelope’, lick it, and seal it. This will leave you with a single sealed envelope in one hand that contains a dummy billet that the audience believes to contain the spectator's thoughts. In the other hand you will be holding a small stack of pay envelopes, the top one of which is now completely sealed and truly contains the spectators billet. Now it’s a case of what to do with that prediction envelope. I have, and continue to, experiment with different handlings and presentations, My preferred handling is to use the misdirection of handing the participant the dummy envelope to load it into my pocket. The participant is one my left and the envelope stack, and therefore the prediction envelope, is in my left hand. I turn so my left hand is nowupstage and hidden by my body from the audiences view as my right hand gives the participant ‘their’ envelope. I allow my left hand holding the stack to drop by my side and thumb off the prediction envelope into my left trouser pocket. I do not place the entire stack in that pocket however, instead I place it in my inside jacket pocket as soon as Ihave loaded the prediction. I then walk over to someone in the front row, someone who is sat a fair distance away from the where the on stage participant was, and give them the prediction envelope, asking them to confirm it is indeed sealed and request that they look after it for a moment. After a brief bit of ‘time misdirection’ and recapping of what has happened, emphasizing the fairness of the participant’s choice, I ask them to announce the word they chose to think of . They do so and the spectator holding the prediction is asked to open the envelope and reveal my ‘prediction’, To destroy the evidence I simply take the dummy envelope form the participant as they leave the stage. I could, if I wanted to, open their envelope to apparently check what they wrote but personally I don't think it is necessary. The above handling of course doesn’t allow you to display the prediction envelope before the participant has written their word. Of course you have options such as palming off the prediction envelope and loading it into a wallet, larger envelope, or anywhere you can think of are open to you. My preferred method to show the prediction at the start of the routine is to have a duplicate prediction envelope ie. a pay envelope containing a dummy billet sealed with a sticker, in my breast pocket and display this envelope before the participant joins me on stage. Explaining that ‘we'll come back to this later’ I simply put it in my left trouser pocket instead of back in my breast pocket, knowing that have all clearly have the image of the prediction envelope in their minds now. If you do this I suggest you secretly fold or crumple the duplicate it as you place it into your trouser pocket so that when you later go to remove the loaded prediction envelope, you do not confuse the two. Another option is to hand out this duplicate prediction envelope to someone in the front row, the same person who will be reading it later, and ask them to look after it. Then, when you are in the situation of having the participant's billet sealed in the prediction envelope on top of the stack, invite the spectator holding the duplicate to join you on stage. Keeping the stack in your left hand, take the duplicate prediction from the spectator and ask them to confirm it is sealed ete. and simply top- change the duplicate for the real prediction envelope.37% Deception Original Write-Up from Hybrid Mentalism (2008) ‘The performer invites everyone in the room to think of a childhood friend. A member of the audience is chosen at random, let’s call him Alan, and they are asked to come up on stage and are handed an envelope by the performer. ‘The performer asks Alan if he can see what is inside the envelope, to which the answer is no. The performer opens the envelope and reveals what is inside. It is another, smaller envelope and again asks Alan ifhe can see what is inside this one, encouraging him to hold it up to the light, to really make sure. Alan confirms that the envelope is completely opaque. ‘The performer then opens up this envelope and takes out the business card that rested inside and shows it to Alan. “Inside is a business card and on it, it asks you to write the name of the childhood friend you have in mind just here and to think of anumber. Yeah. You can see that, correct?” The participant confirms this to be true. The performer hands him a pen and turns away as Alan writes the name of his childhood friend on the card. As Alan does this, the performer asks him to: “Please really focus on the name and number and imagine this person back at school standing in front of a blackboard and on that blackboard, imagine the friend writing the number really, really big. So big he has to stand on tip toes to reach the top of the numbers.” Once the participant has written the name, the business card is put back inside the smaller envelope, sealed and then put back inside the larger envelope which is also sealed and the whole thing is given to Alan to look after. ‘The performer explains that his mind reading abilities are skills we all have to a certain extent, but he has just fine tuned it. He explains to the room that he would like to try an experiment with everyone to prove this. Everyone is told to relax, take a deep breath and look at Alan, Alan is asked to focus on the number he has imagined his old school friend writing on the blackboard, he is to imagine he can project it to the audience.The performer picks up a pad, explaining that he will help the room pick ‘up on the number as it wouldn't be that much of a surprise if he guessed the number on his own and to have a room full of mind readers is much more exciting. The performer starts to receive impressions about the number. These impressions help guide the room to work out for themselves what the number is. The performer writes a number on his pad, unseen by the audience. He very casually shows it to Alan who confirms it is correct. Alan is asked to name the number he had in his mind and names the number 37. There is a gasp from a few members of the audience. The performer shows that he (unsurprisingly) guessed the number 37 correctly and asks for those in the room who also got the number 37 to raise there hands. A large number of people raise their hands. ‘The performer congratulates Alan for being such a. good ‘sender’ and the audience for doing so well, joking that they will all put him out of ajob. ‘The performer, not wishing to be outdone by his audience, reveals the name of Alan’s childhood friend in dramatic fashion. Method: This effect is more than the sum of its parts. It will probably come as no surprise that you peek the name and the reason the audience think of the number 37 is no coincidence. It is of course the classic psychological force. Hopefully, you already know this force and its older brother (the 68/86 force) and hopefully you know it because you possess Banachek’s brilliant Psychological Subtleties and not because you saw it on that masked street magician show. Briefly; if you ask someone to think of a two-digit number and ask them to make both digits odd and both digits different from each other, they will tend to think of the number 37, with 35 coming in a close second. There are a number of psychological helpers that can increase the odds of the force working properly, almost all of which are detailed in Banachek’s must-have book, mentioned above. ‘The classic way to present this effect is as if the audience is reading your mind. However, I have always felt that adding all the restrictions (2 digits, both odd and both different from each other) make the force rather transparent, leading to the possibility of the audience members (correctly) assuming that ‘maybe everyone thinks of that number’.I personally think it works much better if the force is presented as if the audience at large is reading the mind of someone else, one of their own. Then the restrictions mentioned above needed for the force to work can be presented by you as ‘impressions’ that you are receiving from the participants mind. Think of it as if you are simply saying these ‘restrictions’ incidentally out load and by proxy helping to guide the audience at large to the participant's number. I feel that framing the force in this way makes it far more deceptive and convincing. For this to work I knew I needed to make sure that the on stage participant definitely thought of the number 37. Originally I thought of foreing two cards on the participant (a 3 and a 7) as if it where a means of selecting a random number but this idea, seemed rather weak to me. Ithen thought about combining it with a, book test, by riffle forcing the page 37 and culminating the effect by divining the first word on that page. This is a much better idea and if you want to use it that way then by all means go ahead, but seeing as I don’t use books or book tests in my show, it doesn’t suit my needs. Eventually I decided the best way to ensure that the onstage participant would think of the force number was to simply tell them to. Using ambiguous wording and the dual reality principle, we can convey the idea to the audience at large that the number has been randomly thought of by the participant but in the participants mind he will not. feel stooged or ‘in on it’. ‘You may remember from the effect’s description that the participant is shown a business card that bares written instructions. They ask him to write the name of the childhood friend he has in mind and to think of a number. As you show him this card you say; “On this card it asks you to write the name of the childhood friend you have in mind just here and it asks you to think of a number. Yeah. You can see that, correct?” Due to the wording, the audience at large takes the statement at face value but in reality instructions on the card are much more specific and read as follows:Please write the name on the line below: & think of the number 37 By asking the question “You can see that, correct?” you are helping to convey the idea to the audience that what they believe to be true is true, but to the participant you are simply inquiring if they can read the instructions. Please read the following wording carefully to see how the words used convey and reinforce the two separate perceptions that the participant and the audience have. Let's assume that you have just shown the participant the card he is to write on. “On this card it asks you to write the name of the childhood friend you have in mind just here and it asks you to think of a number. ‘Yeah. You can see that, correct?” As you say “just here” use your finger to indicate the line drawn on the card which indicates exactly where he is to write the name. “So do that for me now, I will look away. Have the number clearly in your mind and the name of your old school friend and please write it nice and clearly, in case we need it as proof later on but make sure no one sees it, especially me! As you write the name I want you to imagine that person back at school, standing in front of a blackboard. And in your mind imagine this old friend writing the number on that blackboard really, really big. So big in fact that they have to stand on tip toes to reach the top of the number. Can you imagine that for me?” At this point you turn back around to face Alan telling him to keep the writing on the card hidden. This card is placed inside a small payenvelope which is in turn placed inside a larger envelope. It is at this moment I get my peek of the name. To do this I use Bob Cassidy's brilliant Two Envelope Test also known as The White Dwarf which sadly I am not at liberty to describe fully but, as the saying goes, one of your favorite peeks will suffice. In brief, the Two Envelope Test works like this: the smaller of the two envelopes has a window cut out of it on the address side, allowing you to peek the name through the window as you place the smaller envelope into the larger one. The larger envelope is then sealed and given to the participant for safekeeping. For more concise handling instructions please see Bob Cassidy's The Artful Mentalism of Bob Cassidy. I personally prefer to present the participant with two normal, un- gimmicked envelopes and switch the smaller one for the window envelope at an opportune moment. Use The Force: As mentioned earlier, we want to convey the idea to the audience at large, which believe that Alan has thought of a number at random, that we are receiving ‘impressions’ as to what the number is and simply saying them out loud. However, we need to word the ‘impressions’ in such a way that the onstage participant isn’t confused and doesn’t feel stooged, as he knows that he has been asked to think of a specific number. To him, it must seem as if you are confirming certain facts about the number, ie. itis a two-digit number, both digits are odd, and different from each other. ‘What follows is the basic scripting I use to convey these two ideas, “alan, I want you to re-tmagine your old school friend standing in front of that blackboard, writing that number you have in mind, over and over. Can you do that for me? I would like you to close your eyes for a moment and just keep replaying that image in your head, almost like a mini-film clip that’s on a loop. Does that make sense? Yes? And keep saying the number silently to yourself, over and over at the same time. Perfect.” The rest is directed to the audience at large unless otherwise stated: “The rest of you, I want to try something now that I hope will work with at least some of you. Each of you is going to personally try and pick up on the number that Alan has in his mind. So please just forget for a moment if you think it’s possible or anything like that, just relax and do as I say in your heads. Alanis doing his part by focusing as best he can on the number, I will help guide you along the way as well.” Pick up your pad and pen. “All of you please put both feet flat on the floor. Hands on your lap and take a deep breath in... and out... in... and out. Alan, Iwould like you to do the same, in time with the audience. Deep breath in and out... in... and out. So that all of you, and Alan here, are breathing in time together, aligning your physiology and therefore aligning your psychology. Keep focusing on the number Alan, seeing it on that blackboard. ‘The rest of you please imagine an empty blackboard, in a moment you will begin to imagine a number on that board and it’s... it’s a two-digit number. That's right isn’t Alan, yes?” The following combines the ideas of Derren Brown and his brilliant effect Reminiscence with the notion of using the 37 force under the guise of ‘receiving impressions’. “Alan, please just think of the first digit for me, the first digit, and think about if it's odd or even. I'll write this down [write ‘ODD"). Got it? Alan, tell everyone is it odd or even? Odd! Excellent! Little bit of a reaction from the audience there. Now let's do the same with the second digit, odd or even. [Pause] The same again [Pause] Just think. Got it? [Leave the word ‘ODD’ written on your pad] Alan, what is it? Odd! Brilliant! There not the same number are they... both digits are different, yeah?” The following is said to the audience and yet almost to yourself - as if thinking out loud. “So everyone, we are looking for an odd number, both digits are oda, both different... so that means something like 15 or 97. But not those... that would be too easy! Got it?! Don't think about it too much, so just let a number come to mind now. Quick as you ean. Once you think you have it, imagine it on that blackboard, nice and big. I'm just going to write it down...{write ‘37’ nice and big on your pad] Wow before I show the rest of you, Ljust want to make sure I've got it right. Alan, just answer yes or no, so you don’t give anything away just yet, is this correct?”‘You show the number to Alan and he of course confirms it to be correct. This is a nice little convincer to add on at the end. You then ask him to say the number he had in his mind and simultaneously turn around your pad to show the audience. Ask for those people who also got the number to raise their hands. This will obviously be a large percentage of the audience due to the force but to get even more hands raised, the following ploy works brilliantly. Hold the pad so everyone can see the number and ask those who were “one number off” to raise their hands. Also add, “Something like 36, just one number off...”, this will get plenty more hands raised due to the fact that 35 is the second most common choice and the ambiguous nature of the phrase “one number off’, so the extra, hands will include those who did get the last digit as 7 but the first as any number between 1 and 9 and vice versa. ‘There should now be a large number of people with their hands raised. Personally I like to act a little surprised and delighted that it worked so very well. Remember at the beginning you said that this should work with only a few of them, but you were not expecting almost all of them! ‘Tell them to give themselves and the participant a nice round of applause, you could even invite the audience to try and pick up on the name, see how they do.37‘ Deception Revisited First Published in Head Wired (2015) A personal favorite routine from my first book Hybrid Mentalism was 57th Deception, as it was one of the first stage effects I created. However, after publishing the book back in 2008 the effect evolved somewhat. What you are about to read ads an extra element of deception as, unlike the original effect, the participant can change their mind before settling on a number. ‘The performer invites a spectator on stage and presents them with an index card. “As you can see, this card asks you to think of a number. So please choose a. number for me now and feel free to change your mind a few times until you settle on one. When you've got the number in mind please fill in the card, just like it asks you to.” The performer hands the spectator a pen to fill in the card, which is then placed out of sight so the performer cannot see what is written on it. ‘The performer asks the spectator to close their eyes and concentrate on their chosen number, imagining it written very large on a blackboard. To change things up a bit, the performer invites the audience to attempt to guess what number the spectator is thinking of. “Keep focusing on the number seeing it on that blackboard. The rest of you please imagine an empty blackboard. In a moment you will begin to imagine a number on that board and it's... it’s a two- digit number. That's right isn’t it, yes?” The spectator confirms that it is indeed a two-digit number. The performer asks the spectator to think of the first digit, specifically if it’s odd or even, inviting the audience members to try and work it out, themselves. The performer writes his impressions on a pad of paper and asks the spectator to announce which their number is, odd or even. Let's assume it’s odd for this explanation. ‘The performer is of course correct but asks for a show of hands from the audience who also got ‘odd’ for the first digit. A good number of hands are raised.“Now let's do the same with the second digit, odd or even; the same again. Just think, Got it?” The performer leaves the word ‘odd’ written on his pad and asks the spectator: “What is it? Odd again! Brilliant! Anyone else get that? Good, but they're not the same number are they... both digits are different, yes?” He continues, as if thinking allowed: “So everyone, we know we're looking for two digits, both different, both odd... so that means something like 15 but I will let you know it’s higher than that. Don’t think about it too much, so just let a number come to mind now. Quick as you can. Once you think you have it, imagine it on that blackboard, nice and big. I'm just going to write it down.” Having written a number on his pad without showing it to the audience, the performer asks the spectator to open their eyes and announce their number. Let's imagine it’s 37, the performer turns around his pad to show that he got the number 37 but quickly asks, by show of hands, who in the audience also got 37. Several hands go up to much amusement and shock. The Method: It is no coincidence that the number being thought of is 37 as this routine is essentially a reframing for the well-known and classic semi- psychological force using that number. The traditional way to present this effect is as if the audience is reading yourmind. However, I have always felt that adding all the restrictions, i.e. that it is a two digit number, both odd and both different from each other, make the force rather transparent, leading to the possibility of audience members correctly assuming that ‘maybe everyone thinks of that number’. So in my original 37th Deception I reframed these restrictions as impressions that you were receiving from the spectator who was thinking of the number; as if you were incidentally saying them aloud and by proxy helping to guide the audience at large to the participant's target number. I feel that framing the force in this way makes it far more deceptive and convincing.The card in the original write-up asked them specifically to think of the number 37 and to write a name too, allowing me to say; “As you can see the card ask you to think of a number and aname.” However in this revised version, the card reads... Please circle and remember one of the following numbers: 355 ov 68 86 The numbers used are, of course, the most common choices for the ‘two digits, both different’ forces; the top row being both odd digits, and the bottom row being both even digits. There is a real advantage to offering a choice of numbers as the dual reality becomes much stronger, and the whole routine becomes less of an instant stooge type effect. Due to the wording, the audience will assume the card asks the spectator to think of any number, “As you can see the card asks you to think of a number.” Adding the following line further enforces this notion but makes perfect sense to the on stage spectator. “.. feel free to change your mind a few times until you settle on one. When you've got it, just like it asks you to, please fill in the card.” ‘The ambiguous phrase ‘fill in the card’ will be assumed to mean ‘please write your number’ by the audience but the participant will understand that they are to follow the written instructions and circle one of the four choices. So the audience experience a very impressive effect, that of them and you guessing a random number thought of by ‘one of their own’ but thespectator on stage will experience a minor effect of you guessing which of four numbers they are thinking of but also the very impressive effect of the audience at large guessing which number they choose. This later ‘minor effect’ is actually a very remarkable feat to the spectator that, again makes the dual reality succeed. The Scripting: Reframing the force ‘restrictions’ as ‘impressions’ is a relatively simple task but let's examine the scripting and presentation that I like to use. The spectator has made their choice and you, one-way or another, know what it is - more on that later. You ask the spectator to imagine the number on a blackboard and the audience to imagine an empty blackboard, which is more of a presentational hook than anything else. “Keep focusing on the number seeing it on that blackboard. The rest of you please imagine an empty blackboard, in a moment you will begin to imagine a number on that board and it's... it’s a two- digit number. That's right isn’t it, yes?” ‘This is a slightly cheeky and bold way of getting the first element of the force in play but I find it works. The spectator will of course agree as they only had two-digit numbers to choose from. ‘You then ask the spectator to think of the first digit, specifically if it’s odd or even, inviting the audience members to try and work it out themselves. Write odd or even, depending on the number chosen, on your pad and ask the spectator to confirm you are correct. ‘You can now ask the audience if they got the same impression as you. As it’s only a fifty-fifty chance, at least half the audience should put their hands up but I always verbally claim it’s more than half. “Now let's do the same with the second digit, odd or even... the same again. Just think. Got it? What is it? Odd again! Brilliant! Anyone else get that? Good, but they're not the same number are they... both digits are different, yes?” Again, the last line is a slightly bold, maybe even blatant method to get the ‘both different digits’ element of the force out. The following line is said as if talking to yourself but also as if I’m reiterating what we've deduced so far.“So, everyone, we know we're looking for two-digits, both different, both odd... so that means something like 15 but I'll tell you that's a higher than that” Essentially here we are performing the force in the usual manner, reminding everyone of all the important elements; two digits, both different, both odd (or even, depending on the number), higher than 13 Cor in the case of 68 or 86 being chose, higher than 42). Also notice the language used, ‘we know we're looking for’, this emphasises the fact that you and the audience came to these conclusions together as a group. Hints, Tips, & Further Thoughts: Having discussed the reframing of the force and its presentation we also need to talk about how to actually know which number the participant has chosen. The original routine in Hybrid Mentalism used a simple window envelope peek but for this variation, any method of peeking the card will suffice. The layout of the numbers on the card is also important as it aids peeking. Notice that the top row are the odd numbers and bottom row the even numbers; when you peek the card, if the circle is at the top you know it’s odd, if it’s at the bottom it must be even. Also notice that the numbers on the left are the lower numbers, i.e. 35 and 68, but on the right the numbers are the higher options, i.e. 37 and 86. ‘This means if the circle is on the left it is a low number, and on the right it's a high number so don’t even have to read the card when you peek it, you just need to notice where the circle is. If it's on the top left you know it’s odd and low so it must be 35; bottom right must be 86, etc. ‘This makes whatever peek you use incredibly simple. You can even ‘Pencil Read’ which number is chosen. The most exciting method to ascertain the number is to ‘pump'for it while you perform the force on the audience. ‘You can still use the opening lines as you already know it must be a two- digit number;“,.the rest of you please imagine an empty blackboard, in a moment you will begin to imagine a number on that board and it’s... it's a two digit number. That's right isn’t it, yes?” Continue by asking them to focus on the first digit and if it’s odd or even. They transmit it to the audience and you ask them to say which it is, odd or even, and ask for a show of hands from the audience who guessed ‘ou now have alll the information you need. I like to think of it as a ‘verbal peek’ as you've simply asked them to tell you the only salient piece of information you need to know; is it odd or even, but the beauty of it is that they are not telling you, they are telling the audience. ‘You now know if the second digit will be odd or even as it can only be exactly the same as the first, so you continue: “Now let's do the same with the second digit, odd or even. Everyone got it? Well I think it’s odd (or even, whichever) again, is that correct? It is! Anyone else get that? Good, but they're not the same number are they... both digits are different, yes? “So everyone, we know we're looking for two digits, both different, both odd/even... so that means something like 15/42 but I'll tell you now, it's higher than that. Don’t think about it too much, just let a number come to mind now. Quick as you can. Once you think you have it, imagine it on that blackboard, nice and big. I'm just going to write it down...” ‘You don’t personally have to reveal the number by writing it down as you are performing this as a test of the audience’s latent psychic powers. All you need to know is if they choose odd or even to perform. the correct force and they have kindly just told you, or rather told the audience, which it is. Using the above variation there is no need to peek the card at all and could potentially act as a one-ahead instead of using this as a standalone effect as written. I have had great success using it as the opening revelation to a one-ahead routine such as Annemann’s Fourth Dimensional Telepathy or Bob Cassisdy's Three Envelope Test.Do I Have To Write it Down? Seven words that strike fear into any mentalist. ‘You can tell yourself, and your poor suffering spectators, that you only have people write down their thoughts so there is proof later on and they cant make you look stupid, and/or that is as a way to help them focus on their thoughts more clearly; after all, studies have shown that writing something down engages more parts of the brain and that’s an actual thing they can Google. However, at some point any Mentalist who performers regularly, in any context, will have been asked this question and the constant fear of being asked can put some people off doing some of the best mentalism available to us; billet work. Therefor feel it's best to have a practical demonstration to illustrate why it’s a good idea for you to have people write down their thoughts, rather than coming up with some hokey ling; if they are at the point of asking then mere words will no longer help you. ‘What follows is one such practical demonstration but please, for the love ofall that is holy, don’t make this part of your set; save it for when someone asks you directly ‘do I have to write it down?” All you need with you is a swami gimmick and matching writing implement ie. a pencil and a pencil lead swami. My preferred gimmick is a homemade china marker thumb writer created by super-gluing a little chunk of listo lead to a guitar finger pick. I also have a china, marker pencil I use instead of a Sharpie. I will describe the presentation in the only context I have ever had to use it: during an interview on radio. The presenter, off air I must add, asked me ‘so do you always need people to write down the name?’ - I can tell he is not being aggressive or challenging, but he's been in the business for a long time, which is probably why he was nice enough to ask off air, and he has no doubt seen this kind of thing before. Ireply ‘of course not but it’s always good to have proof and he questions this further. So I take out an index card and write something unseen by him. I tell him that I have written a two-digit number and if he guesses what that number is, he wins. I then search in my pocket for some cash and pull out £100 and count through it for him. Slightly more interested than he was a moment ago, he names his number, lets say it was 65, and I casually glance at the index card and say ‘Nope. Better luck next time.’He laughs and I say ‘You see, you don’t believe me; you want proof. So take a look’ He looks at the card and it reads: 67 - shame you were off by two! I'm sure you see exactly what's happened here; All I wrote on the card at the beginning was ‘- shame you were off by two!’ and in the misdirection created by the amusement of saying ‘Nope. Better luck next time’ I swami’ed a number two digits higher than he named. This simple effect allows me to have my cake and eat it; I get to practically demonstrate, rather than justify with words and excuses, why Ihave people write down their thoughts and I get to show of my predictive skills too.Business Cards Peeks First Published in Hybrid Mentalism (2008) Thave long been obsessed with using my business cards for peeking, as it’s a great way to get your contact details in a spectator’s hands and show them an effect at the same time. Iam particularly keen on using a stack of business cards due to the fact they lend themselves to all those card sleights I have learnt but rarely use. Many people have written about using a stack of business cards for peeking including Larry Becker, Patrick Kuffs, Max Maven, and many more. What follows are two of my own handlings which can be used as described, or the basic moves can be applied to my effect ‘Tel.’ described elsewhere in this book. The Ambitious Peek Despite the fact that I have never performed professionally as a more traditional conjuring magician can pull off a rather lovely Ambitious Card routine. All those delightful ways to either control a card to the top or create the illusion of putting the card in the middle of the pack have always been thought-of by me as simply screaming to be used as a method for setting up a peek. ‘What follows is a routine that combines some of the moves of an Ambitious Card routine, a simple peek and, to add another layer of deception, the trusty swami gimmick. A spectator is asked for their name and the performer writes it along the top short-edge of a business card. The participant is then asked to think of the first person they kissed and requested to take the business card and write the name of their first kiss in the lower space on the card, just below their own name. Please, at every point in this routine and for the rest of your life, resist the temptation to spread your business cards like a pack of cards, as if to say “Pick a (business) card, any (business) card”, you may think its ridicules but I have seen it done! Why write the participant’s name on the top of the card? Ona technical level it will facilitate the peek that will happen in a few moments by forcing them to write their first kiss’ name at the bottom of the portrait card, as apposed to landscape. See the image below for clarification.TAELIR NAME FIRST AISS Notice that I have written their name in CAPITALS, this allows me to encourage the participant to write their first kiss’ name in the same way by saying something along the lines of: “Please write your first kiss’ name at the bottom of the card, nice and clearly just like I've written your name.” ‘The other reason I write their name on the card; I’m rubbish at remembering names. In the heat of performance, with all that other stuff to think about, my participant's name just pops right out of my head. So this extra step of having to write their name, possibly even asking how to spell it, will force me to remember it a little better. If all else fails, I always have the option of taking a surreptitious glance at the name as I give them the card to keep at the end of the routine. You are probably way ahead of me here regarding method but you are going to take back the card with the names on and apparently place it into the middle of the packet but, in reality, retain it on top. The peek I like to use, and will describe in a moment, requires that the card be on top of the packet and not second from the top, as is sometimes the case with Ambitious Card moves. ‘You have a number of options regarding exactly how to retain the ‘name card’ on top and you probably already have your preferred methods. Truth be told, I don’t have just one way of doing this; it all depends on the situation I am in and what I think I can get away with. Imay perform a sort-of top-change like this: stack in a left hand dealer's grip, little finger holding a break under the top card. The ‘name card’ is placed on the palm of my right hand. I briefly put this ‘name card’ on top of the stack under the guise of showing that my right hand hasn't taken. an ink impression nor has anything ‘funny’ about it. I then second dealthe card from the stack apparently showing the opaque nature of the card, This is then placed in the middle of the pack. Another ruse is to palm off an indifferent card under misdirection of the participant writing the name, then as I take back the stack with the ‘name card’ on top, I load the palmed card on top of it. I can then deal off this card and place this in the centre, leaving the real ‘name card’ on. top. My favourite method is to use however is the Wesley James Add-On Move, as the participant is writing on the name, split the stack of business cards into two equal packets, one in each hand. Assuming you are right handed, the left hand packet is held in a dealer’s grip and the right hand pile is held from above in a biddle grip. You're right hand is also holding a thumb break on the bottom card of the right hand packet. Request that the name card be put writing side down on top of the left hand pack. When this is done, move the right hand packet over the left packet and use your fingers to openly up-jog the name card and display it to the spectator. Use this moment to load the bottom card of the right hand packet, the one being held in a thumb break, on top of the ‘name card’. Use your left, hands index finger to square the up jogged ‘name card; and separate the packets. There is now a dummy card on top of the ‘name card’ which means you can thumb off the now top card of the left hand packet, pushing it deep in to the right hand’s packet. Give this right hand packet to the participant ‘for safe keeping’ as it apparently has their card in it, but in reality the card is on top of the left hand packet, allowing you to peek it in the manner described below. This apparently fair ‘splitting’ of the cards gives you a perceived physical distance from the ‘name card’ throughout the effect. ‘Whatever you choose to do, my advice would be to not use the fanciest, flourish-filled move in favour of a simpler and more direct method. You simply need to create the illusion that the card is now somewhere in the middle of the stack; you are not demonstrating the dexterity of your fingers. ‘You should now be in a situation where the ‘name card’ is still on top of the stack but the participant believes it to be buried in the middle. Inow ask for the pen back from the participant and double turnover the top two cards as one. The casual manner with which this is done and the image of a blank card should act as a silent convincer that the ‘name card’ really is safely buried in the stack. Task the participant to concentrate on the name of her first kiss and go through my pseudo-methodical-procedures-of-thought-transference... Ipretend to read their mind. At first I seem to struggle, only getting vague impressions, and encourage them to: “Really cast your mind back and think about where you were, maybe how old you might have been when you kissed this Person.” The casual nature of the above line is important as you don’t want to draw too much attention to the fact that you are asking them to think about the age they were when they kissed this person. Ipause briefly and begin to write something on the blank card that is facing me. This, remember, is the top card of the double, the lower card of which is the ‘name card.’ Initially I write so the participant and gathered spectators can see the first few letters but I then tilt the whole thing up claiming that I don’t ‘want anyone to see what I'm writing just yet. As I tilt the stack up and away from prying eyes, I bring it closer to my body and gently but rapidly up-jog the top blank card just enough to reveal the name written on the card below it. The larger motion of bringing the entire stack up to my eye level hides the smaller motion of up-jogging the card. As I write, my writing hand hides the exposed portion of the ‘name card’ 80 alll I have to do is move my hand, which happens naturally as I write, to get my peek. I have all the time it takes me to write the message on the top card to read the name. I can then square the top card, Le. slide it back down square with the rest of the packet, as soon as I have read the name. ‘The message I write can be seen in the diagram on the next page.You were [BLANK] years o/h when you kissed [NAME] The [BLANK] space is left for the little bit of swami work that is to be done in a moment and of course [NAME] is replaced with the name you just peeked. One of the advantages with this peek is that if the name is an unusual or tricky-to-spell name all Ihave to do is copy the name as I see it on the ‘name card’. Once I have finished writing the message, I flip over the two cards as one which puts the ‘name card’ back on top with my card below it. I will then second deal the card leaving the name card on top of the stack in my left hand. The entire stack then goes out of sight and out of mind into my pocket, leaving the card that I have just written on still in play. Isecure my swami gimmick as I put the writing utensil used back in my pocket. ‘I'm not sure I've got this one. The name was giving me trouble but I have committed myself in writing so I can’t change a thing. Out of interest, what age do you think you where when you kissed this person?” The wording used here is important - “what age do you think you where when you kissed this person” - as most people will struggle a little to recall the exact age they were.This is also why earlier I will have asked them to; “Really cast your mind baok and think about where you were, maybe how old you might have been when you kissed this person.” It will mean they will have already thought about it, but it’s still asked nonchalantly; you don’t want too many people thinking that this information is important to the effect so it will be a surprise and hit them hard. Ithen hand the participant the card as I say something along the lines oft “[Repeat Age]... OK. Maybe I did better at this than I thought. I wasn't too sure about the name, it was a bit vague but I’m committed to what's on that card. So for the first time, the name of your first kiss was...” By the time I have finished this sentence I want the card to be in their hands but I don’t want them to have read it yet. I also want to be physically as far away form the card as I can so keeping them engaged by talking to them like this tends to stop them from reading it. This also gives me time to take a step back before they announce the name and I ditch my swami gimmick. I feel it’s very important that you put a clear distance between yourself and the card when the participant announces the name. The two methods at play here hopefully cancel each other out, or at the very: least muddy the waters. ‘You were nowhere near the card when the name was revealed but also have revealed something that was never written down by the participant. It’s a fun routine that may seem long in print but takes no time at alll in performance. The ‘psychology’ of pretending to struggle with the name combined with the two separate methods at play work very well together. Notes: One of my preferred handlings for controlling the ‘name card’ in an ‘ambitious way’ is as follows: As the participant is writing on the card, split the stack of business cards into 2 equal-ish packets, one in each hand. The left hand packet is held in a.dealer’s grip and the right hand pile is held from above ina biddle grip. You're right hand is also holding a thumb break on the bottom card of the right, hand packet.Request that the name card be put writing side down on the left hand pack. When this is done, move the right hand pack as if you are going to place it on top, as if you are going to ‘sandwich’ the card between the two packets. However, as the two packets meet for just a moment, you load/drop the bottom card of the right hand packet (the one being held in a thumb break) on top of the ‘name card’. Then, as if changing your mind, separate the packets again (although it should seem as if they were never really together) and thumb off the now top card of the left hand packet, pushing it deep in to the right hand’s stack. Give this right hand packet to the participant ‘for safe keeping’ as it apparently has their card in it, but in reality the card is on top of the left hand packet, allowing you to peek it in the manner described earlier. ‘This apparently fair ‘splitting’ of the cards gives you a perceived physical distance from the ‘name card’ throughout the effect. How to make sure you always get your peek ‘You may be wondering, or perhaps you have been following along with cards in hand and thought: what do you do if when you up-jog the blank card to reveal the name card below it, all you see is the participant's name upside down? Well rather than gently cry, leave the building, and wonder why you even bother, do this instead: ‘Your business cards are naturally marked. They are marked in the same way a deck with a one-way back design is marked. Let’s assume your cards are printed in the normal manner: printed from left to right when viewed in landscape (as apposed to portrait), just like the one in the diagram below. Mr. A. Mindreader Mind Reading and Balloon Animals Weddings, bar mitzvahs and Funerals 0987654321 This means you can tell the orientation of the card simply by looking at it. For ease of explanation lets call the left side Section A, and the right side Section B. This means that when this card is rotated 90 degrees, counter clockwise, the card will now be in ‘portrait’ with Section A at the bottom and Section Bat the top,Mr. A. Mindreader Mind Reading and Balloon Animals Weddings, bar mitevahs and Funerals (0987654321 ‘Card held in portrait. fiped over to blank side. All you have to do is notice which way the card is orientated in the stack and hold the entire stack portrait fashion with Section A at the bottom and Section B at the top (Again, see the diagram above for clarification). Then, just flip over the card(s) in such a way that Section A stays at the bottom with Section Bat the top. Of course you also need to make sure that the participant writes the name in Section A but this is easily done by making sure that you write their name in Section B.Rub-A-Dub DD A Design Duplication. ‘The participant draws anything on the back of your business card. They keep this drawing safe by sandwiching it between their hand and the table, or between their palms. You then proceed to take them through a mental process that implies mind reading and begin to draw something on another business card. ‘Your drawing is placed face down on the table to prevent you from changing it. You take the participant's drawing, look at it and display it to the rest of the group. You then ask them to take a look at what you drew and it is seen to be an almost perfect match. Method: Continuing the theme of using card sleights with business cards for mind reading, here’s a simple but effective idea using a variation of the ‘Rub-A-Dub-Dub Vanish’. More precisely we will use a ‘Rub-A-Dub-Dub Change’ but without anything being seen to have changed, so in that sense it becomes a ‘Rub-A-Dub-Dub Switch’ ‘The set-up and peek for this effect are the same as in the previous one, ‘The Ambitious Peek, so with a stack of business cards held in portrait, flip over the top card and write the name of your participant so it fills, the top half of the card, leaving space for the participant's drawing in the lower half. THEIR NAME Give them the entire stack with the card they are to draw on, which also bares their name, face-up and on top.