Volume V olume 3
Conversation As Mentalism 3 "The first ingredient in conversation is truth, the next good sense, the third good humor, and the fourth wit." – Sir William Temple “Three out of four ain’t bad!” – Mark Elsdon 1
Copyright © 2015 by Mark Elsdon. All Rights Reserved. Do not copy it, do not scan it, do not upload it. Thank you. 2
Contents
Introduction … p5 The Key (1) … p6 Advance Knowledge … p9 Deckless Wonder … p12 Time Aft r Time … p15 Serialist … p17 Spinning Synchronicity … p20 Capped … p23 The Key (2) … p25 Acted Here Often? … p26
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Introduction Many thanks for buying this booklet, the third in the Conversation As Mentalism series. The goal of the effects (referred to as CAMs) contained herein is to allow you the opportunity to perform when you literally “have nothing with you”. That is, no pee wallet, no swami, no loops, in fact no props, gimmicks or gadgets at all. Most of the e fects require not much more than just words and language. They are effectively imag nation games where physically not much takes place. A couple of them require the use piece of paper and a pen, maybe a bank note, some coins or your watch, but these a e always completely justified and a natural part of the conversation. This time around one of the effects gently introduces the subject of memory systems. But don’t worry, it is very easy! And once you start to look into the subject you will realize that there a e some in redible effects possible using just memory. One of these CAMs relies on Equivoque; one of mentalism’s most misunderstood and underrated techniques. If you are new to this subject, don’t be put off by the fact that there is a bit of a script to remember. That’s what Equivoque essentially is – multiple outs done with words. So the s ript is everything. I can promise you, the effect gets a great audience reaction a d is we l worth putting in the little bit of effort needed to learn them Remember, when you are performing a CAM it must appear to the participant that it is simply a natural progression of the conversa ion, not that you have mentioned the book/game/concept/theory/whatever just in order to do a trick! So weave these CAMs in to your everyday conversation as you see f t. Mayb sow the seed by mentioning the premise of the effect in passing and the coming back to the actual performance part later. Finally, as well as the effect and method of each CAM I have general y provided you with a presentational hook and an outline of the approach to u e, which serves at the ‘conversation’ part of the equation. The very essence of these CAMs i that they should be about your conversation, so having you memorise an e tire pr sentation provided by me would have been completely counter-productive.
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The Key (1) Effect: The performer xplains that the human mind is far more predictable than people reali e and that the illusion of choice is simply that – an illusion. After some discussi back and forth the performer proposes a little imagination game to prove his point. Si people are asked to imagine that one of their hands is a lock and each draws a different number on that hand. The performer gives a key to a seventh person and t rns his back This seventh participant drops the key on any hand and following some irecti s from the performer the hands are eliminated according to how the participan freely moves the key. This continues until the key is resting on a final numbered hand. The perfo mer turns around and opens his hand – written on it is the exact same number
F.Y.I. As fans of the CAM series know, am a b g fan of writing on my hands (and encouraging others to do so too!) There is something very organic about using your hand as a prediction and it feels very fixed, in way writing something on a piece of paper just doesn’t. I often use this CAM if I’m doing a repeat (casual) performance for someone who has seen me perform either my ‘Lies’ or ‘Pre-fi gered’ CAMs and then wants me to repeat either of those for someone new. ‘The Key’ has a similar feel, but a different process and handling. The key (pardon the pun) to the success of effects like these s to emphasise the complete freedom of the participant’s original choice of where to place the key and the fact that there is zero way that you the performer can see what s happening as the participant moves it. You can even perform this from the next room if you like, although you would need to take someone with you to make it clea tha you aren’t doing anything else whilst giving the instructions.
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Method and Performance: Write the number ‘5’ on your left palm, making sure that no one sees what you write. Introduce the premise for discussion and then when the time is right propose this test. You can use your own key or borrow one. Have six people stand in a line and hold t their left hands to represent a lock and ask each of them to number their hands, one to six, in order. Give he key to a seventh person as you explain that obviously the key can only fit one lock, not ll six, so you will allow chance to dictate which lock it should be. Turn your back and stress that you won’t touch or even see anything that happens, and that it is the participant who is controlling all the action. (This is the mis-information that sells the effect, as in act you are controlling the important part of the action!) Ask the participant to drop the key onto any hand (“Into any lock…”) When they have done so, ask them o look at the number on that hand and make that number of moves, explaining that a move’ consists of moving the key to an adjacent hand. If the key starts on hand number one th y make one move. If it starts on hand number five, they make five moves and so on. When they have done this, expla n that if you are correct in your assertion that choice is just an illusion, then the key w ll not be in lock number one, so ask that person to drop his hand, he is out o the game Ask the participant to make one move. Tell erson six he cannot have the key, and to drop his hand. Ask the participant t make four more moves. Tell person two that he is out. Have the participant make three mov s. Inform person three that there is zero chance he has the key – he is out. Finally, three more moves and then you tell person four that he was so close, but there was n ver really a chance that he would end up with the key. To conclude, address person five as you turn back around t ling them that there was no chance of it being anyone but them and open your own le t hand to show your prediction is correct. Obviously the performance should build, as the participants become more and more impressed that you are able to eliminate people who do not (can ot) hav the key, despite the fact that the spectator is controlling how the key moves and you cannot see anything of what is happening. The pace should pick up as you proceed; only slowing down at the end before you reveal the prediction. Many times the participants will forget that you even have something written on your hand. 7
As you are giving your instructions, you have two options regarding the choice of the number of moves you are requesting the participant to make. Either you can make them seem random, as if you are just making them up and they don’t matter, or you can ask the participant a random question each time (“Do you prefer sun or snow?” “Dog person or cat person?” etc.) And then give your instruction apparently based on th r response. Whichever you choose is up to you, depending on your perf rmance st e and persona. Credits and inspiration: Bob Hummer, Mel Stover, Stewart James.
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Advance Knowledge Effect: The performer xplains that sometimes he meets someone for the first time but feels like he has met them before. This feeling is so strong that he c an even predict a specific ndom choice they will make. The participant is sceptical but agrees to play a little imagination game to judge the performer’s claims. The performer draw some hing on the drawing app on his phone, and places it screen side dow on th table. The participant next names a bunch of random objects, which the erformer notes down on some paper. The participant then chooses one of the object and akes a simple drawing of it on their phone. Both pictures are shown and they m tch. And remember, the performer drew his picture before the participant said a word.
F.Y.I. There are no apps or other technology us d in this CAM. Your phone’s drawing or doodle app is simply used to draw. You could use a separate piece of paper, but since everyone carries a phone any way it makes more sense. The method is a simple mix of known principles, with en ugh throw offs to hide the underlying methodology. The use of the phones and a single she t of paper feels very unplanned and minimalistic.
Method and Performance: After introducing the theme and asking everyone present if they ave had any similar experiences you offer to prove your claims. Say nothing more, simply take out your phone, open the doodle app and draw a simple picture of a house. Place the phone onto the table. Take a piece of paper or newspaper and tear it into twelve pieces. Ask the participant to name any simple object they can draw. Whatever they say, quickly write it (not draw it) on the top piece of paper, screw it into a ball and drop it on the table. Allow them to casually see what you write without drawing any attention to 9
it. Ask them for something else. Whatever they say, quickly write the word ‘house’, this time without letting them see. You are going to ask for a list of twelve different ‘simple to draw’ objects. Eventually, one of them will be a house! I have never got past object seven without a house being named. In fact often a participant struggles to think of twelve different objects and someone else has to help them out. Screw up this second paper and place it down to the right of the first one. It should look ike you’re not paying much attention to where you drop it, but actually you are form ng a messy row. Ask for another word. Again, write the actual word, allowing it to be glimpsed as you do so, but massively unplaying it. Ask for a fourth word and again write house’. Drop the paper on the table continuing the row. Continue in t is fash on, a king for words, and alternating the actual word and the word ‘house’ until you h ve twelve pieces of paper in a scruffy row on the table. Almost every time ou real y write the word they said, allow a casual flash. So, from the left, every odd wo d is a free choice and every even word is ‘house’. As you are writing the words ask a few questions. E.g. if the participant says “stickman”, ask “stickman r stickw man?” Or if they say “flower” ask what type. This just subtly reinforces the fa rness of what you are doing. (Note: if they happen to pick ‘ho se’ as the first word, you have two choices: you can just show them what you drew n your phone, and let them wonder why you tore up a sheet of paper, or you can simply form the row of screwed up papers from right-to-left instead of left-to-right. So, you now have a row of papers in front o you where every even word is house. You will now use a very simple Equivoque to force tho e words. Say to the participant: “This is entirely your choice. Twelve random objects and we don’t need eleven of them. I will count from my left (point to the left end of the row). Odds or evens?” There are two possibilities: If they reply “Odds”, you say “Great!” and count “One, three, five, seven, nine and eleven”, sliding each one forward out of line as you do so. Pick up those six and pocket them. Immediately gesture to the six that remain on the table and ask, “Left or right?” Whichever they reply, you say “Gr at!” and sweep the three at that end of the row up and pocket them. You continue, “Three remain, one, two and three (you point to each in turn as you count). One is for y u, two are for the bin. Point at the two you don’t want.” The participant points at two and you pocket them. Finally you say, “This is a truly random choice from amongst a dozen random choices. Please have a look at the object, open your phone up to the drawing app and make a quick sketch. Make sure no one sees it till you’re finished.” 10
They will of course be drawing the house. Remind everyone that you made your drawing before any objects had been chosen. All that remains is for you to show that your drawing matches. If on the other hand they reply “Even” to your question, you say “Great!” and count “Two our, six, eight, ten and twelve”, sliding each one forward out of line as you do so. P ck up the x that remain in the row and pocket them. Immediately gesture to the s x that you pushed forward and ask, “Left or right?” Whichever they reply, you say “Great!” , sl de forward the three at that end of the row up and pocket the others. You continue, “Three remain, one, two and three (you point to each in turn as you count) One is for you, two are for the bin. Point at the one you want.” The participant points at one, nd you pocket the other two. Finally you say, “This is a truly random choice fr m amongst a dozen random choices. Please have a look at the object, open your phone up to the drawing app and make a quick sketch. Make sure no one sees it till you re fi i hed.” They will still be drawing the house. I chose to use the house as it is right up at the top of the list of things peo le draw when put on the spot to draw something. If you would like to take this kind of ef ect to the next level (for use in a proper show, rather than a CAM effect) then be ure t study Tony ‘Eye’ Iacoviello’s mindexpanding Popular Selection ebook. Credits and inspiration: Tony Corinda, Banachek, Tony Iacoviello.
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Deckless Wonder By Stephen Tucker Effect: After talk ng about the power of the imagination, the performer offers to show the participant card trick. However the performer doesn’t use any actual playing cards or, in fact, anything at all, not even a scrap of paper. Here’s what happens: the participant th nks of any pl ying card in the deck. He writes nothing down and tells no one. The per ormer emoves ‘nothing’ from an imaginary card case and explains that it is an invisibl deck o cards. He handles the ‘nothing’ as if it really is a deck of cards and eventually reve ls th ctual card thought of!
F.Y.I. This brilliant CAM is from the fertile brain of my good friend Stephen Tucker. In Stephen’s handling a real deck was involved too, but I have removed the need for that, making this an example of the CAM thos at its purest – no props whatsoever, just conversation. As well as the fact that this is a great pie e of mentalism, Tucker gets my award for best trick title of the year with this one.
Method and Performance: You will need to memorise this simple prompt list: Line 1: A - 3 - 5 - 7 - 9 - J - K Line 2: 2 - 3 - 6 - 7 - 10 - J Line 3: 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - Q - K Line 4: 8 - 9 - 10 - J - Q – K Resist the urge to make a crib on your phone or anywhere else. Just spend 10 minutes and brute-force remember it. I used the Tamariz technique of turning it into a song. 12
Ask someone to think of any card in the deck. Remove from your pocket an imaginary deck of cards and mime shaking a deck of invisible cards out of its box. Mime shuffling then looking through and removing one card. Place the rest of the invisible cards on top of the imaginary card case and explain that you are holding one card, and you will use it to reveal the very card that they are thinking of. Say, Imagine t at this card is the same suit as the card you are thinking of. In other words, if your card is a spade, this card is a spade, but if you thought of a diamond, this card is a di mond. Do you understand?” Make sure they do before you continue. You now pass a hand back and forth over the invisible card as you say, “If I do this – the card changes into the ace, then the three, the five, the seven, the nine, the jack, and finally into the king. Was one of those the card you are thinking of?” If they say “yes,” you remember the number 1. If they say “no,” remember the number 0. If they say something ke, “Slow down! I wasn’t paying attention. Do it again!” Simply repeat the above actions and patter, and remember the required number 1 or 0. What you have done here is to all out the first line on the prompt, i.e. A - 3 - 5 - 7 9 - J - K. You now do the same with the o her three lines from the prompt, but when you call out the second line, you remember the number 2 if they say “yes” or 0 if they say “no.” With the third line remember the number 4 if they say “yes” or 0 if they say “no,” and with the final line remember the number 8 f they say “yes” or 0 if they say “no.” This is simply a binary 1, 2, 4, 8, etc. code. All you need do, as you go along, is add up the numbers generated. For example: If their replies are yes, no, yes, no – you would be adding the numbers 1 + 0 + 4 + 0 and would hav the total of 5. You would, with this example, now know that they are thinking of one of the fives. A total of 11, 12, or 13 would represent a jack, queen or a king. Now for the suit. Place the invisible card on top of the invisible de k and mime picking up all the cards. Don’t forget that you already know the value of the card being thought f. Deal the cards into a face-up pile on the table, calling out their names as you do. This time you don’t need to use the prompt. Simply call out the names of any half a dozen or so cards (but not a five), then the five of clubs, any half a dozen or so cards (but not a five) then stop. Ask the person if she has seen (heard?) her card yet. If she replies 13
“yes,” you know their card is the Five of Clubs; if “no,” you continue naming the Five of Hearts in the middle of another bunch of cards, and so on (through the CHaSeD order) until you know their exact thought-of card. Once you know their card, point out that up until now they have only seen the faces of the invisible cards! You now explain that you will spread the cards across the table to show their backs. Mime this and mention that they can see that they are all red acked with the exception of one blue backed card. Reach forward and mime removing this odd backed card, looking at it, and showing its face to every-one. It is only now that you say, “As you can see, it’s the Five of Hearts. Is that the card you thought of? The pectator will reply “yes,” confirming the incredible power of the imagination. Credits: Stephen Tuck .
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Time After Time Effect: Talk ng about c cadian rhythms and the fact that everyone favours a different part of the day, the performer asks someone to think specifically of their favourite hour of the d y This erson writes nothing down and tells no. No questions are asked! The performer say that nevertheless it would be too easy for him to simply reveal what it is, so e lists the help of a second participant. The performer writes the numbers one through twel e on some torn up paper and the participant mixes the numbers up. Th y rand mly choose a number and it is a perfect match for participant one’s f ourite hour. The performer then confirms that of course he knew, as the exact ame thing i rawn on the palm of his hand.
F.Y.I. The technique for finding out the fi st pe son’s favourite hour is the brainchild of my friend Bob King, a brilliant magic an and creator whose name is sadly becoming lost to the current generation. Of course, once y u know the hour there are multiple ways to reveal it and the double revelation used here, works particularly well. The first part of the revelation uses a ‘down unde -deal’ a move that I hate when used with playing cards. However in the casu l situa ion of sitting on a train, in a restaurant, bar or the office, it feels very unplanned a d fair.
Method and Performance: Here is Bob’s brilliant technique for finding out the hour: you must be wearing a watch that has a sweeping second hand. Pull the stem out of you watch when the second hand is over the ‘12’. The watch will stop. Put the watch in y ur pocket, with the stem uppermost. As soon as you see someone else wearing a watch with a second and, put you hand in your pocket with your thumb over the stem. As you see the second hand on their watch directly over any number (e.g. ‘4’), push the stem in. At the earliest opportunity replace your watch on your wrist without anyone seeing.
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The situation is now that the second hand on the participant’s watch is running four hours ahead of yours (yours was on ‘12’ when his was on ‘4’). Remember all this happens earlier and before any kind of performance is e ver mentioned. Introduce the subject of circadian rhythms and let the discussion unfold. When the time is right have the person with the watch think of their favourite hour of the day. Turn your back and cross your arms so that you can see your watch. Just to “give him a specific image to focus on” ask the participant to look at his watch, and say “Now” when the second hand passes over that favourite hour. When he does so, note which hou your own second hand is on. Let’s say yours is on ‘3’. His is four hours ahead of yo rs, so his must have been on ‘7’. Turn back and say that rather than you revealing the hour, you will invite a second participant to try. Find a piece of paper (food bill, newspaper, waiter’s pad, whatever) and tea t into twelve pieces. Or use 12 beer mats, receipts or anything else suitable that is to hand. Us ng a pen write the numbers one through twelve on the pieces. Put each piece f p per on your left palm to write on it. After you write each number, drop the pape number side down on the table and invite both participants to mix them u After there are eight or nine pieces of paper on the table they will be chatting, which is the perfect time to write the chosen hour on your left palm next to the piece of paper there. Make sure that you save that chosen hour (‘7’ in our example) to write on the inal piece of paper. Add that final piece to the top of the m xed packet and then spread the papers a little and cut the packet so that the top pape becomes fifth from bottom. This is not a secret move, just an open, apparently random cut. Hand the papers to the second participant and explain that they will use a ‘ and mis ng counting procedure’ to end up with a number no one could know. Instruct them to do a down-under-deal by first dealing the top piece to the table into a discard pile. The second piece is moved to the bottom of the packet. The third piece is dealt into the d scard pile, and so on, until only one piece remains in their hands. Ask the first participant what his favourite hour is. He will reply “Seven.” Have the second participant turn over the random number - they match To fini h you remark that “I had you down for a seven o’clocker from the moment we met!” And show them the ‘7’ drawn on your hand. Credits and inspiration: Bob King, Martin Gardner.
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Serialist Effect: The performer alks about having recently read an article about the world memory championships, and offers to demonstrate a cool memory skill he learnt from the magazin A participant removes a bank note from his wallet and reads out the serial number just once. The performer is able to recall it immediately, both the letters and numbers, forwards and backwards. The performer proposes a more difficult test: he participant removes a different bank note and reads out the serial number. He use a pen o circle a single digit and then calls out the remaining digits in the serial numb in any order. The performer immediately reveals the circled number.
F.Y.I. The method used in the CAM is a c mbination of real (easy) memory techniques and bluff. You might well already know the basic mnemonic peg system but if not you’ll learn it right here. It is very simple and will h ve uses for you far beyond this trick. As with all the CAMs, a little background know edge of the subject at hand – memory skills – will reap huge dividends in making everything more interesting and real, rather than just the ‘presentation’ for a trick.
Method and Performance: The first thing you need to do is learn how to quickly memorise an actual serial number. Both here in the UK and in the USA, bank notes and bill have a serial number comprising of eight digits. I break this down into two gro ps of four and then memorise them using different methods. The first four digits I memorise as I would a phone number, by putting them into pairs. So for the digits 2, 4, 6, and 8 I would just say to myself “Twenty-four, sixty eight”. We’re halfway here! For the second set of four digits I use the following standard mnemo c peg list: 1 - Gun 2 - Shoe 17
3 - Tree 4 - Door 5 - Hive (a bee hive) 6 - Sticks 7 - Heaven 8 - Gate 9 - Wi e 10 - Hen You need to visualise all these as images, not simply words. The fact that they rhyme makes it fa easier Now that you have a series of strong mental images, you can use them as mental pegs for making associations. In standard mnemonics the items to be remembe ed are associated with the number rhyme image and the item to be remembered. F r our purposes though, it’s even simpler, since you are just remembering the umbers hemselves. So to remember the sequence 3, 5, 7 & 9 you would remember a huge tree, the largest one in the world, blowing in the wind with a swarm of ten million angry bees pouring out of a hive and t en a huge bottle of wine floating impossibly high up in the air (heaven) like some kind f alcoholic’s dream space ship! The bigger and more vivid and ridiculous the images ar , the easier they are to recall. That’s it. You now have all the skills ou ne d to recall the eight digits. The key is to use two different systems to remembe each group of four digits. The systems are totally different so cannot interfere W th just the tiniest amount of practice, you will be able to call out the digits forward backwards and alternating. So to perform this, introduce the concept of memory and discuss a magazine article you read recently about the world memory championships. Most people would like a better memory, so offer to demonstrate something you lear t from the article. Ask a participant to remove a £5 note and read out the serial umber to try and remember it. You use your system to do so, also remembering th letters in the serial number (there are only two letters so there is nothing to t). Ask him how he is doing, occasionally you might find a participant who says that they think they have it and if that’s the case ask him to remember it backwards as well! After he laughs, tell him you have already done it. Turn your back and recite the number backwards, then forwards. He will be impressed. Ask him to put that note away and grab a different one. This time he reads through the numbers but you do not need to memorise them. You simply add them up in 18
your mind as he reads them out. You now have a total. Have him circle one of the digits and read out all the remaining ones in any order, crossing them out as he goes. You add these up too and then subtract the second total from the first. The result is the number he chose. This piece of pure bluff coming after the genuine memory feat makes for a great one-two combination. Credit and inspiration: Harry Lorayne, Karl Fulves, Dave Jones.
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Spinning Synchronicity Effect: Afte discussing the peculiar phenomenon of synchronicity, a participant takes a few coin from his pocket and after making some arbitrary decisions he ends up with a coin hidd n in e ch hand and one in his pocket. The performer announces that unbeknown t to the participant, he is also holding a coin in each hand and has one in his pocket. The coins in both hands match and the pocketed coins have exactly the same date!
F.Y.I. This is both an outgrowth of and a spi tual cousin to Sixty-Two Pence from CAM Vol.1 It is also tangentially ased on Triple Impact, a card effect of mine that I marketed a few years ago. True to the CAM prerequisites of carry no gimmicks or special props, you will neverthele s need to perform this at a time when you have quite a bit of loose change in your pock t. Or if you wanted to cheat and purposely carry two high value coins with mat hing dates, you could do that…
Method and Performance: I will describe this using UK coins, and once yo understand the principle you can use whatever you have where you live. You will need to have in your rear pants pocket two £1 coins with matching dates. In a left hand pocket (trouser or preferably jacket or hoodie) you need a selection of larg r-sized coins: £2, 50p, 10p and 2p. You need exactly the same in a right hand pocket. You must have easy access to these coins. To perform, finger-palm one of the £1 coins from your rear pocket. Ask for a participant who is carrying a pocketful of change. As he removes the coin from his pocket, help him look through them, saying that you need three d fferent coins, large ones that everyone can see. Casually add the finger-palmed £1 oin to his pile, immediately picking it up and placing it openly onto your opposite palm, whilst commenting “A £1 coin is fine…” and then tell him that you need two more different coins. He will pass you what he has. You have matching ones for all the four largest 20
coins in your pockets so you are covered. The important thing is that he will remember that they are his coins and that he picked them all himself. Tell him he can put the rest away. Now place the three coins (e.g. 2p, 50p, £1) onto the table with the 2p heads up and the 50p tails up. It doesn’t matter which way up the £1 coin is. You will now us a delightful little force that I have been shown by three different peop e: Karl Scott, Bob Ostin and Looch. After significant research none of us have been able to find the originator. (As a side-note, Looch’s book The Black Project has a lot of gre t mate ial using this force.) Here’s what you do: pick up the £1 coin and get ready to spin the coin on the table by gripping the edges the coin with the pads of the left thumb and right index finger as normal. However instead of spinning the coin in a perfectly vertical alignment you angle the oin aw y from yourself slightly. You need to hold the coin so that the tails side is facing y u, as the side that is visible will be face upward after spinning. As you look at the top of the coin as it spins, you will see a small sphere. At the top of the sphere, you will see a small hole begin to open, and that hole will gradually become wider the longer the co n spi s a the coin eventually slows down. However, rather than letting the coin s in to a stop, you ask the participant to slap their hand down on the coin. Because he coin was not spinning in a true vertical, the slap will result in the coin laying in the same orientation up as it was when you angled it away and started spinning. So, spin the coin, slightly angled with the tails s de facing you and then once you see the hole beginning to form at the top, turn away and ask the p rticipant to bring his hand down and slap the coin to a standstill. Tell him that w ichever way up it has landed, he is to pick up in his left hand the coin that m tches (heads or tails) from the 2p or 50p. Next, tell him to pick up the £1 coin and dr p it in his back pocket out of the way, so that you have no clues when you turn back around. Finally, whichever coin remains of the table he is to pick up and conceal in his r ght hand Since you have controlled the spin, as soon as you turn away it is as easy matter to reach into your pockets as you are giving the instructions and withdraw the matching coins into the correct hands, in this instance, a 2p in the left hand and a 50p in the right.
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Turn to face him and explain that you have some coins in your hands too. Open your left hand and show the 2p. Ask what he has in his left hand. He will open it to reveal the 2p. Repeat with the right hand. Finally, tell him that you obviously already know that the £1 is in his back pocket as you told him to place it there. But what he doesn’t know is that you also have a £1 coin in your back pocket. Invite someone else to remove the coin from your pocket (to avoid thoughts of duplicates or switches, plus, t’s funny!) and have that person read out the date on your coin. The part cipant doe the same with his coin and the dates match. Credits and inspiration: Dave Arch, Lee Earle, ?, Mark Elsdon.
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Capped Effect: The performer vites a participant to try a little test to see how strong his intuition is. They are in a bar so he asks the bartender to grab all the bottle caps that are in the in th ittle t ay where the bottle opener is. There are about 20 or so different ones, so any duplicates are binned. They are then all turned logo side downwards and mixed up The participant selects four, and then narrows his choice down to one (without equ voque r any imilar force). The three rejected caps are shown to be random and diff rent The spectator turns over the selected cap and it bears a Budweiser logo. Co gratulating the spectator on his incredible intuition and excellent taste, the performer b ngs an open, full bottle of Bud out of his coat and enjoys a drink!
F.Y.I. This CAM is based on Dan Alessini’s clas ic routine. If you think for a moment about the effect, you will realise that ther are o ly two possible methods: either force the cap, or switch the cap following a genu nely free choice. I opted for the latter on this occasion for this reason: using a sw tch allow for a much greater number of objects to be used. If we were using an equivoq e force we would be limited to fewer bottle caps, whereas with this method we can use many mo e. This greater number of caps makes the trick seem far more impossible. As you will see when you try it, manipulating caps is far easier than manipulating coins. Purse palm is a type of finger palm where an object usually a coin but in this case a cap, is held against the bottom phalange (fleshy bit if you don’t know technical terms!) of the second finger, held on either side by the f rst and third fingers. The hand can then be turned palm down and held complete y flat whilst the thumb retains full movement, which cannot be done with either f nger or classic palm. This CAM is designed to be performed somewhere where you can find twenty or more beer bottle caps, such as a bar or diner. Decide in advance which brand you want to force (I often seem to use Budweiser, since it is instantly recognisable). You will also need a bottle of the matching drink. If you wanted to, you could of course 23
use a written prediction, although I think that to do so would be to miss the point of the trick.
Method and Performance: First unknown o the participant you need to buy a bottle of Budweiser and hide it in y ur inside jacket pocket. Then, when you want to perform the effect borrow the bo ttle caps from the bartender and explain that they are perfect to use to test the participant’s intuition as they have ery varied branding and are easy to visualise. Bin all the duplicates so that you only have one of each design. Point out the variety of colours and designs, so t at it is obvious that they are all different. Tell the spectator that one of the bee s i your favourite and he’s going to use his intuition to figure out which one it s. Turn the caps logo-side down and make the Budweiser cap the third one you turn. Instead of urning the cap over though, you slide it up into purse palm, keeping the logo s de away from the fingers (this is the way you’ll pick it up anyway). At exactly the same moment as you pick up the cap, look up at the spectator and ask him to help you tu n the caps over, so that no one will know which is which. By the time his, or anyone else’s, attention is back on the caps the Bud cap is safely palmed. After all the caps are turned face d wn mix them up. The palmed cap won’t interfere with this in any way. Have th spectator place the four fingers of either hand into four caps and slide them out to one side. Ask him to choose just one of them by keeping his finger in it. Turn the othe three over to show the logos. Apparently slide the selected cap over toward th spectator, but in actual fact you bring your hand down over the cap so that the purse palmed cap is in front of it (from your viewpoint) and slide the hand towards the sp ctator. Leave the Bud cap in front of them and slide the other cap back to the main gr up, ditching it as you push them all further off to the side. There is no need to palm the actual selection as you switch it out, simply slide it beneath your hand. Your attitude as ou do this switch is simply to make a distinction, a visual separation, between the selection and the remainder. All that remains is to have the spectator turn over the sel cted (?) cap and congratulate him on his taste. Pull the Bud bottle out of your coat say “Cheers” and enjoy! Credits and inspiration: Dan Alessini, Lee Earle.
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The Key (2) Effect: Afte discussing the ideomotor principle and how pendulums work, the performer offers to show the participants something weird. He borrows a key and balances it on a singl outst etched finger. Directing all his attention towards the key, it slowly and eerily turns on the performer’s finger, although there is clearly no motive power and he is not moving his finger.
F.Y.I. This is one of my favourite CAMs and something I have used for over 30 years. It can be used anytime but makes great follow up to The Key (1) earlier in this booklet. The method really is just th ideom tor principle! Details below.
Method and Performance: You will need a heavy-ish lever key. These are he keys with a long round shank and are usually used in older locks. You need to hold up your closed fist and then extend your middle finger (as if you were flipping someone the bird). The key is the placed carefully right on top the upward-pointing tip o this middle finger, running left to right so that the bow is to the left and the key wards or notches (the part that turns the tumblers inside the lock) are to the right. It will take you a second or two to find the right balance Make sure the key is entirely on the fingertip flesh, not touching the nail. Also the wards or notches should be pointing down towards the floor. Now you just focus all your attention on the key, and will it to tu n. Keep your hand and arm as still as possible. The ideomotor response will cause the key to slowly turn as if in a non-existent lock. With some practice, you can get the key to stop and go in the other direction! Obviously you should practice this at home, with various weights and lengths of lever key. When performed well it really freaks people out. Credits and inspiration: Dr. Stanley Jaks. 25
Acted Here Often? Effect: Talk ng about h w easy lies are to detect if you know what to look for, the perf rmer borrows three different coins and has three participants each choose one and hid in th ir hand behind their back. All this is done with the performer’s back turned. They each now tell a lie, saying that they have a different coin to the one they actually hold. The performer correctly identifies which coin each person has. The whole th ng can be repeated (more than once) and he is once again 100% correct.
F.Y.I. No electronics, just norma oins ar used for this. It is not just a single effect, but a system. It allows for a lot of var ation both in effect and presentation. I will teach you several of each in this explan t on and you will no doubt develop more of your own once you start to use it. I have found this CAM to create a sensational effect and use it constantly.
Method and Performance: Those of you with good anagram skills will know from the title of this CAM that it uses a confederate. The first participant of the three is helping you. This person doesn’t need to be a fellow performer, just a friend who is a ound you often. I would advise against using your partner, as they are too close to you. Ideally you should pick someone who is around you a lot socially, but that you are not especially close to. They will love being ‘in on’ this and feeling that they are privy to something that no one else is. Oh, and make it someone who can keep their mo th shut! I’ll describe the basic version first. Ask to borrow three coins which we’ll ssume are a 5p coin, a 10p coin and a 20p coin (US: a nickel, a dime and a quarter. El ewhere: whatever you’ve got!) Note: I’m using these coins for ease of explan tion. In performance I would always use larger, more visible coins – 50p coin, £1 coin and £2 coin.
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The confederate picks us the 5p coin, allowing the other two participants to pick up either of the others. Each puts their hand behind their back to hide the coin. As you turn back to face the participants you notice whether your confederate’s right or left hand is behind his back. If his left hand is behind his back that tells you that the second participant took the 10p coin. If his right hand is behind his back then you know that the second participant took the 20p coin. You ow ask ea h person to lie to you and tell you they hold either of the other coins to the one they really have. You are able to tell them what they are holding behind their ba k. To repeat, the confederate takes the 10p coin this time. He then holds it in his left hand if partic pant two takes the 5p coin or in his right if participant two took the 20p. This time the part cipants can lie about which coin they have or tell the truth. You can identify w o is tell ng the truth, who is lying and that case which coin they actually hold. However, that is just the star ; there are multiple ways to strengthen it. If you turn away right at the start, you can ask your confederate to “Grab any three coins out of your pocket – make them all different though…” Now he simply grabs a bunch of change and removes a 5p, 10p and 20p as planned. The other participants will think it is a random choice. Now when they lie to you, tell them that they can lie and say it is any coin. Since you apparently do t know the values of the coins in play, this makes it massively more impressive when you reveal exactly what they are holding. The second phase changes too: you sk e eryone to speak three times, each time they are to say that they hold a different one of the coins: “I am holding the 5p. I am holding the 10p. I am holding the 20p.” This time, you re able to tell them when they are telling the truth. You then add a third phase. After you turn away, the conf derate picks up the 5p coin, allowing the others two to choose a coin as well. Then h puts a finger to his lips to indicate that no one should say anything and open y (to th other two participants) puts the 5p in his pocket and removes a 2p coin a d hold that in his hand instead. This is done conspiratorially, as if he is trying to me you up. Of course, it’s all planned. Proceed as if you are going to detect the lies again as in phase one and then tell the confederate that this doesn’t make sense, but that you think he is lying twice, even though he only spoke once. ‘Figure ou ’ why that is as you reveal that you can tell that he switched the coin and then reveal what the new coin is. Make sure he doesn’t overdo it with the acting about how impressed he is…
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Another possibility is to involve a fourth coin and fourth person. We’ll assume the coins are a 5p, a 10p, a 20p and a 50p coin. The confederate takes the 5p. If participant two takes the 10p he puts his left hand behind his back. If it’s the 20p he puts his right hand behind his back and if it’s the 50p he puts both hands behind his back. Then when you reveal his coin (make this reveal the second one, after you’ve revealed participant two’s coin) and he opens his hand for confirmation, if it is heads up it i dicates hat participant three has the larger of the two remaining coins and if it is ails up the participant three has the smaller of the two remaining coins. A different presentational approach is to have each of the three participants say absolutely othing Best poker face. You then ask them in turn if they have each of the three coin . They say nothing, give nothing away. And you can still identify who has what. It doesn’t have to be coins f course. You can use exactly the same system with balled-up bank notes: £5 £10 & 20. I prefer to use coins, but your mileage may vary. Finally, I often finish this pi e by do ng a date reveal. Here is how to handle it: first, make sure that the confederate can get the required coins into play easily. He should have just one 5p, one 10p nd one 20p amongst a bunch of other mixed coins. This means he can get them into p ay without having check whether it is the ‘correct’ 10p or whatever. Obviousl you need to know the dates on the coins. This date reveal then becomes the third an final phase. This time the confederate again takes the 5p first and holds it in the necessary hand. After revealing who has what, ask each participant to look at the d te on their coin. Get participant two’s correct, then get the confederate’s wrong, by being off a year Conclude by getting participant three’s date correct. There are many more paths that this principle can lead down nd I hope you enjoy discovering some of them for yourself. I’ve been using thi got a long time and can promise you that in the right situation, it is a killer! Credits and inspiration: Al Koran, Tony Corinda.
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