RECREATION RE CREATION by Michael Murray
Copyright 2016 by Michael Murray
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. For television performance rights and further informatio information, n, please contact
[email protected]
By Michael Murray
CONTENTS
• • • • •
Credits & Inspiration - (Page 4) Performance - (Page 4) The Dirty Secret - (Page 7) Additional Ideas - (Page 7) Top Tips & Closing Thoughts - (Page 11)
Bonus ACAAN Methods:
• • •
TACAAN ( A table top ACAAN) - (Page 12) MIRACAAN ( A mindreaders ACAAN) - (Page 18) PSYCAAN - (Page 21)
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RECREATION by Michael Murray - verb (used with object), re-created, re-creating. - to create anew, reproduce, remake. • Recreation - noun - a pastime, diversion, exercise, or other resource affording relaxation and enjoyment. • Recreate
CREDITS & INSPIRATION:
I must admit that I was never a fan of the ACAAN plot, that all changed when I read “The Crusade” by Atlas Brookings and Andrew Brown. Whilst the method I’m using for mine vastly differs from the above, it is very evident that reading their work helped to inspire my creation. For those who may wish to check out the Crusade, it is available from http://www.atlasmentalism.com/AtlasProductsCatalog.html PERFORMANCE:
You begin by suggesting to the spectator that we, as humans, are incapable of making random decisions and that even the most basic of choices can be psychologically inuenced in some fashion. Using playing cards as an example, you state that when asked to name a playing card, most males have a tendency to go for the Ace of Spades, where as most females choose the Queen of Hearts. These choices, you claim, are most likely due to gambling associations and symbolic imagery. You further suggest that the fairest way for anyone to choose a card, would be to do so from a shufed deck. Handing a pack of cards to the spectator, (they may even use their own should they have a deck) you ask them to give them a thorough shufe. As they do this, you ask them to think of any number between one and fty two. Cautioning them that they will be asked to both deal to, and remember the card at this position in a few moments time. Page 4
By Michael Murray Note: Although there is no restriction on the spectator’s choice, this should help to inuence the spectator to go for a lower number. As a result the dealing process will be far quicker.
Once the spectator has decided upon a number, and has nished shufing, you inform them the amount of ways a deck can be shufed is so astronomical that it forms a number containing over sixty digits (fty two multiplied by fty one multiplied by fty and so on). It is on this basis that you claim no other deck of cards in existence could match the order of their shufed deck. The spectator is now asked to deal the top card face up onto the table. As they do this, you say “Card number one is the...” allowing the spectator to name the physical card that now rests on the table. You now follow by stating “and card number two is the...” gesturing for the spectator to both deal and subsequently name the second card as they place it onto the rst. You request that as they work their way through the pack, they are to remember the card that resides at their thought of position. Caution them to keep a perfect poker face as they do this. You will now assist the spectator in running through a further twenty or so cards. Note: This can be done at a brisk pace.
Upon doing so you may now ask if the spectator has managed to commit a card to go with their thought of number. If they haven’t, you will simply work your way through the remaining cards. Now that the spectator has committed both a card and number to memory, you instruct them to give the pack a further shufe thus destroying the order of the pack. At this point you must have the spectator conrm aloud that no one, other than them could know which card, or number they are thinking of.
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Given the conditions the spectator should readily agree with this fact, after all, it is 100% true. However despite this you will still be able to prove that you knew both. The exact how, will be detailed in a few moments. For now let us consider how we will conclude the effect. For the large part I suggest to my spectator that during the course of the evening I want them to repeat both the name of the card, and the number inside their head. I suggest that as we continue to interact together, they will, at some point psychologically reveal both pieces of information to me. I further suggest that the more they try to keep this information from me, the easier my job will become. You are now free to perform several other effects (to differing spectators) calling attention back to your original helper every so often to ensure that they still have both the card and number in their mind. Should you wish you can even ask them several seemingly unrelated questions such as their favourite colour etc, in an apparent effort to harvest the information from them. In this fashion the context of the effect becomes one geared up to the psychological betrayal of their thoughts. Prior to concluding your evening performance you will produce a second deck of cards (an alternative to this is detailed later). You claim that you have successfully managed to back track the spectator’s thought process and have managed to identify both the card and the number. Handing the deck to the spectator you ask them for the very rst time to name both the card and the number (they can remain tight lipped about this if they wish). With the second pack rmly in their possession they deal down to their thought of position and nally reveal the resulting card to the remaining audience. This will of course be their thought of card! So the question remains, how do we know the spectator’s thought of card and number? In actuality, we don’t! We never need to. Read Page 6
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“The Dirty Secret” to nd out why... THE DIRTY SECRET:
Most modern mobile phones have a voice recording/dictaphone facility. Prior to performance you will set the phone to record and slip it inside your breast pocket (the inside jacket pocket will also work too). You will now follow through with the initial performance and in doing so your mobile will secretly record the exact order of the spectator’s shufed deck. At an opportune moment you will vacate the performance arena and playback the recording. Whilst listening to the play back you will take a second deck and recreate the shufed order. It is this second deck that you will be handing to the spectator at the conclusion of the effect and in this respect, no matter what card or number the spectator may be thinking of, it will correspond exactly within this second deck! Note: To facilitate this process and speed up the location of each card, it does help if your second deck is prearranged, in new deck order. ADDITIONAL IDEAS:
The Deck Switch After you have preset the second deck (either by yourself, or with a confederate) you may wish to take the deck back from your spectator so that you can seemingly place their thought of card back into their thought of position.
Providing the two decks you use are identical you can easily switch the decks as you turn away to do the “organising”. Using a Marked Deck - In this variant you won’t ask the spectator to reveal their thought of card or number, but instead will simply hand the second deck to the Page 7
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spectator allowing them to deal to their thought of number. By counting the amount of cards the spectator deals, followed by reading the mark on the back of the resulting card you will be able to verbalise both pieces of information prior to the spectator turning over the card. Whilst this does take a certain shine from the nal revelation itself, it does add credibility to the fact that you were aware of the spectator’s thoughts. Should you wish, these could even be written down using a swami or pocket writer as an extra reveal. The Secret Helper - Rather than record the order of the deck you may wish to call a friend and have him secretly listen in to the performance, in this fashion he can set the deck up for you and could even slip the deck to you discreetly during the performance. Photo Finish - Another option would be to have the deck spread face up onto the table after the spectator has shufed it, and as they are looking for the card that rests at their number, your secret helper could discreetly snap a photo of the deck from over their shoulder. This image could then be forwarded to you soon after. Video Recording - A good friend of mine, Ian “RASP” Cheetham suggests that you could also record the order of the deck visually, using your mobile’s video recorder.
In this fashion you would set the phone on your lap and have the deck shufed. Taking the deck from the spectator you would push over the top card (allowing the phones camera to pick it up) then ash it to the spectator before dealing it to the table.
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This would then be repeated with the remaining cards. In this fashion you would not need to verbalise the order of the cards and could even have your head turned away too. Recall - For those of you who are clued up on memory techniques you may even choose to physically remember the order of the cards as they are dealt, negating the need for the mobile device. Lethal Combo - A recent “untested” idea would be to combine a couple of the previous techniques to help bury the method even further.
If you used a marked deck and had the deck spread in a face down condition across the table you could now have the condition of the deck recorded or photographed as previously outlined, but with an added layer of deception. This would allow you to perform the effect without verbalising any cards. Silent Treatment Combo Yet another silent method could be achieved by having the spectator place the marked, shufed deck face down into a pile on the table.
If you now ask the spectator to look at each card in turn (begining with the top card of the deck) before dealing it into a separate face down pile. You would have ample opportunity to memorise each card in succession. In this fashion the spectator would be asked to remember any card, along with its corresponding position as they go. Performed slowly, this should also help to limit their choice to within the top dozen cards too. Phone a Friend - Rather than record the order of the deck you may wish to call up a Page 9
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friend on your mobile prior to performing the effect. If you were now to perform the original effect, your friend (who can be located in or near the same building) can now prep the second deck for you. In this fashion they could secretly slip you the deck at an opportune moment. Note: You could also use a confederate to secretly prepare the deck for most of the other variations too. Easy Way Out - If you are going to use an accomplice for the effect you could have two decks pre-set in a particular order (perhaps mem deck order). You would now hand a third deck to your spectator who is allowed to give it a thorough mix.
If you now have the deck handed to your friend for a further mix, he/ she could then switch the deck below the table for your preset/memorised deck. This is then handed back to the original spectator so that they may make their selection. You are now already primed to conclude the effect as required. The Green Room - After sharing this with Ben Seatreader from the Magic Cafe, he suggested replacing the cards with Tarot cards which would then allow you to conclude the effect with a nice reading for your “sitter”.
Ben also suggested another nice alternative in which you simply use a small stack of blank business cards and (either you, or your spectator) hand write upon them various objects from around the room. In this fashion the effect could be performed in a very off the cuff fashion. Thoughts from a Friend My good friend Daniel Young suggested a more direct version of the effect which involves switching the deck immediately after the Page 10
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spectator has memorised the card at their thought of position. In this fashion both the names and positions of each card need not be spoken during the entire process. Daniel suggests doing this as you go to retrieve the box from your pocket. He further suggests that after performing the switch you would then instruct your spectator to give the deck another shufe. As a slight addition to Daniel’s idea, you may wish to layer the effect further by throwing in a casual false shufe or cut prior to performing the deck swich. TOP TIPS & CLOSING THOUGHTS:
1. If you are concerned about the sound quality of the recording you may wish to perform both the calling, and subsequent dealing of the cards. This will also help to ensure that this process is performed at a brisk pace too. 2. Always check that your spectator still has both the card and number rmly locked in their mind prior to the revelation sequence. 3. If you are using a marked deck, you can have the spectator silently deal down to their thought of position. If you silently count the cards as the spectator does this you could discretely pocket write both the position and card (by reading the marking) as a bonus revelation.
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TACAAN by Michael Murray INTRODUCTION:
What follows is yet another approach to the ACAAN plot. This one however is more suited for table work. Best of all it is super simple to perform and is very quick to reset. PREPARATION:
To prepare for this effect you must rst remove ve cards from the deck. These can be any ve cards, but it is advisable that this group contains a healthy mix of suits and values. You will be required to commit these cards to memory (in order) and so think carefuly about the cards that you will use, you could perhaps use the rst ve digits of your telephone number or perhaps the rst ve cards of your prefered memorised deck system. I personally use the rst ve cards of the Tamariz memorised deck (4C, 2H, 7D, 3C, 4H) and so these will be used for illustration purposes only. Placing the remainder of the deck to one side, you must now secure the ve cards under the card box in their memorised order (see gures 1-3). Notice how the front ap of the card box helps to hide these cards from the spectator’s view (see gure 4).
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4
Note: Take special note of the positioning of the rubber band as this not only holds the cards in place, but will also aid in the stealing of these cards during the routine.
To conclude the preparation place the prepared box into your outside jacket pocket with the cards positioned closest to your body. The remainder of the deck must be placed into the opposite pocket. ROUTINE/HANDLING:
You will begin by placing both hands into their respective pockets, one will remove the card box (keeping the loaded cards hidden) as the other removes the deck itself. Placing the box on the table (ap side towards the spectators), you hand the pack to the spectator so that they may give them a shufe. Once the spectator is happy with the mix, you will then retrieve the pack. You are now going to force one of your memorised cards using my “Universal Koran Principle” this is achieved as follows Upon taking back the deck you will take the top card in your right hand and ash it’s face to the audience (see gure 5) as you suggest “Card number one is the X (replace X with the physical name of the card you see).” Taking the second card under the rst (thus preserving their order) you Page 13
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5
will once again ash it’s face as you call out it’s name and position (see gure 6 and 7). This process is then repeated with a further four cards as you suggest that no one could have possibly anticipated which cards would rest in each position.
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Note: The spectators will very quickly understand the point you are making and will been keen for you to progress the effect further. This conditioning will help to facilitate the up coming forcing procedure.
After doing this twice more (totalling eight cards) you will suggest that the spectator remember one of the cards and numbers as it is called out. You will then take the ninth card and look at it’s face (without showing it to the spectator) and will miscall this card as the rst card from your memorised stack. You will then repeat this miscalling process, falsely naming the cards in positions ten to thirteen as those from your memorised group. Finally you will take the fourteenth card, genuinely naming it’s value and position as you casually ash it’s face to the spectator. Note: You will nd it easier to miscall each card if you perform these Page 14
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actions at a slightly slower pace. This also ensures that the spectator will both think of, and remember, one of your force cards/positions. You will now ask them if they have both a card and number in mind. To which they should agree. Due to the miscalling of the cards, your spectator should now be thinking of a card which doesn’t even exist in the pack. With the forcing process complete, you can now hand the deck back to the spectator so that they can give them a further mix. Using my set of force cards the spectator can only be thinking of one of the following • • • • •
The Four of Clubs and position nine The Two of Hearts and position ten The Seven of Diamonds and position eleven The Three of Clubs and position twelve The Four of Hearts and position thirteen
Taking the deck back from them you will now load the ve cards from the card box onto the deck. To do this you will hold out your left hand palm up, as you ask the spectator to hand you the deck. As the spectator should now place the deck face down onto your hand. Your right hand will now pick up the card box from the table and drop it onto the deck. Your left hand will now grip the card box and deposit it on the left hand side of the table. As it does so you will secretly load/steal the ve card packet onto the top of the deck. These actions are performed as follows Whilst holding onto the card box, your left hand turns palm down. In this process, the card box is turned over. As you deposit the box onto the left hand side of the table you must slightly adjust your ngers so that the force group can be gripped between the little nger and the Page 15
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base of the left thumb. The tip of the left thumb can now be used to push the box onto the table freeing the cards from the band/ap as it does so. Note: These actions should be performed casually, under the motivation of clearing the table in preparation for the dealing process which will follow.
How you conclude the effect will depend entirely upon your preferred performing style. If you wish to give the impression that you can identify the spectator’s thoughts then you must casually cut the cards. As you ask them several seemingly unrelated questions (under the guise of working out the spectator’s thought process). Y ou will now spread the deck so that you can locate the rst card of your memorised group. You must cut the deck so that this card ends up ninth from the top. You can now hand the deck back to the spectator so that they can, for the rst time, name their thought of card and position. They can then, themselves, deal down and make the nal reveal. Should you wish to present this as a coincidence style effect then, rather than cutting the cards, you may prefer to use an overhand shufe to add the additional eight cards onto the top of the deck. Either way, your force/memorised bank of cards will be set for the spectator to make the nal reveal. ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON LOADING THE CARDS:
For those who would prefer an easier way to load the additional cards You may wish to pre-load them into the card box as follows (see gure 8). In this fashion the deck can be used for several other effects, and when you wish to load the cards you will simply untuck the ap of the box and place the remaining deck in front of the stack (thus loading them onto the top of the deck (see gure 9). If you are to take this option you may prefer to box the deck prior to Page 16
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doing the “non related questioning”. After doing this you can now remove the cards, give them a cut, then manually reposition the force group as before.
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MIRACAAN by Michael Murray INTRODUCTION:
What follows is a variation on the previous routine which eliminates the miscall and instead transforms this routine into one whereby the magician/mentalist is able to mentally discern both the spectator’s randomly thought of card and position. PREPARATION:
To prepare for this effect you must place the ve force cards inside the card box, tucking them behind the ap as in the previous effect (as explained in the “Additional Thoughts on Loading the Cards)” section. Note: If you already use a memorised deck it may be advisable for you to physically use the cards in your stack which rest in positions 9-13. ROUTINE/HANDLING:
After performing several effects (during which the spectator has been given the opportunity to shufe the deck) you will re-case the pack adding the memorised group to the top of the deck. At a later moment you will propose one nal effect. Un-casing the deck you will casually shufe eight cards onto the top of the deck (this will position the physical force cards in positions 9-13). With your head turned away from the deck you will take the top card of the deck and display it to your spectator as you call out - “Card number one”. You will then repeat these actions for the following seven cards (you are simply showing the spectator each card as you call out it’s respective position from the top). Page 18
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Commenting that the cards have been fairly mixed at several points during the previous routines, you suggest that your spectator is to remember one of the cards and one of the positions. Note: You must make it clear to the spectator that they are to remember both pieces of information.
It is at this point that you will be showing them the rst force card from your memorised group. You will do this as you call out position nine. You will then follow this with the next four cards. As you take the fourteenth card you must ask them if they have one. Once the spectator has conrmed this you can then hand them the deck for further mixing and your job is almost done. Note: Should you wish you can increase the quantity of cards used giving you a greater forcing range, however take care not to use too many so that the deck appears too thin in prior routines. I would recommend seven or eight cards maximum.
You are now all set to read the spectator’s mind. Since the spectator’s choice of cards were very limited it is a simple case of shing to discern which of your force cards they are thinking of and upon identifying it you will, by default be able to reveal the spectator’s thought of position/number too. HOW TO FISH:
The exact shing procedure you use will depend entirely upon the cards you are using. If you are not using a memorised deck then it may be wise to adopt the following system (credit to Dani DaOrtiz). • • • • •
Two of Hearts (position nine) Four of Spades (position ten) Nine of Diamonds (position eleven) Ten of Hearts (position twelve) King of Hearts (position thirteen) Page 19
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Using these cards simplies the shing proceedure greatly. In this instance you will only receive a maximum of one “No” from your spectator. Using these cards the questions/statements you would make would be as follows “You are thinking of a red card?” - Should they say “Yes” you will move on to the next statement/question. If they say “No” they must be thinking of the Four of Spades and position ten.
Assuming the that the spectator said “Yes” to the previous question you will now ask - “This is a Heart?” . Should they say “Yes” you will move on to the next statement/question. If they say “No” they must be thinking of the Nine of Diamonds and position eleven. Assuming that the spectator said “Yes” to the previous question you will now ask - “This is a high value?” . Should they say “Yes” you will move on to the next statement/question. If they say “No” they must be thinking of the Two of Hearts and position nine. Assuming that the spectator said “Yes” to the previous question you will now ask “This isn’t a court card is it?” . Should they say “Yes” you will know that they are thinking of the King of Hearts and position thirteen. If they say “No” then you will reply - “I didn’t think so”. You now know that they must be thinking of the Ten of Hearts and position twelve. Either way with a maximum of one “No” answer you will be able to successfully bring the routine to a happy closure by revealing the spectator’s exact thoughts!
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PSY CAAN by Michael Murray INTRODUCTION:
This next ACAAN isn’t one that you will be using for a lay audience. This is something that you may wish to reserve for your magician/ mentalist friends. The reason for this is that it does (as you will soon see) require someone who knows their way around a deck of cards. ROUTINE/HANDLING:
You will begin by asking your spectator to shufe an imaginary deck. Caution them that for this experiment to be successful, they must genuinely imagine each step as though they were using a real pack of cards. Once the spectator has mimed shufing their imaginary deck you ask them to imagine cutting a quarter of the deck. You now ask them to remember both the card that they cut to, and the quantity of cards they have taken. With a card and number rmly locked in the spectator’s mind you ask them to turn imagination into reality. Handing them a physical pack of cards, you ask them to give it a quick shufe before placing their thought of card at their thought of position. Note: You as the mentalist/magician must overt your eyes as they do this. It is important that the deck you use for this effect is well mixed ahead of time (i.e. the distribution of colours, suits and values is even throughout the deck).
Providing that your spectator/volunteer knows their way around a deck of cards, their mind should psychologically restrict their choice of number to somewhere between 12 and 17 (since a quarter of the deck is thirteen cards). Page 21
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With a little wiggle room in mind, you can be condent that their selection will now have been placed somewhere between positions 11 and 18. With the spectator’s job over you will now recap the fairness of the procedure “I asked you to shufe an imaginary deck of cards. From this, you cut to a random, imagined card and thought of any random number (this is mostly true). Your imagination then transformed into reality using this deck.”
As you say the shufing line, you will causally shufe ten cards off the top off the deck. You will then cut roughly half the deck (a slight throw off as the spectator was only asked to cut a quarter) and then you will dribble the cards back onto the pack. Note: No emphasis should be placed on these actions and they should be performed casually, as though you are simply recapping fairness of the process.
With the selection process complete, you are now in the position to deduce the spectator’s thoughts. Looking directly at them you now state “You didn’t cut an even number of cards did you?” If they say “Yes” , you will reply - “I thought as much”. If they say “No” , you will reply “I didn’t think so.” Note: This linguistic dodge is credited to the amazing mind of Gary Kurtz.
At this point, you will now know whether the spectator’s card rests in group one (positions - 2,4,6 or 8 from the top of the deck) or group two (positions 1,3,5 or 7 from the top of the deck). Spreading through the cards towards yourself you will take a mental note of the cards that rest in the spectator’s odd/even group. With only four cards to sh through, it should be a very easy task of discerning the spectator’s exact thought of card. If you add ten to it’s position from the top (remember ten cards were shufed off earlier) Page 22
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then you will also know their thought of position too. ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:
If you are using a marked deck of cards, you can spread the deck face down across the table and use the marks on the backs to sh for their card. I have also toyed with the idea of dribbling the cards after shufing off the top ten cards. Upon doing this you can often visually note any colour/suit bias within the top eight cards. This allows me to sh for the odd/even nature of the number, colour and sometimes even the suit without having to spread through the deck. A nal thought for this would be to hand the spectator a stacked deck, and as you turn away you ask the spectator to simply perform these actions for real. In this instance you can simply sh for the card without handling the deck at all. An alternative to this would be to load eight memorised cards into the relevant positions using the techniques taught earlier in this book
I sincerely hope that you have fun playing with these ideas! Best Wishes Michael Murray - 10th January 2016
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If you enjoyed this work please check out some of the other effects available at www.mindfx.co.uk While you are there, why not sign up to my free monthly newsletter too! Best Wishes Michael Murray (January 2016) Page 24
