V
BONUS
ROUTINE
• Vi veri veniversum vivus vici
V2 - Bonus Routine
MEMENTO by Manos Kartsakis Effect:
The performer tells the spectators that he is going to test how good their intuition is. He then asks a few spectators to give him some male names (8-10 names) which he writes on some blank index cards and places them face down on the table. After that, one spectator is asked to secretly concentrate on one of the names (without revealing which) and another is asked to intuit which card has that name written on it. The performer introduces a pocket watch which belonged to his grandfather and gives it to the second spectator to use as a pendulum in order to get rid of all the cards until he is left with only one.
When only one card is left on the table the performer asks the spectator who is concentrating on a name to say for the first time out loud what name he is thinking. The card is turned over to reveal that it is actually the correct name.
The performer allows some time for this moment to sink in and then as a kicker he mentions that this was actually his grandfather’s name and opens the pocket watch to reveal the same name engraved in the watch. Presentation:
I would like your help in order to test your intuition. I want each one of you to think of a name. Make it a man’s name, nothing unusual that we haven’t heard before and please don’t think of a specific person that you already know. Instead, just clear your mind and allow a random name to come to you. Now each one of you is going to tell me what name you are thinking and I am going to write it down in these cards. If someone else calls out the same name as the one you are thinking you have to change it and give me a different one. Let’s start…
(The following names are examples and can change in each performance) “George”.
“John”.
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“Mark”. (In this case I would ask for the correct spelling Mark/Marc) “Nick”.
“Robert”.
“Sam”.
“Michael”.
“Peter”.
“Eric”.
“Harry”.
Okay, I think we have enough names. I will mix them up a little bit so none of us knows which is which… and I will place them on the table one next to the other just like so. Okay…now I will choose one of you to play a specific role. I think you will be perfect for this. What is your name?
Alex. Great. Thank you for taking part in this Alex. Don’t worry, I will not ask you to do anything difficult. In fact, I am sure you will do just fine. Alex, your role will be to concentrate on one of the names that we have written down and another person will use his intuition to try and find the card with the name you are concentrating on. To tell you the truth, I am also concentrating on a name, but if someone chose one of these cards and I would tell them that this was the name I was thinking, I am not sure they would believe me. That’s why I want to use you for this and I trust you to do just fine.
Please do not think of a name yet. First I want you to clear your mind and you will see that one of the names feels different to you now. We heard many names earlier… “John”, “George”, “Nick”, “Eric”, “Robert” to name a few… But thinking about it now one feels different to you, is that right? Yes… Perfect… Now I am sure you do not know why this name feels different to you, but I just need you to trust me on this and concentrate on that name. I promise it will all make sense in the end.
Now I need someone else to try and find the correct name that Alex in concentrating on. You sir, what is your name? Steve! Thank you for helping. I have something here for you Steve. This is my grandfather’s watch. Although Page 3
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it does not tell the time anymore I keep it as a memento of my grandfather.
I would like you to hold that watch by its chain over the cards like this. Good, you are doing great. I want you to focus on the way it’s moving over the cards and I want you to select some and reject others until we are left with only one card. As you are holding the watch over the cards you will feel something different either on this half of the cards or this half. Let me know when you feel it. Alex, you keep concentrating on that name right? Perfect… and Steve, let me know when you are ready… You feel something different on these cards? Okay, we will keep them, we don’t need the rest. There are 5 cards left. Hold the watch over the cards. You will feel drawn to one of the cards, perhaps you will not be 100% certain which one right now, so I want you to get rid of the ones that you don’t feel anything when you are holding the watch over them. Okay, you want to get rid of this one, and that one? Perfect. There are 3 cards left. If you feel drawn to one of them let me know…otherwise keep eliminating the ones you do not feel anything on. You feel drawn on this one? That’s the one you want to keep? Perfect. We don’t need those two then… As you can see you could have chosen any of these names “Michael”, “Peter”, “Mark”… but your intuition led you to this card. Before we reveal what is written on it, I would like you Alex to tell everyone for the first time out loud what is the name you were focusing on.
Alex says “Nick”.
That’s perfect Alex. Now let’s see if Steve’s intuition is as good as I thought.
The card is turned over and the name “Nick” is revealed written on it.
The spectators react to this and after that moment has sunk in the performer continues:
“The reason I keep my grandfather’s watch although it does not tell the time anymore, is because it reminds me how valuable time is and that I should always spend it with the people I love. Alex and Steve, you both did a great job and thank you for bringing this into a successful conclusion. You might remember that in the beginning I told you that I was also thinking of a name but I would rather use Alex instead. The truth is I was also thinking of the name “Nick” but I thought that if you chose that name and I told you Page 4
By Manos Kartsakis
that I was thinking of the same name no one would have believed me.
The reason I was thinking of that name is because that was my grandfather’s name… I know that this also sounds hard to believe, but his name is actually engraved inside his watch.
At he says these words, the performer opens the pocket watch to reveal the name “Nick” engraved on the inside of the watch. Method:
First of all, the name is really engraved in the pocket watch. So this routine requires two things:
• •
Instant stooge one spectator to concentrate on the name “Nick”.
Force that name on the other spectator who uses the pocket watch as a pendulum.
If at this point you are thinking what would have happened if no one had said the name “Nick”, we will cover this scenario later. For now, we will assume that one of the spectators freely called out that name (more details will also be given later to explain why this usually happens). For now, we will focus on the 2 main methods of the routine.
1) Instant stooging the spectator:
The way I usually do this, is by using some clever wording and tapping the spectator in the back when I call out the name “Nick”. I might use other methods to signal the spectator (gently applying pressure on his foot / tapping on his leg) depending on the environment I am performing, making sure that no one else is able to see what I am doing. At this point I will add here again a part from the performance and add a * when I tap the spectator at the back.
“Please do not think of a name yet. First I want you to clear your mind and you will see that one of the names feels different to you now. We heard many names earlier… “John”, “George”, “Nick”*, “Eric”, “Robert” to name a few… But thinking about it now one feels different to you, is that right? Yes… Perfect…”
Psychology/thoughts on instant stooging:
I usually use a man for this because it might be slightly more awkward to touch a woman who doesn’t Page 5
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know me on the back. I also usually do this with the person who sits right next to me if it’s possible. Otherwise I will have to position myself next to the person I choose to play this role when he introduces himself to me, maybe with the excuse of a handshake.
It’s really important to choose a person who seems to be cooperative for this. Also, avoid using spectators who you think might be very reserved and might react negatively if touched by a stranger. Another thing that is really important is to establish trust and rapport before proceeding to the instant stooging. If you look back to the performance section you will see that I always say to the spectator that I believe he is perfect for this role and I trust him to do just fine. Of course I want to appear as friendly as possible when I say this. I also want to make the spectator understand that I trust him to bring this routine to a successful conclusion and at the same time he should trust me to help him do that.
I very rarely use instant stooging in my routines and in this case I do it because I think there are four very important factors that allow it to work perfectly.
The first thing that is important is that the spectator who is stooged understands from very early on in the routine that he is not helping the performer appear great by playing along, but instead he will help make another spectator the “hero” in this routine. The second thing that is equally important is that there is genuinely a very strong effect for the spectator who is stooged as well. Of course he knows that the performer secretly tipped him to think of the specific name, but he still has no idea how the other spectator found the correct name. At this point I should mention that the performer should clearly position himself as far away from the other spectator as possible so that the “stooged” spectator does not think that the performer is signaling him in the same way.
The next thing that makes this instant stooging work well is that during the performance a believable excuse is offered to the spectator for why this is happening. The spectator believes that the performer does not want to play the role of the person who is concentrating on a name because the conclusion will Page 6
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not be believable by the other spectators. As performers we know that there are ways that we could make this work, but I do believe that from a spectator’s perspective it’s a good enough excuse.
Lastly, the next thing that makes the stooged spectator be happy with his involvement in this routine is the whole premise and the atmosphere around it. If it was a routine that the whole premise could be summed up as “Look at how smart and awesome I am!” the spectator would probably end up being pissed for helping such an obnoxious performer. In this case, the routine has an emotional hook that the spectators could relate to and of course it’s the spectators who bring this to a successful conclusion and they are thanked and appreciated for it by the performer. 2) Forcing the correct name to the other spectator:
In this case, the spectator is not in on anything and the performer uses a combination of two techniques to force this card.
Firstly, when the performer writes down the names the spectators call out, he genuinely writes whatever names they say in the first five cards and then he writes the name “Nick” on the next five cards regardless what they say. Then the performer performs a false shuffle (use whichever one you like best – I personally use the charlier false shuffle for small packets like that) and then casually spreads the cards on the table almost into two visible groups of five and five (that’s how I usually do it in order not to take a big space on the table – see picture below).
Note: The names are intentionally visible so that you can see clearly where the group of force cards is. In performance the cards are of course face down and the names cannot be seen. Page 7
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As you can see in the image above, the performer can easily separate the cards into two groups of five just by looking at them. The performer uses this, to equivoque the group of force cards after the spectator makes his first choice. Remember, in the performance we said to the spectator that he will feel something over one group of cards but we did not say what we will do with these cards.
If the spectator chooses the force pile we say “Good, focus on this pile, we don’t need the rest of the cards (the performer piles them all together), now use the same feeling you had before to guide you to one card. Dismiss all the other cards that you don’t feel anything when you are above them.” (Of course it makes no difference which cards he will dismiss and which card he will choose to be the final card because all cards have the same name written on them.
If the spectator chooses the pile with the indifferent names we say “Good, you felt that you had to dismiss these cards. Use the same feeling that you had to dismiss all the other cards one by one until you are left with one card that you feel you want to keep.” (Again it does not matter which cards the spectator dismisses after his first choice because he is left again with the force pile). Subtleties: During the performance, when the performer writes down the names that the spectators call out, he starts by clearly showing what he is writing with the first couple of names, and then eventually holds up the cards more and more a little bit at a time, until it’s no longer visible to the spectators what he writes. (Of course no attention is called to this fact during the performance).
While the performer is writing down the first five names, if he has the chance to ask for a spelling (like Mark/Marc as in the performance) he can ask the spectator’s help as an excuse to casually flash what he is writing. Also, when the spectator makes his first choice and the pile with the random names is rejected, the rest of the force names that are also rejected go on top of that pile (face down of course) and when the pile is turned over the performer can casually show at least 2-3 random names before the final revelation. Page 8
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Final thoughts:
Choosing the force name:
I chose the name “Nick” (“Nikos” in Greek) because I created this routine for my grandfather who has passed. Of course other performers can choose a different name or a different word completely and create a routine that suits their presentational style and character. However, if you want to perform a similar routine as the one I described above and you want to use a name you should make your choice very carefully.
First of all, if you want to perform this so that it seems that the name was freely chosen by the spectators, you should choose a name that is common in your country; maybe not the most common name but maybe the second or third most common. I will leave this for you to decide. This almost ensures that when 10 names are called out, it is very likely that one of the spectators will choose it.
Also, it must be a name that has around 4-5 letters. There are two reasons for this. The first is that if the spectators call out a longer name, you can mime writing more letters when you are actually writing your force name, but if your force name has 8-9 letters and they say the name “Ian” it’s a bit difficult to write the force name and make it look convincing. Secondly a shorter name appears better in the engraving. You want the engraving to be very clear because you want the spectators to recognize the name instantly when they see it engraved in the pocket watch. Making an effort to make out the writing in the watch will destroy the momentum of the effect. If you choose to perform this on stage, you will need a projector so everyone can see the name. I would recommend showing the name to the spectator first, so the audience sees their reaction and then showing the engraving to a camera so it appears on the projector.
Note: Obviously you need to buy a pocket watch and then you need to engrave the force name/word on the inside. If you take a pocket watch to a jeweler and he says that he cannot engrave it because of the concave shape of the watch, what you need to do is instruct them to engrave the name/word on a flat rectangular piece of metal and then bend the metal plate (after it has Page 9
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been engraved) to match the concave shape of the watch and glue it on the inside.
What happens if no one calls out the force name:
Although I use 10 names for this routine I do not use 10 spectators to give me the names. I use around 5 spectators in total. The reason I do this is that I ask each one of them to call out a couple of names. If 9 names have been called out and none of them is the force name I say “Okay, I will also add a name that I am thinking. I will not tell you yet why I chose this name but I will show it to one of you. You look like a person that I can trust. What is your name? Alex. Perfect. Please look at this name and commit it to memory. I want you to concentrate on that name and another spectator will try to find it among all these names.”
Of course I always write my force name after the fifth card regardless if someone has already called it out or not. If they do, then you already read how the performance goes. If the ninth name is not my force name, I write it as the tenth card and show it to one spectator as described above. The reason I do not use 10 spectators is because if I had to make the tenth choice one of them wouldn’t be allowed to choose a name. As you can see this routine is extremely similar to the first one and actually some of you that shy away from instant stooging might want to prefer this method. It’s up to you to choose what you feel more comfortable performing. Other Methods:
You can perform the same routine using a switch of the stack of cards with the names although I do not believe it is necessary. You can also use a stack of prepared printed cards with names if you feel that you need a more professional touch rather than taking the time to write each name individually.
I have also used this routine in conjunction with PK touches methods in which the spectator that is concentrating on the name has his eyes closed and feels an invisible touch at the right time in order to think of the force name (and of course everyone sees that I haven’t touched him at all) but I did not explain that version because I consider this one to be the most practical one and the one I perform 90% of the times.
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As mentioned earlier if you do not want to use the instant stooging method you can perform the same routine but now you can openly show one of the cards to one spectator/or force it to one spectator if you prefer so they concentrate on that name and then have another spectator use the pocket watch as a pendulum and find the correct name. I hope you enjoy performing this routine. It is one of my favourite routines, and I’ve found that it really has a huge impact on the spectators. Credits: This routine was inspired by Al Koran’s “Koran’s medallion” as well as Andreas Sebring and Arkadia creators of the Metal Writing project. The creators mentioned above use completely different methods in their routines but their work inspired me to create a routine in which a “freely named” piece of information is found engraved on a metal surface.
I first saw the force I use for the name by Marc Spelmann in his routine “Busch Brain Buster” in his DVD “Unexpected” available from Alakazam magic. In that DVD Marc Spelmann credits Teller for inspiring him for that force and indeed Teller’s contribution can be found in Banachek’s book “Psychological Subtleties”. Many thanks must go to Marc Spelmann for allowing me to include his beautiful force in this manuscript. His work has inspired me in many ways and I encourage you to check out anything of his you can get your hands on.
This routine is dedicated to the man who raised me,
my grandfather Nikos!
