by llrueu llorrrstoirr

@ Copyright 1997

lrri-l{ickr

o.)sTBtTsPICTURES THAT TELL A STORY .. . . . . . . . . . . . I

TRANS-PREMONIT |ON. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4IMPOSSIBLE BANK NIGHT. . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . B

LET' ,S TRY ONE MORE TIME , . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . l0

MENTALIST'S INSURANCE PO1ICY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,12

GEmNG AHEAD OF MYSE1F. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

THOUGHTS ON THE NAIL WRITER.. . . . . . . . . . . 1 B

A PREDTCTTON lN CODE. . .1 . . . . . . . . . i . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

PSYCHOLOGICAL CARD FORCE .. . . , . . .26

BREAKING THE BANK . . . . . . . . . .29

LOVE CONNECTTON . . . . . . , . . . . . . . 32

HUMMER PSYCHOMETRY. . . . . . . . . . 34

MARKED FOR A READING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

THOUGHTS Oii "iiELSOTi'S BEST KEPT SECRET".. ...... 38

PREDICTION PLUS . , , , . . . , . . , , . . .41

LOGICAL HEADLINE PREDICT|ON.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45WIN SOME FREE INFORMATION.. . . . . , . . . . , . . . . . .47

THIRD PERSON PSYCHOMETRY.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

ULTIMATE PSYCHOMETRY.. . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . , .50

EMERGENCY MENTALISM .. . . . . . . . . . 54

lrni-l{.iekslilTll|)DUoTI|)sFirst of oll, thonk you for buying this book. I do oppreciote it, ond hopeyou will find it of volue ond interest.

Let me stote my objective in writing this book. I ottempt to creote"mentol effects", thot ore os close to possible os"the reolthing". My em-phosis is on method. I wos once introduced by one of the world's topprofessionols to o friend,-os q 'creotor of cerebrol mentolism'. At first, Iwosn't sure whot to moke of the introduction, but os I thought of it moreond more, it struck me os on extremely occurote stotement. I om muchmore of o creotor, thon performer. You will find performonce hints ondoutlines in my work, but they ore mere guideposts olong the woy,

My hope is thot the performers omong you moy find moieriol ond ideosoround which you moy design presentotions thot fit your style of workingond moy give you greoter flexibility.

To the other creotors of Mentolism, I hope thot you moy find o nice bit ofloterol thinking thot mokes you smile. lf you find o new or simpler "woy toskin o cot", thot moy help solve something on which you've been work-ing, or inspire you on to something new, I will be pleosed.

I like my methods to be os simple os is possible. ln foct, the bold, simplemethod is usuolly more deceptive then the super subtle, yet overly com-plicoted method,

While much of my moteriol is of the 100% sure cotegory, some of my fo-vorite creotions involve hoving to toke some chonces, ond be oble to"go with the flow". While some of you moy not like this opprooch, it is mybelief thot techniques thot involve chonce toking ore the ones thot willleod us into the future os performers of mysteries,

This book wos not meont for Mogicions looking for o "mentol mogic trick"to odd to their show. I ossume thot ony reoder of this book is ocquointedwith the bosics of our ort. The items in this book require the unique tem-peroment of on experienced Mentolist.

To cloim credit for the originoliiy of everything in this book would, obvi-ously, be impossible. Every Mentolist owes thonks to oll of the creotors

lDni-llieksthot hove come before us. lt's o smoll field, with few techniques to sus-toin us. Since I om not the scholorly type, ond influences sometimes be-come jumbled ofter mony yeors, I've credited items whenever possible,until memory or the help of friends foiled me. lf l've inodvertently foiled insome woy, I opologize. I'm sure thot ony shoricomings will be pointedout.

I hope you enjoy this book, ond find it both useful ond interesting,

E

Pri-lliekr

PlOTUllS TH^IT TBLL A ST|)llYBFFOT: Four seqled envelopes ore ploced on disploy. You proceedto tell o story obout the person who helped you discover your mogicolpowers. You then remove o ring box from your pocket, which you open.The ring inside, you go on to exploin, wos o gift from him before hepossed owoy.

You osk someone to come up from the oudience, os you exploin thotonly one of the envelopes contoins on item thot belonged to the ownerof the ring. The other envelopes contoin items thot hove no relotionshipof ollto your friend.

You osk the ossistont to hold the ring in one hond, ond poss her otherhond over the envelopes one of o time. She is to see if she is drown toone of the envelopes more thon ony of the others. As she does so, youexploin thot in his lost letfer to you, he told you the ring hos powers thotore quite out of the ordinory.

When the ossistont settles on one of the envelopes, you ploce herchoice on the side, olong with the ring. You tellthe story of how he wosin love wiih his wife Ann, ond how she wos his whole life.

You osk her to open one of the rejected envelopes, while you do thesome. For exomple, the envelope she opens hos on ordinory photo of ocity street. Yours hos o menu from o toke out restouront. You osk her toget the torget envelope, os you open the lost rejected envelope whichcontoins o grocery list.

Obviously, none of these hove onything to do with the ring. You then oskthe spectotor to reod whot is engroved on the inside of the ring. Shereods, 'To Ann, my one ond only love.'You then osk her to open the en-velope she wos drown to ond remove its contents. lt is o picture of owomon weoring the some ring! The bock of the photo is signed, 'Ann!"

IBTH|)D: This is bosed on on incredibly clever effect by TedKormelovich, first told to me by Boscom Jones. lthought it wos quiteclever, but didn't quite suit my needs, or style of working.

This is one of the few occosions, I thought the effect needed o 'thicker

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P*i-llicksloyer of deception" for my comfori, After o greot deol of thought, I comeup with this opprooch.

Two of the envelopes ore double envelopes. ln one of them is o menu(or other meoningless item) in one side ond on outogrophed picture of'your friend' in the other side. The second double envelope hos o gro-cery list in one side, ond onother outogrophed picture in the other. Obvi-ously, you con show the contents of either of the double envelopes osbeing eiiher hits or misses.

The other two envelopes ore ordinory. ln one is on old picture of owomon weoring o ring similor to ihe one you'll use in the presentotion.Hove it signed Ann on the bock. lf you just show it cosuolly, no one willnotice ihe ring. You con exploin it os o piciure of your ount,

But if it is chosen, it con be disployed os o direct hit, since you hove thering engroved os in Effect.

The other is not reolly o 'regulor city street'but hos o jewelry store in thephoto. Moke o smoll lobel thot con fit on the bottom of the jewelry boxthot hos the nome ond oddress of this store. This photo con be possedoff os one of where you used to work or live of some time in the post. Butif it is chosen, you tell o story of how your friend worked 20 hours o doy,so thot he could buy his beloved the ring she looked of in the window ofthot very jewelry shop.After on envelope is picked, you hove the spectotor stond of one end ofthe row of envelopes while you locote yourself of the other end. Thedouble envelopes ore on your end, the regulor on her end.

From here, there ore two possibilities, Either she picks o double envelopeor on ordinory one.

lf she picks one of the two double envelopes, you hove her open the re-jected envelope neorest to her, which is ordinory. Coll it o picture of yourount. You now open the envelope neorest to you. Open it to the properside, ond show the grocery list. Hove her open the remoining envelope,os you get the'torget' envelope. Open it to the proper side, ond re-move fhe 'outogrophed picture'.

lrsi-llicknlf she chooses one of the regulor envelopes, YOU open the first of the re-jected double envelopes. She then is to open the remoining ordinory en-velope, the contents of which you dismiss with on ordinory explonotion.You open the lost double envelope, os you let her open the torget enve-lope. lf it contoins the picture of the womon, ofler hoving her reod theengroving, it ollows you to point out the ring ond her nome on the bockor the picture, lf it's the picture of the jewelry store. ofier hoving hercheck out the lobel on the ring box, it ollows you to point out the store inthe picture.

DOUBLE ENVELOPES REGULAR ENVELOPES

"jEWLERY STORE" LABEL ONBOTTOM OF RING BOX

RING ENGRAVEDON THE NSIDE

Pri-lI.ickn

Trnns-lrromr) rr i tiorrBesides whot I consider to be on interesting combinotion of methods, ihiseffect olso illustrotes my own opprooch to using the techniques of theMentolist to the performonce of 'stroight'mogic.

BFFBOT: A well known, trusted member of the oudience is osked tocome on stoge. You proceed to osk him to confirm the following stote-ments:

"l osked you if you would be so kind os to poriicipoie in o 'test condi-tions' experiment."'You ore not o stooge, or ore secretly helping me.'' l honded you some ploying cords ond ofter you put them in yourpocket, only then did I osk you to think of ony ploying cord.'

'You hod o truly free choice ond could chonge your mind oll youwonted. "

"You did not write down your choice or tell onyone whot you choicewos."

You then go on to stote thot you HONESTLY hove no ideo whot cord isbeing thought of by him, ond you con offer S.|0,000 to onyone who conprove thot you do! CYes, this is true - you honestly do not know whot cordis being thought of - no forces, or impression devices.)

The person is osked to toke the cords out of his pocket ond ploce themon the ioble. The oudience sees one Red bocked ond one Blue bockeddeck of cords. You osk the ossistont to keep the blue bocked deck infront of him.

You osk for the red deck ond remove the cords from their cose, whichyou fon to show thot the cords ore well mixed ond hove red bocks. Youthen ploce the red deck bock on the toble, o distonce from the bluedeck.

Then you osk the ossistont to think of his cord ond concentrote on the

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blue deck. While he does so, you hove him re-confirm the foct THATTHOSE CARDS WERE IN HIS POCKET BEFORE YOU ASKED HIM TO THINK OFA CARDI

After o dromotic pouse, you osk him to toke the Blue bocked deck ouiof its cose ond find his cord.

He con't, becouse it hos disoppeored from the deck!

You then pick up the Red bocked deck, fon through them foce up, ondosk him to tell you when he sees his cord. When he does so, you thenopenly remove ii foce up from the deck. You the show its bock - lT'S ABLUE BACKED CARD!

His thought of cord hos tronsported from the Blue deck to the Red deckunder'test conditions'!

lBTllOD: Before you reod the explonotion, PLEASE try to come upwith o woy of performing this effect. Even ossuming pre show work, howwould you do it?

Although the "mechonicol" methods involved ore not new of oll, it 's thesleight of mouth. ond the opprooch thot I believe is the hollmork ofmogicol performonce in the yeors to come.

First, the mechonics:

You'll need o deck set up olo Eddie Joesph's Premonition, ond o deckolo Ston Loebstein's Premonition Outdone. The Blue deck hos just theeven cords from two blue deck of cords. (i.e. 2,4,6,8,10,Q). The Red deckhos oll the odd volued cords from o Red deck. (i.e. A,3,5,7,9).K) ond ollthe odd cords from o Blue deck, except for the oces. (i 'e. 3,5,7,9,J,K) lfthe Red deck is foce down, the Blue cords moke up the BOTTOM holf.

The ideo from Premonition Outdone is thot if you hold the "Red'deckfoce down, you con slowly spreod the deck showing the bocks to bered, ond when you get close to where the Blue bocks will show, you liftthe deck, exploining thot'the cords ore well mixed'ond continue to fonthe cords, but now only the foces ore visible to the oudience. Done co-suolly, this disploy is remorkobly convincing.

Pri-l{'icks

O.K., you soy, but how do you live up to the obove conditions? lt 's oll inhow you fromei whot you ore doing to the person you choose to portici-pote.

I osk the person to come over to o quiei spot before the show, ond osk ifthey would porticipote etc.

I hond them the Blue Bocked deck ond osk them to remember thot Igove them the cords BEFORE I ASKED THEM ANYIHING. After they put theblue deck owoy for sofe keeping, I then exploin thot I om going to wontthem to think of o cord, but if you just osk someone to just think of o cord,olmost everyone nomes the Ace of Spodes, or the Queen of Heorts. Ithen pull out the Red deck, ond keeping the bocks conceoled, I ribbonspreod them ond osk the person to just think of ony cord thot oppeols tothem. When he soys he hos one, I squore up the deck, put them in thecose, ond osk the person to hold on to them olso.

Mechonicolly speoking, the trick is over, lt's now the presentotion thot willmoke or breok the effect. Rereod the stotements in EFFECT, ond vou'llnotice o few minor inconsistencies:

'l honded you some ploying cords ond ofter you put them in yourpocket. only then did I osk you to think of ony ploying cord."

Ohe ossistont will remember thot you gove him ihe BLUE deck beforehe wos osked onything, but since you used the phrose 'l honded yousome ploying cords...,the oudience will ossume he hod BOTH decks be-fore you osked him onything.)'You hod o truly free choice ond could chonge your mind oll youwonted."

Ohe osistont did hove o free choice, but only hod Odd Volued cordsfrom which to choose.)And it is true when you stote thot you REALLY don't know whot cord isbeing thought of. True, you know it's on Odd Volued cord, but you don'tknow which one.

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lrni-IlickrThis should exploin it oll. When the ossistont looks through the blue deck,his cord MUST be gone, for ollthe cords ore EVEN, while the cords helooked of for his selection were oll ODD,

When you fon through the foce up "RED'deck, the first cord he sees thotis his choice will be in the blue section of the "RED" deck, ond the rest ishistory.

Sure, you could perform this effect without ony pre show, ond it willstillploy quite well, but for the minor extro effort you get o truly 'test condi-tions" thought cord ocross.

BLUE BACKED ODD CARDS RED BACKED ODD CARDS

BLUE BACKED EVEN CARDS

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lrni-Iiickro mold. Drop it bock in the woter for obout thirty seconds, ond remove it.Push the inside iip in o little more, ond then run cold woter over them foro few minutes. Pull out the "mold' tip, ond you'll find o well expondedthumb tip woiting for use. To moke o finger tip bigger, ond o little morereolistic, try this ideo. Get o sixth finger, ond cut off the iip of it. Use this foro "mold". ond you'll find the finger tip o bit bigger, ond slightly curved.Much more reolistic to my eye of leost.

FLAP OF TOP ENVELOPE ISFOLDED INSIDE OF ITSELF

BLANK PIECE OF PAPER IS INSIDEOF THE SECOND ENVELOPE

GIVE THE SPECTATOR ENVELOPES FROM THE BOTTOMOF THE STACK IO SEAL BLANK PIECES OF PAPER

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LBT'S Tlll' 0SB tll)ll Tt0lBAs you con tell, I love the premise of BANK NIGHT. lt involves money,something thot usuolly gets peoples'ottention ond the plot mokessense,......,..the Mentolist is putting his money where his mouth is. This ver-sion is o bit different thon the more usuol voriotions. I hod developed it oso presentotion for people who knew me well. I wonted something offbeot, ond hoped thot they would "buy"the ideo I messed up,

BFFBOT: You ore holding on envelope from which you toke out o -

S100 bill. You then seol the envelope, ond exploin thot you will bet themoney thot you con predict whot freely chosen number from I to

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thot o spectotor wi l l pick. A spectotor is picked... . . . . , . , . .you look of himknowingly ond secretly print o number on the envelope. You toss owoythe writing utensil ond then osk the spectotor to close his eyes ond thenchoose o number. He is then osked to coll it out ond... ..you geto disoppointed expression on your foce, ond exploin thot it 's not thenumber you hod predicted. You then stote thot before he gets themoney, you wont one more try. He col ls out onother number,. . . . . . . ogoin,disoppointment covers your foce. O.K.,you osk for o third number.. . . . .hecolls it out, ond finolly you get o look of triumph. You hond the envelopeto the spectotor, who verifies the numbers motch.

You soy thot he thinks thot you lost the bet, but you then exploin thot youdidn't soy which of his numbers you would be oble to predict. You oskhim to open the envelope, ond remove whot's inside.

A piece of poper which stotes: I WILL CORRECTLY PREDICT THE THIRDNUMBER CHOSEN AT RANDOM!

Obviously, you did whot you soid you wou|d......... ond you keepyour money.

ilETftOD: The method is quite simple. You write out "l will correctlypredict the third number chosen' prediction on o piece of poper, whichyou fold ond put into on envelope. Put the lorgest volue billwith whichyou feel comfortoble in the envelope next to the prediction. Get yournoilwriter into position ond you're reody to go.

After you exploin whot you're obout to do, disploy the bill ond seol the

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Pni-lliekrenvelope. Pretend to print o number on the envelope ond throw yourpencil oside. When the third choice is mode, print the number on the en-velope ond you're done. The hordest thing in this effect is the octing. Youwont people to think you messed up, but to hove enough sympothy foryou so thot the spectotor will go olong ond choose two other numbers.People oren't stupid, ond if you ploy ii properly, your oudience will reolizethot SOMETHING is coming ond will ploy olong.

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Pri-l{.ickrtlontnlist's lrrsrrr:lnco l)oliel'This is obviously o lot more flexible then whoi l've outlined here. This congive you on excellent out for those "tough" situotions, or odd o bit of hu-mor to on otherwise dull presentotion.

BFFBOT: You osk someone to think of o common word in English (forexomple they think of "house'). You concentrote ond then reveolthotyou think their word is "coffeq". They soy you ore wrong. You osk if you'reeven close, to which they respond in the negotive. You look confused,but try ogoin. Agoin you're woy off. You then osk for one more try, butyou're wrong ogoin. You then osk whot their word is.

You then stote thot this rorely hoppens, but thot you've got some insur-once thot should help you out of such on emborrossing situotion. As yousoy this, you bring out on envelope morked 'INSURANCE POLICY'. Aftersome by ploy, you open the envelope ond show whot is inside. lt lookslike on Insuronce Policyl

You exploin thot you purchosed insuronce for just such on occosion, ondthen hove the person reod out loud whot is written on the policy,

"Since Bruce Bernstein is o policy holder in good stonding with the Psy-cho Dynomic lnsuronce Compony, we feel the word thot will return Mr.Bernstein's reputot ion is 'house'."

IBTHOD: The method is quite eosy. The policy is set up os o stondordwindow envelope ond you noil write in the proper word (or number etc.)The rest is oll presentotion.

This is olso o reol "insuronce policy" to keep on hond in cose someonemesses you up on o reol book test or similor situqtion.

The policy, in the window envelope, con olso be in your pocket for overy effective heckler stopper. The prediction would reod something like,'The nome of the person who chollenges me fo reod their mind is

( the spoce for the nome is where the window is cut in theenvelope.) lf someone does indeed give you o hord time, just osk themto stond, ond very cosuolly, osk their nome. Then remove the policy fromyour pocket, ond noil write in his nome. You've turned o tough position,

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Irri-lIick*into o killer effect.

Another ideo, is to use it in the previous effect.'Let's Try One More Time.'lnsteod of just hoving o prediction thot stotes thot the third number willbe ihe correct prediction. hove it written on the bock of the InsuroncePolicy. Since you con write this out before hond, you moy hove thespectotor open the envelope, Hove him reod the front of the policy first,ond then hove him reod the prediction on the bock.

"Since Mr. Bernstein is o policy holder in good stonding, his prediction willconectly predict the third number chosen of rondom."

Pleose feel free to use this orfwork, or if you wish, you could xerox o reolpolicy.

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INST]RANCEFORTHE

PSYCHICALLYCHALLENGED

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GBTTISG AHHAD |) TII'SBLFWhen I wos proofreoding the monuscript, on ideo popped into myheod. While rereoding the Mentolist's lnsuronce Policy, it suddenly oc-curred to me thot the 'Policy" might be useful in on One Aheod routine.

I pondered it o good while. ond the "mechonics' of whot to do becomecleor, ...... lt wos how to "frome'the routine thot wos the biggest ob-stocle.

I hope you like this solution, To the oudience, the 'mistoke"should ploy oso humorous diversion, yet it excuses the methodology very noturolly.

Any opprooch to the One Aheod technique should work just fine. Sinceolmost everyone is fomilior with "Mentol Epic". l'll describe the routine withihot type of presentotion.

BFFBOT: You propose to predict three differing choices freely modeby members of the oudience.

You hove o "cholkboord- divided into six sections. The top three sectionshove flops covering them. Ohe Clossic Mentol Epic Boord.)

You secretly write o prediction on the boord underneoth of the first flop.

At your request, o choice of on onimol, (for exomple) is mode by on ou-dience member. which you write under the squore your prediction wosmode.

You moke onother prediction, under the middle flop.

When you osk, onother oudience member colls out, (for exomple) otype of food. This you write under your second prediction.

You now moke your third prediction under the lost flop, but you seem un-certoin.. . . . . . . unsure of whot to predict.

Finolly you write down something, ond mutter thot you don't think you'regoing to be right this time.

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Pri-llicksYou then osk o third oudience member to coll out o common nome.Something like Bill, or Joe.

When they coll out their choice, you hove o look on your foce thot indi-cotes thot you did indeed guess incorrectly, but you write their choiceon the finolspoce on the boord.

You reveolyour predictions, ond you did get the first two choices right,but your "nome" prediction wos Bob, However the person in the oudi-ence colled out Som.

You opologize to the oudience for predicting ihe nome incorrectly, butthen go on to soy thot ot leost you KNEW YOU'D BE WRONG.

You then pull on envelope out of your pocket, morked INSURANCE POL-lCY. Telling how you took out insuronce for just such on occosion, you re-move the Policy from the envelope. You exploin thot Bob is your Insur-once Agent, ond thot's why you wrote down his nome.

You hove o person come on stoge to reod whot the policy soys.

It reods:'A Messoge from your lnsuronce Agent Bob.''The nome Mr. Bernstein meont to predict is Som."

\tHBTllOD: I imogine thot you've olreody figured out how this works.One nice thing is thot you've eliminoted the force usuolly needed tomoke the One Aheod work, ond reploced it with o little humor.

Just do the 'Clossic' One Aheod. Of course, feel free to chonge the firsttwo type of choices. To moke the presentotion work out 'logicolly", lthinkthe choice of nome works quite nicely for the finol choice.

When you get to tfre third phose, predict the nome of your'ogent". Ipicked 'common nomes', becouse I feel there is o foir chonce of hovingthe person pick the nome you hove predicted. lf you osk for'o simplenome........ something like Bill, or Joe", o foir omount of people will probo-bly pick Bob. Of course, if they do coll out Bob, you end the routine, ond

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P*i-lI.iekrtoke o big bow.

But when they coll out o different nome, your mutfering obout 'proboblybeing wrong" mokes sense to the oudience.

But when you exploin thot you goi insuronce, ond since you KNEW youwere going to be wrong, you hod predicted your ogent's nome, the ou-dience will see thot something's coming.

Allthe by ploy should give you omple opporiunity to get your Noil Writerinto position. As the oudience member comes on stoge to reod the Pol-icy, is o perfect time to do the writing.

You should get o good lough when you whip out the Policy, ond get onice round of opplouse when the prediction is reod.

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TH|)UGHTS OS THB SAIL ll'llITBNAs you con tell by reoding this book, ond others I hove writien, I mokeuse of o Noil Writer to occomplish mony of the effects I creote.

l 've put o lot of time, energy, ond proctice into leorning to use o NoilWriter. I hove gotten to the point where I con write in script thot motchesmy own 'normol" writing quite well, olong with the more usuol numbersond check morks.

I personolly feel ihot the Noil Writer, ond oll its voriotions .., Boon Wrii-ers, Pocket Writers, Bond Writers etc,, ore some of the most powerfultoolsovoiloble to us, lt often surprises me just how few people use them 'Underfire". True, the proper use of o Noil Writer is not eosy, ond requires o greotdeol of proctice to become comfortoble, but think of the rewords.

Under the toughest conditions, you con predict olmost onythingl Num-bers, words, even simple pictures. the imoginotion olmost boggleswhen you think obout the possibilit ies!

How mony times hove you heord, 'whot's my out if something goeswrong?" The Noil Writer is the ULTIMATE out. I would be hord pressed tothink of o situotion where one COULDN'T get you out of o tough spot.

So why don't more people use them?

Probobly the biggest drowbock to most people is the problem of gettingit into the proper position to use. Thot's why,if o Noil Writer is being used,it is usuolly done os on opener. Thot woy,the performer con position itproperly before coming on stoge, ond not worry obout getting it in posi-tion from o hold out.

Thot'drowbock" is eosily solved!

ln my book "Psi - Tech" I described the Noil Writer thot I use. lt con be inmy pocket, with keys. chonge, etc., yet I con hove it securely on mythumb, without looking, in o couple of seconds. Becouse of the'holdout', its leod is very secure, ond l've never hod o breokoge prob-lem.

1 8

Pri-lI.ieksThe Noi l Writer i tself is noihing new... . . , . . . . . , i t 's just o hord plost ic thumb t ipthot you cut down o bit, so thot your thumb goes ollthe woy in. You thenglue o piece of leod into it. I just moke o smoll hole neor the pod of theihumb, ond use some croz./ glue io stick the piece of leod thot I insertinto i t . As I soid, this is nothing new,.. . . . . . . . . Annemonn ond others hovedescribed such o writer. But, compored to under noil. ond Boon writers,this opprooch gives you on exfremely stoble writer. lt won't move out ofposition, or even worse, foll off.

I t 's the Holdout for this wri ter thot I 'm proud of. . , . . , , . . o thumb t ip!

I reolized thot this thumb tip writer will fit securely into o regulor thumb tip.It's the perfect holdout. lt protects the writer, ond keeps the leod fromoccidentolly breoking. As I soid before, I've kept one in my pocket withkeys, chonge. oll kinds of stuff, ond hove never hod o problem.

And getting it into position is o "piece of coke". l just reoch in my pocket,ond feel for the thumb tip. I get the "tip" of the thumb tip between myfirst ond second fingers, ond move it so thot my first finger is ogoinst the"thumb noil" of the tip. Now if I insert my thumb into it, the writer will be inthe perfect position when my hond comes out of my pocket. lt's quiteeosy, ond is done in just o couple of seconds.Of course, you olso hove o thumb tip ovoiloble for use. Two powerfulweopons together in o very smoll pockoge.

OK, moybe l've gotfen you o bit more interested in using o Noil Writer,but now you moy be wondering how to go obout procticing with one.Here is the method I used when I decided to 'get my chops togethefl"

I hove the writer on my right thumb. I hold o pod of poper with my lefthond. My right hond FINGERS olso come oround the front of the pod, osdo my left fingers, but the right thumb is not in contoct with the pod. ltlooks to the oudience thoi both my honds ore holding the pod, but theright fingers, ot the bose of the polm, only stobilize the pod o bit.(Obviously l'm right honded. lf you're o lefty, just reverse things.)lprocticed three bosic things. Numbers, Printing, ond when comfortoblewith those, I moved on to Script.

1 9

Psi-liicksHolding the pod os obove, lwould print the number 1 just lefi of centeron the pod,then the number 2 just right of center. Then 3 just left of cen-ter, ond then 4 just right of center. Oou ore octuolly writing over thenumber previously printed.. . . . . . . . you' l l sove o lot of poper this woy.) Con-tinue until you reoch 0. Then stort ogoin. After o few doys of this, you'llhove your numbers down pretty well.

When you feel comfortoble with numbers, then try to print letiers. lfollowthe some procedure os obove. I print A just left of center, then B just rightof center. Then C left of center. ond D right of center, Continue untilyou've worked through the entire olphobet.

This will toke more time to leorn thon numbers, so toke your time, ond bepotient. Most people give up leorning their letters well, ond thot restrictswhot the Noil Writer con do for them.

After o while, when you feel comfortoble, continue on to leorning script.This is much more difficult thon numbers ond printing. Agoin, you proc-tice os obove, only now you must proctice both upper ond lower cose,ond you connect the letters.

Just left of center you write A, ond connect it to the B you write left ofcenter. Then C to the left, connecting with the D you write to its right,ond so on.

After o month or two, with o reosonoble omount of slow coreful procticein front of o mirror, you'll be oble to write wiih your thumb olmost os wellos you normolly write,

You'll probobly heor from some people thot you shouldn't hold on itemyou're noilwriting on with both honds.

You moy olso heor thot o righi honded person should leorn to noil writewith their left hond. ond viso verso.

ln my mony yeors of writing with my thumb, I've never run ocross o prob-lem using both honds to hold whot l 'm going to write on, or using myright thumb.

I see no problem in moking things horder on yourself, if you think it will

20

Pni-l{ickrmoke things more deceptive, but the concept thot you might be writingsomething with your thumb is WAY out of people's minds.

As hos been soid, why run if you're not being chosed!

lf you've been unhoppy, or unsuccessful trying to use o "writer' before,pleose give this o try. I believe you'll be very pleosed with this opprooch.

6Q'-'a

21

lrri-l{iekrA lrrr:rlictiorr ilt OorloAl Koron hod some very clever ideos. One of the cleverest ideos wos hisuse of o 'Code Book"to decipher o previously delivered prediction. Be-couse the Prediction is mode in Code, it con be disployed openly of thet ime i t is mode. The only problem wos.., . . . . . .1 didn't l ikethe ideo of thebook, ond the work you needed to do to moke it look right, so here's myopprooch.

EFFBOT: An experiment in prediction is proposed by you, os muchbefore on event os you wish. People moy,ond should, wotch you printout numbers on o sheet of poper, which you exploin is o Code. Thiscoded prediction moy be on public disploy until ihe show.

You hond o seoled envelope to the person who is to be the trustee . Youexploin thot it contoins the solution to the Code, so under no circum-stonces should it be opened,

On the doy of the event, you osk thot the envelope contoining theCode to decipher the prediction be brought out. The trustee verifies thothe hos been in possession of the Code since the prediction wos mode.

You open the "Code" envelope, ond remove o piece of poper, whichthe trustee opens ond uses to decipher the prediction.

It, of course, sums up on event in the news!

Of course, this moy be presented much more dromoticol ly. . . . . . . . . , , , .Thecode con be put on disploy in lorge numbers, ond left in public view untilit is decoded!

IBTH|)D: Agoin, I like to keep it os simple os is possible. And os be-fore, you hove to do some sneoky thinking to moke it work.

You write out o series of numbers. The numbers oren't reolly importont,since you're going to creote o code thot will moke your prediction workout properly. Once you see whot I meon, try from l0 to 20 numbers, ondtry your luck of moking things work out. You'll find on omount thot fits thetype of prediction you ore moking........sports results, heodlines etc.

22

Plri-l{ickrI do recommend thot you do not repeot o number immediotely, sincethot would require o repeoted letter, which con moke things more diffi-cult .

(lf you wish, in the 'Code" envelope, you could hove o decoding thot willtronslote olong the lines of, ' l knew you would open this'.)Whot will hoppen of the show, is thot you will hove o piece of poper,with your speciolly designed Code on it, looded in your thumb or fingertip.

Or use ony other clossic method for switching in o heodline prediction.Whot's nice in this cose, is thot oll of the heot is off of you. You never everhove to mess with the prediction itself!

Here's on exomple of o Code prediction.

1 0 , r 3 , 6 , 2 5 , 1 4 , i l , 2 , 1 7 , 1 , 9 , 2 1 , 3

( l just typed these numbers of rondom... .reol ly!)Let's soy o troin deroiled before your show. I hove l2 letters to deol with,so I hove to come up with o I2 letter prediction, without immediotely re-peoted letters.

Troin = 5Deroi led = B Hmmm odds up to . |3, so i t 's no good... . ." . . . let 's try:Crosh = 5 Hmm, might work.

Trogedy = 7 Ahhh thot's itlTroin Trogedy = 12, ond no immediotely repeoted letters.

So, now you con moke up your "Code poper".

Write out the numbers from I to 50 on o piece of poper. 50 is so thot let-ters con be represented by more thon one number. Of course, I to .|00could be used if you con print it oll out cleorly on o smoll enough pieceof poper

23

lrni-l{iek*After your torget numbers, you print in the letters you need. For exom-ple:

1 0 = T1 3 = R6 = f i2 5 = l1 4 = Nl l = T2 = Q1 7 = AI = G9 - E2 1 = D3 = !

Fill in other letters in the non used numbers, ond you're reody to predictthe future.

I think this procedure mokes sense, ond seems quiie foir ond oboveboord. I hope you feelthe some.

24

Pri-lI'iekn

i : G 1 8 = F 3 5 = J2 = R 1 9 = Y 3 6 = C3 = Y 2 0 = U 3 ' l = C4 = C 2 t = D 3 8 : V5 = H 2 2 = e 3 9 = O6 = A 2 3 = Y 4 0 = W7 : Z 2 4 = L 4 i = N8 = X 2 5 = I 4 2 = P9 = E 2 6 = 8 4 3 = Kl 0 : T 2 7 = K 4 4 : ZI l : T 2 8 = G 4 5 : H1 2 : P 2 9 : X 4 6 : M1 3 = R 3 0 = K 4 7 : U1 4 = N 3 l = L 4 8 : Q1 5 = M 3 2 = O 4 9 = L1 6 = F 3 3 = N 5 0 = Bl ' 7 : A 3 4 = P

-CODE LIST" THAT YOU REMOVE FROMTHE ENVETOPE AND HAVE THE TRUSTEE

USE TO DECIPHER THE PREDICTION

eiI

1 0 , 1 3 , 6 , 2 5 ,1 4 , I 1 , 2 , 1 7 ,r , 9 , 2 1 , 3

25

lr*i-llielis

Irsl'oHt)Lt)GtoaL oarlD F|)lloBFFBOT: You hove o deck of cords, ond ore seen to toke o cord ondput it foce down on the toble. You now stote, "l 'm going to osk you tothink of o cord, but don't do it yet. You see, most people if osked to thinkof o cord, will pick obvious ones, like the Ace of Spodes, or the Queen ofHeorts. So when I soy now, just nome some out the woy cord thotcomes to your mind. . . , . . .NOW."

They nome their mentolly selected cord, ond you turn over the cord onthe toble, They motchl

ilBTll|)D: OK, this doesn't work ollthe time, but believe it or noi, I hitobout 25% of the time. I come close obout onother 25o/" of the time, ondwhen it works, it 's o mirocle.

The phrosing obove is IMPORTANT. Whoi I did for quite o while is osk peo-ple the obove while keeping the phrosing identicol eoch ond everytime. I discovered thot o pottern emerged. A lorge percentoge of peo-ple would choose the 2 of Clubs. Then o smoller group would nome the 7of Spodes. lt wos quite unconny. A smoller percentoge of peoplenomed the 3 of Heorts, I con't guorontee the results will be the some foryou, so stort out by just osking the quesiion in THE EXACT SAME WAY EV-ERY TIME ond o potfern will probobly estoblish itself quite soon.

When I get my honds on o deck, I secretly get the 3 of Heorfs to the topof the deck ond the 7 of Spodes to the bottom.

I openty remove the 2 of Clubs ond ploce it foce down on the toble. Ithen osk the question os obove. lf the 2 of Clubs, or the 2 of Spodes isnomed, l ' l l then turn over the 2 of Clubs on the toble ond cloim o hit. ( lfthey soy the 2 of Spodes, o block 2 is pretfy domn goodl )lf they soy the 3 of Heorts (or Diomonds), l ' l l put the deck on the toble,hove them cut it. ond then I use the 2 of Clubs os o cord 'to mork whereyou cut the deck". CVou don't moke o big deolwhen you put the 2 ofClubs foce down. so they don't know whot you were going to do with it.)After I recop whot hos hoppened. I split the deck where the 2 of Clubswos inseried sidewoys, ond show the cord "they freely cut to", which wosthe cord on top of the deck. lt 's our old friend, the X, or Cross Force.

26

.-:r-_s.:r:5;:?-::i:-a:l-: j-f

-

. t : - - - |

Pri-lI.ickr

lf they nome the 7 of Spodes (or Clubs), I do the obove but show thecord obove the 2 of Clubs, which wos the bottom cord of the deck.

lf they nome the 7 of Heorts, or the 3 of Spodes, I show the cord oboveond below the 2 of Clubs soying one cord motches the volue ond onemotches the suii.

CONDITION OF IHE DECK AFIER THE "CROSS FORCE"

SEVEN OF SPADES IS NOWABOVE THE TWO OF CLUBS

THREE OF HEARTS IS NOWUNDER THE TWO OF CLUBS

So, insteod of o I out of 52 cord situotion. you hove 3 'direct hits', 3"reolly close hits", ond 2 -pretty good hits' which increoses your choncesfor o successful outcome to B out of 52, without toking ony psychologyinto considerotion.

But whot do I do if none of these cords ore nomed?l?l?l There ore plentyof outs ovoiloble (see Mentolist's Insuronce policy) but here's one ideoyou con try.

They soy the '10 of Clubs. Pick up the deck ond fon it with the foces to-words you ond hove them insert the 2 of Clubs foce up into the deck.Note if their cord is obove or below the 2 of Clubs. lf it is below ihe 2 ofClubs (if the deck is held foce up), remember the cord below thenomed cord. lf it is obove the 2 of Clubs, rememberthe cord below the2 of Clubs. Hold the deck foce up in the position for the 'glide', ond stortpulling cords off of the bottom of the deck. When you get to the cordbelow the torget cord, you know the torget cord is next, so glide it bockond keep pulling off cords until you get to the 2 of Clubs. Then peel off

BI

27

lrni-l{.icksthe torget cord. lt seems thot they inserted the 2 of Clubs next to theirselected cord.

lf the cord wos obove the 2 of Clubs, when you see the cord below the2 of Clubs, you'll know thot the 2 of Clubs is next, so you pull it bock onddo the glide until the torget cord comes. Then peel off the 2 of Clubsond you're done.

Of course, i f they put i t in ne>Cr to their cord.. . . . . . . - . . . toke your bow.

Vernon's "Trick Thot Con't Be Exploined", ond its offspring, con give youmony effective outs for this type of situoiion.

28

lrsi-li.ick*

I]IIBAIIITG THB I]ASKFFBOT: You propose on experiment ihot will need the help of fourpeople in the oudience. As you choose the four people who will be os-sisting, you ore seen to ploce o Piggy Bonk, o strong poper, or stiff plosticbog,ond o hommer in ful l v iew,

You then pick up o pod of poper ond o pen, ond osk one of the fourpeople to collout ony single digit number. You write the number on thepod, ond then osk onother of the four to coll out onother single digitnumber, which you olso jot down. (lt could be the some single number,or o different one.) Then o third person colls out his choice of o singledigit number, which you olso record.

For exomple, the numbers colled out ore 3, 7 ond 9. You osk the fourthperson to decide in whot order he would like the three digits. For exom-ple, he decides on 739, which you jot down. You osk him to come onstoge. You then osk him to open the bog ond exomine it, if you wish,ond the ploce the Piggy Bonk inside of it. You osk him to get the hom-mer, os you ploce your pod of poper down beside the poper bog, sothot the numbers con be verified.

You recop whot hos hoppened etc., ond then osk the "ossistonf'to hitthe bog with the hommer in order to breok the Piggy Bonk. The bog, ofcourse, is to keep shords from flying oll over.

You osk him to pour out the now destroyed Piggy Bonk, ond omong thepieces of pig is o folded up piece of poper. You osk the person to openthe piece of poper ond reod it out loud. lt stotes:

Deor Piggy Bonk,

I owe you $739,Thonks, Bruce

DIBTI||)I): Those of you fomilior with the closic effect 'Minding theStore'by Ned Rutledge hove most probobly figured out how this works. lfyou're not fomilior with 'Minding the Siore", trock it down - it's brilliont!

29

lrsi-llick*This effect is o simplified version ond the use of the Piggy Bonk mokes it obit unusuol compored to the overoge Mentol effect.

All you need to perform this is:

l. An eosily breokoble Piggy Bonk.

2. A strong poper, or stiff plostic bog.thot is toller then the bonk.

3. A smcill pod of poper.

4. A piece of poper with, Deor Piggy BonkI owe you S(spoce left blonk)Thonks, Bruce

5. A NoilWriter.

The piece of poper should be folded with the spoce for the dolloromount on the outside.

The rest is quite'simple. Your thumb holds the folded piece of poper onthe pod so thot when you "jot down the numbers" you con olso write theproper numb'er on it. Then, when you osk the person to get the hommer,you Just hoppen to" let the lower edge of the pod touch the top of thebog,ond let the folded piece of poper to foll into the bog. lf you hoveony doubt this willwork, forget it - it does! Just moke sure you procticeenough so thot it looks cosuol. Of course, when the broken bonk ispoured out, the piece of poper mingles with it. The rest is oll build up.

lf you don't think this is for you, moybe you'll like this voriotion on thetheme:

The effect is the some except you ore not holding o pod of poper, ondyou put the bonk into the bog. Here you hove the poper lightly woxedto the side of the Bonk owoy from the oudience. When you hove thebog opened, you pick up the Bonk (to be helpful) ond NoilWrite theproper number in ploce. When you lower the bonk into the bog, yougive the slip o push to releose it into the bog. Continue os obove.

?n

Pxi-llickr

Dear Piggy Bank,I owe you the sum

Thanks. Bruce

he sum

3r

frsi-l{.icknLOlvB o|)..tBoTl|)sThis is o PRESENTATIONAL gombit. There ore mony woys of technicollyochieving these ends, but the plot fills o need for both Mogicions ondMentolists.

BFBBOT: You've been hired to perform of on engogement porty, ondyou osk the future bride ond groom to come up on sioge. You go on toexploin thot o gypsy you knew tought you o method to find out whethertwo people ore truly compotible. You osk them if they would core to beput to the test.

You osk eoch to choose o ploying cord. You hove the cords returned tothe deck, ond then you osk the bride to shuffle the deck while thinking ofthe groom. The deck is then honded to the groom to shuffle while think-ing of his bride.

You exploin thot the gypsy tought you thot the further owoy the cordsend up in the deck, the les likely it is thot the people will end up to-gether, ond thot if the Ace of Spodes is between the cords, their mor-rioge will be doomed!

You slowly deolthrough the cords, turning them foce up os you go, untilone of the selected cords is seen. You ore seen to be concerned of thismoment of truth. The cord is deolt off the deck, ond the next cqrd is theQueen of Heorts, which you exploin is obviously o very.good cord, for it isthe cord of love. You osk whot the other selected cord is. You deol offthe Queen AND THE VERY NE)O CARD lS THE OTHER FREELY SELECTEDCARD. Since the only cord between thelr.cords is the Love cord, theirmorrioge must be blessedl

illBTllOl): l'll give you two bosic methods, but os lsoid before, l'm suremony of you will opply other methods thot you olreody know from othertricks, both sleight of hond ond goffed.

One woy, ond to my woy of thinking, the best, is to do the dirty work preshow. Ask to tolk to the honored couple, ond inquire whether they wouldlike to be 'put to the test'. lf they onswer yes, pull out your hondy dondyMARKED deck, ond hove eoch of them remove o cord, which they putbock into the deck ond shuffle. When you ore olone, you toke the

32

Pri-lliekr

Dear Piggy Bank,the sum

Thanks, Bruce

3 t

lrri-l{icknLOlvB O0.SBOTI|)ilThis is o PRESENTATIONAL gombii. There ore mony woys of technicollyochieving these ends. but the plot fills o need for both Mogicions ondMentolists.

BFFBOT: You've been hired to perform of on engogement porty, ondyou osk the future bride ond groom to come up on stoge. You go on toexploin thot o gypsy you knew tought you o method to find out whethertwo people ore truly compotible, You osk them if they would core to beput to ihe test.

You osk eoch to choose o ploying cord. You hove the cords returned tothe deck, ond then you osk the bride to shuffle the deck while thinking ofthe groom. The deck is then honded to the groom to shuffle while think-ing of his bride.

You exploin thot the gypsy tought you thot the further owoy the cordsend up in the deck. the les likely it is thot the people will end up to-gether, ond thot if the Ace of Spodes is between the cords, their mor-rioge will be doomed!

You slowly deolthrough the cords, turning them foce up os you go, untilone of the selected cords is seen. You ore seen to be concerned of thismoment of truth. The cord is deolt off the deck, ond the next cord is theQueen of Heorts, which you exploin is obviously o very.good cord, for it isthe cord of love. You osk whot the other selected cord is. You deol offthe Queen AND THE VERY NEXI-CARD lS THE OTHER FREELY SELECTEDCARD. Since the only cord between their.cords is the Love cord. theirmorrioge must be blessed!

lBTllOl): l'll give you two bosic methods, but os lsoid before, l'm suremony of you will opply other methods thoi you olreody know from othertricks, both sleight of hond ond goffed.

One woy, ond to my woy of thinking, the best, is to do the dirty work preshow. Ask to tolk to the honored couple, ond inquire whether they wouldlike to be 'put to the test'. lf they onswer yes, pull out your hondy dondyMARKED deck, ond hove eoch of them remove o cord, which they putbock into the deck ond shuffle. When you ore olone, you toke the

32

Irsi-llickrQueen of Heorts, which you hod previously removed from the deck, ondput o bit of wox on both sides. You then stick one of the selected cordson top, ond the other on the bottom, Pui them o few cords from thebotiom of the deck ond the rest is history. Allyou need to do is mokesure thot there is not o surfoce on which they could riffle shuffle thecords. You wont only overhond shuffles, which won't disturb the threecords thot hove been woxed together. When you deolthrough thecords, you seporote the woxed cords - they must be blessed!

A more stroight forword method is to hove the Queen on top of thedeck with o bit of wox on its top, ond onother bit of wox where you coneosily get to it. Ohe cord cose would be o good choice,) Hove the firstselection ploced on the top of the deck, (A quick squeeze will stick themtogether.) Over hond shuffle the cords so thot the Queen is now on thebottom. Your middle finger con eosily odd the wox to the foce of theQueen. Hove the next selection ploced on top ond, os you exploin howeoch of them is to shuffle ihe deck, you cut the cords, which will ollowyou to stick the second selection to the foce side of the Queen. The restis presentotion.

Oh, lf you ore coutious, you moy wont to remove the Ace of Spodes, justin cose..

For those of you who do reodings:

Obviously, this con eosily be opplied to Torot cords. In foct, the use ofTorot cords octuolly mokes more sense, I reolized thot this 'two significo-tor"cords concept is, to the best of my knowledge o new one, ond conbe reodily opplied to legitimote reodings. Hove the two significotor cordschosen, ond returned to the deck which is then shuffled. Do your reod-ing with whotever cords end up between them. The cords will representthe things thot will hoppen to the couple os they poss through life to-gether. lt con olso be done with business portners, o porent, literolly onysituotion thot involves the relotionship between two people. lf you doyour reodings legitimotely, don't use wox - let the fotes decide the out-come, but i f you l ike to bonk the odds in your fovor.. . . . . . . . . . . .wox i t is.!

.

,.r

*

.

? 1

lDsi-lI.iekr

HU0lilBrr lrsYoH|)l)l Tlll'BFFBOT: Three people ore osked to porticipote in o demonstrotion ofPsychometry. Three envelopes ore tossed down on the toble os you ex-ploin thot eoch person is to toke on envelope ond seol o personol ob-ject in it, You tellthem to proceed, os you turn your bock.

While your bock is still turned, you osk thot two of the ossistonts ore toswitch envelopes, so thot only one of them will hove their own object,while the other two will hove someone else's object.

You turn oround ond osk one of the people to hond you the envelopethot they ore holding. The person is not to reoct to the reoding so thotyou con't tell from their reoctions if it is their object. You proceed to giveo generol reoding while holding the envelope. You osk for o second en-velope, which is then honded to you. Agoin you give o reoding. Thethird envelope is now honded to you. You proceed to give o third reod-ing.

Exploining thot now thot you hove to motch up the objects with theirowners. You go to eoch of the people in turn ond hold their envelope inone hond, ond osk to hold their free hond, os if "feeling their Vibes".

You go to the first person ond briefly recop the reoding you gove fortheitem. You then exploin thot you don't think it belongs to the person whois holding ii. You then hond it to the person to whom you feel it belongsond toke the envelope they ore holding. You olso osk for the finol enve-lope ond recop the reodings. You then hond one of the envelopes tothe person you took the envelope from, ond hond the finol one to lostperson.

Eoch of them ocknowledges their reodings were quite occurote, ondwhen they open their envelopes, oll of the items hove been hondedbock to their proper owners,

1;l$TltQl): Boy, this sure tokes o lot of description for something thot isso simple to perform.

The only pori thot is "confusing', is how con you tellwho hos which enve-lope, if your bock is turned. Remember, you ore not honding out the en-

5tli::

Pni-llicksvelopes in ony order, ond eoch moy toke whotever envelope they wish.

This method is bosed on on old Bob Hummer concept. Briefly, if threepeople eoch hove on object, ond you know whot object just one ofthem hos, two of the people moy switch objects yet you con stil ltellwhich belongs to whom. lf the person who hos the object you know otthe stort still hos it ofter the switching, the other two must hove switcheditems. lf the person ends up with o different item, then he ond the personwho now hos his object were the two who switched. Think obout it ondtry it - it 's not os complicoted os it moy seem.

lf your envelopes ore morked, os long os you know which envelope oneof the people hos chosen, you con occomplish this mirocle.

When you ore obout to hove the envelopes selected. osk one of thepeople to toke one ond seol their object. As they do so, you slowly storito turn oround, timing the movement so thot you con spot which of theenvelopes they toke. Then proceed to tell the other two to seol their ob-jects os the first person did os your bock is now fully turned. Hove two ofthem switch envelopes ond you're reody to go.

I4Fa

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ttatlli.D Fl)lr a nBADlsGBFFBOT: Someone osks you for o cord reoding. You exploin the on-cient concepts of Fire, Woter, Air. ond Eorih. You shuffle o Torot deck,cut it into 4 piles. os you exploin thot the pile to their left will represent"FIRE", the next one, "WATER', the next, "AlR', ond on the other end,'EARTH". The sitter is then to shuffle eoch of the piles. to 'put their influ-ence' into the cords.

You turn your bock, ond instruct the sitter to think of their question. lf thequestion is obout themselves, they ore to remove ony cord from the'FIRE" pile, but if it 's obout someone they core for, it should be token fromthe "WATER'pile, someone they know of, but hoven't met, the "AlR' pile,ond if it is obout on object, not o person, the'EARTH" pile.

Then you exploin, if their question is obout possion. or love, they ore to re-move onother cord from the 'FIRE" pile, ond ploce in on top of the firstcord. lf it is obout Heolth, the cord should come from the 'WATER' pile. lfit 's obout School or Educotion, it should come from the "AlR' pile, ond ifobout Money or Finonces. it should come from the "EARTH" pile.

This process is repeoted severol more times, until enough cords hovebeen selected to use for the reoding.

Although nothing hos been written down, ond you hove no inside infor-motion, you ore oble to give on incredibly occurote reoding.

lBTHl)D: This is just o voriotion on the old 20 questions gome.

The deck, Torot or regulor is morked into 4 distinct sections. You con eos-ily folse shuffle the cords, ond split them into the 4 piles. Short cords ontop of eoch section con help moke this quite cosuol.

When you see. ond observe the sitter, you should hove o foir ideo ofwhot their possible questions / concerns ore, so oll you do is hove themhelp you norrow it down, without them reolizing it.

Obviously, the "rituol"you describe for selecting the cords con be eosilyodopted for whomever you ore giving the reoding. As long os you de-scribe the functions of FIRE, WATER, AlR, ond EARTH so your questions will

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seem consisteni, you con customize this for olmost ony person.

When you turn bock to give the reoding. ond spreod out the selectedcords, you will see which piles they eoch come from, ond in whot order.With o bit of thought, you con eosily zero in on just whot the sitter wontsto know.

lf you wish to do this in on impromptu monner, just borrow o deck ofcords. Hove them shuffled, ond returned to you. As you cut the deck intothe 4 piles, you scrope your thumbnoil ocross the side of the cords, but ino differing locotion for eoch of ihe piles. When you ore reody to pro-ceed, turn bock oround, ond pick up the group of selected cords, ondlook the sides. You should, with o little proctice. see the where thescrope morks ore on eoch of the cords.

SITTER'S VIEW OF THE FOUR PILES

"FIRE" PILE -WATER" PILE "AIR" PILE "EARTH" PILE

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TH.)UGHTS OS ''TLSOS'S I]BSTIIBIDT SOIIET''This concept is GREAT for onyone who does reodings in o porty or Psy-chic Foir context. lt moy seem silly, but toke it from me, it con be quitepowerful, ond con moke o reoding seem much more powerful then it re-olly wos.

BFFBOT: You ore seoted ot o toble, giving short reodings to thosepresent. During your reodings, those woiching see you leon over ond, ino very soft voice thot no one else con heor, soy something thot seems ofgreot imporlonce to the person hoving their fortune told. The sitter isthen seen to nod in totol ogreement with whot you hove confidentiollypredicted.

This process hoppens mony times through the night. so thot everyonewoiching con tell thot your reodings ore not only occurote, but condelve into oreos thot the sitters would not wont to be heord publicly, in osensitive, coring woy,

O.K. - let's be honesi. I don't core how good of o Reoder you ore, thereore times it would be greot to be oble to get o .|00% solid hit, becouseyou oren't moking ony heodwoy with the person for whom you ore reod-ing. This gives the illusion thot you ore right on torget to those wotching.

The story goes.............Bob Nelson told how he hod decided to personollydeliver on order of ostrology choris to one of his biggest customers, Sothot he might see how she wos generoting such o lorge volume of busi-ness. When he sow her giving reodings, he wos highly impressed with thenumber of solid hits she wos moking. All night long, sitters were noddingtheir ogreement wiih whot she wos soying, When she wos done, Nelsonosked how she wos oble to be so consistently occurote. Her'secret'wosso remorkobly simple. he wos omozed.

lBTHOl): During the reoding, she would leon over so thot she woscloser to the sifter, ond with o coring, concerned look on her foce, shewould osk in o sofi voice, "con You heor me O.K.?' Of course, the sitterwould leon forword when she did, soy 'yes', ond nod her heod offirmo-tively in response to the reoder's question ond body longuoge. To the

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lrni-lI.iekspeople wotching, there wos o whole different interpretotion. lt lookedlike the Reoder hit on o sensitive oreo ond wos correct.

Thot's obout oll of the detoil thot Nelson possed on to us, so let me fil l inthe o few of the blonks. ond tellvou obout some voriotions I've devel-cpeo.

First of oll, l 'd like to stress thot the moin ingredieni thot helps this conceptto work is your body longuoge. Remember, the reoson people thinkyou've "hit" on something is becouse they see the sitfer nodding theirheod in response to something you've soid. lf you just osk if they conheoryou O.K.,you moy wel l only get o verbol response. YOU WANTTHESITTER TO NOD THEIR HEAD, SO THAT EVERYONE CAN SEE lT! To set up thesituotion properly, you wont the sitter to respond os much, if not more toyour body longuoge then to whot you ore soying.

Think obout it. lf you ore tolking to someone, ond you then leon closerond soy something in o soff tone of voice, you ore implying thot youhove something personol ond privote to soy to them. lt olso implies thottheir response should be done in the some monner. lt olso implies to ony-one wotching you thot the situotion is personol, privote, ond posibly im-portont. lf the person sees you nodding (eiiher yes or no) os you osk thequestion, the chonces ore greotly increosed thot the onswer will olso beo nod.

As o technique for reodings, this combinotion of body longuoge ondchonges in verbol style, is of greot importonce. When octuolly stotingthings, it will help leod the sitter to confirm if you ore correct non verbolly,which will help them leod you in the right direction when pumping. But inthis technique, it is of utmost importonce,

lf the only time in the reoding thot you leon closer ond soften your voiceis when you osk, "con you heor me O.K.?', they moy look of you like youore nuts. But if you've done it o few times with "reol informotion', theslightly out the ordinory question will not seem inconsistent with your pre-vious behovior.

Another point l've discovered is thot the questions don't hove to be onesthot osk for o positive response. As long os the sitter's reoctions motchyours, the people wotching will ossume thot you ore correct. For exom-

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lDsi-li.icknple, you leon forword, look concerned ond whisper, "you're not uncom-fortoble in thot choir, ore you?', while nodding your heod bock ond forth(os if looking for o negotive response ), the sitter will nod bock ond fortholso. This will olso look like o "hit"to those wotching, just os much os o pos-itive response.

Here ore some possible questions:

"You con you heor me O.K. , con ' t you?"

"l t 's owful ly loud in here, isn' t i i?"

" ls thot your Husbond?"

"Wos the food good?"

"l'm not going ioo fost, om l?"

"Aren't these Torot cords beoutiful?"

I think you've cought the drift. Any question or stotemeni thot seems op-propriote sociolly, ond thot comes out of "concern" for the sitter con beput to use.

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Ilrrxlietion lDlusl 've been holding this concept bock for quite o while. lfeel it mokes onexcellent opener, ond is stroight to the point, There ore o lot of woys ofochieving this double prediction. l ' l l use one os on exomple, ond thencover some others.

BFFBOT: An oudience member is chosen totolly of rondom from theoudience, ond osked to come up on stoge. es, it is o totolly freechoice! The person is NOT chosen by you. He con be picked by on oudi-ence member, or by tossing something into the oudience,) You removeo smoll pod of poper from your pocket, os you exploin thot you ore mok-ing o prediction of something thot will soon come to poss.

You study the oudience for o moment, ond then write something onyour pod. You teor off the top sheet with your prediction ond fold it. Youthen hond it to vour 'ossistont' to seol in o envelope ond hold on to for ominute.

You put the pod owoy, ond remove o wollet from your pocket. From iiyou remove o smoll envelope, exploining you olso hove o prediction youmode before coming on stoge thot concerns your on stoge "ossistont".

You exchonge envelopes, so he hos the prediction thot concerns him,ond you hove the envelope with the prediction you hod just written outo minute ogo, which he seoled in on envelope.

You now exploin thot you ore going to write o secret, torget number be-tween I ond '100 on the envelope, ond thoi you wont your on-stoge os-sistont to point to members of the oudience in ony rondom order theywish. As o person is chosen, they ore to coll out o number from I to 100.You exploin thot prediction you ore holding willforetell who picks the tor-get number.

He storts pointing to people............for exomple the first 4 people picknumbers, but you soy, go on. The Sth person, for exomple, is o blondwomon, ond she picks 43. You get excited, ond osk the osistont to reodthe torget number you hod written on the envelope. lt is 43.

You osk the Blonde womon to come up on stoge, so thot everyone con

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lDri-l{.ickssee whot she looks like. You osk her to open the envelope you hovebeen holding, ond reod the prediction thot wos seoled inside.It stotes, "The first person who chooses the torget number, will be owomon with blond hoir,"

You smile triumphontly, ond stoie you ore glod thot your first predictionwos correct, otherwise everyone would hove o hord time believing theprediction in the envelope thot you wrote out before orriving of theshow.

After o dromotic pouse, you osk for the envelope, remove the predictionond osk your ossistont to reod it,

It stotes, for exomple ,"Mole, Brown Hoir, FS".

Of course, he hos Brown Hoir, ond his nome is Fronk Smith.

OIBTHI)D: I guess this is o voriotion on the I oheod, but it 's o bit moreworped, ond more to my l ik ing.

The obove wos described using o Confobulotion Wollet.

On the top sheet of ihe pod, is your prediction thot stotes whot the per-son who picks your torget number in the first phose will look like. lt doesn'tmotier. since you don't reolly print o torget number on the envelopewhen you soy you will. All you print is, ' ihe torget number will be', ondleove o spoce in which to noilwrite. You just woit to heor whot number iscolled off by o person who comes close to your prediction description,ond write it in.

When the freely chosen ossistont is picked, you politely introduce him orher to the oudience, ond you now know their nome. Since you use opencil with o bit of glue on its point to serve os o stylus writer it won't writeon the top sheet. You write the description of your ossistont, but insteodof priniing on the top sheet, it impresses the info through the corbon po-per inside of the Confobulotion envelope. You then teor off the predic-tion they thought you just wrote out, ond hond it to the ossistont to seol inon envelope ond hold on to for o minute.

Put the pod owoy, ond bring out the envelope, exploining thot you hod

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lrsi-lliekswritfen this prediction before the show, ond thot it concerns him. Trodeenvelopes. The rest is history.

Of course, you could just hove on envelope, with corbon inside of it, ondo sheet of poper.

When you go to moke out your 'first" prediction, you use the envelope oso writing support. Since you hove the first prediction olreody wriften out,you directly stylus through to the inside of the envelope.

A TOUCH OF GLUE IS PUT ON THE TIP OF THE PENCIL,SO IT MAY SERVE AS A SWLUS WRIIER. THE WRITING

ACTUALLY GOES ONTO THE SECOND PAGE

Or:

You ore seen to be holding 2 envelopes. You write out the 1st prediction,ploce it into on envelope,ond hond it to the ossistont. You ore seen tobe holding onother seoled envelope, which you stote concerns thefreely chosen ossistont.

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lD*i-llickrYou hove 2 envelcpes set up for the flopless envelope switch. You hovefhe "first" prediction in the botiom envelope. This time you octuolly conwrite out in more deioil whot the ossistont looks |ike.......,.no stylus work.You put the ossistont prediction in the top envelope, but olthough it willlook like thot envelope, he octuolly gets the one with the "torget" num-ber, os he should.

Obviously, there ore mony other smoll voriotions on the theme you willcome up with. Just keep the concept in mind. ond you'll come up with owoy thot fits you style.

Of course. ony reolly good force could be used insteod of the noil writingmethod, but it is very deceptive, hos much oppeol for me, ond mokessense in this context.

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LOGIOAL HEADLITB I)IIBDIOTIOSBFFBOT: You stote thot you moiled o prediction thot will cover someevents in the news to o trusted person, He is brought up on stoge ondconfirms thot he hos the prediction ond thot NO ONE HAS TOUCHED lT lNANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM. You olso siote thot someone else wos to goond buy todoy's newspoper. You osk thot the person with the newspo-per come up on stoge. You osk both of them to verify thot they ore notocting os stooges etc.

You go on to exploin thot you hod o dreom obout some events thotwould be oppeoring in todoy's news, but since your don't hove controlover whot you dreom, sometimes your visions ore o bit odd. You go on tosiote thot you rorely dreom obout importont events. ln foct, you're glodthot you don't dreom obout things like oirplone croshes or othertrogedies, but insteod you ofien dreom obout weird ond unusuol hop-penings!

For exomple, you exploin thot you hod o dreom obout o mon who re-ceived o letter moiled 20 yeors ogo. You then open the poper ond showon orticle obout such on event. You then stote you olso dreomt obout omon who likes to collect gorboge cons, ond you olso show on orticleobout him. And then you olso tell of o dreom concerning o weight losprogrom thot involves someone only eoting sordines. Of course,youshow thot orticle olso.

You now hove the prediction envelope opened. All your predictions orecorrect!

(And the nice thing is thot you NEVER touch the prediction envelope of-ter it is given to the trustee. lf it is opened before the show, it willstill con-toin the some predictions.)IBTll|)D: This is o simplificotion of on old stondord by U. F. Gront. butl've mode it much eosier, opened the possibilities of humor, ond elimi-noted the problems of, 'if you knew this would hoppen, why didn't youdo onything obout it?"

Get o copy of the poper on the doy you ore going to moke out yourpredictions. Find three items, on different poges, thot you feel will ploy

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Pni-li.icknwell ond remove the poges thot these items ore on ond sove them.Moke sure thot there ore not ony other items on these poges thot willgive owoy when they were wriften, On the doy of the show, buy o po-per ond reploce the proper poges with the ones thot hove the orticlesyou hove predicted.

Now you use o subtlety invented by Dr. Joks. Before the show, go up tosomeone in the oudience ond stote, "l hod someone go out ond buy ihisnewspoper, bui they hod to leove, so could you pleose guord this po-per, ond when I osk for you to bring it on stoge, will you do so? Becouseof how this is phrosed, people will ossume HE HAD PERSONALLY BOUGHTTHE PAPER, but we know he didn't.

The rest is oll presentotionl

Even without the Dr. Joks technique, this ploys quite well, but it is o touchthot reolly helps hide the boldness of whot you ore doing.

Whot l like, is thot you reolly don't hove ony "dirfy" work to do. Nothing isswitched, ond everything oppeors totolly obove boord. lt's the presento-tion thot mokes it seems "logicol".

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$'ts s|)ttB FIIBB lsF|)llot^tTr|)tFFIIOT: You know personol informotion on people in your oudiencewithout ossistonts, impressions, or other stondord pre show techniques.

illBTlll)l): You let the oudience members give you personol informo-tion without knowing it.

You've oll seen those little boxes morked 'Win o new cor .,.......u , thothove o pod of teqr off slips thot ore to be filled out by those who wish towin o free prize. Get o hold of one of the boxes, (not hord to do - mosimerchonts don't give o domn obout them), or moke up one of yourown. Then moke up your own slips osking the stondord questions like:Nome Address, Phone Number, Income ronge, Hobbies etc. These ques-tions olone should give you some good informotion for o Q & A segmentin your oct.

Just ploce it in some innocent looking locotion os the people come in foryour show, ond then empty it out before you go on stoge.

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:

NAME:ADDRESS:

PROFESSION:HOBBIES:# OF CITILDREN

WIN A NEW CHEVY EXPLORER

JUST FILL OUTA FORMAND WIN!

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THIIID lDBllSOS lDSl'OHOtlTlll'Finding which of severol envelopes or contoiners hos o torget objeci hid-den in it is o time honored effect in Mentolism. l 've come up with o cou-ple of voriotions which I believe will oppeol to you, becouse of the trulyimpossible test conditions under which they ore conducted.

BFFBOT: A womon from the oudience is osked to come on stoge.You osk her if you moy use her neckloce for on experiment. Holding onenvelope,you qsk her for the neckloce ond OPENLY drop it into the en-velope ond seol it. Then you show four other envelopes, which you mixtogether with the one wiih the neckloce so thot she con't know which iswhich.

You loy out the mixed up envelopes in q line ond osk o second person tocome up on stoge. This person is to hold the womon's hond ond poss hisother hond over eoch of the envelopes, one of o time. He is to try ondsense which of the envelopes hos her item in it. When one is settled on,you pick up the rejected envelopes ond hond them to different oudi-ence members exploining thot they moy keep whotever is inside if theml

You osk the oudience members to open their envelopes ond see whot'sinside.

Eoch finds o Sl.00 bill, but no neckloce.

You then open the torget envelope ond dump out its contents into thewomon's honds. lt is her neckloce!

SIBTII|)D: Although the conditions ore exfremely cleon, the methodis one you've probobly used for yeors. .........o thumb tip.

The toughest port of the routine is spotting someone with o neckloce, orbrocelet etc., thot will fit into o thumb tip, which reolly isn't ollthot hordto do.

While she is toking off the neckloce, you open the envelope ond slidethe thumb tip inside of it. Holding the neckloce, it is on eosy motter tolower it into the thumb tip os you ore 'plocing it in the envelope'. The restis olmost oll presentotion. When you open the chosen envelope,stort to

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Irsi-l{.iekrreoch in with your thumb ond first finger (leoving the tip in ihe envelope),but pretend it's too deep in the envelope, so "decide' to just pour it outonto her honds. Cleon up while she disploys the neckloce,

This moy seem too simple. but look of how cleon, ond impossible thewhole procedure looks.

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ULTTt|ilTB IISYOHOOI TIIYI hope thot you like this voriotion. I must odmit, I chuckled to myself forquite o while ofter I first thought of this method!

BFFBOT: You osk o womon to come on stoge to porticipote in on ex-periment in Psychometry. You hond out four envelopes to be exomined,All ore thick ond opoque but ore perfectly normol. You turn your bockond she is to toke her neckloce ond seol it in ony one of the envelopesthot she wishes. C/ou REALLY don't know into which envelope she plocesthe neckloce.)The four envelopes ore mixed up by the lody so thot no one knowswhich envelope contoins the neckloce.

This is done with your bock turned to the oction. ou reolly don't seewhot is going on.)Without seeing whot is hoppening, you osk her to hold her hond obove,close to but not touching one of the envelopes, Then she is to move tothe next envelope, ond so on. You finolly decide thot her hond is overthe proper envelope, You osk her to remember which envelope herhond wos over.

You turn oround, ond come over to the envelopes, ond then osk herwhich one her hond wos over. You quickly squeeze the other three en-velopes, ond seemed pleosed thot they seem to be empty. With o sotis-fied look, you pick up the "torget'envelope, teor it open, ond dump outher necklocel

You hove her seol the neckloce in onother similor envelope. You explointhot this time, she will be the Psychic. You hove her stond off to the side,so she con't see whot is hoppening, os you mix up the envelopes, ondthen loy them out os before.

She ends up choosing on envelope ond, when she opens it, it is the onethot contoins the neckloce!

You hove her seol it in onother envelope, ond exploin thoi this time, thewhole oudience will be the Psychics.

RN

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Irri-lliekr

You mix up the envelopes, ond ogoin loy them out in o line. You osk theoudience to close their eyes, ond cleor their minds. You osk them to let onumber between I ond 4 come into their minds.

You find out which of the four possibilities wos the choice of the oudi-ence by hoving them roise their honds if they thought of 1 ,2, 3, or 4,

The envelope of thot position is opened, ond ogoin, it is the one thotcontoins the neckloce, which you return to its lovely owner.

IBTHOD: This method hos much thot oppeols to whot I l ike in Men-tolism. lt is reolly only suitoble for o lorge crowd, but it con be done underconditions thot seem totolly impossible.

Before the show,you go up to someone thot you feel will be eosy goingond interested in porticipoting in o psychic experiment. You exploin thotyou ore going to wont her to come up on stoge ond thot you will ot-tempt to try ond find on hidden object by use of your psychic powers.And if she will be so kind os to help, you hove o gift for her, thot she moykeep. You pull out o 'gold" neckloce ond osk her to weor it so thot it willpick up her 'vibrotions", You thonk her ond tell her to come up on stogewhen you osk.

Since the "gold" neckloce is octuolly costume jewelry,you hove on exoctduplicote looded in your thumb tip. (tf you con offord to give out reolgold, send some my woy!)Phose l. Since you hove o neckloce in your tip, you con choose whot-ever envelope you wish. When you "quickly squeeze" the non chosenenvelopes, you will discover:

A. Which non chosen envelope it is in.B. Thot you ore reolly psychic, ond you've picked the right envelope.

lf A, you then open the torget envelope, ond lood the tip, dumping outthe duplicote neckloce. Domn, mokes me chuckle!

lf B. Hove her open the envelope ond restroin yourself.

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lrni-llickrPhose 2. lf the obove wos A., when she reseols the duplicote neckloce ino morked envelope, now 2 envelopes hove o neckloce in them. This ol-lows you o killer mogicion's choice.

You mix the envelopes this time, so you know which envelopes hoveneckloces.

You exploin, for o beginner, o process of eliminotion often works best.

You pick up 2 envelopes, one empty, one with o neckloce, ond osk if -she thinks thot the neckloce is in one of these 2 envelopes. lf she soysyes, smile ond soy, "OK, now you'll hove to eliminote one, ond keepone."

Roise one envelope ond soy, this one, or (roising the second envelope)or this one. lf she picks the one with the neckloce smile ond soy, *OK,thot one gets eliminoted", ond eliminote the lower one.

lf she picks the empty one, you soy, "OK this is the one you wont to elimi-note", ond hond her the lower envelope to open.

lf she soid no to the first two envelopes, you just toss those two envelopesoside, ond pick up the remoining two, ond continue os obove"

lf in Phose one, you octuolly picked the envelope with the neckloce, thistime you just hove the lody stop you over onyone of the envelopes shewishes. You then open it, ond lood the neckloce. Of course, if she picksthe right one, go buy o lotto ticket ofter the show!

Phose 3. Agoin, there will most probobly be 2 envelopes with neckloces.When you mix them this time, you loy them out so thot they will be in the2, ond 3 positions.

lf osked to pick o number between I ond 4, most people will pick 3, ondo lot will pick 2......few will pick 'l or4. Since you've got o neckloce otboth positions you're well covered.

ln the rore occosions when the choices ore correct in phoses I ond 2,then just hove it in one of the middle positions, ond count from either theleft or right depending on the outcome you need.

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llri-l{iekrOf course, since you would still hove the looded tip on, you could olwoysodd on extro phose, for exomple, with o person from the oudience.

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BIEIIGBSOI' OIBSTALISTIThis is MUCH more then just on effect - it's o concept thot is exfremelyflexible ond, on o technicol level, extremely eosy to do. Even if you're to-tolly unprepored to perform, in o few minutes you con be reody to per-form on entire oct. Do lexoggerote?l?|2 Reod on... . . . .BFFBOT: A while before you ore to stort to perform, severol peoplehelp you hond out blonk pieces of cord boord (business cords, or blonkbusiness cord stock is perfect) to o lorge omount of people in the oudi-ence. On these cords they ore to write down severoltypes of informo-tion, You moy osk for things like iheir initiols, o simple drowing, o questionthey wish onswered, o number between I ond .|000, their fovorite food,or onything else thot fits in with your style of performing. After o few min-utes, you osk someone to collect, ond then mix up ollthe cords. Youthen toke the cords ond hond them to someone who con be trusted forsofe keeping.

When it comes time to perform, you osk for the cords to be brought upon stoge. You then ploce them on o toble.

Ohese ore merely EXAMPLES of whot you con do) You osk for someoneto pick up the top cord ond coll out the initiols. You osk thot person tostond up ond you hond them o book. You osk them to open the book tothe poge thot motches the number they hqd written down, You success-fully reod their mind.

OR

You toke o cord from the stock, ond reod off the person's selections. Youthen slowly wolk through the oudience, ond successfully find the personwho filled out the cord.

OR

You hond on envelope to someone ond then osk them to toke threecords off the top of the stock. The numbers on the three cords oreodded up. You then hove the envelope opened - you've predicted thetotolexoctly.

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You osk someone from the oudience to concentrote on the drowinothey mode. You successfully duplicote it.

OR

Hove enough informotion to do o Clossic Q & A oct.

AND MORE!

OIBTIIOD: As I soid before, on o TECHNICAL level, this is E)CIREMELYeosy, but it will toke o foir dose of performing sowy to moke it ploy.

Whot you need to perform this technique is o bunch of business cords, orblonk cord stock, or onything else comporoble, ond o scissors, orcord/poper cufter. Whot you ore going to moke is o modified stripperdeck with these cords, You're going to trim o bit off the long edge of ollbut l0 to 20 cords os in the il lusirotion. On the remoining 10 - 20 cords,you will trim the long edge on on ongle, like o stripper deck. Whendone, during the oction of o quick shuffle you con strip out these l0 - 20cords, ond get them to the top of the stock. You pencil mork, or noil nicketc. these l0 - 20 cords olo Pseudo Psychometry.

When it comes time to hond out the cords, you hond bunches to severolpeople to help you distribute them, but you retoin the STRIPPED MARKEDcords. You hond these out to people who you will be oble to remember,

When the cords ore collected,you give them o 'quick cut" ond strip thetorget cords to the iop. lt should look like you're just "fussing" with thecords. Then secretly polm off o few, ond then hond the rest of them tosomeone for sofe keeping.

When you excuse yourself to get reody (or the clossic, "where is yourwoshroom?"), you look of the cords ond decide whot informotion will bethe best. Think obout it, you now know the selections of l0 - 20 of SPE-CIFIC people in the oudience, without onyone being the wiser!

(For exomple, you see thot the third cord you honded out hos o pictureof o puppy. Since the cord wos morked ond you remember who you

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honded the third cord to, you con do o picture duplicotion.)

When you ore reody to perform, just polm the cords you hove studiedond ploced into on order you con remember, ond odd them to thesiock when they ore honded bock to you, Any technique for looding ofew cords to the top of o deck of cords could work just fine.

Another touch, if your oudience is lorge enough you con olso odd o fewof your own "ringer" cords. As long os you hove o couple of effects (i.e. Qond A) where you don't hove to identify the writer (l sense the questionon this cord is quite serious, so pleose don't identify yourself), this con bequite useful.

Also, if you ore coreful, you could hove o Morked Stripped cord on topof eoch of the "bunches" thot you've honded to others to help poss out.Remember who gets these, ond the method will be hidden thot muchmore.

It's hord to put into words just how flexible this technique is. All kinds ofsneoky techniques con be put to work here. Let your imoginotion go,ond l'm sure you'll come out with o lot of good uses for this.

NON. TARGET CARDSTRIMMED AS ABOVE

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TARGET CARDS TRIMMEDALA STRIPPER DECK

TARGET CARDS WAITINGTO BE STRIPPED OUT

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