L - BP2

'determine' the outcome. 'What car will you be driving James?' 'The Ferrari!' James giggled. Genuinely, he did. 'Excellent, so I'm sure on this trip of yours, you'd like to go sightseeing. Maybe visit some well known landmark or tourist attraction?' 'Where specifically comes to mind in New York City?' James thought for a moment before responding. 'Erm ••. The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building./ 'Good choices! Okay then - heads you'll go to the Statue of Liberty and tails, to the Empire State Building.' The coin was spun for a third and final timeo Jam es waited a little longer before finally bringing his hand down onto it. The coin was a heads and thus James now had his landmark in mindo At this point during the routine, we had gathered a crowd of friends and family who were in attendance at the wedding. For their sake, I recapped on what had happened explaining that we had built up a mental journey based on the spin of a coin. I asked James to tell the group the details of the journey. 'So right now, I have an imaginary trip planned. At the moment, I am heading to New York City, where I will hire a Red Ferrari and I'll drive to the Statue of Liberty.' 'These choices were completely random and determined by you, James?' As I said this, I gestured toward the table with my hand, imitating 'The Slap'. This gesture subtly reminded him that he chose when to intervene with the Tile Spi.n. Force coin spin and he and his bride immediately agreed that it was a completely random chance. 'James can you grab the envelope that I gaye you before you made any of these choices?' James picked the envelope up and held it out to mes I shook my head and shied backward, asking him to open it up himself and to show everyone the contents. When the envelope was opened, James took a look at it, his eyes widened and he covered his mouth with his free hand. A crowd gathered around him and when they saw what he was looking at, and murmured scream rippled across the group. Inside was a photograph - a photograph of James sat behind the wheel of a bright red Ferrari parked up outside the Statue of Liberty in New York City. That was the last effect I performed that evening and as I was leaving, James's Mother (who had booked me) followed me down the stairs and thanked me profuselye Since then, the family and their friends have booked me for several more events including another wedding and a handful of private parties. It's an ideal example of what can happen by taking a little bit of extra time to prepare something unique and personal. A final note as regards this presentation. There is a flaw that I am aware of and that is that the routine leans more towards a 'mental magic' piece as opposed to straight mentalism. Just what kind of skill as a mentalist would I be showcasing through the use of the coin spin in this way? Forced coincidence? I'm aware that this premise is not consistent with a piece of pure mentalism (unless you contrive to dress it up as a piece of precognition). However, in this particular case I felt that the pay off and the impact on the audience were worth it. It helps to be reminded sometimes that our audiences do not define what we do by any other term than wonderful, and as long as they are entertained

and have a memorable experience, we ought not to always feel constrained by self-imposed limitations. TR-e Spi.n, Force I was recently sat having lunch with my good friends Atlas Brookings & Laurence Hookway. I related this story to them and Laurence was quite taken aback with it. He emailed me a couple of weeks later with the following story: FISH CH P l R CE HOOK y Although I live in Florida, I'm originally from England and on a recent trip back home I met up with Looch and a shifty looking American chap by the name of Atlas Brookings at a nice English pub in Nottingham [Editor's Note - Atlas is, indeed, shifty looking]. It was a great afternoon and the tiny seed of the idea for this routine was planted at lunch. I remember that Atlas ordered 'Fish & Chips' which is a traditional English disho Oddly though, he didn't eat his chips and he gave them to Looch instead. This innocuous but curious exchange of chips from one plate to the other stuck with me and the importance of it will make more sense as you read one Later in the afternoon, one of the pieces Looch ·shared was the 'coin spin force'. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. It was such a simple idea that could be put to a multitude of uses. 0 0 lJ> Atlas's odd treatment of his 'Fish & Chips' at lunch and Looch's 'coin spin' Kl are the inspiration for what follows. On my return to Florida, our local club (The Tampa Bay Magic Club) was holding a special event - a 'Fool Us' night where performers were given the opportunity to perform an effect in an effort (almost always futile) to fool two very knowledgeable judgese I knew something using Looch's 'coin spin' would be perfect _for this but I wanted to lead the judges down the 'garden path' as it were, so that they

0 0 would completely overlook the deceptively simple method. Thinking about it, I eventually decided that I wanted to routine the effect to make the judges believe that I was either using a gimmicked coin, multiple outs, or doing a coin switch at some point. The most crucial thing was that I needed the judges to totally disregard the actual act of spinning the coin as being any possible part of the method. The most logical way to do that was to actually allow THEM spin the coin at some point in the routine. This is the routine I fooled them with. T You need a coin (which exhibits the properties needed for the Looch coin spin) and a single folded 'prediction' in your wallet, which reads •.. YoL-t UJ/!/ ta.fe a n/ce ( one-wq;) tr/? to En.:;/ and and stq; at BL-tcf/n.:;ham Pa/ace w/th her MC(;jesty the C/L-teen H UT 'This is going to be a bit tricky because Bob and Doctor John know all my stuffm well, almost all my stuff!' NOTE: The fact that Bob and Doctor John are the names of the judges previously mentioned is purely coincidental. 'As you can see, I've spared no expense this evening on my propse I have here Tile Spin. Force a British Pound coin ••. ' As you're saying this, remove the coin and hand it to one of the judges. 'And I also have a prediction of something that may - or may not - come true. We'll come back to that lateru. hopefully.' Remove the folded prediction from the wallet and briefly display it. Return the prediction to the wallet and set it aside. The mere sight of a wallet AND a prediction automatically makes magicians think 'multiple outs', which was my sinister intention. For a lay audience, I would merely set the folded prediction to one side and keep it plainly in view• 'I used to spend far too much time thinking and worrying about the major decisions I made in my life. It was very stressful. Nowadays though my life is simpler and pretty much stress free. When I need to make a BIG decision I simply spin a coin and allow Chance to randomly make the decision for me.' This wonderful opening premise for a routine is from Andy Nyman's 'Diceman' effect. Andy is a super inventive guy and I urge you to check it out 'Diceman' when you get the chance. 'For example, in the past when I haven't fooled Bob and Doctor John, I've become a bit violent, called them names and made a bit of a scene. Tonight though, I'll let the spin of a coin decide what I should do if I don't fool them.' A bit of tongue in cheek self-deprecating humor lightens the mood. I wanted the judges to believe that what they were about to see wasn't going to be a super serious piece of mentalism and that it probably wouldn't fool them. It was intended to make them relax a bit and lower their guard, which I think it did. 'Bob, spin the coin for me.' Allowing the participant to spin the coin implies that anyone c-an spin the coin when in truth it is the crux of the method. 0 0

0 0 'If I don't fool Bob and Doctor John then ... heads ... I'll go ballistic and cause a big scene. Tails ... I'll try my best to be polite.' Slam your own hand down on the coin and then play the outcome as lightheartedly as you wish. This initial inconsequential spin establishes the process that will follow without explicitly saying so. Someone spins the coin and someone else slams their hand down on the coin. That's what's going to be happening. When you subsequently spin the coin and the participant slams their hand down on the coin you've already set the parameters of the process as to who will be doing what. 'As you can see, having your decisions made for you is very liberating..' 'I recently returned from a vacation during which I let the spin of a coin decide everything for me, where I went, what I did, what I had for dinner, etc.' 'Let me show you what I mean.' 'Bob and Doctor John, I want you both to imagine that you're going on a trip to either New York or England, so heads will be New York ... tails will be ENGLAND.' Do Looch's coin spin with the intent of forcing Tails. 'Bob, slam your hand down on the coin for me.' Wait for the participant to slam their hand down on the coin .. 'Was it heads or tails? Tails it is ... congratulations! You're going on a trip to England ••. one way of course! See how easy this is?' Courtesy of Looch, you've just forced 'England'. 'When you get to England you could stay at BUCKINGHAM PALACE with the T~e Spi.n. Fore QUEEN or you could stay at MY HOUSE. Heads, you're staying at BUCKINGHAM PALACE ••. tails, you're staying at MY HOUSE.' Do Looch's coin spin again with the intent of forcing Headso 'Doctor John, slam your hand down on the coin for me.' With two participants it makes sense to bring the other participant into the fray. 'Is it heads or tails? Heads it is ••. so, the two of you will be staying at BUCKINGHAM PALACE with the QUEEN.' You've just forced 'Buckingham Palace'e 'From personal experience, I can tell you that the Queen is a fantastic hostess and an excellent cooke I want you to imagine that she's making you dinner. She can either make you HER FAVORITE DISH, which is Fish & Chips, or my favorite dish, Beans on Toast which is MUCH NICER.' 'Doctor John, can you spin the coin this time ••. Bob, slam your hand down as before.' 'Heads, you're having FISH & CHIPS •.. tails, you're having BEANS ON TOASTe' This is the sneaky bit which throws everyone off. By allowing one participant to spin the coin and the other to slam their hand down on the coin you're completely hands-off. Any thought that you might be manipulating the outcome of the coin spin in some way goes out the window. Laymen don't ordinarily think this way but because I was doing this effect for two magicians it was essential that I allowed them to actually spin the coin at some point. 'Tell us Bobu. is it heads or tails?' The downside of this approach is that this spin could legitimately be heads OR tails; it really is a random spin. 0 0

Because I wanted the judges to believe I was using multiple outs I couldn't use multiple outs to cover the two possible outcomes for the final spin. Instead I decided to make part of the prediction slightly ambiguous and used the script of the effect to disguise the ambiguity. Here's the ambiguous bit of the prediction again ... The Queen will prepare her favorite dish of Fish & Chips (Although Beans on Toast is much, much nicer) If the participant spins heads, then that is 'Fish & Chips'. This is the favored outcome because it is mentioned first in the prediction. Job done. 'Heads it is ••. that's Fish & Chips, which as I said is the Queens favorite dish ••. although Beans on Toast is much, much nicer.' When I actually performed this for the judges they spun Heads and ended up with 'Fish & Chips' which was perfect. Since that 'Fool Us' performance I've done the routine with participants that have obviously spun tails and ended up with 'Beans on Toast'e What happens then? 'Beans on Toast' is the slightly less favorable outcome because 'Fish & Chips' is mentioned first in the prediction. However, as you will see, the ambiguity of the prediction and the language used in the script means that this isn't an issue. Imagine that the spin had resulted in tails, which is 'Beans on Toast' .. 'Tails it is .... that's Beans on Toast.' 'Bob and Doctor John, are you BOTH happy with Beans on Toast? You can spin again if you like OR you can let the audience RANDOMLY decide what you're having for dinner. It's entirely up to you.' As I said at the start, I'm English and I happen to love 'Beans on Toast'., Tile Sp~n Force However living in Florida I've found that Americans in general have no idea of the culinary delight that is 'Beans on Toast'. To Americans the prospect of eating 'Beans on Toast' makes them somewhat queasy and they would much rather have 'Fish & Chips'. Giving the participants the opportunity to potentially switch from 'Beans on Toast' to 'Fish & Chips' is psychologically appealing. If they initially spin 'Beans on Toast' then the likelihood is that they will bite your hand off and switch to 'Fish & Chips'. By allowing the participants to let the audience decide between 'Beans & Toast' or 'Fish & Chips', it brings everyone else into the effect. With an audience of Americans, 'Fish & Chips' is virtually a given. This also makes the fact that you've been spinning a coin to create a random event seemingly inconsequential. By allowing the audience to potentially decide what is for dinner, you're implying that any means of creating a random event could have been used. The coin supposedly has been used because it's convenient - nothing more. I could have just given the participants a straight up choice of switching to 'Fish & Chips' if they wanted to. This isn't congruent though with the 'random' premise of the routine. If they can just choose 'Fish & Chips' rather than 'Beans on Toast' then why can't they just choose 'New York' or 'My House' for the previous choices? For that reason, the third spin needs to still have that element of randomness. If the participant initially spins 'Beans on Toast' and they choose not to spin again then that's okay ... 'Good ••. I was hoping you would both stick with 'Beans on Toast'. As I said it's MY FAVORITE DISH and much, much nicer.' If the participant spins 'Beans on Toast' and they do elect to spin again there is a 50/50 chance that they'll get 'Fish & Chips'. 'Bob, you spin the coin this time •.. Doctor John, slam your hand down on the

0 0 coin as before. Heads, you're having FISH & CHIPS ... tails, you're having BEANS ON TOASTo What did you get Doctor John, heads or tails?' If they choose to spin again and get heads, then that's perfecte 'Heads this time ... so that's FISH & CHIPS, which as I said is the Queen's favorite dish, although I would have liked BEANS ON TOAST because it's my favorite dish and much, much nicer.' If they choose to spin again and get tails, then that's still okay ... 'Tails again ... it looks like the two of you are definitely having Beans on Toast, which is fine by me; it's my favorite dish and much, much nicer.' If the participants opt to let the watching audience decide then ... 'Everyone, I want you all to imagine that you're in ENGLAND, staying at BUCKINGHAM PALACE and the QUEEN is very kindly making you dinner.' 'If you fancy BEANS ON TOAST for dinner, then on the count of three, shoutu. 'BEANS ON TOAST'e' 'If you'd like FISH & CHIPS instead, then on the count of three, shoutu. 'FISH & CHIPS'.' 'Fish & Chips' will almost certainly be the audience's choice, then .. 'It sounds like most people want FISH & CHIPS rather than BEANS ON TOAST, which is a shame because BEANS ON TOAST is my favorite dish and much, much If 'Beans on Toast' is the audience's choice, then ••. 'It sounds like most people definitely want Bob and Doctor John to have BEANS ON TOAST, which is fine by me because it's my favorite dish and much, much nicer.' Once all the choices have been made it's time to set things up verbally for Tile Spi.n., Force the final reveal. If the end result was 'Fish & Chips', them 'So by pure random chance you're both going on a one-way trip to ENGLAND to stay with the QUEEN at BUCKINGHAM PALACE and she's going to make you all her favorite dish of FISH & CHIPS for dinner; although 'Beans on Toast' is much, much nicer I have to say.' If the end result was 'Beans on Toast', them 'So by pure random chance you're both going on a one-way trip to ENGLAND to stay with the QUEEN at BUCKINGHAM PALACEe She's obviously having her favorite FISH & CHIPS, but she's going to make the two of you BEANS ON TOAST which is much, much nicer.' 'At the very start I mentioned that I had a prediction, it has been here the entire time.' At the 'Fool Us' show, I clumsily fiddled with the wallet thus making it look like the effect relied on multiple outs. In normal performance you don't need a wallet since there is only one physical prediction. With 'Fish & Chips', I typically ask one of the participants to read out the predictiono 'Bob, would you please open the prediction and in a clear voice please read aloud what it says.' With 'Beans on Toast' I tend to read out the prediction myself and allow the participants to see what I am readinge This allows me to control the phrasing of the reveal a:nd specifically emphasize the final line which says, 'although Beans on Toast is much, much nicer'. You can, if you like (as I have sometimes done), misread the last time by saying, 'although [YOUR] Beans on Toast is much, much nicer'e The inclusion of the word 'YOUR' drills home the fact that the participants are having 'Beans on Toast'. 0 0

0 0 .~ 0 The Queen will prepare her favorite dish of Fish & Chips (although Beans on Toast is much, much nicer) With 'Fish & Chips', the language used in the script and the ambiguous wording in the prediction makes it sound as if The Queen prepared 'Fish & Chips' for EVERYONE but it would have been nicer if the participants had ended up with 'Beans on Toast'. With 'Beans on Toast', the language used in the script and the ambiguous wording in the prediction makes it sound as if the Queen prepared 'Fish & Chips' for HERSELF (because it's HER FAVORITE) although the 'Beans on Toast' that the participants ended up with are much, much nicer. If you go back and read the script and prediction, you'll see what I mean. The way the prediction itself is written sounds 'interesting' and 'conversational', being a precis of what just occurred. 'England' and 'Buckingham Palace' are the first bits of the prediction and they are spot on, so when the reader gets to the 'Fish & Chips' and 'Beans on Toast' bit, they have to a certain extent already 'switched off' and decided that the prediction in its entirety is wholly accurate. The ambiguity in the last bit of the prediction becom.es psychologically 'invisible' to the reader. c G For lay audiences, I have the prediction pre-written on a card in my wallet and apparently write the prediction on the fly right at the very start. This gives the effect a more 'impromptu' feel and because the prediction is prewritten I don't have to worr-y about whether or not my writing is legible; it's also far quicker to fake write. Note also that the folded prediction can be left in plain view; you don't need to put it back in the wallet. I love taking a (golden) nugget of an idea (like Looch's coin spin) and building a routine around it with a very specific purpose and audience Tile Spi.h. Fore in mind (i.e. 'fooling' two extremely knowledgeable American magicians in front of an American audience). I use the fact that I'm a 'Brit' living in Florida performing for Americans to my advantage all the time. The 'psychological' force of 'Fish & Chips' and the English references in this particular routine (which are great conversation pieces) being prime examples of that. Obviously the three force elements (place, location, food) could be anything. If you're a Brit living in the USA, then you can probably use the routine as is. If not, then I hope you feel inspired having read this to build a routine that fits you as a performer and invent your own devious ambiguous predictions. Thank you, Lar, for a wonderful routine. I appreciate your contribution immensely! You are an utter genius of a man, a clever thinker, and a lovely guy. Those of us who are blessed to call him our friend know him as 'The Fixer'. If you have an idea that you want improving, send it Lar - he turns ideas into miracles. 0 0

E 10 'The trouble with predictions is that people are predictable - what I really want to do is predict the unpredictable.' The real beauty of the coin spin force is found in its impromptu nature. Wherever possible, try to borrow the coin you use, and always offer the participant the opportunity to use 'The Slap'. This combination is above suspicion and completely disarming. Here's one of my justifications for using a coin to make a truly random decision. The performer reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handful of small change: 'What fascinates me as a performer is the difficulty people have in making random decisions. These decisions are nearly always effected by outside influence. I just selected a pound coin from my change, was it a random choice? No, I just have a preference for it and always try to use pounds when I play this game.' The performer hands the £1 to the participant and instructs them to hold it and take both hands behind their back. 'Pass the coin from hand to hand whilst it's behind your back and, when you are ready, close both hands and bring them out in front of you. Don't give me any clue as to which hand contains the coin, but you must have it in one of them. Please don't drop it into your back pocket.' When I perform this particular routine, I use Hugo Shelley's Sixth Sense 2.5 - A fantastic little tool, which I definitely recommend and I am, of course, also using magnetic pound coin. I ask my participant to hold both hands up at chest height, momentarily Tl{ Spi.n Force bringing both their arms up with my hands and getting a reading with the Sixth Sense device at the same time. The script that follows is a typical example of how this plays: 'Are you right-handed or left-handed?' 'I'm right-handed.' 'I ask, because in the years that I've been doing this, I have found an overwhelming amount of people always place it in the hand they feel most comfortable using. For you, it's your right hand, so that's where I expect you to have put it - yes?' The participant opens their right hand to reveal the coino 'Excellent! Let's do this again. Place the coin behind your back and when you've hidden it in one of your hands, please bring both hands forwardw' The participant again places both hands behind their back and passes the coin from hand to hand before bringing both hands out again© 'The second time things are more interesting one, as in my experience, most people try to catch me out by keeping it in the same hand.' As I say the above, my hands come up toward theirs to adjust their hands and bring them ever so slightly wider apart. I receive my signal from the Sixth Sense device and ensure I maintain eye contact with the participant the entire time. If the participant has indeed kept the coin in the same hand, I will reveal that that is what I feel they will have done and ask for confirmationo If the participant hasn't kept it in the same hand, I continue with: 'But that's most people •.. I feel that you may have considered that option for

a few moments but then second-guessed yourself and realized it would be the obvious choice - and therefore this time you will have placed the coin in your opposite hand.' The participant cracks a smile and opens their hand revealing the coin. 'Now let's try this for the third and final time.' The coin is once more taken behind the participant's back, and they hide it and brings both hands out as before. 'This time, I'd like you to drop one hand down to your side and keep only one hand up. You take a moment to decide which hand you keep up: the one with the coin or the one without.' The participant drops one hand down by their side, the performer smiles and takes the hand that remains up right and continues; 'I love this part. Nearly every time I ask people to drop one hand down by their side, they go though a mild internal conflict. They first think about dropping the hand that contains the coin, but quickly realize that it is a defensive move that might be too obvious. So as a result they decide to do the opposite and keep the hand that contains the coin up right.' I take a look at the participant once more and smile, asking them to open their hand and reveal the coin in the up right hande At this point, a close up audience generally believes your demonstration is done - they will react and usually laugh, showing their appreciation at the demonstration° At this point you should interject and proceed into the 'real demonstration' .. 'I appreciate your enthusiasm, but truth be known, that was just a precursor .. I needed you to see that in order for me to make my pointa Behaviour - especially human behaviour - tends to be very predictable, and it's because of this fact that I have a job!' 'I've been playing that particular 'which hand' game for years, and find that a very, very high percentage of people make the same choices. They create a Tile Spin, Fore predictable pattern that once recognized, can be exploited by people like me.' 'Because some behavioral patterns can be predicted, I decided a few years ago to leave some things down to pure chance. Instead of asking you to decide on which hand to put it in, we will simply spin the coin on the table instead.' The coin is spun, using the force spin with the performer-taking note of which side it will eventually stope 'I would like you to choose the moment when the coin should stop spinning, just hold your hand over the coin and when you choose, bring it down stopping the coin in its tracks.' The participant takes a few seconds then brings his hand down, covering the coin. The performer turns his head away for the next part and instructs the person to play the 'coin in hand' game again, only this time, the orientation of the coin will dictate which hand the coin will be hidden in. 'OK, so now, instead of you deciding ••. rather predictably (wink) which hand to hide the pound in, we shall let chance decide. If the coin lands heads up, place it in your left fist. If it's tails up, then place it in your right hand. Hold both fists up as before and let me know when it's safe to turn my head back around.' Of course, you have just previously remembered which side the coin will land when you utilized the spin force and therefore you will now also know in which hand the participant will hide the coina Your presentation from this point on will have to change to suit the premise of genuinely reading the participant and trying to work out which hand the coin is ina You can repeat the game as many times as you wish, but I prefer to play three rounds in total, varying the reveals to avoid any monotony. When I perform this way, I really try to make the reveals as visual and interesting as possible. What works for me won't necessary work for you and vic~-versa, it comes with experience and practice in real performances.

Having said that, I'd like to give some examples of the types of revelations that I have used and experimented with over the years. M D HE N 'Okay, hold both fists out a little wider at about chest height. Focus on which hand contains the coin.' I bring my left hand up, with my index finger pointed upwards towards the sky as I slowly lower it down from their eye line towards to the hand that doesn't contain the coin. As I keep asking them to focus on the location of the coin, I quickly change direction of my finger and tap the correct hand, claiming that this is where the coin has been hidden .. This surprising reveal usually generates either a smile or a giggle from the participant as you've misled them from the start, causing them to believe that you were being Q.rawn to the wrong hand. R y 0 lTHIS TH lJ 'Please hold both fists tightly, but down at your side. In a moment I want you to bring just one fist up to chest height and say the words:' 'The coin is in this hand.' 'Good!' 'Now bring the other fist up to chest height, in line with your other hand and say the words:' 'The coin is in that hand.' 'Excellent!' Tile Spi.h- Force Once the participant has done this, there are two possible outcomes to plan for. As you already know which hand contains the coin, simply watch for whether the participant has called the fist hiding the coin 'This' or 'That' and proceed as outlined below. 'I've been clever here and used a bit of psychology. It was interesting to see which hand you assigned the value 'this' to, as the term 'this' actually denotes ownership, and people subconsciously tend to associate 'this' hand with the coin. You see, because it is in their hand, they will refer to something that is a part of them or in their possession as 'this'.' c 'I've been clever here and used a bit of psychologye It was interesting to see which hand you assigned the value 'this' to, as the term 'this' actually denotes ownership, and people subconsciously tend to associate 'this' hand with the coin. You see, because it is in their hand, they will refer to something that is a part of them or in their possession as 'this'. As a result the person holding the coin often intuitively feels this is the case, and as their intention is to deceive me, they end up changing their mind to try and catch me oute So everyone I try this with will therefore call the hand with the coin 'that' to try and make it seem less obviouse'

A RE AL THR p MJ 'Bring both fists out at chest height, just like you did in the previous game. Focus on which hand contains the coin but don't give me any clues, okay?' 'In a moment, I want you to drop just one arm down to your side. You can choose to drop the empty hand down, or you can do what most other people do in this situation and drop the hand down that actually contains the coin - almost as if the weight of guilt made it heavier. Take a few seconds now to decide which hand you will drop, and at the count of three, let one hand fall to your side. One, two, three.' As before, only one of two things can occur: H 'When I labeled the hand that contained the coin as the 'guilty one', you found yourself in something of a predicament. It felt more comfortable to drop the guilty hand, becam;;e it would be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind' and you could relax somewhat.' 'But because I said that, you felt it would almost be too obvious to drop the guilty hand and therefore you will have at this point forced yourself to have done the brave thing and kept the hand that contains the coin up here at chest height. Open your hand and show us the coin.' H 'By labeling the hand that contains the coin as the 'guilty one', you've found yourself in something of a predicament. It feels more comfortable to drop the guilty hand, because it would be a case of 'out of sight, out of mind' and you could relax somewhat/ Tile Spi.n. Force 'Having said that now, it would almost be too obvious to drop the guilty hand and therefore you will have, at this point, thought about bluffing me and dropping the empty hand - but right at the last minute you should have had doubts and reverted back to what felt comfortable and dropped the guilty hand. Open it and show us the coin.' VEAL OK!J This is a cute presentation that can generate laughter amongst the group if done right. Essentially, you will place the participant under slight tension by instructing them not to give you any clue as to which hand contains the coine By doing so, it apparently gives you an insight into which hand actually holds it. 'Bring both hands up into fists but don't give me any clue as to which one hides the coin. Take a deep breath in, hold it for a moment, and then let it out. At no point must you give me any indication as to which hand contains the coin. You must keep a poker face and give nothing away. In fact, don't even look at the hand that contains the coin, understand?' As soon as you say those words, the participant's face will tighten up slightly as they resist looking at either hande They have just been given the instruction not to look at the guilty hand, therefore by a process of elimination they won't look at the other hand because it will instantly tell you which hand is guilty. Their only real option is to look straight on. Continue with the following: 'The moment I asked you not to look at the hand with the coin in, your reaction was to tense up slightly and avoid looking anywhere in the vicinity of the guilty hand. As a result, your head flinched ever so slightly in the opposite direction, away from what I now believe is your guilty hand. The coin at this point, has to be in your right/left hand.'

I will usually choose from three of the above example reveals and mix up the performances to try and give an organic, almost 'off the cuff' presentation. I want to create the impression that I have many tools in my mental tool kit from which I can draw from depends on the circumstances. Once you have correctly revealed which hand contains the coin three times in a row, you can either bring the demonstration to a close or you can produce this kicker endingo CT G THE U At the start of this effect was a quote, I have included it below, and the quote signifies bringing this effect full circleo It is optional, and not needed, but sometimes is a lovely ending to an increasingly engaging and interesting demonstration. If you choose to include this ending, you will find the whole group will be often be discussing it when you leave them; 'The trouble with predictions is that people are predictable, what I really want to do is predict the unpredictable.' You are able to predict the outcome of the second coin in hand game because you are utilizing the spin force. If you predetermine how the three coin spins will fall, then why not have it written on the back of your business card and sealed in an envelope from the start? Some mentalists argue (and they do have a very valid point) that predicting an outcome - after you have supposedly read someone's thoughts - invalidates the whole process of mind readingo Why go to that level of apparently receiving signals from a participant, only to have apparently known all along what the thought or outcome was going to be? I agree wholeheartedly and have very little in way of a comeback in this discussion. T~e Spi.n Fore However, I do genuinely believe that there are rare instances when the lines are blurred in favour of something inexplicable. I believe that to 'predict the unpredictable', you are already blurring those lines between what is possible and what can only be described as a mystery0 At this point, I'd like to introduce another friend's thoughts on this chaptero Atlas Brookings uses the Spin Force for a unique and quite lovely effect. I'm positive you will love ito

'H TH UC Y T AL S N T S R OKI GS "It's lucky," he said, forcing the coin into my hand. It took up nearly half of my palm and felt cold against my soft handso I was six. "How do you know," I remember hearing my small voice askingo "It just is." He didn't want to tell me how he knew, but there was conviction in his voice when he said it. My grandfather passed away later that week. It was only as I grew older that I remembered the incident and talked with my grandmother about it. "Why did he think it was lucky?" She looked at me, I think. a bit pained by the sudden recall of the idiosyncrasies of a man that she loved and who was no longer there. And then her face softened and she smiled at me. "Well, your grandfather served in the armed forces. He was in Europe during World War II. Being faced with life and death situations on a daily basis made deeply superstitious men of them all. One of the men in his platoon went to see a fortune teller, and she told him that metal had a talismanic ability to hold good luck. She said that when people had lucky streaks, it was because they were unknowingly in possession of a coin that brought good fortune." "It was only when they spent that coin that their luck failed them. She told the young man that if he could spin a coin five times and correctly predict how it landed, that he ought not to spend it. It would protect him and guide his fortunes. This soldier returned and told your grandfather, and soon, Tile Spin, Force all the men were spinning their coins before they spent them." "So the coin he gave me - that was his lucky coin?" "Yes. He once told me that he'd spun it - not just five times, but ten. Every time, it landed the way he'd calledo He didn't know what the odds of that were, but he knew they weren't good. And yet, he'd done ito He'd beat the odds. He told me how he'd spun it that last time with trembling fingers, and when it landed the way he'd called, he just felt peace washing over him. It gave him confidence. He believed that coin would preserve him and so he kept a cool head in every situation he faced, and he came home to me - entirely unscathed." Now, I am a grown man, and I don't know really what to think about this. Every word of it is true - but I like to think that a man makes his own luck. But I also believe that there are things out there that we don't entirely understand. Is it possible that the coins that pass through our hands each day can bring us bouts of good fortune? I can only propose that we put this to the testa "Has anyone here felt particularly lucky lately?" "You have? Excellent. And do you have some change in your pocket? Perfect. Let's have a look at thesem" From here on in the presentation, you'd use the coin spin force that was outlined above to 'locate' a lucky coin. Now, every time I've performed this, there has been a pile of change on the table, and I take great pains to test a few coins before I get to the 'lucky' coin. This enhances the performance by building anticipation. By the time you are employing the coin spin and have got four correct calls in a row, the audience is on the edge of their seat. It also really sells the idea that there is nothing tricky going on. When I perform this, I am careful to seem curious about the process myself, and keep an air of detached :Lncredulity. b:I l;d 0 0 0 m

The first time I did this, I was making it up as I went and didn't know what to expect. The result was both shocking and gratifying. After the tenth spin, my participant, a burly construction worker, took up the coin and held it up to his friends. "I ain't never spending this," he declared in a broad Yorkshire accent. The way he said it, and the force of conviction in his voice was indescribable. I have no doubt that he still has that coin to this very daye Thank you Atlas, I absolutely love this routine, it's an enchanting, yet simple piece and - what's best - is that it is completely impromptu. Speak to someone, borrow some of their coins and potentially change their life forevere What more could you want?! Tl{e Spi.11- Force OTH R PPUCATI s T SPIN F CE The coin spin force has potential applications across many plots in mentalism and how you use it is up to you. Here are a couple of ideas to get your creative juices flowing - I have, at one point or another, experimented with all of them and still use one of the following in my close up performances. You might use the coin spin force; or a traditional three 'One .Ahead' routine In a Po1:1J.t.J.v•e/l\legat:lLve 1.-v,.11.llu.J.,u1.oe: the coin To AND R H The coin spin force isn't the only way to control the outcome of a coin tosse Included below are a selection of ideas that I have used in conjunction with genuinely flipping a coin into the air and catching it, yet still being able to determine the orientation of the coin.

HE ( OUCH E J There have been many ways to control a simple coin toss over the years;. 'Heads or Tails' by Gary Kosnitzky, and Jay Noblezada's 'Controlled Coin Flip' immediately come to mind. However the ability to genuinely flip a coin and determine its orientation upon landing has interested me immensely in recent years. As a result, I would like to teach you a move that I have been using. I have named this move the 'Teek', which is an amalgamation of the words 'touch' and 'peek'. You are essentially going to be peeking whether the coin will be heads or tails via a touch. Any coin is tossed high into the air. The coin is clearly seen to be spinning freely as it lands in the performer's hand. The hand is instantly closed and turned over into a fisto The performer has never once looked at the coin since it landed, yet they know with 100%' certainty how it landed. To execute the 'Teek' ·you will be taking advantage of a natural occurrence that happens when you flick a coin up into the air. Take a coin in your dominant hand and make the motion as if to flick it in the air, but don't actually release it. Instead, pay attention to what your hand and arm just did. More than likely, you will have positioned the coin with your thumb underneath it, ready to flick it as it leaves your hand. Your arm will have moved down slightly and then back up towards the air as you gained momentum. This time, repeat the process, but actually flip the coin high into the air. Pay attention to what you do as the coin comes back down as you catch it. Most people will find that their hands move up slightly to meet the coin as it falls, and then, as the coin nears them, their hand will begin to move back down again. Tile Spi..n. Force When the coin is caught, the downward momentum from the hand and arm is continued and even though the coin has been safely caught, the arm continues its downward trajectorya Typically, your hand and arm will be near waist level at the end of the catch. It is at this point that you will begin the 'Teek' procedure. To 'Teek' the coin, simply catch the coin along your four fingers and begin to rotate your wrist over to start closing your hand into a fiste Once the back of your hand is uppermost, your thumb gently rubs the face of the coin in an upward direction. The hand is then closed into a fist as it is brought back up to chest levele The act of sliding your thumb across the face of the coin will give you all the information you need to know to determine whether it is heads or tails. Each denomination of coin is slightly different because of the surface engravings. In the UK, we have the Queen's head on one side and something different on the other. The vast majority of the time, the side featuring Her Majesty is incredibly smooth while the reverse side is more textured - disproportionately soe You can use this fact to determine the orientation of most coins without lookinge You will have to experiment with different coins in your currency, but you will quickly learn to be able to tell the difference between heads and tails. It is very much a physical learning experience that you will have to play with, but I can assure you that it is INCREDIBLY easy to do. It is an extremely reliable method to have in your arsenal and is more than worthy of your time and experimentatione

T TRAP D OR P Now, undeniably, not every coin will work for the process described above. Some coins don't have much of a tactile difference between each side, and that can make a 'Teek' difficult to execute. In these instances, I would wholeheartedly recommend utilizing this wonderful peek. It is a visible peek of the coin that is covered within the natural motion of bringing your closed fist up towards the participant. I have called it the 'Trap Door Peek', because your curled fingers relax slightly and open just enough for you to glance at the coin to determine how it has landed. The 'Trap Door' is closed as soon as you have peeked the coin and, from the audience's perspective, the back of your fist covers the move from their views In execution, just like the 'Teek', it is important that you hide the peek within the natural motion of catching the coin. As outlined before, your hand will catch the coin and immediately close into a fist. Your arm will continue to move downward as you turn your wrist over so that the back of the hand is uppermost. Then, as your fist moves back up toward chest height, you relax the knuckles of your hand slightly, opening the 'trap door' and glimpsing the coin. This peek takes a fraction of a second to achieve and, if executed naturally, will never be suspected by your audience. T.f(, Spin, Fore T CLIP PEEK Some performance conditions don't lend themselves well to the execution of the Trap Door Peek. If you are performing in a dark venue or one with a lot of down-lighting, you will find that when you try to peek, it can sometimes be very dark because of the shadow cast by your hand. As a result I would recommend utilizing this wonderful move. I have dubbed it 'The Clip Peek'o When I was in my teens, I read JeB. Bobos 'Modern Coin Magic'. It quickly became one of my all -time favourite magic books. One of the routines I particularly enjoyed was on page 66 'Through the Hand' by Clyde Cairy. In it, the performer would place a coin in their hand and close their fingers around ite The hand was then turned over so that the palm was facing down and, under this cover, the fingers would secretly work the coin out of the hand until the fingertips held it. The coin was literally clipped by its very edge. The Clip Peek was born out of this move. Essentially, you toss the coin as you normally would. Close your fingers around it and turn your fist over. Under the cover of turning your fist, you will maneuver the coin so that it is clipped at its edge by your fingertips. The entire.fist blocks this action from sight, so, as long as nobody is directly behind you, the move is angle proof. Once clipped, you will find that you can easily peek the face of the coin. Once you have seen the coin's orientation, you will request your participant to hold their hand out, palm upward, and hover your closed fist above. Ask your participant whether they think the coin has landed heads or tails up. Depending on their answer, you are able to manipulate the coin so that it can show either side in your participant's hand. To do this, choose one of the following: their ensure the coin you

hniril!i!'U'll=!!'r .. you wanted the coin to show the op1:>os:1te you would use the coin's outer as a to rotate it i::Y..l!JO.L.'11.1...lf on the and the coin as you open your hand to 'release' it' When done correctly, it appears as if you merely opened your hand and let the coin drop into your participant's open palm. Tile Spi.;i, Force T IST T This is an old move that allows you to display the flipped coin as beingeither heads or tails. Upon catching the coin, and either Teeking it or Trap Door Peeking, you can display the coin either Heads up or Tails up by doing one of two things; and your 180 Upon first reading those two moves, it would appear that they both accomplish the same result, however if you take a coin in your hand now and try both out, you will quickly realize that the end result produces two different outcomes. The opening of the fingers whilst twisting the hand keeps the coin's orientation true to how it was sat in your closed hand. The wrist twist simply turns the coin over to the other side (the side you have just Teeked). It's just a simple case of secretly finding out which orientation the coin has landed beforehand and applying the relevant move.

t--1 0 ORCHESTR TION AN ID A BY ICHA URRAY Michael Murray has a wonderful variation of the Twist and Turn move, one that allows the participant to hold the coin when its orientation is revealed. Where possible, I always like to empower my audience members during my routines. What follows is a simple yet highly effective way of having the spectator discern which side a coin will end up on whilst being held in their own hands. I hasten to add that since this technique essentially forces the desired outcome, its scope for application is much wider than may first appear. Should you already have a method of controlling or discerning which side a coin is facing within a spectator's hands (electronic or otherwise) then you can use this to further control almost any 50/50 choice. Although I came up with this independently, it does appear that Patrick Redford also stumbled upon a very similar idea too. Fortunately, it seems that mine pipped his to the post - albeit by a very small margino A TION & HAN G To make this work, you must first be aware of the orientation of the coin in the spectator's hand. In the absence of any technical help, I offer the following solution to this problem: Ask to borrow a coin from your spectator. You then flip the coin into the air before catching it in your closed fiste You will now gesture for your spectator to hold out their hand, palm down. Once the spectator has done this, you will bring your closed fist parallel to their outstretched hand .. Tile Spi.n. Force You will now begin to open your hand into a palm up position. As you do this you will discreetly glimpse the orientation of the coin - a reverse The Trap Door peek. Your outstretched hand now presses the coin against the spectator's palm, as you instruct them to close their fist around it. Since you now know the orientation of this coin, you can control which side the spectator will see when they open their hand. This is achieved by quite simply guiding them HOW to open their hand. For ease of explanation, let's assume that the head side of the coin is presently in contact with the spectator's palm. We will now suggest to the spectator. "Many fortunes have been won and lost upon the simple toss of a coin. How would it feel if you were the creator of your own destiny, if you could see into the future and know with confidence how an event was about to unfold? "In a moment's time I am going to have you peek inside your hand. The question is, will you see a head or will it be a tail? Before you answer I would like you to think back to a time in your life when you felt most confident. "Perhaps a time where, despite the odds, it was your time to succeede Only when you have this thought in your mind do I want you to answer." Allow the spectator time to make their choice. Upon hearing their reply, you can now control the way they look at· the coin using one of two methods: To force the head side - the side which, in this example, is in contact with the spectator's palm - we will gesture for them to open their hand as described below. You will begin by mirroring your spectator's current position and holding your hand next to theirs in a closed fist. You will now raise your hand towards your face and then lower your fingers. Nod to them and ask them to H, 0

. p;q 0 'H have a look at the coine As the participant mimics your actions, the coin will now rest upon their fingertips with the heads side visiblee As soon as the spectator has glimpsed this, you can suggest, "Please show everyone else how successful you were." The spectator will extend their fingertips as their hand turns palm upe The desired outcome has been forced. To force the tail side, we will once again begin by mirroring the spectator's actions. However, we will now turn our closed fist palm up. We will now raise our empty fist towards our face whilst slightly opening the fingertips. In copying our actions, the spectator will - in this example - have been forced to look at the tails side of the coin. You can now ask the spectator to show everyone else how successful they have been. They will now open their fingers as they hold out their hand for everyone else to see. The simple steps required to bring this to a successful conclusion will not be questioned by the spectator as they have no idea that we know the orientation of the coin, and as each and every one of us naturally wants to be correct • Note: I should also point out that this technique was designed to be used only once for any given groupe Subsequent performance might lack consistency and would spoil the effect. Thanks Michael for allowing your thoughts to be included in this chapter, I really appreciate it. Tile Spi.n, Force COi F B l TIO U D D Now that you've had a full sermon on coin work, I thought I would save the best piece, in my opinion, for last. Since the original Coinfabulation performance at James's wedding, Atlas and I sat down at a pub and developed an interesting variant that we are sharing here. Inspired by Laurence's suggestion in 'Fish & Chips' of allowing the participant to spin the coin, we realized that a few small changes in the routine could make a big impact. Obviously not everyone will have access to photo editing software and be able to make the visual prediction I used with James. As a result I went onto eBay and searched for some old postcards for sale. I bought a range of postcards from different cities around the world. I would use one postcard per show and vary the outcome from show to showe As an example, I would write the following on the back of a NYC postcard and conceal it in an envelope, which was tabled at the start of the effect. We are having a great time in NYC! There is so much to see and do here. We visited the Empire State Building and had lunch in the State Grill & Bare I had the Hot Dog and a certain someone;-) had the Cheese Burger! I then begin the presentation described in Coinfabulation. In the course of the performance, it is very easy to be able to manipulate the discussion so that New York is named. I have literally introduced the effect by saying we are going to take an imaginary trip and request that people in the group name some famous big cities. A discussion is sparked and when your force city is named, all you need do is ensure that it becomes one of the two options before the coin spin. Don't worry about this, its very easy to do and once you perform it, you will quickly realize exactly what I meane

You execute the first two spins, forcing both New York City and the Empire State Buildingo At this point, mention that there is a new restaurant inside the Empire State Building, and as the building has recently been renovated and you would like to try it. The restaurant is known for its two classics - the Hot Dog and their world famous Cheese Burger. Hand the coin to the participant to spin for the third and last time, asking them to decide whether heads or tails will be the Hot Dog. Whichever option they determine, make it clear that whatever it lands will be what they will have at the restaurante The other choice will be yours. This is important because it introduces Deddy Corbuzier's 'Free Will' principle. You let the participant spin the coin. As Laurence suggested, it makes it seem as though this action is incidental and unimportant. Chance really is in control. Take another look at the prediction written above: We are having a great time in NYC! There is so much to see and do here. We visited the Empire State Building and had lunch in the State Grill & Bar. I had the Hot Dog and a certain someone;-) had the Cheese Burger! You have forced the outcome of the first three sentences. The last sentence is a multiple out. If, on this imaginary trip, the hot dog is assigned to you, you'll open and read the prediction while everyone else looks ono If, however, after the coin spin your participant is assigned the hot dog, you'll slide the envelope over to them and ask them to read the note on the postcard. The rules are very simple; whoever gets the Hot Dog has to read the prediction. Tit Spi.n Force

is so bold and brazen attend confession after itu .All you need are four pens, four index and the balls to T'lii"'S:~!l!.li'i!'l'it: the routine with utter conviction and confidenceu T ROU INE Four participants are invited on stage and seated side by side at a table. They are asked to think of something they could confess to, something personal or embarrassing that they wouldn't like to be made public knowledge. The performer categorically states from the outset that at no time will he embarrass anyone, nor will he publically reveal which confession belongs to which person. Each participant secretly writes their confession on an index card and places it writing side down in the middle of the t'able. "Since we are dealing with information of a sensitive nature, I will not reveal which confession belongs to which person, nor will I do anything to embarrass any of you; that is my promise. Instead, I will do this in a way that is completely confidential and guarantees your anonymity, whilst also proving to everyone that I was able to identify each of your confessions. You don't want people to know your confessions, so for the next few minutes try your best to keep a genuine poker face. Tony, please gather the confessions, keeping them writing side down so noone can see what they are. Give them a good mix for us - that way I can't possibly know which confession belongs to which person."

Tony gives the index cards a good mix and hands them writing side down to the performer who quickly looks through them. "Thanks Tony, let me see what we have. That's a good oneon that's different, never seen that one beforem umm, nastym now that's very funny." The performer hands the confessions (writing side down) to another participant to mix. "Gemma, we'll do this randomly so give the confessions another quick mix., When you are done, place them writing side down right here in the middle of the table." Gemma does as instructed an:d the performer takes the topmost index card from the pile. He reads it aloud: "Here we go ... the first confession. I once tried to put laxatives in my boss's coffee." The audience laughs, some of them paying special attention to the four participants in an effort to figure out which one of them would perpetrate such a heinous prank. "Tried? Only tried? Well, I think that's hilarious and I applaud whichever one of you that was. It's a shame you didn't follow through with it! Ha! Did I just say 'follow through'?" The audience laughs again and the participants are clearly trying not to giggle themselves. The performer folds the first index card in half (keeping hold of it) and addresses the four participants. "Remember, poker faces only. Try not to give anything away here. I promised I wouldn't publically embarrass anyone and I will uphold that promise. In a moment I'm going to ask the four of you to close your eyes., I will then walk behind you and SECRETLY TAP one of you on the back. The person I tap will be the person who I believe tried to put laxatives in their boss's coffee." The performer studies the participants for a few moments as if trying to decide who the guilty party is. "OK, close your eyes now." The participants close their eyes and the performer walks behind them apparently tapping each of them on the back. Walking back to the front he continues; "Open your eyes please. One of you just felt me tap you. That person is the person who I believe once thought about lacing their boss's coffee with laxatives! You know who you are. If I were to ask the person I just tapped if they did try to put laxatives in their boss's coffee, it would defeat the whole object of doing this confidentially. So insteadm on the count of threem I will ask the person who I just tapped to call out 'NOT GUILTY', if I was wrong and they DIDN'T try to put laxatives in their boss's coffee. Here we gom on the count of threeno lm 2m 3" The four participants remain silent. The performer has kept his promise and successfully identified who the first confession belongs to without embarrassing or revealing the guilty party. The performer encourages the audience to applaud and pockets the first confession. He picks up the second confession from the pile on the table and reads it aloud. "Second confessionu. Oh, and it's a good one! On my 18th birthday I was so drunk that I ended up getting arrested and I threw up on a police officer." The audience burst out laughing again. "Don't forget, maintain a poker face - especially the person who made their boss drink laxatives. I don't want you to give the audience any clue as to

your guilt. Your confidentiality is vital. This is a one in three shot now which makes it harder for the guilty party to hide. If you were the person who vomited on a police officer I want you to relive that incident in your mind over and over. Imagine how it made you feel - if indeed you were able to feel anything in your drunken stupor." The performer folds the second confession in half (keeping hold of it) and studies the participants carefully for a few moments, before instructing them to close their eyes once again. He walks behind them and secretly taps the person who he believes once vomited on a police officer. "That's good, open your eyes again. If the person who just felt me tap them WASN'T the person who once threw up all over a poor officer of the law, then on the count of three, and in a loud clear voice, please shout 'NOT GUILTY!' On the count of threeoee 1 ... 2 ... 3" Yet again there is no response from the four participants proving that the performer successfully identified the owner of the second confession. The audience applauds and the performer pockets the second confession. He picks up the third confession from the table. "Now this one is REALLY interesting ... I used to run a lotto syndicate at work. We won £160 one time but I didn't tell anyone and I kept the money for myself." The audience reacts with a resounding chorus of disapproval. "I think we've hit the jackpot with this one!" The crowd laughs at the pun but quickly settles down as this particular confession has piqued their interest. The performer studies the four participants being careful not to give away the two previous confessionals. "At this point this is a 50/50 shot because I already know which one of you tried to put laxatives in their boss's coffee as well as the drunken fiend that threw up on a police officer. The question is which one of the two of you that remain would have run off with the lottery winnings. The performer paces back and forth for a few moments studying each of the participants intently. "If you were the person who ripped off your lottery syndicate then in your mind think about what you did with your ill gotten gains. You may have had a very good reason for what you did - or at least that's what you like to tell yourself. All of you - close your eyes now." The performer walks behind the participants and secretly taps the person he believes stole money from their lotto syndicate. "Please open your eyeso If the person who just felt me tap them WASN'T the person who stole £160 from their lotto syndicate, then on the count of three, and in a loud voice, please shout out, 'NOT GUILTY!"' On the count of threem lm 2m 3" None of the four participants react indicating that the performer was correct yet again. The performer pockets the third confession. "Excellent. Since I've identified three of you, by a process of elim.ination the one person I haven't touchedou and you know who you areuo must own this last confession." The performer picks up the fourth and final confession from the tablee He looks at it intently for a few moments apparently lost in thought@ "Ummmm, this is a really strange onem I can't really read this one out. Suffice it to say that we all do things we regret and some of them are definitely best left unspoken. We all make

mistakes; the real crime though is when we end up repeating them and I have a feeling this is something you would never do again. I'm sure the guilt you felt when you did this was overwhelming - until you learned to embrace your sociopathic tendencieso Don't worry; your secret is safe with me. The performer folds the fourth confession in half and pockets ito "Obviously we want your confessions to remain a secret no matter what. So if anyone ever asks you what your confession was, do everyone here a favour and tell them a different one. Both I and the audience appreciate your trust and we'd like to thank you by giving you all a huge applause as you take your seats. Thank you!" HE THUD The pens are ungimmicked and the index cards are unmarked; no setup required. All you need are four index cards and four pens and you're good to go. The participants can freely select any pen or index card they wish. The traditional methods of knowing 'who' wrote 'what' are therefore eliminated because that's not the method at work here. You could certainly employ those methods to achieve a similar effect but the beauty of this routine lies in its simplicity and boldness. If you follow the scripting then 90% of the work is done for you. Part of the method is that when you read aloud the three confessions from the index cards you are in fact reading three fabricated confessions of your own that you have previously memorized. The three fabricated confessions I use are: "I once tried to put laxatives in my boss's coffee." It's funny, believable and breaks the icee Although we are dealing with private and potentially embarrassing confessions this first confession puts everyone at ease. "On my 18th birthday I was so drunk that I ended up getting arrested and I threw up on a police officer." Again, this is a funny one but also believable. It's the kind of thing that someone would confess to if they have been on a drunken night out. Who hasn't done that I wonder. The first two confessions get the audience in good spirits and engage their attention. "I used to run a lotto syndicate at work. We won £160 one time but I didn't tell anyone and I kept the money for myself." This confession is always third. It contrasts with the first two because it isn't quite as funny and it has a more serious unethical tone. The audience

should by now be fully invested in the routine and as a result when they hear this confession it never fails to get an automatic and very vocal response. The audience's response can vary between a synchronized "Arrrrrrr" or audible 'gasps', 'tuts' and the occasional 'boo'o Let's face it - stealing money from a lottery syndicate is a shitty thing to do. It is a jarring confession for someone to makeo There is one thing I should mention. When I look through the index cards at the start, if I notice a confession that's very similar in content to my fabricated confessions, I will use another fabricated confession instead. This rarely happens but I have a couple of backup confessions just in case .. The ones I currently use are: "I kicked a football and broke a neighbour's window but blamed my kid." "I woke up to use the bathroom late one night and accidently pee'd on the flooro I blamed the dog in the morning." Both are believable and humorous, you may of course substitute your own. Bear in mind that the confessions you use should be believable and easily accepted by the audience. In terms of presentation all you need to do is read out the three fabricated confessionso You don't necessarily need to read the fourth confession because from the audience's perspective that final confession must belong to the participant you have not touched. So, how does this all work? The truth of the matter is that you never actually touch any of the participants even though you claim to do so. This line of thinking was inspired by Luke Jermay's now classic 'Touching on Hoy' routine. Instead of secretly touching people without anyone knowing, you are doing the reverseo When you walk behind the four participants you openly mime touching all of themo The audience is led to believe that you touched one of them; in reality though you don't actually touch any of the participants .. This creates the impression that you could have tapped any one of the participantso By pretending to tap all of them the audience can't actually see who you actually tapped. The audience will believe (by implication) that you tapped one of the participants; they just don't know which one. Why will the audience believe that you tapped one of the participants? Because all four participants remain silent meaning that the confession you read out must belong to the person you presumably touched. Once you have read out the first three fabricated confessions (and apparently determined which of the participants each confession belongs to) all four participants will believe that the fourth unread confession belongs to them because they haven't been touchedo This is an idea I first read in 'The Assumption Swindle' by Jack Kent Tillar. For this reason you can't read out the fourth confessiono Each participant will be under the assumption that the fourth unread confession is theirs because they haven't been touchede Instead of reading out the fourth confession, you say: "Excellento Since I've identified three of you, by a process of elimination the one person I haven't toucheduo and you know who you areuo must own this last confession. This is a really strange onem I can't really read this one out. Suffice it to say that we all do things we regret and some of them are definitely best left unspoken. We all make mistakes; the real crime though is when we end up repeating them and I have a feeling this is something you would never do again. I'm sure the guilt you felt when you did this was overwhelming - until you learned to embrace your sociopathic tendencies. Don't worry; your secret is safe with me." By using this 'Barnumesque' statement (or one similar) and referring indirectly to the content of the fourth confession, each participant should believe that you are speaking about their confession, albeit in vague terms.

When delivering this statement you should walk in front of the participants and establish a fleeting moment of eye contact with each of them. This creates the impression in each participant's mind that you are speaking directly to them about their confession without making it obvious to the other participants. At the end each participant will be somewhat relieved that you don't actually read out their confession. They should each believe that the three confessions you read out belonged to the other three participantse It's the logical assumption to make. Without doubt the method here is unique and exceptionally boldo This isn't a pipedream effect - I've used it and it works beautifully. Although it seems very simple on paper success depends on being able to present the routine with conviction and confidence, especially when you are misreading the three confessions. For your bluff to work everyone must believe that what you are saying aloud as you read each confession is actually written verbatim on the index card. If you can do that then you can create a very powerful piece of deception. You may have noticed from tl;le script that just after I read each confession from an index card I fold the card in half and keep hold of ite There is a very good reason for this. During the course of the routine you will refer to each of the fabricated confessions from time to time. When you do this actually look at the folded index card in your hande Naturally gesture with the index card when you mention the confession presumably written on it. This bit of choreography subtly reinforces the assumption that the index card in your hand has the confession you are referring to written on it. Al R T The 'no-touch' method is not suitable in situations where members of the audience might be able to see the backs of the participants. I anticipate that some of you might be wary of using such a bold method in the first place. This alternate method does require you to make a gimmick, but I feel it strengthens the deceptiveness of the routine tremendously. Imagine thisou Arter the performer has read the first confession he very openly shows the audience (and the participants) four cards. Three of the cards have the word 'INNOCENT' clearly written on them, one of the cards has the word 'GUILTY'o "I'm going to give one of these cards to each of youm please don't look at your card just yet." The performer studies the cards in his hands, glancing every now and then at the participants. He hands a card (face down) to each of the participants. Three of the participants obviously have an 'INNOCENT' card; one of them has the 'GUILTY' card. At this point neither the participants nor the audience know what type of card the performer has given to them. The performer continues: "I know that ONE of you is guilty of trying to put laxatives in their boss's coffee. Also, using my keen deductive skills, combined with my genius level intellect and knowledge of high level mathematics, I therefore know that THREE of you are innocente I've just given three of you a card with the word 'INNOCENT' on it - one of you has the 'GUILTY' card. Quickly, and without letting anyone else see, take a sneaky peek at your cardo Don't say anythingeu don't let anyone know what card I just gave you." Each of the four participants takes a quick peek at their carde

"The three of you who I just gave an 'INNOCENT' card to, you can relax; you're off the hook for now. The person I gave the 'GUILTY' card to - and you know who you are - you are the person I believe once tried to put laxatives in their boss's coffee. If you have the 'GUILTY' card, and you DID INDEED try to put laxatives in your boss's coffee then please remain silent - it is vital that you maintain your anonymity. Your silence will signify your guilt and show I was right .. If however you have the 'GUILTY' card, and you DID NOT try to put laxatives in your boss's coffee, then on the count of three, and in a loud clear voice, I want you to shout out, 'NOT GUILTY'. On the count of threeuo one, two, three." The participants all remain silent therefore indicating that the person who the performer gave the 'GUILTY' card to was in fact the person who once tried to put laxatives in their boss's coffeee The performer collects the cards and performs the same procedure to identify the owners of the second and third confessionse Al NATE E OD Although you openly and fairly show three cards with the word 'INNOCENT' on them and one with the word 'GUILTY', the four participants are in fact each given a card with the word 'INNOCENT' on ite You start with five cards. Four with the word 'INNOCENT' written on them in black marker and enclosed in an oval, one with the word 'GUILTY' written on it in red marker, again enclosed in an oval. One of the 'INNOCENT' cards has a very thin magnet sandwiched inside it. In addition you need to construct a wafer thin steel gimmick in the shape of an oval which is slightly bigger than the oval on the 'INNOCENT' cards. On one side of this gimmick stick some card which is the same cardstock as used for the 'INNOCENT' cards. On the other side stick a thin piece of skin tone paper. The best place to get skin tone paper is from a magazine. Find a picture in a magazine that has an area of skin on it and simply cut it to the size of your gimmicke The gimmick will stick easily to the 'INNOCENT' card which has the magnet hidden in it, effectively covering the word 'INNOCENT' with the word 'GUILTY'. Even from a short distance the gimmick is. imperceptiblee Start with the ungimmicked 'GUILTY' card in your jacket pocket. I will come back to that card later since it is used for cleanup. The four 'INNOCENT' cards (with the 'GUILTY' gimmick stuck to one of them) are in another pocket or somewhere else easily accessible. During performance, when you show the four cards to the audience, you can display them cleanly and openly. You can easily steal off the gimmick at any time, retaining it in finger palm. The flesh tone paper on the reverse side of the gimmick minimizes any risk of flashing. Having stolen the gimmick away you can hand out the cards to the four participants. The audience naturally believe that one of the participants has the 'GUILTY' card. Each participant receives an 'INNOCENT' card and

therefore believes that one of the other participants must have the 'GUILTY' card. When you take the cards back from the participants it is a simple matter to load the gimmick back in place onto the 'INNOCENT' card which has the magnet .. When you do the next confession you will naturally look at the cards in your hand which gives you ample opportunity to align the 'GUILTY' gimmick back in place so that it covers the word 'INNOCENT'. You can then casually show the 'GUILTY' card once more as you are talking, thus reinforcing the belief that everything is as it should be. I handle the third confession a little differently. I read the confession as usual, hand out the cards, ask the participants to peek at their cards but then I immediately collect them again. For the first two confessions I collect the cards after the reveal, not before. Arter I have taken the cards back and as I am talking I casually drop them in my jacket pocket, ditching the gimmick in the process. Later, at the very moment of the third reveal when everyone will be watching the participants to see if one of them shouts out 'NOT GUILTY', I retrieve the ungimmicked 'GUILTY' card and the three 'INNOCENT' cards from my pocket. This goes completely unnoticed since everyone's attention is on the participants. I'm now squeaky clean. Arter the third reveal (in the lead up to the end of the routine) I typically say: "Since I've identified three of you, by a process of elimination the one person who I didn't give the 'GUILTY' card tom and you know who you are ... must own this last confession.'' As I am saying this I openly and casually gesture with the 'GUILTY' cardo This reinforces the assumption that three of the participants have received the 'GUILTY' card, presumably the very same 'GUILTY' card that is my hand and everyone can see. I then toss the four cards on the table since I am now done with theme They're just cards with writing on them and there is nothing to see. I have tinkered with various handling for the cards and no doubt you'll come up with your own. The benefit of using the 'INNOCENT' and 'GUILTY' cards is that it makes the process easier for the audience to follow along. I believe it also makes the effect more deceptive and harder to backtrack. Think about it for a moment. You read a confession and give the person who you believe wrote the confession the 'GUILTY' card so that they can retain their anonymity. It's very open and straightforward. The potential downside is that you are introducing a prop (i.ee the 'INNOCENT' and 'GUILTY' cards) into the routine. That's not a concern for me because I don't believe the cards are out of place in the routine. For all intents and purposes they are merely cards with words on them. Their inclusion is congruent with the overall premise of the routine (i.e. guilt and innocence) and they are obviously a logical and expedient way for me to anonymously assign guilt or innocence to the participants. I think the audience understand that and as a result they assign no significance to the cards other that their stated and obvious purpose. I've never been questioned on them.

Cl SI This is an unusual routine because it lacks the traditional type of reveal we are used to seeing insofar as nothing is written down of spoken. I like to think of this routine as employing an 'Anti -Reveal' because the silence and lack of reaction from the participants serves as confirmation that you were correct. I have dubbed this 'Anti -Reveal'm TH 0 CON IR TION CON IR Tl PRINCIPL I would also like to give a nod of appreciation to EMMA (East Midlands Mentalism Association) and its members for helping with the scripting for the final part of this routine. The psychological clean up of requesting the participants to tell a different confession if pushed to reveal their confession really is a lovely bit of business. It is a line that will take the heat off and help scupper any reverse engineering of the real method.

Tracl<,er This next is a recent I have exne:rune11te1d with many 'Jazz' eft'ecte over the years, and this one encompasses the Wl.i:a •ln-P~ ~v Of these 81)10r()80ihe1S11 pSc.l~Qit:l?lLg them into S Structured routine. This is easy to follow and ~e11er·stE~s response from your audiences. Tracker is an open prediction (or closed prediction if you would rather not show your.prediction until the end) that uses a borrowed, shuffled deck that is completely impromptuo It is perfect for those moments when you've been handed a deck of cards with the request to "do something". TH The performer is handed a scruffy old deck of cards and challenged to do something incredible with it. Without even looking through the deck, the performer accepts the impromptu challenge. The cards are tabled and the performer writes the following onto a nearby napkin: 'You will choose the King of Diamonds'. The napkin is laid off face up to one side in full view. The performer looks at the person who challenged him and begins: "You made the challenge, so you are in control. Throughout this whole process, you will call the shots and make every choiceo" "Firstly, please reach forward and cut the cards into two equal· piles."

The participant does so creating two equal piles on the tableo "Perfect, now please select a pile for yourself and a pile for me. Just push one towards me and pull one towards yourself." A pile is pushed forward to towards the performer who picks it up and requests that the participant does the same with their selected pile. "I would like to do this in synchronicity with each other, I'd like you to deal one card at a time into a pile on to the table. We should deal at the exact same rate of speed and I'd like you to choose the moment that we stop dealing cards - okay?" Both the performer and participant deal a number of cards one at a time and in perfect sync with each other. After a dozen cards, the participant indicates that they would like to stop dealings "You'd like to stop there? Fair enough. The cards we didn't deal we will place off to one side - they won't be needed anymore." These cards are placed off to the side and the performer gestures toward the piles of cards dealt down onto the table, picking his up and indicating that the participant should do the same with theirs. "We will deal through once again. I'll follow your lead, dealing in sync with you, but this time, the cards we deal will be eliminated. Okay?" Both the performer and participant deal a second number of cards, one at a time and in perfect sync with each other. After seven cards, the participant indicates again that they would like to stop dealing. The dealt cards are eliminated and placed on top of the already discarded pile. "So far, you have decided on which and how many cards to eliminate. With the cards left in your hand, deal out in a row in the same direction as mine." Both the performer and participant deal their remaining cards out into two rows, both starting at the same side and moving in the same direction. Tra.c.l<,er Two rows of five cards are dealt outo "Place your left hand out and hover it over the last card dealt in your row. I will place my right hand out over my last card too. You begin to move your hand back and forth over your row of cards and I'll follow you." "You choose the moment in which you want to stops" The participant moves his hand slowly back and forth over his row of cards a few times before stopping at the half way point in his row. The performer stops at the same point in his row and he instructs the participant to lower their hand down onto the card and swipe it, along with the cards to the left, away into the discarded pile. There are two cards left in each row and the performer requests the participant to push either card from their row into the corresponding card in his row. The participant does and the untouched cards are discardedo At this point only two cards remain; all have been eliminated in a very fair waye "You have made a series of decisions, I'm sure you will agree, you have called the shots each time." "For the final decision I would like you to just push either card towards me." The participant takes a few moments to decide and finally settles on her choice, pushing one of the cards towards the performer, who asks her if she is 100% sure. The participant is and the card that wasn't pushed is discarded with the resto A single card remains, and up until now, all cards have been face down throughout the entirety of this proceduree The performer looks over at the napkin that he wrote the prediction on at the start, picks it up and reads:

"You will choose the King of Diamonds ... " He nods at the participant to suggest that she turn the card over to reveal its identity. To her complete shock, and that of everyone watching, it is the King of Diamonds! Traci<, r HE THOD Before we get into the specifics, I'd like to point out that you have the option to perform this piece in a variety of different ways to suit your persona. You can perform it in an 'Open Prediction' style, exactly as described above. You may, however, decide to write a closed prediction and fold it up, leaving it in plain view the entire time. I'd recommend you trying it both ways before deciding which approach you and your audiences prefer. The method is simple, and can be broken down into three sections. You will be doing the following; The first thing to remember, however, is that at all times the deck is face down, so you will need to keep focus throughout in order to track the location of the card. Before we get to the tracking and equivoque, let's start with how we know which card to track. H C D When the deck is first handed to you, you will need to secretly peek the very top carda Please avoid looking through the deck openly, the strength of this effect is based on the belief that you never look at the order of the cards and they remain face down the entire timee

TH TU I use a turnover style peek that I learned years ago. The origin of this peek is unknown to me, but I'm sure many ofyou will already be familiar with it, as it has appeared in print in many guises over the years. Holding the deck in your left hand with your fingers along the right long edge and thumb around the top left corner. Twist your wrist over so that the deck is turned over and simultaneously apply slight pressure with your fingers to push out the top card approximately lOmm. As the card is jogged slightly, you will be able peek the corner index. The peek takes place as you take the deck with your right hand in a Biddle Grip. Once the deck is held with your right hand, it automatically aligns the top card back with the rest of the deck, which is turned face down and tabled. The peek from start to finish takes roughly a second to execute. TracK,er T If you are uncomfortable with the Turnover Peek, you can use the Riffle Peek instead. You know that annoying thing that card magicians do every time they have a deck in their hands? Riffling the corner of the deck seems to be a little flourish that they simply must indulge in before they can relinquish the deck from their hands. Well you can now also do this, but actually get something useful out of it by riffling up the top few cards and catching a glimpse of the very top card. It takes a few attempts to get the timing right, but with practice you can catch a very quick but clear peeke

0 OR SE Once you have secretly peeked the top card and tabled the deck, you will now write out your prediction, and how you proceed depends on whether you are performing this as an open prediction effect, or a closed prediction. With this routine being best suited for those times when someone hands you a deck and asks you to do something, I feel that from an aesthetic perspective, the routine should appear as if you are making it up on the spoto As a result, I would recommend writing your prediction down on anything nearby - be it a napkin, a receipt or even on the back of your participants hand, the focus should be on the impromptu and 'on the spot' nature of what is about to occur. Experience has shown that performing this openly makes the audience more than aware that you are reducing the cards from many down to just one. It becomes an obvious (although seemingly impossible) conclusion, building tension as they begin to anticipate the moment. When that tension is released, the moment is extremely gratifying, but the compromise for that reaction is that the element of surprise has been lost. Performing 'Tracker' in a closed prediction format draws the attention way from the prediction and the audience focus is instead placed on your interaction with your participant, with many onlookers temporarily forgetting your prediction until you reference it again near the end. The element of surprise here is strong, and definitely recommended. TR C T c D Since you are tracking the very top card of the deck, it will only ever be in one of two locations, either in your pile or your participant's pile. When your participant cuts the deck, watch for which half has the top card of the deck. When the participant selects who keeps which stack, simply keep track of that pile. Tro.c.l<,er After the first dealing procedure, the tracked card will be at the bottom of one of the dealt piles, remind yourself in which pile it currently sits and have the remainder of the deck discarded. During the second dealing procedure, the cards dealt are actually discarded. This serves three purposes: it retains the tracked ca.rd in the with the exact same number or cards in their hands11 And .u:;w;~~1r111 it ... ,, ..... .ii. ...... re1:>e't,11i:l~on and it ma.::1.nta:u1s the ettect's mo1111.en1tum and it ... ...,,.111 _,._,L .... forward. H QUI DQUE It's worth making a mental note that upon completion of the two dealing processes, you and your participant will deal both remaining piles of cards out into two horizontal rows. Both rows will be dealt from left to right (from the performers point of view). The tracked card will always be the furthest to the right in one of those two piles (last card dealt)o From this stage onwards, you will be using equivoque to narrow the remaining cards down to just the one you've been tracking. What follows are the different possible outcomes you could find yourself faced with at this point in the routine. The illustrations shown are from an example deal with five cards in each row, however the approach used is applicable to each other following row numbers unless otherwise stated.

T c TH If only two cards are left in each row, simply ask the participant to push one of their cards forward into the corresponding card in the performer's row· Two outcomes can occur - either the participant pushes a random card and the tracked card together, or two random cards are pushed together. No other outcome is possible. If a random card and the tracked card are pushed together, these are kept and the other cards are swiped away towards the discarded pile. If two random cards are pushed together, then simply swipe these away toward the discarded pi.le. Tracl<,er TH C R THE 0 If three cards are left in each row, then you follow this simple proceduree Three outcomes can occur, but all feel natural and instinctive. Have your participant hold their hand out with their palm facing down and hover it over the last card dealt (far right from performer's point of view)o Instruct them to move their hand back and forth over their row of cards and stop at any point that feels right to them. Explain that you will "be guided by their actions", which in this case is a rather ambiguous statement and serves as a 'verbal multiple out', depending on where they choose to stop. If card hand cards have on their far to you hold your hand your far of action. Place your tic~ip1mt does the :re1na:i1.DJ.ni:t cards are e,,CLmji.ne:tec1.

on the middle same, then your hand down onto the card and it away toward the '-''--'-"'''-'..._'"-u with the card to its left your pen:-spiect.:1.vE~J, You are now left with two cards and can continue to the next section. on the card your 'verbal wu.1.'18.ll.JJ.11.v;;;; come What you do de1oe:r:1ds card. In the :first :Ln1stacnc1e111 .ll.JW.Qfl;..11..\JL..., in your mirrored their u.~q,..1.e•.1.uJu.~ All the other cards are discarded and you can nr1om:~ecr to the next section • ..-: ... ,,..K>' ... Y: card in the you will eliminate their choice at your far This leaves you four cards on the table. At this any of the mirrored and ask them to two up the two incW:re1reI1tt cards to1zet~he:r111 discard both. Traci<, r MOR TH THR CAR IN A RO The vast majority of times that you will perform this effect, you will find that will normally have two, three, or four cards dealt into each row• However, for those times when more cards are dealt into a row, there are a handful of approaches that you need to learn in order to proceed onto the next section. The golden rule is you need to follow is: Eliminate as many cards as possible in one move. the row, your

three cards in each will remain this hai:Yoe1tis n:roceed to the 'Three Cards In Each Row' oe:";",J.""·u• The -""''1 -- 11 - of the left with either one or two cards. THE S T N you will be Two cards remain, the tracked card and a random one. If you wish, you can request the participant to mix the cards up on the table, but be sure to once again keep track of the target card. Hold out your palm and simply request that one card be handed to you .. Regardless of which card the participant hands you, always give them the opportunity to change their mind. Most of the time they won't, but if they feel they had the choice, it adds an extra layer of deception to the routine. On those instances where they do change their mind, it feels stronger in that they will think that they have succumbed to your powers of influence. Regardless of whether the participant changes their mind or not at this point, the important thing is acting natural throughout. If the force card is handed to you, casually swipe away the remaining tabled card. If the random card is handed to you, casually drop it onto the discarded pile and Trac/(,er focus on the one remaining card that has been face down the entire time. You can then move on to your reveal.

/here /s, Sar;;;r/S/h:/Y> a. wedd/n::; VehLte ba/lt /hs/de the ./'ore.St too, where C-oa;;;les C-a.h 3et Marr/ed a.11d the eVeh/h3 C-ereMohlj C-a.h oC-C-Ltr. I wa.S boofed .f'or MY l?rst ;;;er.f'orMMC-e there /h 201'-/ a.11d to be hoheSt d/dh 't really Khow what to e><J?eC-t. I arr/ved at the ehtra.11C-e to the .f'oreSt where I ha.d to ehdLtre a. Ser/es o.f' SeC-ar/ty C-hec:_,fs 0; ;;;eo;;;le who d/dh 't really /hst// Me w/th C-o.h-h2dehC-e /h re3ards to 1 SeC-Ltr/ty '. >7"e C-hec:_fed MY tyres a.11d a.sfed Me MY ha.Me, C-oM;;;letely M/ss/n::; the a.ssa.alt r/-f! e oh the ba.C-K Seat. 4.f'ter a. .f'ew M/hates o.f' wa/t/n::; .f'or a. SeC-ar/ty barr/er to r/se, I wa.s a.I/owed /hto the re.Sort. I toof a. slow dr/ve aroLthd the tw/sts a.11d tLtrhS a.11d eVehtaal!y .f'oLthd fr1YSel.f' /h .f'roht o.f' a. teh .f'oot h;jh woodeh 3ate. It wa.S ah a.atoMat/c:_ 3ate that SehSed wheh a. Veh/c/ e wa.S there a.11d /t slowly sl/d o;;;eh. I ;;;roC-eeded throa3h /hto what Of??eared to be a. c:_af ?arK .f'or sta..f'I; ;;;a/led LI? a.17d 3ot oat. No ohe wa.S aroLthd, bat I c:_oa/d hear the .f'a./ht SoLthdS o.f' ;;;ots a.11d J?MS beeh LtSed by the C-ater/n:J sta..f'.f' a.11d So headed /h that d/rec:_t/oh ho;;;/n:J to i?hd the eVeht J?la.hher or SoMe s/3hS o.f' a. wedd/n::; ;;;arty. I wa.S qp;;;rox/Mately 30 M/hates early, So wa.11ted -to ta.Ke a. ?eef at the ;;;er.f'orMMC-e area. I ha.d beeh boofed to M/n::;le /h.

It was a lm-3e rooM w/th a .st°!Je at the .f'rod, a baJ- at th~ rem- a.11d a.11 /nil arable .Sect/oh be/h:J bu/It /h the Corher .f'or a 1 Bucf/h,3 BrohCo '. I ordered a leMohade Calwa;.s order a elem- dr/hf ,.h case you acddedally sr'I/ /t Oh your sh/rt) a.11d had a waif O}'OUhd the rooM. A.f'ter 20 M/hute.s or so, 3ue.st.s .stm-ted to m-r/Ve /h the rooM a.11d I Made MY wa; to ohe o.f'the Corher.S /h ,Pre,Pm-at/oh. Each 3ue.st was ushered /hto a bacfdro,P a.11d had the/r ,Photo tafeh be.f'ore they were allowed to the baJ-, a.11d .S/hCe Mo.St were head/h:J .f'or a dr/hf str01jht awa;, I thou3ht /t was the /deal ,Place to be3/h. /he 3ue.st.s were .f'r/ehdly a.11d ,Pol/te a.11d very re.:5,Poh.S/Ve. I /htroduced My.Sel.f' to a 3roU,P who were /h the/r tweht/e.s a.11d stm-ted chatt/h:J w/th theM. Ohe o.f' the 3uy.s told Me he was a l>J, .So I a.sfed h/M /.f' I could ,Per.f'orM .SoMeth/11.:J .f'or h/M based m-ouhd h/.s love o.f' MU.:5/c. I asfed h/M to v/.sual/.se h/M.Se/.f' ,P/o//h:J /ha b1j club, .Stood there /h .f'roht o.f'the Crowd Md beh/hd h/.s turhtable.S. I wMted h/M to /M°!J/he .fl/cf/h,3 throu3h h/.s record bo)( OJ?d dedd/h:J oh ohe record that would be a sure lire h/t w/th the Crowd. #e d/d th/.s a.11d a.f'ter a .f'ew MOMeht.S beCC(Me fU/te e)(c/ted Md a.11/Maied: "Yeah/ Yeah, I've 3ot ohef It's ohe o.f' MY ab.Solute .f'avour/te tracf.s. ·· I a.sfed h/M to .Secretly wr/te dowh the m-t/.st a.11d tracf hC</Yle wh/ch I ,Peef ed a .f'ew MOMeht.S I at er as he was /h.Structed to v/.sual/.se h/M.Sel.f' reMoV/11.:J that record .f'roM /ts sleeve Md ,Plac/h:J /t ohto the ,Platier o.f' the turhtable Md cue/h:J /t U,P w/th the head,Phohe.:5. #e told Me: "You woh 't fhow th/.s tracf, /t wa.Sh 't /h the chm-ts or a.n;ih/11.:J //fe that.'' F i.e./ d "Ile.port I was .SUr,Pr/.sed wheh I ,Peefed the wr/tteh /h-l'orMat/oh a.11d actually fhew the tracf Very well. It was Mob.Scare 1 :Juh:Jle' tracf .f'roM the 1qqo '.s that I was a hu3e .f'a.11 o.f' at the t/Me. I actually had /t oh MY /Phohe a.11d I could have ,Pulled out o.f' MY ,PoCfet a.11d ,Pla;ed /t there a.11d theh, bur /h.Stead dec/ded to do .SoMeth/11.:J I'd heVer dohe /h Mehtal/.SM be.f'ore. Grow/11.:J U,P as a teeh°!)er I was heav/ly /J?Volved /h J>:J-/11.:J a.11d the I t/K R' ave \ .SCehe. Mu.s/c was a Ma.S.s/ve ,Pm-t o.f' MY //.f'e a.11d st/I/ /.s. !he ,Pm-6d,Pa.11t had ho /dea that th/.s was the case, a.11d there I was, casually stood there f how/h:J the hC<Me o.f' the tracf a.11d m-t/.st. I f hew the tracf .So well /h .f'act, that I could actually 1 beat-box' the tracf to h/M. Now I fhow Chester .Sass has M e.f'.f'ect where he beaibo)(e.:5 a .:5011.:J but I've beeh Me.:5.:5/11.:J w/th beai-box/11.:J, scratch/11.:J a.11d M/x/11.:J .f'or the ,Pa.St twehty yem-.:5 Md at that MOMeht I fheW what I was 30/h:J to do. It was a OhCe ,.h a //.f'et/Me o,P,Poduh/ty a.11d fhew /.f' I d/dh 't do /t, I'd ,Probably re3ret /t .f'or the re.St o.f' MY ,Per.f'orM/h:J CaJ-eer. I a.sf ed h/M to Coht/hUe /M°!J,'h:J cue/11.:J th/.s .:5011.:J Uf? /h h/.s head Md ?/o//11.:J the lir.st .f'ew .SeCohd.S o.f' the tracf. We was theh to br/h:J the tracf bacf to the be3/hh/17__9 ccnd ,Pio/ /t oVer Md oVer,just the lir.st .f'ew .SeCohd.S. I .stm-ted to de.Ser/be the ho/Se he was hem-/h:J ,.h h/.s head. !he tracf .stm-t.s w/th a cyMbal .SoUhd Md drUM shot. #e .f'urrowed h/.s brow Md .sa/d: "Yyyyyeah ... ..

I the11 a.sf ed h/M to ' dro;; \ the tra.cl( /11 h/s M/11d a.11d /Ma!:;/11~ the Crowd 30/11_5 w//d. I wa.11ted h/M to hea.r the .:5011_5 ;;le-0/11_5 because I f11ew the Ma./11 reco311/Sa.ble Sou11d o.f' th/s tra.cl( wa.s a. heCMj a.11d Melod/c ba.SS //11e. >7"e wa.s /Ma!:;/11/11_5 Jt a.11d 11odd/11_5 h/s hea.d /11 t/Me w/th the MUS/c. I told h/M 11ot to 3/ve too MUCh a.wo/ be.f'ore bUrSt/11_5 otft /oud /11to a. .f'u// bea.t bo)( o.f' the tra.cl( he wa.s /Ma:;J11J11_5. /he tra.cl( wa.s ca.lied' Pulj? r!ct/011 \by Alex ,f'eece a.11d a.s .:50011 a.s he hea.rd Me bea.t box/11_5 Jt, he we11t a.bsolute w//d.' >7"e ra.11 o.f'.f' SCrea.M/11_5 a.11d 3ra.bbed h/s 3Jrl.f'r/e11d to CoMe a.11d /Jste11. /he whole 3rou;; were utterly dt1Mb.f'ou11ded a.11d cou/d11 \t bel/eve Jt. /he MOMe11t I wa.s Mo.St ;;road o.f' however, wa.s Me restra../11/11_5 MljSel.f' .f'roM tell/11_5 h/M I f11ew the tra.cl( a.11d wa.s /11to the Sa.Me style o.f' MUS/c 3row/11_5 u;;. :L11stea.d Ijust f e;;t a.sf/11_5 h/M: ,, wa.s tha.t Jt? .. Whe11 he Ca./ Med dowl? he Sa./d Jt wa.S Jt, a.17d Jt wa.S h/S .f'a_vour/te tra.cl(. I a.sfed h/M wha.t · Jt wa.S ca.I led a.11d he told Me, he a.lso Sa/d the a.rt/St ha.d a. 11ew a./ bUM otft .:50011 a.11d he wa.S Very exc/ted by th/s 11ews ( o.f' course I a.lrea.dy f11ew th/s a.s I wa.s a.I.so wa./t/11_5 .f'or Jt to be relea.Sed). By 11eVer Me11t/011/113 the ha.Me o.f' e/ther the tra.cl( or a.rt/st, Jt elevated the e.f'.f'ect /11to a. Ca.11d I ha.te th/sword) M/ra.cle. /here wa.s 110 Wo/ th/s 3uy would be a.ble to .f'or3d the JM;;a.ct o.f' th/s e.f'.f'ect a.11d he s;;e11t the rest o.f'the 111jht tell/11_5 everybody a.11d an.jbody who would /Jste11 a.bout wha.t the 'M/11d ,f'ea.der \ d/d. F i.e/ d rx,eport

I have a ..,..., . ..,..,. .. ........_ fondness f'or this routine because it has evolved over time from a idea to become one of'the cornerstones and ua.l!.d.'1.1u.A.· ShOWS11 I abso:Lu1;el.Y love nte't"f't')'r'lll''iYllD' it. The simplicity of method comes from the genius that is Craig Filicetti and his ProMystic 'Color Match' pens. I was on the waiting list for these pens and one of the first mentalists in the UK to receive a set. I was eager to try out the pens 'in the wild', and my first experience with them was at The Clothes Show LIVE at Birmingham's NEC .. I had five of the pens sat in a small pot on a side table, and as people passed by I would have them select a pen whilst I looked the other way. I asked them to place a dot of ink on their palm and then put the pen back in the pot .. By asking them a couple of questions, that apparently gave me an insight into their thoughts, I would then reveal the colour they had selected .. It was a simple and direct effect, ideal for such an event, but I knew that the pens had the potential to do so much more .. I wanted to develop a highly personalised routine using the pens that would generate as many applause cues as possible whilst using the most minimal of methods. I first performed the routine that follows at a corporate Christmas party back in 2010. I have tried and tested so many variants of the routine since then that I have genuineiy lost count. 'The Devil is in the Details', as they say, and every aspect of this routine has been refined and retuned over countless performances to get it to where it is now. There are additional variations of the routine explained at the end of this chapter that I have used from time to time depending on performing conditions. I have also included a 'non-electronic' method tnat does not use the 'Color Match' pens, which is as easy as can be.

,', ! HAT THE AUDI CE S ES During a stage show at 'Sally and Jake's Wedding', the performer writes something down on a sketchpad and with a wry grin, saysm "This is a prediction of something I'm hoping will happen in the next 10 minutes. If it doesn't m then forget I ever wrote anything." He places the sketchpad face down on one of his side tables without showing the audience what he has written. "Using your keen powers of observation some of you may have noticed that there are one, two, three, four chairs here on stage." As the performer speaks, he points to four chairs situated center stage, numbering them one thru four, from left to right. The performer picks up a stack of four large white envelopes from his side table, and casually mixes them as he approaches the audience. "And coincidentally, I also have four plain white envelopeso" The performer hands the envelopes to a member of the audience. "Sir, please give them a good mix for us." As the envelopes are being mixed the performer saysm "Genuinely, what follows is one of the most difficult pieces that I do. Success relies on me being able to read four people's thoughts several times whilst simultaneously trying to influence those same four people to do specific things at certain times. If just one element in this chain of events goes wrong it will have a knock on effect, and the whole demonstration will faile" "Sounds easy!" The performer takes the four white envelopes back, and he points to a young woman in the front row wearing a pink dress. "Hi there, your name is?" "Samantha." "Nice to meet you Samantha, would you please stand for me?" "Samantha, we have four chairs, four envelopes, and I'd like you to be one of four people to help me with this." The performer directs everyone's attention to his side table, on which is a small pot containing some marker pens. "You'll notice that behind me on the table is a small pot containing some different coloured marker pens." "In a moment, everyone will give you a massive round of applause as you walk up here, take any marker out of the pot and hold it behind your back or put it in your pocket. Don't let anyone see what pen you choose. Once you've done that, in a loud, clear voice, I'd like you to yell, 'Ready'. Understood?" "U nderstooda" "Ladies & Gentlemen, please put your hands together for, Samantha!" Samantha makes her way up on stage as the audience applaud her for helping out. She secretly selects one of the pens, holds it behind her back, and announces that she is 'ready'. The performer is facing the audience as Samantha chooses a pen and is therefore completely unaware as to what colour pen she chose. "Samantha, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Please answer instinctively, without too much thought." "First question, do you prefer the Countryside or the City?" "The Citye"

"Do you prefer to be Indoors or are you an Outdoors type of girl?" "I prefer being Outdoors." "OK Samantha, based on your responses I'd like you to take an envelope and sit in seat number two." The performer hands Samantha one of the white envelopes and she sits in seat number two. The performer chooses a second member of the audience, asking them to stand and give their name. "Hi Peter, I'd like you to come up on stage, grab a pen, hide it behind your back or in your pocket and yell 'Ready' when you've done that." Peter follows the instructions, receiving a round of applause from the audience as he does soo "Peter, just like Samantha did, I'd like you to respond to the following questions instinctively and without too much thoughto" "Do you prefer to be Hot and then Cool down; for example diving into a swimming pool on a summers day? Or do you prefer to be Cold and then Warm up; for example sat in front of a log fire after being out in the snow?" "I'd prefer to be Hot and then Cool down." "Good, and which do you prefer, Sweet or Sour?" "Sour." "Really? Hmmm, OK then. Peter, I'd like you to take seat number four please." The performer hands Peter an envelope and as instructed he sits in seat number four. The performer addresses the audience. "We have two people seated, but we need two more. Would the lady in the second row with the black dress please stand. Thank you, what is your name please?" "Helen." "Pleased to meet you Helen, could you come up here, take a marker, hide it behind your back or in your pocket, then yell 'Ready'." Helen receives a round of applause as she comes up on stage and does as instructed. "Helen, do you prefer Cats or Dogs?" "Cats." "Do you prefer Wind or Rain?" "Neither! (smiling) ou but if I was to choose one, I'd go for Rain." "I thought as much. Helen, please take seat number three." The performer hands an envelope to Helen and she takes seat number three. "We need one last person .. The gentleman in the grey shirt looking straight at me rather menacinglyo Sir, could you please stand, your name is?" "Alex." "Alex, only one marker pen remains, you don't have much of a free choice I'm afraid. Well, it IS a· free choice; it's just not yours, as the previous three people have made the choice for you. Could you head up here, take the remaining marker pen and have a seat. Everyone, please give Alex a round of applause.'' Alex heads up on stage, takes a pen and sits in the only remaining empty seat, seat number one. At this point, Alex is in seat number one, Samantha is in seat number two,

Helen is in seat number three and Peter is in seat number four. Only they know what colour pens they chose. The performer turns around and addresses the four participants. "Here's what I'd like you all to do. Use your imagination and take a moment to think of a simple drawing or doodle, something you can draw quickly and easily. It doesn't have to be a work of art like a Picasso, it can be of anything you like but try to think of something that people would instantly recognize if you were to draw it." The performer receives affirmation from each participant that they have a drawing in mind. "In a moment I'm going to turn around, and when I do I want all of you to take your pens and on the address side of your envelope draw whatever it is you are thinking of. Make your drawing as big and bold as you can. Try not to let the audience see what you are drawing or what colour pen you chose." "When you have finished drawing, put your pen behind your back or in your pocket and hold your envelope on your lap with the drawing side down. That way no-one will know what colour pen you chose or what you drew." The performer turns to face the audience and instructs the participants to start drawing. NOTE: I have used a few methods to help fill the 'dead time' as the participants are making their drawings. These are discussed in further detail in the explanation sectiono Once the participants have finished drawing, the pens are collected by an assistant (or a member of the audience), and put back in the pote Still facing the audience, the performer instructs the participants to pass their envelopes (without flashing their drawings) to the person in seat number one (i.e. Alex) who then mixes the envelopes. "Samantha, Helen and Peter, would you very carefully pass your envelopes to Alex making sure that no-one can see what you drew. Alex, give the envelopes a good mix. It's very important that you don't let anyone see the drawings. Hold the drawings on your lap, drawing side down, and tell me when you're done." After the envelopes have been mixed the performer turns to face the participants and collects the stack of envelopes from the person in seat number oneo The performer walks towards the audience and away from the participants. He flips over the top envelope of the stack and shows it to the audience (but not to the participants), sayingm "We can tell a lot about people from the types of images they chose to draw." For the sake of this description, this first drawing is of a 'Flower'. The performer places the remaining three envelopes (drawing side down) on his side table and holds the envelope with the 'Flower' drawn on it aloft so that everyone in the audience can see it. "Obviously we don't know whose drawing this is so the very first thing I want to do is to try and categorise the drawing ;in a rather stereotypical way. I do this by categorising the drawing as either being male or female. The majority of people will agree that this very much a female dominated image. I can't be 100%, but it's a good starting point." "I'm going to show this drawing to Samantha & Helen. Everyone, please pay particular attention to their reactions when they see it. Assuming one of them did make this drawing, that person WILL do something to give themselves away." "Samantha and Helen, put your best poker faces on, and don't give us any indication as to whether or not this is your drawing." The performer shows the drawing first to Samantha and then -to Helen for about five seconds each. Both of them do their best to keep a straight face

so as not to give anything away. The performer turns to the audience and smiles. "You see? By suggesting that the ladies WILL do something to give it away, the lady who made the drawing tried doubly hard to keep still and do nothing. She was so conscious of not giving anything away that was completely motionless, in fact she could barely even bring herself to look at the drawing." "Samantha, I believe this drawing of a Flower is yours! Would that be correct?" With a smile, Samantha confirms that the drawing is indeed hers. The performer hands the envelope back to Samantha and she receives a round of applause from the audience. The performer takes the next envelope and shows the drawing made on it to the audience (but not the participants). This time it's a drawing is of a 'House'. "With this drawing it's not so easy to categorise between male and female so we'll draw upon other areas to try and ascertain who the artist is." "Consider what the drawing actually represents. It's a big, bold strong image, one that has connotations of safety and family built into it, which suggests that the person who drew this image is most likely a family person. The only person here with a wedding ring is Petere" "With that in mind, Peter, how many years have you been married?" "Six years." "Do you have children?" "Yes H• two." "So, two children, six years of marriage, yes, I think this is yours." The performer shows the drawing of a 'House' to Peter, and asks ... "Peter, is this your drawing?" Peter confirms with a laugh that the 'House' is indeed his drawing. The performer hands the envelope back to Peter and the audience give him a round of applause. The performer picks up the third envelope from the pile but this time pointedly does not look at the drawing. He shows it to the audience, sayingeu "Now, with the third drawing it gets very interesting. I don't want to know what it is, so please don't call anything out loud. I want you the audience to draw upon your own skills of deduction to see if you can figure out whose drawing this is." Imagine that this third drawing is an image of a 'Goldfish'. "Firstly ask yourself, is it an easy image to categorise between male and female?" The audience give a mixed response, indicating that they cannot easily associate a 'Goldfish' with a specific gender. "So this could be either male or femaleo Try looking at the drawing from a different perspective. Look at HOW it is drawn and focus on the type of lines used to make the drawing. Bold, thick, strong lines tend to be a male trait. Thinner, more fluid, controlled lines are typically a female trait. With that in mind, which s:Lde do you think this drawing is leaning towards now, is it male or female? " The vocal consensus from the audience indicates that a slim majority believe the artist to be male. A quick show of hands confirms its "OK, most of you are going with male. Alex, since only you and Helen are left, most of the audience believe that this is your drawing. I've _resisted the urge to look it myself, so in a loud clear voice Alex, please tell everyone

what you drew." "I drew a Goldfish." The performer looks at the drawing for the first time, sees that it is indeed an image of a 'Goldfish', and says to the audience ••• "That's spot on. Audience, give yourselves a round of applause for once, nicely done!" The audience applaud and a few even begin to cheer, especially those that successfully deduced that Alex drew a 'Goldfish'. The performer hands the envelope back to Alex. Once the applause calms down the performer looks over at the last envelope on the side table, and then over to the remaining participant, Helen. "I don't need to be a mind reader to know that the last drawing, whatever it might be, belongs to you Helen." "I could simply look at your drawing but I want to try something far more challenging here. Helen, focus on your drawing for me, make it clear and vivid in your mind and picture it floating right here above the audience." "I honestly have no idea what you drew, so you're going to have to help me out a bit here. Is your drawing something that you feel could be easily categorised as male or female?" "Errrno possibly." "Ok, is it something organic or is it something man-made?" "It's organic." "And is this something very personal to you, or not so much?" "It's personal." "Good, maybe something you have an emotional attachment to?" "Yes." The performer picks up a different sketchpad and a marker pen and he begins to draw something quickly. Neither the audience nor the participants can see what he is drawing. Eventually he hands the sketchpad to Helen and asks her to hold it close to her chest without looking at it. The performer picks up the last envelope and turns it over to see what Helen drew. After a few seconds he shows the drawing to the audience. "That's either a Oat •n or an overweight Dog with a bit of a squint." Helen helpfully interjects, "It's a Oat." "Helen, without showing anyone else please take a peek at what I was picking up from you." Helen looks at the drawing made by the performer and she begins to smile and giggle. It's clear to the audience that the performer has drawn something similar to a 'Oat'. "Turn the sketchpad around and show the audience what I drewo Fingers crossed, they'll give us both a huge round of applause!" Helen flips the sketchpad around showing that the performer did in fact draw a 'Cat'! The audience applaud once again, and the performer gives Helen her envelope back. After the applause calms down the performer asks the participants to hold up their envelopes so that the entire audience can see their drawings. "That's quite a collection of artistic talent, but rather than focusing on the images themselves look at the order of colours you four randomly chose. From left to right, we have Red, Orange, Green and Blue." "I'm so happy you put yourselves into this exact order. That's the order I was hoping you would choose, because it's the order I wrote down right at the very start."

The performer reaches for the face down tabled sketchpad on which he wrote a 'prediction' at the very start of the routine. He turns the sketchpad around and written in large block letters are the words: RED, ORANGE, GREEN & BLUE "Red u• Orange ... Green ... and Blue ... which is your exact order!" The audience again burst into applause as they realize that the order of the colours chosen by the participants amazingly matches the order predicted by the performer. The performer raises his hands as if to hold the applause. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but that's not all. When I show you what has actually happened here you will definitely want to give a massive round of applauseo" "Alex, you chose the colour Red. Please open up your envelope and remove what's inside." Alex does so and removes a bright red envelope. Moving to the next participant Samantha, the performer continues .... "Samantha, you opted for Orange. Please open your envelope and remove what's inside." Samantha opens her envelope and removes an Orange envelope. "Helen & Peter open your envelopes at the same time, we are looking for Green then Blue, in that order." Helen and Peter open their envelopes simultaneously and remove a Green and Blue envelope respectively. The audience begin to applaud, but once again the performer holds his hands up, sayingou "No, No, that's not even it! I said that when you see what's happened you'll want to burst into a 'massive round of applause'0 Guys please turn the envelopes around, and show everyone what's printed on the other side." The participants turn their coloured envelopes around. Each envelope has a printed word on the back, and those four words combine to create the following phrase: MASSIVE ROUND OF APPLAUSE The audience take the hint and provide a 'massive round of applause'o After several seconds the performer becomes alarmingly animated, waving his arms around as if to stop the applause. "Oh, oh, there's one more thing!" The applause subsides. "I can't believe I nearly forgot! What's the reason we're all here today?" "To celebrate Sally & Jake's wedding, yes? Please, quickly open your coloured envelopes and show everyone our message to the happy couplee" The four participants open their envelopes and inside each one is a folded piece of paper, which when unfolded reveals a word. Held high by each participant those four words combine to reveal a very special message, which states: N R Tl s D J The audience burst out into one final thunderous round of applause, whooping and cheering the newly wedded couple, and showing their appreciation for your mental prowess.

THE R DO N The essence of the method relies on leveraging the 'Color Match' pens to create multiple reveals and applause cues, culminating in a visual and memorable finale. For those of you that don't own a set of 'Color Match' pens - fear not. Later in this chapter I describe a handling which allows you to perform the routine with a regular pack of coloured marker pens. USING H COLOR ATCH' P NS I use four of the 'Color Match' pens, setup as follows: Red Green Pen Blue Pen I don't use the yellow pen in the routine because from the stage the yellow ink is very difficult for the audience to see. I remember the order of the colours by using a simple mnemonic: Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain (ROGB) SS G 0 DS U TO SN YO OU IN The beauty of this routine is that it can be easily customised to suit any type of event or venue, thereby allowing you to create a very personal, meaningful and memorable effect. On the back of each coloured envelope is a printed word. In addition, each coloured envelope contains a piece of paper with another printed word (or words) on it. During the routine these two sets of words combine to create two distinct messages. The first message states, 'MASSIVE ROUND OF APPLAUSE'. The second message is the final reveal of the routine and customised to suit the particular event. In the example script the final reveal was, 'CONGRATULATIONS SALLY AND JAKE'. Here are the messages I have used in this routine over the past few years: the-

E E LO ES I use white 05 envelopes for parlour performances and white 04 envelopes for larger stage shows. The envelopes are setup as follows; The first white contains a Red 'MASSIVE' on the back .. Inside the Red """u ... =..!L'LitL'"" with the word ... ....a .... l!;,d> ..... sheet or paper with the first of the final message ur_LU.aa'CLIL on i .. e .. 'OONGRATULATIONS',. The second white contains an v.l!.-c:i..ui=.v;; .... u v • ....., .. ,1.1 ... 'ROUND' on the back .. Inside the u.-......... .,,, ""'-""""'-'-...,,L'""' is a ... ....a .... l!;,d> .... sheet with the second of the final mee1saJ:~e .... -_._. .. ....,,,LL on 'SALLY',. The white .......... " c.1bv1.J•'ld' contains a Green c.u.vc.ibv"''"" the word 'OF' Jl,,U.~.,.11.Yb'W the Green ""' ...... """''-""'--'"'" with the third of the final message The fourth contains a Blue 'APPLAUSE' on the back .. Inside the Blue ""''-JL" ""'-'L"-"LI'"' sheet with the last of the final mee1s8ji~e .,,_-_.__..,_aa=LJL 'JAKE',. I have experimented with having the 'event message' words printed on the backs of the coloured envelopes and the 'massive round of applause' message inside the coloured envelopes. I think structurally the 'event message' is better as the finale due to its personalised nature. RKI TH HI E E V LO s The four white envelopes are marked with a small black ink dot along the bottom short edge of each envelope. I mark them from left to right in the same way I marked the envelopes in my 2008 DVD 'Your Thoughts Are Mine'. You can of course discretely mark the envelopes any way you wishe Once a member of the audience has mixed up the envelopes you can take them back, square them up, and just by glancing at the bottom edge of the stack quickly identify which envelope is which. I mark the envelopes in the order as the pens are tagged; Red Blue One real world tip. When you retrieve the envelopes from the audience member who has mixed them make sure the envelopes are all in the correct orientation with the flap side towards you. This will prevent you from incorrectly identifying the marks. It can happen, trust me!

s CTI T E s When each participant selects a pen from the pot the tag inside the pen will transmit a signal to your receiver. This signal tells you which colour pen the participant chose and determines which white envelope you hand them, as well as which seat you direct them to sit in. For example, if you receive the 'one' signal then you know the participant selected the Red pen meaning that you need to hand them the white envelope marked number one, and direct them to sit in seat number one. It really is that simple. y u R C A SIG AL As good as Craig's products are there will always be a time where something (for whatever reason) goes wrong so it pays to be prepared for that eventuality. With the 'Color Match' pens there have been a handful of times over the years when a participant has taken a pen from the pot and I haven't received a signal. When this happens, don't panic, and above all don't turn around to face the participant. The solution is to simply have the participant drop the pen back in the pot, and have them select a different coloured pen. The first time I failed to get a signal that's what I did, and surprisingly it generated a huge laugh from the audience. On the rare occasions I've used this ploy it always seems to get a laugh, although I can't quite figure out why. Essentially you're just giving yourself a second chance to get a signal without raising any suspicion, and as a bonus you're also injecting some light-hearted humour into your presentation. To illustrate what I mean, imagine that the first participant has just chosen their pen, but you've failed to get a signal. Even though you don't know what colour pen she chose, proceed as normal and ask a couple of 50/50 questions. "Samantha, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Please answer instinctively, without too much thought." "First question, do you prefer the Countryside or the City?" "The City." "Do you prefer to be Indoors or are you an Outdoors type of girl?" "I prefer being Outdoors." At this point I would look quite pensive and indecisive, and after a few seconds I would continue by saying ... "Now that makes absolutely no sense to me!" Delivered in the right way, that line is where you'll get the laugh. "Let me try this another way. Put your pen back in the pot and this time I'd like you to consciously think of a particular coloure When you have a particular colour in mind take that colour pen, put it behind your back or in your pocket as before, and tell me when you're ready." This time you should get your signal. I can't recall a time when I've failed to get a signal the second time around. Follow up with another set of 50/50 questions and then proceed as normal. Alternatively, you could be very direct indeede If you fail to get a signal, immediately saym "Samantha, change your mind ... that wasn't the pen I wanted you to choose. Put that pen back and choose another." When you get your signal the second time around, with a cheeky smile sayou