Bill Dekel - Mindcraft Perceptions

MindCraft: Perceptions Let's enjoy this, shall we?

Written by Me, Myself, and I

Forward Normally I hate it when someone writing a short ebook sticks in a forward and an introduction, and a copyright page, and a table of contents page, and a conclusion, and a back cover etc., because it makes it seem like they are just trying to add to their page count. I guess I'm technically doing that now, so my apologies for my hypocrisy in advance.

I just wanted to say that these are effects and ideas I've been mulling over the last couple years and just recently (past 6 months or so) got into print. I'm afraid I haven't developed most of the effects even half as much as they could be, but I have no doubt that there are those among you who will take the concepts and ideas and build upon them.

Thoughts from both Ran Pink and Decomposed on the Magic Cafe forums have been greatly appreciated and used. Big thanks to them.

Part 1: Hacking the Mind is about effects that involve stealing thoughts from a spectator's mind, where as Part 2: Bending the Will, involve effects where you force your spectator to think of a predetermined word, card, number, etc. These can be presented as if you were “hacking their mind”, but their methodology involves forcing.

In the Table of Contents, I bolded some of my, and reviewer's favorite effects in the book.

Contents Part 1: Hacking the Mind Thought Dueling . . . . . . . . 7 Duel a spectator with your thoughts, and get them right! Let's Make a Deal . . . . . . . 9 A mathematical bar scam. Birthday's Rock . . . . . . . . 11 Discovering a spectator's Birthday through an elaborate process where in she never writes or names either the month or day she was born on. On Thin Ice . . . . . . . . . . . 16 A powerful reading system that deals primarily with a client's subconscious. Gone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Via your hypnotic influence; make a spectator think of a word that was never there. Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 A true think a card. Nothing is ever consciously spoken or acknowledged by your spectator. Not surefire, but when it works, it bloody kills. Invisible Book Test . . . . . . 23 You predict a word a spectator will think of. They open an invisible book to any page, remember any word on the page, and you were right.

Part 2: Bending the Will The Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Equivoque at its finest.

Prime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 A psychological word forcing principle with a near 100% hit rate. Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Your spectator thinks of a color, then a planet. You read their mind. In Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34 A spectator freely chooses a fruit in their mind. You both examine it, then you name it. Mental Epic . . . . . . . . . . . 35 One ahead with Prime. Intuitional Power . . . . . . . 36 Slip a ring on the finger of a spectator and give them the power of intuition. Thought Catcher . . . . . . . .37 A blank index card catches their thought. Other Languages . . . . . . . 38 Adaptations for Spanish or German speakers. (In)Visible Book Test . . . . . 39 Impromptu book test on the fly and some ideas. Hive Mentality . . . . . . . . . 41 Bend the wills of even the largest of audiences to your own. Prime Cards . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Catch, identify, and name random thoughts your spectators have during your show. Tossed out Thought . . . . . . 44 Tossed out deck; with words, from the brilliant mind of Ran Pink. Drawing Duplication . . . . . .46 An impromptu drawing duplication.

Thought Dueling . . . . . . . . 47 Stand back to back in a thought face off. This version uses Prime. Realizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Give your spectator the chance to be a god, just for a moment, and create life by a mere breath, a single word. PK Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Your spectator just thinks of a time. No words are spoken. You bring your watch into view. Psychological Card Force . . 51 A psychological card force using Prime, with an incredible hit rate. Prime Reading . . . . . . . . . 53 A powerful cold reading presentation. Other Forces . . . . . . . . . . 55 Still other words you can force with prime. Beautiful Miracle . . . . . . . 56 A spectator thinks of a month. You spin around a ring on your finger to reveal that month's birthstone. A beautiful memory is created. World Traveling . . . . . . . . 58 Take your spectator on a global adventure that exists only in their mind.

Part 3: Notes Ran Pink's Notes . . . . . . . 60 Giani's Notes . . . . . . . . . . 62 Paul Carnazzo's Notes . . . . 63 My Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Part 1: Hacking the Mind

Thought Dueling Description:

Imagine both you and a spectator are thinking of numbers, or even just words. Then you both stand back to back, walk off five paces, turn, aim, fire, and hit. You then both call out what you received. Both of you are right. Nothing is written, nothing is spoken, nothing is asked.

Method:

Version 1 - Spectator is asked to think of a word, which is psychologically forced. You also pretend to think of a word. You both pace off and aim. The spectator then calls out the word they think they "received". You call out the psychologically forced word. You pretend to be shocked.

Version 2 - You have a pocket writer and as you recoil from "shock" you write the word they "received", and then show it as "proof" of the fact that you were thinking of it.

Version 3 - You have the spectator write their word on an index card as you do the same --just write nonsense, you're going to pocket write in the end-- and then peek at their word via your favorite method (e.g. Acidus Novus). Tell him to put the card in his pocket, and you do the same. Now run through Version 2; you'll have a 100% hit rate at the loss of them writing.

Examples of psychological word/number forces are: 1. Think of a vegetable - Carrot. 2. Think of a wild animal - Lion. 3. Think of a color - Blue. 4. Think of a number between 1 and 10 - 7. 5. Think of a number between 1 and 50 with two, different, odd digits – 37.

My favorite is a word force called 'Pachyderm', by Colin Mcleod. A basic version is in Psychological Subtleties 3, and a more defined one with outs is in Colin's book 'Contributions'. Another force recommended by p_n_g was Anate by Christopher Dee. I've included it, but I think it would be difficult to implement because the nature of Thought Dueling requires the thought never to be spoken by the spectator, which is fairly crucial in Anate. A highly recommended verbal force is Prime, the last effect in this book. Much more on using Prime and Thought Dueling is detailed in that section.

Let's Make a Deal Description:

Need a couple bucks to get a drink? This is for you. Bet a mate a dollar or three on 50/50 luck; allowing him to choose his own fate, and you win. You could technically earn a living as a con man with this one... But you're not cheating. You're just lying.

Method:

To come up with this effect, I was dabbling with some mathematical principles, when I discovered the Monty Hall Problem. Its quite a complicated idea, and was featured in the TV show 'Let's Make a Deal". Basically a contestant in the show would be given a choice of three identical doors. Behind one was a car, and behind two were goats. The object was to find the car. They would make their first choice without opening a door, and then the host, who knew were the car was, would throw open another door, revealing a goat. The contestant could now choose between his original door and the other unopened door to guess where the car was. The chance seems like a 50/50 shot. One door has a car, the other a goat. The choice is free. Yet if they switched doors to the other unopened door, their odds of hitting the car went up from a third --it was never a half-- to two thirds. Yet out of every eight contestants, only one would switch because of psychological pressure and the "intuition" that had led them to that door in the first place. Think about it; the only way you could win by not switching is if you landed on the marked door right off the bat. The odds of you doing so are obviously 2 to 1 against you.

So imagine setting out three entirely examinable cards, one a picture card and two numbers, or three beer coasters, one marked, the others devoid of marks. You set them all face down, and mix them up. Then you peek without showing your mate. You now act as the host; ask him to choose one of them without flipping it. You then flip over one of the unmarked coasters/number cards other than his own, and ask him if he wants to switch coasters/cards. Most of the time he will say no. In that event, the odds of him winning the bet are literally 2 to 1. So 2 out of 3 times, you'll walk out with a free drink. Not bad for some stuffy mathematics.

Note:

A similar, but perhaps slightly more transparent, method would be to use four cards/coasters instead of three. Take away two instead of one. Their odds of winning if they switch will go to ¾, but if they don't –-I haven't experimented with this number-their odds of winning are ¼.

Birthday's Rock Description:

This uses a combination of techniques and is real mind reading. Imagine yourself on a date. You ask the girl to visualize the month she was born in. Later on, the day. You could then say "Funny, a few months ago... June 16th, I had a nice dream about this girl who..." Enjoy. :)

Method:

I decided to use a few methods in here. For the general season, we're going to use some NLP eye accessing cues. Let's get started. Ask your spectator to imagine what season they were born in. If she were born in the fall, ask her to imagine herself standing on a rooftop, with leaves coasting down all around them, and a stunning rainbow stretched across the sky. If she were born in winter or in the spring before May, ask her to imagine herself on the edge of a rocky craig, a scarf thrown round her neck, amidst layers of falling snow. If she was born in the summer, ask her to remember opening her favorite birthday gift as a child. As you say this, you should be watching her, but without keeping strong eye contact. If she was born in May or the summer, she will look to her left, up and to her left most often, as she is recalling a memory. If she is born in the winter, fall, or early spring, she will gaze to the right. Also, and more importantly, note the time her eyes switch. If they do so right after you talk about fall, she is born in the fall, etc.

Now that you know about what season she was born in (fall, winter/spring, summer), you are ready to move into some anagram style fishing. If you don't know what progressive anagrams are, basically its a process by which you can divine something letter by letter, like a flowchart. If word contains a letter, move on, otherwise you know the answer, or are just a few questions away from knowing it. You should state the letters/number of letters you "see", and watch for non verbal cues. Ask for confirmation if you are not skilled at picking up non verbal cues.

The month anagrams I created are not only based on the individual letters, but the number of letters, so they are almost progressive instead of branching. In other words, in almost all cases, as soon as you get a no or negative cue, you know what they are thinking of, strengthening the effect. Sometimes a bit of intuition can be useful, and a little guesswork (if she or a friend of hers mentions that she was at her birthday last summer, you can cut your work in quarters).

Fall September, October, November M > September, November 3 E's > September November October

Winter/Spring November, December, January, February, March, April A > January, February, March, April A 1st/2nd letter > January, March, April 5 letters > March, April A 2nd letter > March April January February 3 E's> November December

Summer U > June, July, August 4 letters > June, July Take a guess, June and July are close enough to make it worth it. August May

Now that you know the month, with just two to four questions and almost perfect accuracy (the more questions, the better you seem at using your intuition), you are ready to move on to the day. We're going to use some contact reading and another anagram for this effect. We are going to base our contact reading system on the fact that the odds of her being born on the 30th or the 31st are more than 15 to 1. So that means that we just 1

of 3 options for the first digit of her birth month. Take out four random objects. Identify the first one as 0, the second as 1, the third as 2, and the fourth as a 3. We will be using the fourth as just a placeholder to keep everything consistent.

Now grasp her right wrist --with her permission of course--, and ask her to think of the correct object and guide to guide you to that object with her mind. Now slowly draw her arm towards the three objects, making slight movements back and forth between them. You are trying to feel for an ideometer response from her arm. Basically you are going away from the object she is trying to subconsciously draw you to, you will feel a slight tug of resistance. She won't know she's doing it, but with sufficient practice, you will be able to zone in on the correct object (and digit), in seconds.

One minor note, at no time during this process, or the month divination, should you tell her what month you know she is thinking of. It will come more powerfully if you reveal it all at once. Instead, just say something like "That's interesting", or "You seem to have a powerful mind", or something else along those lines.

The final digit can be discovered with another anagram, hence my recommendation that you space the process out.

Second Digit E > zero, one, three, five, seven, eight, nine 4/5 letters > zero, three, five, seven, eight, nine 2 of the same letter > three, seven, nine

2 E's > three, seven Gap between E's > 7 3 nine 1st or 2nd letter is an E > zero, eight 4/5 letters (take a guess) five one

Revelation (suggested by IAIN): Run through a one ahead system –- such as Mental Epic –- and use Contact Mind Reading and the Eye Accessing Cues for the Season. Duly noted, thank you IAIN.

On Thin Ice Description:

A powerful new reading system that enables you to help your clients not only learn more about themselves, but make changes to their subconscious. Use with care.

Method:

Ask your client to visualize themselves walking down a long, white hallway that is going deep down. There are no doors. At the very end, the hall opens up into a large room, the size of an art gallery, with just one painting on the wall. Ask them to imagine walking up to that painting, and looking at the canvas. Ask them to change the color of the canvas, like a screen, in their mind. Then, ask them what color they changed it to. Take your time during this process, you do not want to rush into this. It's not a trick. Take your time and gain rapport.

The hallway leading into the ground is their subconscious mind. The screen is a representative of their mental state. These are what the colors represent:

Green - Life force, energized. Blue - Idealistic, thoughtful. Red - Passionate, artistic. Yellow - Open, free.

By combining these colors, you get a set of advanced colors and states. An example is violet; a romantic state of mind that is a combination of a thoughtful, passionate state. You must explain some of the basic meanings of these before telling them about their current mental state. For example, if they say they see a bright green, it means that they are in a state where they have an enormous amount of energetic potential available to them.

When you define what the colors mean, your client will accept your definitions as truth. This is why you need to be careful. To make a change, you can ask them to visualize the color slowly shifting to something more advanced, perhaps by combining two advanced colors together.

The most advanced color, the most balanced mental state, a combination of all, is pure white. Next most is a light pink. You can subtly change their state more permanently by suggesting that they imagine the color changing to, for example, yellow, and as you do so, touch their shoulder. Just before they leave, touch their shoulder again. In doing so, you have just cemented a psychological anchor that you created, so even though their conscious mind might not register a change, their subconscious will take in and implement the change. This is an excellent way to gain rapport and make sure that the impression stays with them.

Gone Description:

The performer shows a spectator 6 cards. Each has a word on it. He asks the spectator to just think of one of the words. The mentalist then shows that their card has disappeared, then proceeds to read their mind, and then show that the reason it wasn't in the stack was because, the entire time, the card they thought they saw was in his pocket.

Method:

To setup, print these words on 6 blank business cards:

Rock Side Time Rite Pet Tire

Make duplicates and place them in your two pockets. On the other sides of the first set, print these words:

Stone Ride Mine Set Light

On the back of the Tire card, instead of writing a word, put a piece of double back tape. Place this card on the bottom of the packet so that the tape is facing down. To start, show the cards to your spectator one at a time, telling him/her to think of one. Once this is done, gain eye contact, and patter about how, through hypnotic influence, you

were able to make them see a word and card that was never there. During this time, you have cut the packet evenly and squarely so that the tape sticks to the top card, and then you flipped the packet. Now go through the cards to show that one of them is gone, and ask them to look for the word they are thinking of. This works similar to the Princess Card trick, because the other words are similar, but none of them are the same, so the effect will work no matter what word they think of.

The words themselves were chosen very carefully to allow the creation of a perfect progressive anagram (not branching) to be created from them. You now use this to divine the word they are thinking of.

E > One Time Rite Pet Tire T > Time Rite Pet Tire I > Time Rite Tire Starts w/T > Time Tire R > Tire Rite Pet Side Rock

Now all that remains is for you to remove the corresponding card from your pocket, proving your influence.

Thought from Victor: Victor on the Magic Cafe forums mentioned an interesting variation which I had pondered before but forgot to include. You may wish, instead, to read their mind, and THEN show the card has vanished. That way you end cleaner, and it gives a logical disconnect for your audience member. Derren Brown used a similar ploy in his effect Smoke (albeit done with a cigarette and a gaffed packed of cards).

Black Description:

Ask your spectator to think of a card. Without questions, without contact, without paper, you read his or her mind.

Method:

Make up eight index cards with seven playing cards written on each as follows.

AS, QH, AH, AD, KH, JS, 7C, 3S AC, 2C, 3C, 4C, 5C, 6C, 7C 8C, JC, QC, KC, AD, 2D, 3D 4D, 5D, 6D, 7D, 8D, 9D, 10D JD, QD, KD, AH, 2H, 3H, 4H 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H, 9H, 10H, JH QH, KH, AS, 2S, 3S, 4S, 6S 7S, 8S, 9S, 10S, JS, QS, KS

We are going to use some non contact mind reading. Ask your spectator to think of money or sex when they see their card. Then let them look at the cards, one by one. You will be watching their eyes. If their pupils dilate, you will know which card contains the card they are thinking of. The first card is a null to let you calibrate how their eyes are going to

work when focusing on something close up. I intentionally started with clubs as well, because it is the least thought of suit by far, so that will give you a little extra calibration. You may have to do it more than once. A good rhythm to show the cards is One, pause, Two, pause, next card. Thats why the cards we are primarily having them look at should be sorted and written neatly, so they can scan the entire card quickly. While the first card is a dummy card, it also contains the top thought of cards; with close to 40% of all thought of cards. So, for example, if their eyes dilate on both the first card and the seventh card, you can take a good stab at the Ace of spades (although the 3S is also on both cards). Most of the time, however, you can just use the first card as a dummy or a confirmation, and will move on to the next (and last) set of cards.

AC, 8C, 4D, JD, 5H, QH, 7S 2C, JC, 5D, QD, 6H, KH, 8S 3C, QC, 6D, KD, 7H, AS, 9S 4C, KC, 7D, AH, 8H, 2S, 10S 5C, AD, 8D, 2H, 9H, 3S, JS 6C, 2D, 9D, 3H, 10H, 4S, QS 7C, 3D, 10D, 4H, JH, 6S, KS

So, for example, if their eyes dilated on the sixth card of the first set (five through jack of hearts), and the fourth card of the second set, you could tell that the only heart card between those values is the 8 of hearts, so that must be the card they are thinking of. At no point do you ask questions, yet you can still impossibly read their mind. If instead you are looking for something more direct, take a look at the card forcing method; The Fair.

Invisible Book Test Description:

You write a word on an index card, fold it up, and then drop it into an envelope which you then seal and drop on a table in plain view. Now you hand your spectator an book. An invisible book. Tell them to flip to any page, and memorize any word they like on the page. They do so. You then take the book back, and burn it with an invisible lighter to "destroy the evidence". You then hand them an index card and ask them to write the word they are thinking down for confirmation, as, after all, they are quite literally the only ones alive who know what word they read and it would be a pity if they forgot it. After they write the word, you ask them to fold it into quarters, and then you place it to the side. You now rip open the envelope, reach your hand inside, and remove your index card, and then read the contents aloud; the word they are thinking of. You then drop the card back into the envelope, and unfold their card. Lo and behold, you were correct.

Method:

To perform this effect, you will need an envelope of your choice, two index cards, a pen, and a pair of scissors. Cut a slit in the bottom third of the back of the envelope. You are now ready to begin.

Take out one of the index the cards and write a word on it. Be sure that your audience cannot see what you write. In reality, you can write anything of medium length. A great

example would be "example". Just jot it down, then fold it into quarters, drop it into the top of the of the envelope. As you do so, with your left hand, push the back bottom third of the envelope to the front, so the card falls into it. Palm this folded card. Now with your right hand, seal the envelope and then lay it slit side down on the table.

Now hand the invisible book to your spectator and ask him or her to remember a word in it. During this entire process, your left hand should be at your side. When they are done, ask them to drop the book back on the table. Whip out an invisible lighter and torch the book, explaining that you are burning it to destroy the evidence. This should get some laughs. Now shove over the other card and pen, asking them to write it for whatever pretense you like to use. Have them fold it into quarters, and then take it in your right hand. As you do, false pass it over to your left hand, palming it in your right, and drop the card in your left hand a few feet to the side. All that now remains is for you to pick up the envelope with your right hand, so that the card is pressed on the bottom third, rip off the top with your left, and then reach in, THROUGH THE SLIT, and take out the card. Unfold it, and read what they wrote aloud. Then drop it through the envelope to your right hand the same way you did before, take the dummy card with your left hand, and false pass it back to your right, ditch the dummy in your pocket or sleeve, crumple the envelope, and then unfold their card (which you just read off!) to "confirm" that you got your prediction right.

Mission accomplished.

Again, running over the method: 1. Write on and fold dummy. 2. Drop dummy through slit in envelope and palm in other hand. Seal envelope. 3. Have spectator “choose” word, write it, and fold card. 4. False pass their card for the dummy, and place it aside. 5. Rip off top of envelope, reach down, then unfold and read your “prediction”. 6. Drop prediction back through to other hand, false pass dummy back, and open their original card to “confirm” your prediction. 7. Dispose of dummy and envelope by crumpling them into a ball.

Part 2: Bending the Will

The Fair Description:

The Fair came to me when I thought of all the ways to verbally force a card, both psychological and equivocal. To be right every time, I decided to choose equivocal. At the same time I wanted it to be a fast effect that seemed free, yet left spectators wondering what hit them. To do this, I took Occam’s Razor to equivoque as a whole and used what I came up with.

Imagine placing a card face down on a table between you and a friend. Imagine asking them to freely choose a color and value of a card. Then imagine asking that friend to flip over the card on the table. And imagine being right. Every single time.

Method:

To accomplish this, I cut down the equivoque to just three choices. Just three. You could get away with normal magician’s force with just three. But I didn’t want to do that either. How could that be possible you ask? Just three questions? The way I pull it off is by carefully choosing the force card. If you tried equivoque on any other card, such as the 7 of clubs, it would be much longer. Imagine it. Choose cards above or below 5. Choose number cards or picture cards. Choose odd or even. Choose 7 or 9. Choose black or red. Choose Clubs or Spades. That’s a whopping 6 choices necessary just to force a card.

If you used anything but a highly advanced and streamlined version of equivoque, your spectator would catch on to what you were doing and the effect would lose its power. So, how can you get almost the same impact as a psychological force with equivoque? It’s simple. Limit their choices strategically. The force card? The Queen of Hearts.

Explain that you are going to do an experiment. Add that once they make a decision, there is no turning back. They can never know what might have happened. With that said, lay the card down on the table face down. Now say the following: “Let us pretend that I have an invisible pack of cards here. I have picture cards, and I have number cards. Which ones should I remove? The picture cards or the number cards?" If they say number, then reach down to your invisible pack and remove the “number cards”, and throw them over your shoulder saying that you have removed the number cards as they asked. If they say picture cards, remove them from the pack as if you were taking them out to use them.

Either way, invisibly separate the picture cards into two packets, saying that of the picture cards, there remain female cards (the Queens), and male cards (the Jacks and Kings). Pretend to place the two about 6 inches apart in the air, asking your spectator to choose which of the two they want you to take down. If they say the male cards, take them down and toss them to the side, spreading the Queens in the air. If they say the female cards, take them down and spread them invisibly in your hands. Now close the packet and say that you are placing them back into the card box. Ask your spectator to imagine either the red Queens or the black Queens dissolving into the air. Ask which one they made disappear. If they named the red Queens, ask them to imagine one of the two materializing into the shape of a card, as you point down to the card between you. If they

name the black Queens, say that all you are left with is a red Queen, and then just point to the card. They will flip it over, and then flip out.

Prediction:

Instead of using a Queen of Hearts, you could use any other Queen, and you could just jot it on the back of a napkin, or use it in a one ahead system, as the system itself is entirely non gimmicked –- as are pretty much all of the effects in this book.

Prime There is really no single description for this effect; you can do so much with it. It can be performed any time, anywhere, for anyone (in many languages). In the dark, over the phone; your spectator does not even need to be able to speak. But here is what most will want to do with it:

The mentalist asks his spectator to think of a word. Any word. He then asks his spectator to freely make exactly two changes to the word. As soon as the changes are made, the thought permeates the minds of not only the spectator, but the mentalist.

Method:

The basic method is this. The spectator thinks of a word, and the mentalist has them think of a country that begins any vowel in the word. He then asks them to think of a month or fruit that begins with the last vowel of the country. You now know what they are thinking of, and can move on to a variation. They will almost always -- 99.9% of the time -- be thinking of either the month August/April --which you can fish for--, or the fruit Apple.

The shorter the process is, the quicker they will forget about it as you lead them into the rest of the routine. I phrase it as "Before we begin, I need you to think of a word. Good. Now I need you to think of a country that begins with the first vowel in your word. Good. Now I need you to freely think of a month that begins with a vowel in your freely chosen

(it is indeed freely chosen, they might think of Australia, England, and dozens of others) country. Great, now that you have your just thought of month, we can start."

This way the process happens before they know what hit them. They just think of something, no questions are asked; it all happens in their head. One slight note, most people will not be able to think of Oman, so when you ask them to think of a country, I would advise you to give them some examples: "Think of a country.. Such as England, Oman, India, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Japan..." and you can't go wrong.

A bit of the thinking comes from a method called Thought Chunneling by Joshua Quinn, which I will not go into here for obvious reasons. A similar tactic was used in the classic effect 'Gray Elephants in Denmark'. I took it, and then used an idea I had regarding branching anagrams; selecting a specific letter, and selected a specific, but equally unknown, letter. So just as Thought Chunneling turned a branching anagram on its head, Prime turned both on their sides, coming up with a fast and easy process that just produces one result.

One possible out is if they think of Egypt. Obviously, the odds of them thinking so are quite low, but its always a possibility. Anyways, they won't be able to think of a fruit. If so, you can merely say “Hmmm... Try to take that letter and think of a planet instead.”, and then you're home free.

Direct Mind Reading Example:

Performer: “Please, think of a word. Any word you please.” [Spectator thinks of word] Performer: “Done? Perfect. Now please think of a country that begins with the a vowel in your word. A country in the Americas, such as Argentina or Brazil, a country in Europe like England or Germany, in Africa like Sudan or Oman, or even in Asia and the Middle East, such as China or Ethiopia. Do you have a country in mind?” Spectator: “Yes, I have one.” Performer: “Splendid. Now please think of a fruit that begins with the last vowel of that country. [snap]” [Spectator thinks, then nods] Performer: “Visualize this fruit as if it where before you. Is it an Apple?” [Spectator is impressed]

Colors Description:

Your spectator thinks of a color, and then a planet. You read their mind.

Method:

A Prime related effect would be to ask someone to think of a color, then think of a planet that begins with the last vowel of that color, or even the last letter. All the colors but yellow have a last vowel of e, and in the case of yellow, they'd just say they can't, and you could have them think of a month (October). In the event of the last letter, chances are of the colors that they will think of blue, so if you wanted to take a risk you could nail it immediately. Your options are limitless when you use vowels.

In Spirit Description:

This is entirely naked mentalism. Imagine asking your spectator to think of a fruit, such as a pear or a banana and then tossing it from hand to hand, gazing at its color, as you mime their every action in real time. You then name their thought aloud. No props, no memory, no gaffs, nothing. Your body and your head.

Method:

Force the word Apple, then ask your spectator to cup their hands and imagine holding it [you are miming all of these actions along with them], turning it over, spinning it by its stem, gazing at its color, smelling it, scratching it, as you like. (e.g. “Hold it in your hands [as you do this you mime the actions you want them to perform], lift it by its stem, toss it from hand to hand, gaze at its color.”). You then reveal it to be an Apple. This creates a sufficient logical disconnect. You can ramble on about the Apple's aura if you like.

Mental Epic Description:

Ask your spectator to think of a city, a number, and a fruit. Predict them all beforehand.

Method:

Yes, sir. You can now perform Mental Epic -- or any Confab/One ahead routine -- on the fly, without a card force; so that instead of seeming the weakest -- a chosen card is pretty pale compared to a three digit number or a city -- it can be the strongest -- it doesn't get much better than the merely thought of word.

In the event that you don't know what the one ahead system is, you probably shouldn't be reading this book, but here's a stripped down version to let you understand the gist of it:

1. Fold three pieces of paper into halves. 2. Ask your spectator to think of a name or city, etc. Pretend to write it down on one of the papers, but instead, write “Apple”. 3. Drop this paper in something like a glass, declaring it to be your prediction. Ask your spectator what city/name they were thinking of for confirmation. 4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with a number, except instead of Apple, write the city/name. 5. Force Apple with Prime, and but write down the number they just told you. 6. Dump out the glass to let them read your –- all correct –- predictions.

Intuitional Power Description:

Hand a gold ring to a spectator to put on, and ask another spectator to think of a word. With intuition granted by the powers of the ring, your first spectator names the word the other spectator is merely thinking of.

Method:

This can be done with or without a sort of dual reality. Essentially you ask for a person who has experienced several "chances of intuition", and give this spectator a medallion, ring, or some other supposed "magical" trinket -- a Prime -- and as you show it to them, point out subtly an engraving or writing of sorts, that says Apple, Earth, or whatever other word you decided to force. You then put in on their neck, and run through the procedure with another spectator. You then ask your first spectator, "with the help of the amulet/ring/medallion" to name a word they feel drawn to. This could be a very easy way to make a nice side profit; have a large stash of unmarked "Primes" to sell as a souvenir of your show.

The other way to do the effect -- without preshow -- is to have one spectator -- again supposedly with some experience of intuition -- act as your receiver. Now ask both of your spectators to think of a word, and then continue through the process. Your first spectator will have picked up perfectly, because there is only one possible result!

Thought Catcher Description:

Display a blank index card Crumple it into a ball, and drop it into your spectator's fist. Ask them to think of a fruit, and then shake their hand. Their thought has appeared –- in print –- on the card.

Method:

Take an index card, and write Apple on one side in pencil for preparation. Peel up as much of the card as you can without showing the writing, displaying the blank side freely as you talk. Suddenly crumple the card so that the writing is on the inside. Ask your spectator to open their hand, then drop the ball into their hand and ask them to close their fist tightly. Run through the process, and ask them to imagine the word they are thinking of to surge through their hand to the paper. All that remains is for them to unfold the paper that has been in their hand the entire time. I had heard of something like this being done, but with a psychological force. This is similar, just virtually fool proof.

Other Languages Spanish:

In Spanish, and some other languages, you can just have them think of the last letter of a European country, which will be A as well. Have them think of a word, and then a European country that starts with the last letter of that word, and then something like a vehicle (automobile) that begins with the letter. The only exceptions will be words that end in O or Y (which you can use Octobre or Yogur for).

Italian:

In Italian, you can go to a country, and then directly to the last letter. Use Arancione as the force word. In English it means Orange. You can force words such as November by branching off of it, such as in arancioNe, or the number nine (nove), etc.

German:

Have them think of a language that begins with a vowel in their word. Then have them think of a form of footwear, such as a shoe, that begins with the third to last letter (motion to the left twice as you say this). The answer will always be stiefel, or boot, because virtually all languages in German end in isch. This may be slightly more transparent then the English version. In English, this wouldn't work, because you have languages like Spanish, and then ones like Chinese, Tibetan, etc.

(In)Visible Book Test Description:

Produce an invisible or visible book, and hand it to your spectator. Ask them to freely choose a word. Ask them to shift their thoughts just two times from one word to another, and then name their thought. If you are ever in a pinch to do an impromptu book test for misdirection/a logical disconnect, with or without a book, then this effect is for you.

Method:

The shifting idea and the justification comes from Ran Pink –- see his notes latter on.

You have two choices here. Either write your force word on a card, and then place that card face down on the table, or skip this step if you want to read their mind.

Next, either hand them a tangible or in tangible book, ask them to freely flip to a page; explaining that you are mentally influencing them to a certain page, and then ask them to choose a line, and finally a word. This should seem like this process, when in reality the process has not even begun. Now that they have settled on a word, force a word of your choice, asking them to shift from their initial word to a country that starts with a vowel in their word, and then to shift to, say a fruit that begins with the last vowel in their country. Then use this patter from Ran:

“So now you are thinking of a word that you didn't even know you would think of, and that is the exact state of mind you need to be in for this to work. Don't shift thoughts. Can you visualize this word? Perfect...”

Now either flip over the card –- this can raise some suspicion to the card, which can be good to shift the thought away from Prime –- or proceed to pick their thought up, a letter at a time, or however you would wish to reveal.

Hive Mentality Description:

Ever wanted to mass hypnotize/influence an audience with just your mind and mouth? Need a group mental force? If so, then Hive Mentality is for you.

Method:

Prime makes a great show opener. Ask everyone to think of a word through this process, and hit with nearly everyone, except a few who might not have understood your words. The impression will be so strong, and its so fast, you can knock them flat. Sell it off as crowd hypnotism or whatever you want, or say that their minds are all inexplicably linked, and that if they all concentrate on a word, you will receive it. Start out your show right.

Use Prime.

Prime Cards Description:

As you perform, locate and identify spectator's random thoughts throughout your show, much to the amazement of the spectators and your audience.

Method:

This is a particularly interesting ploy that uses a multiple dual reality method. Let us suppose that you have several cards. The first would say something like this:

Please think of a word. Now please think of a country that begins with a vowel in your word. Examples are China, Tibet, Oman, Argentina, Uganda, Japan, and the like. Now, afix in your mind a fruit that begins with the last vowel of your country. Once you have a clear mental image of this fruit, destroy this paper.

Another could force a month, and another perhaps something like a day of the week, a planet, or a precious stone. Place these cards on various seats in your performing area so that you will be able to recall the seats. During your performance, you can call out to various members of the audience –- not all at the same time obviously –- seemingly at random, ask them if they are thinking of something such as a fruit, and then name exactly what it is. E.g.:

“Excuse me sir, yes you, in the classes and suede coat. You are thinking of a fruit, are you not? Yes, and it is an Apple, I can tell. I know that you are hungry, but would you be so kind as not to concentrate so hard upon that? I am trying to read minds here, and yours is getting in the way.”

Your spectator will be stunned, but the effect on nearby audience members will be much larger; you randomly chose someone, identified that they were thinking of something, identified what type of thing it was, and then exactly what they where thinking of. At least that is what your audience believes. They will get a magical sensation that “they could be next”.

The beauty of Prime is that it doesn't require you to sit with the person and talk it through; you can just force it with a card. It will make a much bigger impact on them if they crumple/tear it up; so they won't think intently on the force itself, but if they do, it doesn't matter very much; the impact on the audience will be almost the same.

Tossed out Thought by Ran Pink Description:

Along the same line as the two previous effects, you can now do something like a Tossed out Deck with mere words.

Method:

Do Prime force on a large audience. Start with saying "I want you all to imagine something you could easily draw quickly if you were put on the spot. It should be easy to recognize if anyone looked at it, but it should be more interesting than just a symbol or shape.".

Continue to a country and/or fruit.

"Most of you are thinking of a fruit right now, but I feel as though some of you couldn't think of a country. So take the letter you are thinking of and think of a fruit."

Have them focus on the final word in their mind and explain that you are going to try to receive thoughts from the audience. "Now I'm sensing so many words. Let me see if I can focus on just a few people. You all were thinking of any word than changed the word into a word you never even knew you would think of. That is the perfect state of mind to be for this to flow. I'm getting more than just fruits. It seems that some of you are dwelling on previous words. That's ok."

Then select 6 people to stand up. Have them sit down if you successfully name a word that they had been thinking about . "Tree, Orange, England, House, Apple, Money"

It will appear as though you were picking up words from 6 different people.

Drawing Duplication Description:

Ask your spectator to think of a word, make a few changes, and then draw what they are thinking of on a pad of paper. You stand back to back with them, and draw the same thing.

Method:

This should be terribly obvious by now. You can perform it on the fly. Just grab something to write on and with, hand one of each to your spectator, stand back to back, and begin. Force the word back to back, and then have them draw it. Alternatively, you could force two words (one based on the other), as you will learn a little later, and draw one inside the other, or one with the color of the other. (This could force a different stone, like a ruby by forcing emerald and apple then asking them to change the color of their stone to the color of their thought of fruit). Read further in for more info on this idea.

Thought Dueling Description:

Imagine both you and a spectator think of a word, a month, a time, a season, a planet, a vehicle; you name it. Then you both stand back to back, walk off five paces, turn, aim, fire, and hit. You then both call out what you received. Both of you are right. Nothing written, nothing spoken, nothing asked.

Method:

An obvious choice would be to perform a perfectly working and impromptu Thought Duel. Imagine asking someone to think of a word, and change it twice. You then stand back to back with them, explaining that you will both walk out five paces, then turn and silently fire the word you are thinking of; naming the other word that enters your skull at that moment. You are both right.

Prime whatever word you like (you'll learn even more options later), stand back to back, walk out and fire. As they fire, name the force word. Whatever word they name, act impressed.

Realizer Description:

Allow your spectator to play God for a moment. Show a box, its front covered in glass. Explain that it is an expensive Qui-Life box. Cover the box with a silk. Tell them that now they get to be the creator. As the a life form slips their lips, you are whisking away the silk; to reveal the creature has been created within.

Method:

Get a cardboard box or some similar box. Dress it up as some New Agey sort of crystal gadget. You should have two sides. Both sides are covered in glass. In the center is a double backed mirror (or just two mirrors back to back) setup at a 45 degree angle so that the box appears to be empty. Make sure everything is properly sealed, then on one side, drop in a large number of ants. They can be fake, but live, moving ants will be more impressive. Attach something in a way of a handle to the top of the box.

To perform, you will need to be within relatively close range of your spectators so that they will be able to see the ants, but not too close. If you are comfortable with dual reality, I highly advise that you perform this preshow. It will just appear that much more impressive. You are going to force the ant by asking, instead of a fruit or month, for your spectator to think of an insect. Assuming that you are doing this via a dual reality preshow setup, you never have to have your spectator reveal what they are thinking of or even say

a thing; you already know, thanks to Prime. When you are ready to perform, walk in with the box, so that the empty side is facing your audience. Be very cautious about angles; too casual of a walk with the mirror could give it away. An alternative way to position the mirror would be tilted vertically instead of horizontally if you feel your angles will be right.

Now, explain that this box is a Qui-Life box, that can bring life into being with a mere word (or thought, depending on your presentation). The idea is very novel. You are essentially giving your spectator the opportunity to play God. They will speak, and live will appear. As you speak, take an opaque black silk, and show that it is ungimmicked, then cover the box from the front to the back. Patter about how the box It is capable of creating life, slowly spin the box 180 degrees. I would advise walk around a small table you have it on as you do this. Once complete, ask your “primed” {so to speak) spectator to slowly name a life form that they recently thought about. They will say “Ant”, or “Ants”, whereupon you explain that as they uttered the words, Ants were created within the box. Whisk away the cloth, and bow to your well deserved applause. Your spectator will also react strongly. Think about it. You have made your spectator a god, and their awe will repay you. There is no mind reading about this effect, its never mentioned. Its all focused around a word they speak and a box.

PK Time Description:

Your spectator thinks up a time; all is done in their head. No mathematical tricks, the process is entirely verbal. Without them speaking a word, you slowly bring your wrist into view. On it is a watch.

Method:

Set your watch to roughly one o'clock –-if it's digital, make it 1 PM. Now get yourself a spectator and follow along with patter something like this:

“Please think of a word that is related to time, such as eon, age, future, or some other similar term. Perfect. Now please think of a country that begins with any vowel in that word. Great, now I want you to think of a time of day that begins with the last vowel of that country, such as morning, afternoon, evening, or night. Now please think of an exact hour in that time of day that begins with the, say, second to last letter of that time. Now, if you would just look at my watch here; it would appear that we have gone back to that time as you said it..” etc. etc.

Psychological Card Force Description:

Your spectator mentally creates a card. Then flips over one on the table.

Method:

As with everything, you can use this for one person, or an entire audience. Dual reality or real time. If 'The Fair' doesn't suit your tastes, yet you still want to lay a card on the table and bend another's will to your own, this is for you. The benefit is that you can do it on a group instead of just one. This is the patter. I borrowed the cementing and justification from subtleties provided by Ran Pink. Try it on yourself:

“Here I have a playing card. I am mentally going to draw your mind to this card. To begin, I would like you to think of a word. A word that identifies with who you are, such as courageous, ingenious, or introverted. Are you done? Now please think of a country that begins with, say, the the first vowel in your word. At this time concentrate on the last vowel in your chosen country. Think of a card value that begins with this letter, such as a Ten, Jack, or Queen. Do you have that in your mind? Splendid. Now please think of a suit that starts with the second letter of your value.

You thought of any word then changed the word into a word you never even knew you would think of. That is the perfect state of mind to be for this to flow. Now please, in

your mind's eye, picture a blank playing card. Paint the value and suit onto your blank card. Once you have done this, imagine it slowly floating out of your mind, and into this card upon the table.”

At this point, just motion to the card to reveal it to be the Ace of Clubs; the card in their mind, the card that they never mentioned aloud.

Prime Reading Description:

Your spectator appears drawn to a gemstone, all in their head. You give them a reading that relates to their choice, and then name it aloud.

Method:

I liked Ran Pink's way of switching to a precious stone (see Ran's Notes), which obviously happens to be emerald. I thought of an interesting reading system based on it.

You just need to have a reading script. I just use the general Forer lines or something similar (thanks to Julian Moore's James Bond Cold Reading System). Example:

“The stone you are most drawn to actually tells me a lot about your personality. You have a great need for other people to like and admire you. You have a tendency to be critical of yourself. You have a great deal of unused capacity which you have not turned to your advantage. While you have some personality weaknesses, you are generally able to compensate for them. Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept others' statements without

satisfactory proof. You have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic. Security is one of your major goals in life. I can tell that you must have mentally chosen an emerald.”

Think for a moment on just how powerful this is. It firstly creates a perfect and lengthy logical disconnect regarding how they “were drawn” to the emerald in the first place. If you think about it, if they had just told you they liked the emerald, and you had rattled off that script, they would have been impressed. But the fact that you told them about themselves, and then revealed that you could draw from that what stone they chose in their head, without speaking, is what brings the experience to a new level.

Other Forces From Apple, ask them to think of a number between 1 and 10 that begins with the last letter of the fruit they are thinking of. You have just forced the number 8, in a more surefire manner than something such as Anate. Even easier, you could force the season Autumn. A more surefire month force would be to force Autumn and then November (from the last letter of Autumn). It would be just as short as forcing the planet Earth or the number 8, and could be used as an alternative to April/August in Beautiful Miracle. An example of patter: “Think of a word. Great, now think of a country that begins with any vowel in that word. Perfect. Now please think of a season that begins with the last vowel in that country. We are now going to get farther into this season, so think of a month that begins with the last letter of that season. So, you freely and randomly chose a season, and then a month within that season. All of this is in your head. Now, if you would look down to my hand here...” etc.

Beautiful Miracle Description:

Your spectator thinks of a month. You spin around a ring on your finger to reveal the corresponding birth stone.

This effect should be performed for a female, because there is a fair chance that they will know birthstones on sight. I advise you to bring a small chart along just in case. This time, ask them to think of a word that has had a deep personal significance to them. Ask them to think of a month, to force August or April. During this entire time, wear either a diamond ring or a light green peridot ring, so that the stone is turned inwards towards your palm.

This is a 50-50 chance, so choose which of the two you want wisely. As an out, have the other month written on the back of an index card or napkin lying inconspicuously on the table or another nearby surface. I would personally choose August as the month for the ring, as it has the highest birth rate and we are naturally drawn to the month we were born in, but on the other hand, most women and even many men will say April because they know its stone is the diamond.

Choose carefully. In the event that it is the month with the ring, you have your miracle. If it was April, slowly turn your ring around. If you had a peridot ring, swivel the ring, and then pull out your index of months and stones. You have just created a powerful,

emotional contact. You first had them think of a word of meaning in their life, and then a month. And then, on your finger, appeared a ring with the corresponding gemstone. A beautiful miracle. Another alternative would be to use Ran Pink's gemstone force (just a few sections below), to force an emerald (May), or November (citrine).

World Traveling by Ran Pink Description:

Take your spectator on a short mental adventure, and read their mind in the process.

Method:

"It is known that traveling and visiting new and unknown places is mind expanding. I want you to take an imaginary journey to any country in the world. This imaginary journey will open your mind so that I can get inside and try to share a simple thought."

Now I'm thinking as I'm writing but what if you started with the person's name as a base as if to personalize the journey and have them choose any letter in their name to travel to the first country. Then they choose the first vowel in that country to travel to another country.

"Now that you've traveled and you are in an expanded state of mind, but your stomach is empty so I'll have you focus on a simple thought. Take the last vowel of the country you are in and can you think of a fruit?"

I'd need to research if this would work, but the idea is to wrap it with a presentation that might render the method invisible.

I also love it short and sweet, but it's fun to try to find meaningful justifications for our odd procedures.

"Ouiea"

Write this word on a card. Use it as a strange mystical meditation mantra like "Ohm". "I learned it during my mystical travels as a young man in my twenties."

Have them close their eyes and repeat the mantra and then choose a country with one of the letters in "Ouiea" to take an imaginary journey. I'm trying to force "India" with the mystical meditation language but even if they use the other letters you are still on track to your force options.

Notes

Ran Pink's Notes [Paraphrased] If they hesitate on the country, and you haven't mentioned countries like Oman, then skip the country and go straight for the fruit. It will have to be an Orange, unless they didn't think of Uganda or Uzbekistan, in which case they won't be able to think of a fruit; and you can just tie it up with the planet Uranus. If you get to Orange, you can ask your spectator to think of a precious stone that begins with the last letter of the fruit; Emerald, and reveal both thoughts.

Another idea to get 3 or 4 thoughts is to try influential language or psychological forces to ask for the first word, then do Prime and do one more controlled vowel jump if need be. Now you can pump fairly safely because you can always cut yourself off with a true statement about one or two of their thoughts.

If the participant has a hard time finding a country, and I forgot, the first time I tried this, to mention Oman, but if you can just have them think of a fruit at this point to get Orange. Keep going from there or just reveal the Orange prediction or direct mind read. This is option FruitBasket as you can have an Orange in one pocket and an Apple in a bag on the table... or something like that.

Or a sea creature Octopus. Then have them think of a country with the last vowel. E.g. Uganda/ Uzbekistan. I'm sure there are more but I those are the first that came to mind. But there are no Octopi in Uganda. ;)

When the participant is --let's say-- thinking of Apple after your basic Prime, "So now you are thinking of a word that you didn't even know you would think of, and that is the exact state of mind you need to be in for this to work. Don't shift thoughts. Can you visualize this word? Perfect..." etc.... It's subtle but gives a fake reason to justify the Prime process.

The Fair would work well with my Showdown Wallet or any wallet with a divider I suppose, since you can show the wallet empty after you pull the card out. 4 Queens in 4 index pockets in my Showdown billfold. Though I can fit all the picture cards in there, less is more and I do need to leave room for the money.

Giani the Mentalist's Notes Comedic Approach to “In Spirit”:

"You are touching and holding the fruit. Feel the texture. Uh Oh, I'm sensing something, a lump of sorts. A brownish soft spot. Can you see it? Try to see it."

Regarding if they can't think of a fruit:

Watch their eyes while they are thinking of the vowel, then its all about timing between fruit or a planet. As soon as you see hesitation, you quickly switch to planet or fruit: ie "Now think of a planet that starts with the letter, rather a fruit. Got it? Great now look at the last letter of that fruit. Great concentrate now see a planet starting with that letter".

Regarding the risky color ploy:

You could take a stab, perhaps more risky but after they think of a color say: "Okay now think of ANY vowel in that color. Now think of a planet that starts with that letter" OF course they could think of turquoise or something. Purple also has U in it. But then its 50/50 between Earth and Uranus.

Paul Carnazzo's Notes I seems as though the major flaw with this is not the possible misses, but the directing of the spectator to use a vowel for their fruit. It may be easy to reconstruct this if they remember the steps.

Possibly a little time misdirection in the way of a short script directing them to envision their fruit as the only object in a White Room, or picture a fruit bowl, and slowly all of the pieces of fruit are vanishing until only one piece remains; “the one you are thinking of”.

Or, maybe simply recap, sort of miscalling (not mentioning vowels) what actually happened:

"You thought of any word, there is no possible way I could know what word you thought of. You used your word to think of a new word, and then took it even further by using that word to think of anew word, which is completely unique to you! If you had thought of a different word initially, you'd probably have a different word in your mind now.

But because of all of that extra activity in your mind, it should make it a little easier to pick up on your thoughts..."

My Notes Regarding geography; in the direct mind read script, there is included some patter that cleverly mixes in countries for every vowel so it should be easy for your spectator to inconspicuously choose a country such as Oman or India mixed in with some random, non vowel-starting countries if their memory wasn't strong.

If you want to have more options than just the eight planets for them to choose from, when you get to E, force the president, Eisenhower. Then you can describe him in whatever manner you like. I have not yet tested this, and there will be some exceptions, but you might be able to get away with having them think of a country that starts with ANY letter in the word they think of. Just a thought; it would probably be a big risk, but much more powerful. I plan on investigating this. Some examples are A – Australia, B – Bangladesh (won't work), C – Columbia, D – Denmark...

Another possibility would be to run through the process and ask them to think of a fruit that begins with that vowel. If they can't just have them think of a planet, just like the Egypt ploy, and you will almost always be covered. So ultimately you could have someone think of any word, then think of any letter in that word, think of a country that starts with that letter, and then a fruit/planet that starts with the last vowel in that country and be right every time. Mind reading doesn't get much closer to that.

A safer alternative to that, would be to have them think of a country that started with the last letter of their word. Due to frequency statistics, this would work most of the time, however you have more room for missing.

Conclusion Well, what can I say? I hope you've enjoyed this tome to mentalism. Ideas are based loosely upon material from Nefesch, Pablo Amira, Bryn Reynolds, and Joshua Quinn.

Thanks go out to Giani the Mentalist (a.k.a. Decomposed), for giving me some notes and performance results, Ran Pink, for more notes, tips, and review, and Jerome Finley, Pablo Amira, and edh on the Magic Cafe for reviewing my work. Kudos to all five of these chaps.

So, what are you waiting for? Get out of your chair or off of your couch, grab a friend, family member, or just someone walking by, ask them to think of a word, freely change it twice, and then flip over card that's been in your hand the entire time. Or ask them to visualize it, toss it from hand to hand, gaze at it, and then produce one from your pocket and take a bite. Or thought duel with them. Or ask them to freely choose a card, and then ask them to flip over one sitting on a table the entire time. But whatever you do: blow their mind.

THE END.