A Collection of Mentalism Routines and Ideas

By Bryn Reynolds

TheSafwanPapers

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Here is what others are saying aboutTHE SAFWAN PAPERS

RICHARD OSTERLIND:“Bryn Reynolds is one of the most exciting creators I have come across in many

years. Whenever he sends me something it is top notch and is usually an item I add to my repertoire. THE SAFWAN PAPERS is the latest batch of material to peak my

interests. Developed in Iraq, for his fellow soldiers, the material is dynamite! (Or C-4 given the situation!) There are great routines, gadgets and gimmicks that will

become standard items in your act and just plain, good old straight-thinking behind powerful effects! One is already slated for my next set of DVD’s. I highly

- very highly - recommend this book!”

BANACHEK:“You know how to take an idea or effect, make it your

own and add a wonderful twist to them.  Wonderful thinking and inspirational. Keep up the great work; we need more original thinkers like you in our ranks. 

Well done.”

MOSHE BOTWINICK:“As in much of Bryn's work, these ideas, ploys, and psychological refinements

should be kept a military secret. Reclassify these papers as Top Secret.”

CHUCK HICKOK:"The Safwan Papers has several very clever ideas for the serious mentalist.  The

emphasis is on language ... not props.  Your Lucky Nite could be sold as a separate routine."

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I dedicate THE SAFWAN PAPERS to Goggles, Buckethead, Dirt, and Halfstein. Raising you guys from day-one kept me

sane during that long, hot, summer. Your innocence counterbalanced all of the craziness, and I found true magic

in that. Thank you.

Safwan, Iraq, Summer 2005: “My GOD, its hot!…was that a gunshot?... No…. Yes…. Oh,

well…. I wonder if I’ll get anything in the mail today….. Lunch was horrible…camel tastes as bad as it did when I was here in ’91….. I’m glad the guys liked my new one-card version of Kollosal Killer….That car looks suspicious….I wonder if there is anything I can do with these three bottlecaps?....What was that Koran thing?...Hey, I just thought of how I can use that Himber Ring for a mentalism routine…I better write all this

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down before I forget it…Make sure the guys clean their weapons before dinner…Oh, yeah, make sure you write down those other uses for The BusinessCOIN methodology before you forget….Now where is there some paper?”

Home, Winter 2008:“What the HELL did I write here?….I can’t even make out my

own handwriting! Couldn’t I have kept track of all of this in ONE notebook?...What are these little pieces of paper I saved? Sheesh…”

Hello. My name is Bryn Reynolds and I am about to get a little personal……

For this book, I had to decipher my notes and thoughts that I had handwritten while in a combat zone, and am now trying to sort them out while in the comfortable privacy of my home here in the cold winter of 2007-8. Notebooks with mentalism ideas in amongst Operation Orders. Things I MUST now shred and copy over. Scraps of paper. Index cards. Notes written on the blank pages of books. MRE cardboard boxes with codes. It’s going to be a long, long winter….but at least I’m here to do so.

Some of you may know of me from my previous mentalism offerings. In this introduction you will get to know a little about me. I have had, thankfully, great success with a few of my other independently-marketed mentalism effects such as The BusinessCOIN Prediction, The CASINOS DECK & KIT!, PYREXIA, “$” Serial Number Divination, ESPnvelope, and several others. To date, my mentalism highlight has been Richard Osterlind including my DOUBLE-DOWN casino cards effect on his DVD series No Camera Tricks. I am truly honored that these effects have been reviewed quite highly, and by some great contributors to the field.

I know what you are thinking: What the heck does this title of The Safwan Papers actually mean? I will explain. From speaking with other authors, some very well respected in fields other than that of magic or mentalism, I

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found one of the hardest things in writing is thinking of a title for the book. This title took me NO time at all to decide upon, and although the title has zero impact on the routines contained herein, it does reflect greatly upon my mindset and scheme of reference under which most of these effects were thought of and refined. I simply entitled the book after the location I was in when most of these ideas were created: Safwan, Iraq.

In the interest of full-disclosure, I am not currently a full-time performer. My full-time job is a police sergeant with a larger Sheriff’s Office in New York. I am the proud Commander of our SWAT Team and one of the regional supervisors for our multi-jurisdictional SCUBA Dive Team. I am also the supervisor of our multi-agency Drug Task Force that has at our helm a letter-agency.

I get a lot of pleasure, “mentalism-wise,” out of this role as I get to interview many people who want to do some “work” for us in exchange for some “consideration” regarding their sentence. It is an amazing setting to refine one’s techniques; it is a true proving ground to be able to predict with a NW or discern with a center tear, how many years they think they will get in prison! And the District Attorney wonders how we get so many confessions….

It was upon surfacing for a scuba tank change during a dive that I noticed I had a voice mail on my cell phone. It was the call I knew was probably coming: my unit was going to Iraq. I was there in 1990-91 during Desert Shield/Storm. I knew what we were in for. What I didn’t know was how much my now hobby of mentalism would help me focus and keep me grounded between moments of insanity. I will touch on why I chose to italicize hobby further down in this introduction section….

Safwan is a small city in Iraq. I was deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom with my United States Vermont Army National Guard unit from October, 2004 to January, 2006. As of this writing (2008) I am a Sergeant First Class, and am proud of my 19Delta, CAVALRY SCOUT heritage. Safwan is simply a small wild-west type of city in Iraq. During the deployment, my Platoon was tasked to operate a checkpoint in that town

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for a few months, and to assign our squads through this checkpoint-duty assignment on a rotational basis.

I spent my fair share of time there, between our regular Quick Reaction Force missions, and, as the saying goes, being in a combat zone truly is hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. I knew this well from Desert Storm and many warrant executions. OIF was much more different. Much. While I had some very, very, bad days in Safwan, I also had many hours in which I had nothing to do but sit. (Well, we also raised a litter of newborn wild puppies we named Dirt, BucketHead, Goggles, and Halfstein, but that is a story for another day. I am proud to say all were adopted by US soldiers and now reside in the USA. I hear they still bark with an Arabic accent, though…..!)

. I filled the time that I was deployed by reading, practicing my existing mentalism routines, and writing down new ideas as they came to me. Most of the effects in this manuscript were devised, refined, & performed quite frequently for my fellow troops over that time period. They are now committed to paper, and I hope you get as much use out of them as I do. I assure you that all have been performed many, many times, and to great effect. As per my standard, all use no props, borrowed items, or only those that can be carried in my wallet or pocket. In this era of well-overpriced eBooks and single effect releases, I hope you find some value in these pages.

I will finish this introduction section by explaining why I chose to italicize hobby a few paragraphs above. For me, mentalism is indeed now just a hobby, if thought of just in the context of income. In another day, magic & mentalism were my main source of income. I put myself through college performing walk-around and private parties doing gambling demonstrations with a mentalism flavor, and I have been lucky enough to share a drink or three with some of the biggest names in the business ( Hey, I bought back then, but I still consider myself lucky!)

In all other aspects, mentalism is still is a way of life for me. It does not pay the bills. My wife’s very successful career in the world of

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finance, and my paltry salary in the field of law enforcement are what keep the lights on and the dog fed. There was a time, though, that my income was dependant on me performing. I still perform very often, almost every day in fact, but in impromptu settings. I often think that these impromptu performance settings (that most of us reading this manuscript fall under) when someone says “Hey, show my wife/friend/ect. that thing you did for me the other night…” .are MUCH more challenging and difficult situations than those scripted stage pieces that those captive members of a paying audience are subject to.

Again, I thank you very much for purchasing this book. These effects have truly been great “workers” for me, and I hope they are for you as well!

I would also like to take a couple of lines to thank a few of those who have helped me with The Safwan Papers. These gentlemen have contributed thoughts & ideas regarding the effects, help with editing and publishing options, and have generally been great sounding boards through the entire process. They are listed below, in no particular order, and I apologize in advance for any I may have omitted:

Richard Osterlind Mike Sturgeon Banachek Moshe Botwinick Chuck Hickock Jim Sisti Gabe Ableson Rick Roth

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SEVENEFFECT: A single playing card (or written prediction) is placed face down on the table. The spectator is handed a brand new deck of imaginary cards, and through a seemingly very fair elimination procedure, they are left with only one card. It exactly matches the prediction.

Pros: As dealer ad copy would state, the spectator makes all of the decisions, there are no extra cards or predictions, and no swami gimmicks are employed. There are NO multiple outs at all, and the prediction may be examined and even kept by the spectator.

Cons: Once in a great while this may not work. Please read on…….

I am a huge fan of Kenton Knepper’s excellent effect Kolossal Killer. This effect and the many variations offered in his follow-up booklet Killer Konceptions have given me much great performance material and food for thought. I love the premise (the one card in my wallet matches their thought of card,) the handling of the elimination of cards (colors & suits) if using less than a full set-up, and the great use of the outs (the information on the back of the cards allows one to effectively reduce the number of required outs by half.) I am going to assume that most reading this are very familiar with the effect and its variations, subtleties, outs-procedures, etc. If not, I am certainly not going to tip it here. Do yourself a favor and buy it.

I have performed many variations of KK over the years and to great reaction. Perhaps the original is still best, but SEVEN is the version I now most often perform for the following reason: The original KK allowed for virtually any card to be named and then removed from your wallet. Most reading this know the compromises required. My goal was to eliminate all of those and require only my performance ability and audience management skills alone. ONE prediction, NO multiple outs, and just ME

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speaking to the spectator, always letting them make seemingly free choices with some imaginary cards. It doesn’t always work, but even if it does miss it appears you were so close as to be given quite a bit of credit….but more on that later.

METHOD: There is only one prediction required, be that a single playing card or it simply being written on the back of a scrap of paper. That prediction needs to be the Seven of Spades. Through seemingly exceedingly fair verbal manipulation the spectator is guided to eliminate all of her imaginary cards except for the Seven of Spades (7S.) The very fact that these imaginary cards are deemed brand new aids in this. Oh, I also invented a brand new word pronounced: “Off-ah.” The proceeding two sentences will become quite clear in a moment as this effect is very easy to perform. Here we go…..

PERFORMANCE: The performer hands the spectator (hereinafter referred to as “her” or “she” for sake of brevity) an imaginary deck of cards and asks her to remove them from the box. As she does so, she is told that this is a brand new deck of cards and not to disturb their order. This “order” is something which will be completely fluid and may change, as her decisions do, if we need to make adjustments. Most people have no idea how a brand new deck of cards looks as it comes out of the box regarding the order and the suits. We know that there are 13 red, 13 black, 13 red, and 13 black. For our purposes, though, they will simply be divided into half red and half black. I have never been caught out on this, and if I ever am I’m simply going to tell them “no, not this brand!”

She is asked to pantomime spreading the imaginary cards between her two hands and divide them with the black cards in one hand and the red in the other. It does not matter which hand supposedly holds which. We, of course, know that 51 of the cards are going to be eliminated to get to the target 7S. However, we are going to get half of the cards eliminated before the spectator even knows we are starting anything by having some fun as only imaginary cards will allow. Performer tells her that since these cards are imaginary we are going to “do something fun” that we would not

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normally do with real cards. She is asked if she prefers to do this with red or black. Obviously, she is going to have to end up retaining the black cards in her hands. If she “prefers” black then advise her we will use black for the rest of this and “just throw the red cards away on the floor….see, we wouldn’t want to do that if we were using real cards, now, would we?” If she “prefers” red you simply have her throw the red cards on the floor for the “fun stuff you can only do with imaginary cards” and still conclude with the same sentence of “just throw the red cards away on the floor….see, we wouldn’t want to do that if we were using real cards, now, would we?”

It is the double meaning of “prefers to do this with” that helps us in the first elimination phase. If they chose our target of black then we infer with our words and actions that “do this with” means: “do this entire experiment with black, so we don’t need those red cards….let’s just throw them away.” If they instead choose red then we infer with our words and actions that “do this with” means that we are going to do that fun thing that can only be done with imaginary cards: throw them to the ground with no mess because they are imaginary. Either way, the premise is logically sound in either instance and we already have them holding just the black cards before the “experiment” even seems to begin.

For the next elimination phase I suggest you try to use the “new word” that I mentioned a few paragraphs up: “off-ah.” It is the word off with a little bit of an ah sound thrown in at the end. It is said fairly quickly and is pronounced similar to: “off-ah.” It makes absolutely no sense to you right now but let me explain the context in which I use it. Our next elimination goal is to get her to retain the Spades; conversely, to get her to eliminate the Clubs. Depending on her completely free choice, that word properly spoken will make all seem even more fair. The basic premise with this “word” is that when spoken again after her free choice, either the “ah” portion will be more clearly emphasized as “of” as in “deal off OF,” or it will be completely dropped and all that will be said is “deal off.”

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One of two outcomes will be spoken:

Which do you want to deal off OF?or

Which do you to deal off?

Here is a sample of the script I use and how I incorporate that word:

“Some, almost all, actually, of these cards need to be eliminated and you decided from that little mess you made on the floor down there that were are going to try this with the black cards. We could have used red, had you selected those, but black is fine. Of course, the black suits are the Spades and the Clubs…If you had chosen red then we would be dealing with the Hearts or Diamonds, of course, but you chose black. Of those, which do you want to deal off-ah…the Spades or the Clubs?” If they choose our Spades target it is reiterated as: “ok, you want to deal off of the Spades, so throw those Club cards there on the floor with the rest of those you have eliminated.” The of is now more closely emphasized. If they choose Clubs the “ah” sound is dropped completely when you reiterate: “ok, you want to deal OFF the Clubs so deal them onto the floor with the others we have eliminated.” No “ah” sound trailing at the end this time; just the OFF portion is spoken. She already dealt off the red cards to the floor so this wording is completely congruent with her previous actions.

To conclude, she is going to have to deal off of the remaining Spades portion she now “holds” so this little “ah” linguistic subtlety seems to work perfectly. Of course, one could always just say “which cards do you want to deal off now?” but you loose, what in mine and other’s opinions, is a nice verbal subterfuge. As always, try it with and without and see what works for you.

The next phase is going to have us guide her to deal to the 7S through her own free will. Here is where the fluid nature of the order of a brand new deck of cards that I discussed earlier really comes into play and becomes our friend. Except for experienced cardmen and gamblers, how many people can tell you the correct order of a run of suits from a newly opened

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deck? Is it Ace through King? Two through Ace? Does the order run from the top of the face down packet to the bottom or vice versa? Are the suits in CHSD order, or some other? You had to think there for a second, didn’t you? I know I would have. This uncommon knowledge is what allows us to pull this effect off the vast majority of the time. Although there are no multiple outs when referring to the prediction, there are now numerous paths opened up that allow us to get to that one rock-solid unchangeable prediction. I feel that this is an under-utilized and under-explored premise in mentalism, but I digress…..

From just a pure statistical standpoint there are 4 out of 13 possible outcomes that could bring this routine to a successful conclusion. However, by utilizing the previously discussed “fluid nature” of a new deck, along with some very carefully scripted words and physical pantomimes to be discussed momentarily, I now perform this with an at least a 90% success rate, and I still get credit for those rare near misses. I cannot ask for more from a completely prop-free, impromptu, anytime-anyplace-anywhere mentalism routine.

We need to have her pantomime dealing off of (remember?) her packet a number of cards that will bring us either directly to the 7S or to the card directly before it. There are 13 cards in a suit. There are four different amounts of cards that she can deal off that will bring us to one of those two states. Those amounts are five, six, seven or eight cards. However, because of that fluid nature of a new deck’s order, that we control, we have the leeway of dealing off:

Starting at the Ace and counting down, Starting at the King and counting down, Starting at the Ace and counting up or, Starting at the Two and counting up.

This opens up a lot more paths to get us to the 7S. And even if we only get to the card before the 7S we can then set that next card (the 7S) aside….and turn it over to reveal it matches our prediction.

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How do I get them to deal of from five to eight imaginary cards? I TELL them to, albeit not out loud. Here is what I say: “You decided to use the black cards, and of those we could have used Spades or Clubs. You chose Spades. What I need you do now is deal several cards off of what you are holding onto the table.” As I am saying those words I am pantomiming dealing six cards onto the table. The combination of me telling her to deal off several cards, along with me dealing six imaginary cards to the table almost invariably will result in her dealing the correct number of imaginary cards from her packet to the table that will fall within our required range to bring this to a successful conclusion.

You can either ask her how many cards she wants to deal to the table before she starts or simply have her deal those cards silently to the table as you silently count them. Both methods have their strong points which will be discussed momentarily, as will be the importance of why she deals them silently. There is nothing hard about this routine at all, but for this final phase you will have to learn the following chart of possible outcomes presented below. Don’t worry though, because even though you will come to memorize these possible outcomes with a few practice runs and performances, there is enough time delay built in to calculate, on the fly, which end of the packet, and starting with which card, you need to start. You can even count on your fingers to yourself if you have to!

If you ask her how many cards she wants to deal off before she starts it will give you some lead time to do the necessary calculations relating to the chart below. However, the method I now use is to just have her deal the cards silently as you count them. This gives us an even stronger chance to hit our target numbers (5,6,7, or 8.) By watching her deal these imaginary cards and counting them yourself you have a reason to now ask her how many cards she dealt. If you have seen her count within the correct range ask her to state that number and follow along according to the chart below.

Here is another nice little subtlety that can work in our favor by using this second method: Most of the time, if you don’t ask them how many cards they want to deal, they don’t know how many cards they just dealt! Often they will just deal “several” cards to the table as told, and were not aware of having to know exactly how many they dealt! This is perfect, because we then tell them how many they dealt! If she has dealt off

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a number of cards just outside our range, four or nine cards for example, we say “what was that, 6 or 7 cards?” Many times they do not know, so we give them a further choice (!) by asking them which one they want, ‘6 or 7?” Both fall within our acceptable range as listed below, yet another seemingly free choice was again offered. As you play around with this you will see that there are many paths we can lead them down to get to the correct outcome….

Here are the possible outcomes and what you need to do:

If she deals this many cards, here is what you need to do and say:

One: Don’t let her…you told her several Two: Same as above Three: Same as above Four: This gets “iffy” and may be one of those times where you are

only going to get close. Try the ruse explained above by stating “what was that, about five cards?” If you can convince it was, start counting from the Two, upwards in value: “Ok, so you dealt off the Two, Three, Four, Five and Six…place the next card aside face down.” Have her read the prediction and show it matches the imaginary face down 7S. If she sticks to her guns that it was exactly four cards she dealt off, still follow the above procedure, which will get you to the 6S and wring as much credit out of it as you can for only being off by one.

Five: Good to go: Start counting at the Two, upwards in value: “Ok, so you dealt off the Two, Three, Four, Five and Six…and here we are at The Seven of….what was the suit again? Oh, yes…Spades.. place the card aside face down.” Have her read the prediction and show it matches the imaginary face down 7S.

Six: Good to go: Start counting at the Two, upwards in value, and you will count directly to the 7: “Ok, so you dealt off the Two, Three, Four, Five, Six…and we end up at the Seven. The Seven of Spades. Here, take a look at my prediction.”

Seven: Good to go. Also, you have two options here, depending on your presentational motives. You can start counting from the Ace,

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downwards in value, to get to the card directly before the 7S. This way you can set that next card, the 7S, aside face down. Here is how that sounds: “Ok, this is a new deck of cards, all in order, so you dealt off the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, and Eight…set that next card (7S) aside face down while we look at the prediction I made earlier….” If you want to count directly to the 7S simply start at the King and count downwards in value: “King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight…Seven…ok, you decided to deal to the Seven of Spades…here, take a look at my prediction.”

Eight: Still good to go. Start with the Ace and count downwards in value: “Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven…The Seven of Spades…ok, you decided to deal to the Seven of Spades…here, take a look at my prediction.”

Nine or Above: I almost never get this. I honestly believe in the combination of me stating several cards (and nine just seems to feel like more than several for some reason) and the pantomime of me dealing six cards to the table keeps them well within the acceptable range. I perform this very often and I truly cannot remember a recent instance that this has occurred. If I do see them deal out nine cards or more I will follow one of two options: try the ploy detailed in the above chart for FOUR cards being dealt: simply state “what was that…seven or eight cards; ok, which do you want it to be, seven or eight?” or you could simply state: “that is way too many as you have dealt through almost all of them…start over and just deal off a few..” Conversely, if they are insistent, you could just go with the theory of close in mentalism is sometimes just as acceptable and leave it at that. However, if you follow the above scripting and use the six-card pantomime deal, I am quite confident that you will see the spectator deals off a number of cards that fits within our acceptable range of five to eight.

And there it is…SEVEN.

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To the spectator, she has taken a brand new deck of imaginary cards from its box, freely eliminated one of the colors, and further eliminated one of the remaining suits. She deals down through the remaining cards, stopping whenever she wishes. Somehow, she decided to stop on the only card in the deck that matches your one-and-only wide-open prediction.

Before we leave this, I want to take a moment to touch on that prediction. I no longer place a playing card face-down on the table before starting. I feel that this somehow puts a preconceived notion in the spectator’s mind that a single card will be arrived at, especially once you start eliminating the imaginary cards. This may make them start to resist or question the elimination methods and techniques as they start to unfold. As a matter of fact, I never mention a prediction at all before the start of the effect, nor do I tell them why we are eliminating cards. She eliminated the red cards before anything even began in her mind, she then makes the “free” choice to eliminate the Clubs, and since we immediately segue into the counting down to the 7S phase I feel from witnessing many different spectators that it is only now that the notion of eliminating all but one card even dawns on them. However, the challenge for me, when devising and rehashing this effect through repeated performances, was to ensure that the prediction is not recognized as a single playing card, yet play as completely unequivocal when revealed. After many trials, here are the two methods I have found that work best for me to preserve that:

1. Inside of my wallet I have a Seven of Spades, from an antique deck, in a small black envelope in the currency section. Prior to performance I take my wallet out, set it on the table, and mention that I would be willing to bet that the spectator is able to make the correct choices, even by using her own free will, to bring our next experiment to a successful conclusion. No bet is ever actually proposed, but by mention of one it gives a reason for removing and setting down your wallet. Depending on the venue (i.e., I’m worried someone might run off with my exposed wallet!) I’ll either leave the wallet on the table or remove the envelope and pocket the wallet. Either way, a playing card is not in view during performance. If using the full wallet, I let them open it and remove the envelope and

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then the card; conversely they can open the in-view envelope on the table if that is the route I’ve taken. Both the envelope and wallet can then be examined with the utmost scrutiny if requested. No one ever does.

2. If I don’t have my wallet I simply take a piece of scrap paper, write ‘Seven of Spades” on the back, shake my head to myself as if I’ve made a mistake, and then openly draw a spiral, question mark or weird doodle on the other side. I ask them before each choice they make to look at the design. This seems at times to add another small “layer” for some spectators. Although I never mention why, I can see looks on their faces each time I make them look at the design. “If these choices are of my own free will, why does he make me look at that weird design each time before I decide….?” Of course, turn over the paper to conclude.

I realize I have taken several pages to explain an effect that can be over with in under a minute, but in my humble opinion, this is an exceedingly strong piece of prop-free mentalism that has served me very well. I wanted to explain every nuance and linguistic subtlety as thoroughly as I could, as each little word and sentence ties the whole thing together in one seamless presentation that is seemingly free of any manipulation or coercion. Please give this a couple of reads and then do yourself a favor and just try it out!

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Bottle Cap Koran This is an impromptu, multi-phase, divination routine using only three bottle caps and any coin small enough to fit underneath them. During each phase the mentalist, and perhaps even a participant, correctly senses under which cap the coin is hidden. All items may be borrowed, and it is indeed preferable that they are, to rule out the possibility of gimmicked items. At the conclusion, the performer shows a prediction, which has been in full view the entire time, that clearly details how many hits and misses he had and also describes the denomination and date of the borrowed coin!

Required: Any three identical metal beer or soda caps, and the aforementioned coin, are all that is needed. One of these caps must be marked in such a way that it is somehow visually distinguishable by you. The pry marks from a bottle opener are usually best as they bend up the edge of the cap at different positions; i.e. sometimes the bend will be at the 2 o’clock position in reference to the writing on the cap, sometimes it will be at the 10 o’clock position, etc. In essence, all caps that have been removed by a bottle opener will be “marked;” just select one that you will use as your control cap. If the caps are twist-off then none will have this pry mark. See if you can spot an abnormality on one of the caps in the printing. If not, then you will have to squeeze the cap slightly to give it a little bend. Or a nail nick, or an ash smudge…you know what to do. Phase One:

This phase is not as sure-fire as the remaining phases are but we go for a quick kill here right off. Even if it doesn’t hit we still bring it to a successful conclusion with the spectators being none the wiser. The Koran principle to be taught in detail in the remaining phases is sure-fire, but I like to get one under my belt without having to resort to that principle just yet. The wording for this phase will read a bit lengthy, but I want to make

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sure I explain every bit of verbal nuance I use to complete this purely audacious bluff of a first phase.

The three caps are handed to the participant (hereinafter referred to as “he”) and a coin is borrowed. He is told to hide the coin under any one of the caps and to arrange them in a horizontal row on the table while you look away. A second spectator is also asked to turn away as you may need her to help you with this phase. As you are telling him this you are tapping the middle cap. This one will most likely not be chosen, anyway, due to it appearing too obvious, and by tapping it you are further reinforcing that you want him to select the middle position. We hopefully have now limited our choices to two (left or right.) Again, even if we haven’t, we still bring this to a successful conclusion.

Our next sentence is a bit of “fishing,” but by using the following phrasing either outcome is covered. As you hover your outstretched hand back and forth over the caps you state: “You didn’t place it under the left one, did you?” Because of the grammatical inconsistencies in that sentence we are covered either way. If they say yes, even if just with their body language and eyes, then you immediately start to smile and end up with your hand hovering over the leftmost cap as you state “I thought so…” Conclude phase one by removing the cap to reveal the coin.

If they say no, then we immediately state: “No, I didn’t think so…alright so we have eliminated that one….we now have only one more to go.” Turn the cap over and set it aside. By only now bringing up the idea of elimination of the null caps, without explicitly stating this is the procedure we are going to use, makes it fit in perfectly with our statement of “No, I didn’t think so.” As I said, either way we are covered. We now have two remaining caps.

That second participant, that also turned away, is now asked to help. She is asked to mimic the hovering action with her hand and to stop over whichever one is most “calling out to her.” When she does we end this in one of two ways. In either instance the cap is very slowly lifted up.

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Sometimes I get down and peek so only I know if the coin is under there or not. Either way I SMILE.

If the coin is there I state to her; “VERY nice job…how did you do that?” After all, our end goal, indeed, was to find the coin. She did. If the coin is not there I state, while smiling: “VERY good, you eliminated the other one so obviously the coin is here….” I toss the eliminated cap aside with the first while at the same time I am turning over the correct cap to reveal the coin. I emphasize “other one” to further imply that we are eliminating null choices. Two paths to get to the same successful conclusion!

This handling of making either of two possible outcomes, the correct of which the performer truly does not know, seem correct, can be seen beautifully performed by Max Maven at the end of his Kurotsuke routine in Vol. 1 of his Videomind DVDs. If the item we are after is revealed then we have met our implied goal. If it is not, then we now instantly create the premise that we were all along eliminating the null choices to bring us to our implied goal of finding the object. Perhaps the spectators might think we were eliminating the null choices first, so we would have a dramatic final reveal for theatrical purposes?

Phase Two through…well,….however long you want this to go on…

This next set of phases, leading up to the prediction note reveal, makes use of a mathematical principle that has seen much print elsewhere, but I believe was most widely popularized by Al Koran’s “Note Under Cup” effect from his Professional Presentations book. The basic premise is simply that you remember where the marked cap is before you turn around. After the spectator places the coin underneath a cap he is told to change the positions of the other two caps that he did not place the coin under. When you turn back around you will note one of two possible outcomes:

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1. Your marked cap has not changed position. The coin is therefore underneath your marked cap. Remember, they were instructed to change the position of the other two caps, so if yours has not moved it is logically the one with the coin underneath.

2. Your marked cap has changed positions. You know that the marked cap cannot have the coin since it was moved. (Remember: change the positions of the other two.) It is under one of the two unmarked caps. How do we know which one, though? Simple. It is NOT under the cap that occupies the position where your marked cap was before you turned around. It cannot be, as this cap was apparently also moved (it is now where your marked cap was, and, again, they were told to change the position of the other two, implying to leave the cap with the coin alone.)

I understand this may seem a little complicated on paper while reading it but trust me: this always works! It mathematically has to. Follow along with three caps and a coin, changing the position of where the marked cap starts each time, and you will see the logic of this in just a few tries. Place the coin under any of the caps and then change the position of the other two caps.

Although this is a mathematical principle I do not have spectators view it as such and I think a couple of reasons are involved. I normally only repeat this phase perhaps four times before going to the prediction card finale. However, on occasion to test this principle out in an informal situation with friends that let me bounce mentalism ideas off of them, I have done this ten times, or more, with the participant getting more and more frustrated each time! First of all, they do not know one of the caps is marked, which of course makes this effect possible! Even if they did suspect a mark, how would it help us, since they can put the coin under any cap? I feel it is that little bit of lateral logical thinking of the coin, in the case of the marked cap having moved, not being under the cap where the marked cap was either, that makes this principle beautiful.

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And speaking of this being a mathematical principle, please do not ever refer to the position of the caps as “One, Two, or Three.” I much prefer “Left, Middle/Center, or Right.” Let’s keep numbers out of this as much as possible.

The Prediction Paper Finale

This ending adds yet another layer to entire routine. The sheer-bluff audacity of the first phase seems to cancel out the principle of the sure-fire Koran methodology. Adding this final prediction at the end seems to cancel out the idea of them trying to retrace anything. This small piece of paper is placed face-down on the table without mentioning it before the routine even begins.

Here is what I have pre-written on the back of a small piece of paper:

Thank you for participating. Because of you, I was able to sense the coin correctly 4 out of 5 times. (I think the one I missed was actually on

the right.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, thanks for lending me the year 2000 Dime!

The prediction needs to be written on nice quality paper, not card stock, and the hash-marks printed above are meant to represent a fold line. This last sentence about the dime is heavily creased under the remainder of the prediction, in case we are not able to borrow a dime. If we are, then this last sentence is unfolded prior to placing the prediction face down. If not, don’t unfold it and put it in your pocket so you can pull it out face up without revealing the fold.

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How we make each of these predictions come true:

The Dime Aspect:

In order to use the entire prediction card, you must borrow a dime, but without specifically asking for a dime. If there are several persons present this usually is not a problem. Here are the steps I use:

I ask for those with change to take it out as we are going to need a small coin. If I am handed a dime, then I am all set. (If someone holds out all their change in their hand for me to choose one I do not! This would take away from the fairness of them handing me “any” coin.) If someone tries to hand me a different denomination I kind of ignore them and look at what else is being offered, hoping that a dime is. If this fails just ask for something smaller as you don’t want it to “raise up the bottle cap so I can see under and cheat!”

Neither a quarter, nickel, penny, nor dime will actually do this, but it does sound logical. Almost always I will end up with a dime. If I don’t then I just simply do not show that last sentence on the prediction card. The other two predictions are quite strong by themselves….

To make the year of the dime come true you will most likely have to do a switch. This is easy enough to accomplish as we do not appear to be doing anything utilizing dates. The reason I have the year 2000 Dime written on the prediction is because that year had the highest mintage figures for U.S. Dimes, with almost four billion being made. Quite often I am handed one and no switch at all will need to be made. Check your pocket change; they come up quite frequently. I save most of mine that I come across, and usually will salt my pockets with a couple if I know I am going to be out and most likely performing. I also try to keep one in my wallet next to the prediction at all times, and it is easy enough to retrieve as you are assembling the three bottle caps and removing the prediction. If you are going to have to switch please do not make a show out of it…just do any basic switch you are comfortable with as you hand them the three caps for examination. Many are in literature.

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If we now have the 2000 Dime in play the creased portion of the prediction can be unfolded and placed face down. I would also suggest folding several other horizontal creases in the prediction so the portion regarding the dime is not the only crease on the paper. If I can show the entire prediction paper, I hand it to a spectator to read; if I cannot, I simply hold onto it, hiding the dime portion, as we read aloud together.

The next page will show the prediction paper with the bottom DIME portion both folded under (hidden) and then revealed:

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The Four out of Five Aspect:

Of course, using the Koran methodology, one could keep performing the divination ad infinitum. There is no clear-cut ending to this that makes it a routine. The Prediction Paper solves that. Also, I think one ‘miss’ somewhere along the way adds a nice touch, and besides, you do get to show that you predicted that miss at the end.

The timing of said miss is entirely under your control, of course. If I am able to borrow a dime, and have a Year 2000 Dime with me to switch in case I am not handed one, I will do the entire routine almost as presented above. The following is how I handle the issue and timing of the miss (and is, quite frankly, the reason I decided to try something so bold in the first phase:)

You have all the latitude in the world in this first phase! This can be your miss phase, or not, depending entirely on how you want to play it.

If you miss on the first phase, and the coin actually was on the right, you do not have to utilize the second spectator for an elimination procedure: turn it into her being wrong also and make this your miss phase!

Once you turn over the middle cap you will know which direction to take: if the coin is there, take it as a hit, giving her full credit; if it isn’t there make a comment regarding “we missed that one, it was actually on the right.”

This is exactly as worded on the prediction paper. You know you will get the next four phases correct….Here are the directions the first phase can take:

1. The coin is actually on the left: 1-out-of-3 minor miracle hit for you!2. She discerns the middle cap and coin IS there: take it as a hit3. She discerns the middle cap and coin is NOT there:

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A. You can do the “elimination” procedure detailed above and take it as a hit by showing the coin under the rightmost cap, or:

B. I would take this opportunity to take this as your miss, since it aligns with your prediction of the miss “actually being on the right.”

4. She discerns the rightmost cap and coin IS there: take it as a hit5. She discerns the rightmost cap and coin is NOT there:

A. Do the “elimination” procedure detailed above and take it as a hit by showing the coin under the middle cap.

You still have four more chances to take a miss somewhere else during the Koran-based phases. You KNOW where the coin is: if it is on the right take this one as your miss and emphasize as if in disbelief “hmm..it was actually on the right!” Almost always one of these four phases will end up with the coin on the right. If it doesn’t then do not play up this aspect of the prediction as it is being read at the end. Most likely the spectators will not remember the exact location of the miss anyway, and the 4-out-5 aspect and the year and denomination of a borrowed coin being divined is still quite a strong ending!

Here are a couple of performance notes regarding this routine:

PLEASE do not immediately turn around and stare at the caps as if you are examining them. It could give the game away regarding the presence of markings. Try to look at them as little as possible and really play up the idea of receiving something from your outstretched hand and not your eyes. If you do not notice your marked cap right away, do an Annemann-style glance back as you say something. If you have to do this a couple times, that is fine.

Also, you may not like the aspect of the spectator failing during the first phase. Neither do I. Here is how I get around it to give her some credit if I do decide I need to take my miss during the first phase. I will enlist her help for a couple of the subsequent phases by gently taking her wrist and as she moves her hand back and forth over the caps. Of course, stop her on the

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correct cap as you state something along the lines of “wait a second, you felt yourself pause there didn’t you…let’s check!” She will agree, and the coin will be there.

Just three caps and a coin….thanks, Al!

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Your Lucky Nite EFFECT:

Five truly-opaque manila pay envelopes are boldly labeled in marker with the numbers 1 through 5, respectively, by your helper and are never again touched by the performer. It is shown that each even holds an identical piece of Monopoly money so that when a real bill is borrowed and placed in the envelope there is no discrepancy in weight or feel. The helper honestly mixes the envelopes with numbers face-down and randomly selects any one. Neither he nor you know which one he selected. A bill of any denomination is borrowed from another participant and traded out for the piece of Monopoly money by your helper. The envelopes are truly sealed and mixed again. All of the envelopes but one are eliminated and honestly destroyed by the person that lent the bill; the performer NEVER touches the envelopes. The remaining envelope is opened by the lender of the bill to find his money safely inside!

This is my contribution to the myriad versions of the Bank Nite Effect theme. While there are many others that may be more elaborate and “clever” in design and method, I hope you give this a try for the following reasons:

o The performer NEVER has to touch any of the envelopes. None of the envelopes are secretly mislabeled and are honestly labeled 1 through 5 by your helper.

o The envelopes are ungimmicked and nothing to do with their opacity or weight is involved. They are truly ordinary and unprepared.

o The bill is never “held-out,” either via a thumb tip or holding it behind the stack of envelopes, and then secretly inserted in the

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last, remaining envelope. It is honestly sealed in a random envelope by the helper.

o When the envelopes are mixed face-down by the helper they are truly mixed. He truly selects one at random, and neither he nor you see the number on the envelope that the real money is placed into.

o The eliminated envelopes are truly destroyed, either by shredder, fire, or multiple tears…The performer may be legitimately blindfolded if desired

o There is no “sucker” ending in which the performer wins and the others lose….there is plenty of credit for all at the conclusion of this routine.

o The secret gimmick that makes this all work is completely disguised as a safeguard to further ensure the fairness of the handling…

PERFORMANCE & METHOD:

I was purposefully quite specific and lengthy in describing the EFFECT portion above. This is for the simple reason that what I described is actually what happens from the spectator’s point of view. The secret that makes this work will be tipped AFTER you read the following instructions. I feel it is better revealed to you then, so you can read along and picture the routine as the spectators actually see it before knowing when the “dirty work” is being done. Please try to play along and imagine yourself as an audience member watching me perform this in your mind’s eye. There will be only one sentence clarified at the end to tip the secret, as that is all that is needed. Everything else actually occurs and you will see that the disclaimers as listed above are actually true. Of course, there are a few other nuances that must occur along the way, and here they are:

The performer introduces five opaque manila pay envelopes. These may be of any make and be of any size. White letter-size security

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envelopes may also be used, as long as there can be no suspicion whatsoever that you can see through them. You truly cannot, nor is any “backlighting” or ESPnvelope type technology employed. If the envelopes you use require the borrowed bill be folded, then so be it. The person helping you with the envelopes will be inserting the bill anyway, so he will do whatever he has to so it fits.

Each envelope is shown to contain an identical piece of Monopoly or play money. These should be of as high a denomination as possible for reasons to be discussed later. Also, if the size envelopes you are using will require the real borrowed bill be folded, then the play money should also be prefolded in a similar manner. Again, the play money is said to be in each envelope so there can be no change in weight or feel, or anything different seen if held up to the light, once a real bill is exchanged for the play money and sealed inside. You truly do not employ any of those methods when eliminating the envelopes but it is better to immediately cancel out those options in the spectator’s mind.

The helper you have selected is handed each envelope, along with a marker or pen, and asked to boldly label them with the numbers 1 through 5, in turn. Once you have handed him the last envelope you never have to touch them again, nor should you. He is asked to turn them over so the numbers are writing-side down and mix them so thoroughly that even he does not know their order. A nice presentational touch is to ask him to hand them face down to a person near him for further mixing and have them returned to him. This is not necessary, but adds another layer of shuffling to placate any suspicious spectators.

On a related note, this helper should be someone nominated by the audience-at-large, and not by you. Not to be braggadocios about my own effect here, but I truly have found that this plays so strong for me that others would conclude that the helper was my confederate and secretly helping me. This of course is not the case, and a logical review of the facts of the handling procedures would certainly rule out the possibility of him being of any help to me even if he WERE trying to. However, it is best to best to nip that remote

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possibility in the bud right from the start, and having the audience select who is your helper is best.

Once you are satisfied he has no idea which envelope is which (and of course you do not, either) have him randomly select one, still keeping it face down, and place the others, also face down, either on his lap or in his pocket. A new volunteer needs to be nominated (again, preferably by the audience) and as large of a denomination real bill as possible borrowed. The play money is removed from the envelope and given to the lender in exchange for his bill, which the helper then truly seals inside one of the envelopes. For a nice comedic moment the lender is asked if he wants to stop the effect right then and keep the play money, as after all, it is of a higher denomination than the real bill he lent to be placed into the envelope! Of course, he will not, and the effect will proceed. And your work is done…..

This envelope with the real bill is then placed in amongst the rest of the face down envelopes and a similar mixing procedure as above is followed. It should be completely clear to all spectators that neither the helper, nor anyone else, ever knows which numbered envelope the real bill went into. They truly do not; however:

You do…

One at a time, the envelopes are eliminated by your favorite presentational methodology. For this type of effect, I prefer psychometry. As the numbers are called off, you may hold your hand a few inches over that specific envelope as the helper holds it out. If you have a strong feeling about this one containing play money you hand it to the lender (or the helper, but the lender plays stronger as it is his money) to place through the cheap, battery powered hand-held paper shredder you have provided him. Conversely, you may have him tear the envelope and contents up as many times as his hand strength permits, while looking away, of course, so he doesn’t get to immediately peek what is inside, and toss the scraps aside. Another

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presentational angle, conditions permitting, is to have him toss the envelope into a fireplace or outdoor bonfire. (I performed Your Lucky Nite near our outdoor fir pit this summer at a party we hosted. It went over beautifully, and you will see at the end of this how easily this is set up at a friend’s house using only five borrowed envelopes and five pieces of paper.) Regardless of the method of destruction, it should be viewed, at best, as a major inconvenience for the lender to reassemble any surviving scraps of the bill he lent should your powers be off that particular night.

Another envelope is freely selected by your helper and held out. You could be truly blindfolded as the helper holds out the next envelope, if you trust him to actually hold out the correct number called for. Regardless, you certainly should not ever look down directly at the envelope as there is no need to. With head turned, your hand is again hovered over this envelope, and perhaps this time you are not sure, so request another, and the process repeated. “Ah, no, I’m picking up nothing from this one so hand it to the lender for destruction, please….”

This elimination and envelope destruction procedure is repeated until only one envelope remains. It is handed to the lender by your helper and opened by the lender himself. It contains his original bill and all is well. He can even keep the remaining piece of play money for a souvenir if you desire.

To me, this is how it would play if one could do it for real. All of my disclaimers listed earlier are true, as you just saw in your mind’s eye version of my performance. Of course, we cannot do this for real, so there has to be a compromise. That compromise has to be something to allow us to know which of these envelopes contains the real bill.

Since I have to use a compromise, I bring it right out into the open, BRING ATTENTION TO IT, and tell the spectators that it is being used TO MAKE THE WHOLE EXPERIMENT EVEN MORE FAIR!

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I told you I could tip the method I use by altering only one sentence. Here is the original sentence from above:

The play money is removed from the envelope and given to the lender in exchange for his bill, which the helper then truly seals inside one of the envelopes.

Here is the new sentence with the addition underlined:

The play money is removed from the envelope and given to the lender by the performer in exchange for his bill, which the helper then truly seals inside one of the envelopes.

Each of the pieces of play money is secretly, lightly, marked on the back 1 through 5, respectively. When you get your peek at the back of the play money, you will know which envelope the real bill will be sealed in. It is as simple as that. It was stated earlier that each envelope is given, along with the marker, to the helper in turn. This is easily accomplished by simply keeping them stacked in the correct order, and giving them to him one at a time as he numbers them. Each envelope will now be numbered, by the helper no less, congruent with its corresponding piece of marked play money. If your helper hands you the play money marked #4, then you will know that the real bill will be sealed in envelope Number 4.

Neither the helper, nor anyone else, has any idea which envelope is which when he selects one and hands you its piece of play money to exchange with the lender of the real bill. However, as you speak that semi-humorous line during the exchange of “are you sure you don’t want to keep this bill….after all, it is of a higher denomination than what you are lending me?” is when you get you peek at the mark on the back of the play money. The lender gets the play money, the helper gets the real bill to seal up, and the effect is performed as described. The reason I can allow the lender to keep that final piece of play money is because I use subtle nail nicks for my marking procedure. Since the

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others have been destroyed there is nothing to compare that small blemish to.

Here is how I proceed with the elimination of the envelopes, once the real bill is secured inside and they are mixed yet again: I state that all but one of these envelopes are going to need to be eliminated. I ask for the lender of the bill to use his intuition and to select a number from 1 to 5. I have not stated how these envelopes are going to be eliminated so 1/5th of the time I am set up to give the lender all of the credit. If states the correct number of the envelope that his bill is in I have him place that envelope in his pocket. He is then guided through destroying the remaining four envelopes, and finishing as previously described.

If he names one of the envelopes that do not contain the money nothing is lost performance-wise. I never stated how the envelopes are going to be eliminated so therefore this first envelope is held under my hand long enough for me to sense it does not contain real money, and then is given to the lender for destruction. Hey, it is only fair to let the lender have his choice of the first envelope to be eliminated! The remaining envelopes are held one at a time under your hand in whatever order your helper, or anyone else, wishes. If the correct number is held under your hand simply state that you cannot get a clear feeling from that one, then eliminate all but the correct envelope and one incorrect envelope. Now that you are down to two, you can have the helper hold one in each hand as you go back and forth…the presentational angles are really quite abundant. Conclude as previously detailed.

In closing, I would like to discuss just a couple of final thoughts regarding this routine. Please make this up and give it a try, as I feel you will find this to be very well-received for the minimal amount of work involved. Bringing attention to the play money as a means to make the experiment even more fair seems to take any heat off of it. I have never been caught out or challenged in its use. I think that for some reason the spectators create an illogical disconnect in the fact that since the numbered envelopes are shuffled and handled face-down that there is no possible way to discern knowing which envelope holds the real bill.

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There is almost no prep time and it truly can be set up in front of the spectators using five borrowed dollar-sized pieces of paper and five borrowed envelopes. Simply use the nail-nick method on the pieces of paper as you place them into the envelopes. An almost-anytime-anyplace-anywhere routine that will play to even very large crowds…I hope you enjoy it!

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BOHT The “which hand” effect is only a 50/50 proposition, but for some reason it plays extremely well., especially if performed multiple times…and perhaps ending with a prediction of what had just occurred. What follows is not a complete effect. It is a method, that when performed with complete confidence, enables the performer to appear to be able to divine in which hand a spectator has hidden an object.

I will tell you up front that BOHT requires the performer to appear that he has complete confidence in what he just accomplished. When first reading this you may think that it is just a scam and that it will never work. I assure you it does work, (and magnificently) and at the conclusion I am going to point out how a very famous mentalist uses a similar technique in a routine that most of you have at least seen, if not perform a variation of yourself. I have been performing BOHT long before I ever saw that said famous routine, and it was nice to see someone of such high regard using a similar principle.

Many will say “It is too bold!” Those that will try it out, with the confident air required, will drop the “too” from their description. This will not work perfectly for some of you the first few times you try it; for others it will work right away. I mean no disrespect to those whom I mention that it will not work well the first couple of tries. The only reason that it may not play as strongly as you may like is that you will be giving off an air of feeling guilty that may be picked up by the spectator. Let you inner, emotionless, psychopath out to play for a minute and this will be an out that will serve you well.

Before we begin, I am going to take a couple of pages to describe the genesis of this and describe one of my best performances of mentalism….and I wasn’t even aware of what I had just done! The reason I succeeded in the final phase of BOHT, described below, was due to me

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not KNOWING what I was doing so therefore had no guilt at all to telegraph.

I will try to be brief, but this is a great example of how other cultures view magic and those that perform it. I was also deployed with the Army to the Middle East during Operations Desert Shield & Storm in 1990/1. After the short ground war was over, we had taken literally tens of thousands of Iraqi prisoners. We set up prison camps in the middle of the desert by making “compounds” in the sand with several rolls of razor wire forming squares that would each contain several hundred prisoners. We divided our unit into shifts, and then spent the next few months simply sitting at the entrance to each compound to “guard” them. (Where were they going to go in the middle of the Arabian Desert?)

Most simply surrendered upon seeing us. While some were hardcore Republican Guard soldiers, the vast majority were just regular citizens that were given a rifle and sent to the front lines. Many would come up to the wire and want to talk to us. Of course, most did not speak good English, but there is one universal language that everyone seems to understand: making a coin completely vanish before their eyes.

They would tell their fellow captives of what I could do, who would in turn come up and hand me a coin to vanish. (I had a whole bag of coins to bring home that were either sleeved, pocketed, or simply dropped into the sand!) I had some of the best reactions to a simple coin vanish that I had ever seen. I came to find out why the reactions were so strong: they thought what I was doing was real.

I truly believe that from their frame of reference regarding cultures, that they thought I would not pull an Ali-Baba and set up what I was doing as a trick. I told them I would make their coin vanish; it did indeed vanish according to their eyes, so therefore I used what inner-magic I had to accomplish this. Once one of our interpreters informed me of this I was dumbfounded. He also told me that many now referred to me with an Arabic word that loosely translated into “MagicMan.”

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Being a 20 year old kid, the Gulf War taught me a lot of life’s lessons. This was a big one. My experience with what I refer to as BHAT (and no, not Khat, that leaf you chew that gets you high!) taught me even more. This beautiful experience I am about to describe truly left an indelible mark on my mind every bit as potent as some of the terrible things I had seen and done. It was what probably got me more into mentalism and further away from magic.

I worked the 6pm to 6am shift. Usually the prisoners were in their tents and sleeping around midnight, but during one of their holiday periods I recall them being up all night. I was asked by one of the English-speaking prisoners if I would come into the compound to watch some sort of ceremony. Grabbing “a ‘terp” (one of our interpreters,) we went inside. There were about 60 prisoners sitting cross-legged on the ground. There were two rows of about 30 each, facing each other and creating an isle about three feet wide which one could walk down. The generator-powered floodlights lit up the place.

I watched as one of the prisoners I recognized as being more “senior in social stature” walked up and down the isle, stopping at each sitting person randomly and showing those he stopped at something wrapped in cloth. Each would reach in and come out with a closed fist. Keeping security in mind, I asked my terp what was happening. He told me it was a “game” and explained the significance of it. He also described it as being called, what sounded like to me, to the best of my recollection now: BOHT. If I had known what was about to transpire I would have written it down.

The guy that had the cloth said something to the interpreter. “He wants you to try,” he told me. Try what? Apparently, this game entailed him presenting a single stone from the cloth to quite a few of the people that were sitting. One would actually take it, but all had to pretend they did by coming out with closed fists. Apparently the job to discern who actually had it was now mine, and since I was “The MagicMan” they wanted to see me do it. And I did…..and how.

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I didn’t want to spend all night guessing sixty guys, and I certainly did not want to get caught playing a game with the prisoners by someone higher ranking then me. This was well before Abu Ghraib, but we still had our concerns. Declining wasn’t an option from the uproar, so I decided to take a quick guess, apologize, and get back to my post.

I simply walked up to one of the guys sitting and pointed at him. I looked at the “terp” with a “can we go now?” look, and his look back to me is one I will not forget. Ever. That guy stood up, and the cloth-holding “elder” and he started dancing! Uh-oh….what just happened?

Yep. I got it right. He had the damn stone. Sixty guys causing an uproar. One of the luckiest guesses of my life. I had to get out of there. Apparently there is a “Part II” to BOHT, though. “YEA! Now try the HAND!” is as close as I recall to what was said next. I didn’t have anywhere the experience in body language “tells” that I have now. Hell, I hadn’t even started my career in law enforcement yet, let alone have attended The Reid School of Interview and Interrogation. From the result, it is probably better that I hadn’t. I didn’t overthink anything.

The stone-holder held out both hands. I simply grabbed one and covered his fist with my fingers. I cannot remember if this was his left or his right. I simply thought that was the hand with the stone. Honestly, I didn’t care…this was getting surreal, and I didn’t want to get in trouble. With me holding his one fist closed, he had no choice but to open the other hand. It contained the stone. Two for two. I had to get out NOW. Terp and I left, I recall more dancing and hollering, and my fondest memory from that episode is remembering my superior officers thinking “why does Reynolds never seem to have any discipline problems in his compound?” My once-in-a-lifetime version of walking on water.

For obvious sentimental reason, I am a huge fan of the impromptu “which hand” type of effects. Through various courses in psychology, gambling, and Jack Bauer-like interrogation over the last 15 years I am in a better place research-wise to make an informed decision as to which hand

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presented to me holds a hidden object. (However, I will never be more lucky than I was in 1991 – and to be lucky is better than to be good!)

While most of the time I can control a performance setting while setting up this “which hand” premise, and have time to get my much cherished and needed “tells,” there are others where honestly I cannot. It may be a very crowded bar where I cannot devote my full attention to the participant. Or, quite honestly, it may be a participant which I simply cannot read. Those that claim definite, 100%, accuracy rates with their purely psychological methods are lying to you…..Humans are very individual creatures, and unless you have spent a lot of intimate time with a particular one, there will be times when your purely psychological tells are off, as much as I love these methods.

BOHT resurrects my lucky, ancient, Arabic method of old, and can pull your a** out of the gutter when one of the “pure” psychological methods fail…..and they will (BOHT is a “pure” technique also: pure B.S.) A simple reread, above, of how I pulled this off accidentally will tell you what I base my “hand grab” technique on.

When presented both closed hands by the prisoner, I grabbed the one that I thought had the coin and thought that by grabbing his hand I was indicating such. However, to his mind, apparently, I was eliminating that hand,: since he could not open it he had no choice but to open the one I was not holding. He brought the whole thing to a successful conclusion in his mind. WOW! I could either be indicating the closed fist I grabbed as being indicative of where I thought the coin was, or I could be eliminating it by not allowing it to open. Thinking about this later opened up a whole new way of thinking and structuring of effects for me. Again, as mentioned elsewhere in this book, we have two different paths to lead us to the same desired result. To the spectator, either path we take looks like it was the only logical choice.

The routine and famous mentalist I refer to at the beginning of this is Max Maven and his excellent Kurotsuke routine. He has a clever handling that allows him to narrow down who is holding the stone to two final spectators.

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From there it is all audacity and bluff, similar to how I am going to describe my BOHT handling. I am certainly not going to tip it here, but most of you have seen the clever way in which he manages the ending. I was SO happy when I saw him perform this routine. To see a well-known mentalist perform something very similar to what I had been performing for quite some time made it feel “justified” in my mind.

In the above paragraphs I have sprinkled how I employ my BOHT handling. I am going to put it all together here now. We will assume that the spectator is holding an object in one of two closed outstretched fists. You simply are not confident that you got your tell(s) correctly and want to appear to bring this to a successful conclusion. While I am all for the occasional miss in mentalism, this is a technique to employ when you simply have to appear to get it right.

I simply look back and forth at each hand while softly, but loud enough for the participant to hear, mutter to myself: “If I am going to figure out which hand the ****** is in I need to eliminate the one that it isn’t in…..” I say this almost as if I am talking to myself and am giving myself direction and guidance on what I need to do to be successful.

I try to conjure up a look like a light just went on inside my mind & I immediately do two things simultaneously: I grab hold of one of their fists with my hand, holding it shut, and with my other hand I point to their other fist and command “Open that hand!” No matter what I see I loudly give a self-congratulatory “YES!!”

OUTCOME # 1: If the hand they open contains the object I immediately let go of their closed fist, gently pushing it down to their side, and take hold of their open hand, with the object on it, with one of my hands. I raise it up a little into the air, almost as if I am displaying the object on their open hand and using that hand as a “display tray” to proudly display my prize. I told them to open their hand, they did, and there is the object for all to see. Arguably the most desirable of the two possible outcomes, but here is how we still bring this to a very successful conclusion when the object is not there

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OUTCOME # 2: If the hand they open does not contain the object I still give the “YES!” verbally and do two things: I nonchalantly, softly, brush their open hand down to their side while at the same time my fist that is holding their closed hand raises both of our hands high into the air, much like a referee does for a winning boxer after he has delivered the knockout punch! The combination of this gesture that symbolizes winning and success in our culture, coupled with a confident “YES!” on your part will ensure that in the mind of the participant that you succeeded what you were trying to accomplish. They don’t even need to open their hand to show the object to confirm this success! This works because we implanted the suggestion of an elimination process, by seeding the idea of elimination in our mutterings to our self. We successfully eliminated the hand NOT containing the object, just as we muttered to ourselves that we HAD to do that in order to locate the hand that DID have the object. We have primed the participant to accept either outcome as logical by our verbal utterances and, just as importantly, how we then react to the situation. Any reaction other than an air of complete success on your part, for either outcome, will result in less than stellar reactions.

Please give BOHT a few trial runs in real-world settings. I hope it is an effective “out” for you as it has been for me.

We, as performers, define what success is……

I hope you go forth and always find the correctly colored stone in all aspects of your life……

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HIMBERSTRINGI often try to see if I can put a mentalism spin on props that are

normally reserved for use in “magic tricks.” One such item that serves many magicians well is the Himber Ring. I had never purchased one because I had no desire to perform a linking finger rings or ring-off-string routine. Then one day I thought about a ring-on-string effect and how it could be adapted to mentalism and it sparked this routine. After a brief wait from my friendly Ebay dealer I had in my hands an actual very good quality Himber Ring for less than $20. The gimmick was closed when I received it and it actually took me some time to find the break where the gimmick opened!

This routine has a Bank Nite routine type of feel to it. The patter I use describes a very old carnival game where a prize could be won. Since at the conclusion of the routine you cannot give them the ring (well, you could, but….) I tell them they are going to be using their intuition to play for me. This way they will still bring the effect to a successful conclusion through free choices of their own and yet don’t expect a prize at the end. Nor do they feel the “sucker effect” of having chosen all but the correct string. Oh, and by the way, I have no idea if this carnival game ever existed or not, but the story sounds like it should be true, and I have never been questioned on it!

EFFECT:

The performer shows five different colored loops of string or yarn protruding from the top of his closed fist (the pictures show luggage tags numbered 1-5, which would also work quite well, because the colored strings would not show up well in these black & white photographs) and tells the story of a carnival game from years gone by. The game was played by paying a fee and getting a guess at which of the colored strings had a prize tied to it. The performer shows that the ends of each loop are genuinely and securely knotted together forming a solid loop. If the guess

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was successful the player kept the prize. If the guess was unsuccessful, the player could then pay a slightly higher fee, since the odds were now better, and get to pick another string. This fee increase went on until the player won or quit playing. It is also noted that in normal carnival prize fashion that the prize wasn’t even worth the cost of the first fee but that during tonight’s performance the prize is quite valuable since they are trying to win a prize for the performer!

The spectator then gets to make their first selection. The goal for the spectator is to eliminate all four incorrect strings and leave the fifth string, the one with the prize tied to it, remaining for the performer. The performer goes on to state that since he knows which color string has the prize tied to it that he will try to psychically guide them through the process.

The first color is selected and removed from the hand. Nope, just a solid tied loop. Good so far….A second color is selected and a second solid loop, sans prize, is removed from the fist. This continues for strings three and four, and of course, at the conclusion, the spectator was able to successfully eliminate all four incorrect strings. The performer opens his hand and shows that a gold finger ring is securely tied onto the last remaining loops of string!

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METHOD:

I am sure if you have been reading along you have deduced that the Himber Ring is simply hooked onto the last string and locked closed before the final string is withdrawn from the hand. The spectator’s choices truly are free. The ring’s gimmick is in the open position the entire time and the ring is simply clipped between first and second, or middle two, fingers (fig. 1.) As each string of the four is named it is withdrawn from the fist and handed to the spectator. When the final string remains in your hand it is a simple matter to use your thumb or opposite hand to put the loop into the open ring and quietly close the gimmick (fig. 2.)

FIGURE 1.: INITIAL STARTING POSITION

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FIGURE 2: ENDING POSITION WITH RING READY TO BE CLOSED SHUT

Please give this a try as I’ve found that it plays quite big for the minimum amount of space it takes up in your pocket. If using the colored string approach, as I do, the ring and bundle of colored strings easily fit in a watch pocket of a pair of jeans. The get-ready preparation is a snap: since the spectator’s aren’t supposed to see what is in your hand until the conclusion, is it only natural to for you to turn around while you get everything set up.

One a performance note, make sure that the strings are tied securely and put in an extra knot or two at the end. Also, I have the portion of the strings with the knots outside of my hand and visible the entire time. I have found at the conclusion of the routine when I briefly hand them the string with the ring “tied” onto it (yes, I actually hand them the string and Himber ring….if I have trouble locating the joint in the ring then I have no fears of

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them discovering it) that it is not the ring that closely gets examined. It is the string.

By making it clear, non-verbally, that the knots are indeed genuine, as they are, then backtracking can only lead them to one conclusion: that you did influence their decisions! And because there are no “wrong” decisions they can make, and not even a hint of equivoque, there is a LOT of room for interaction with the spectator regarding the decisions of what colors to eliminate. Play it out, click the ring on the remaining string, and enjoy!

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THE $4 BILLET INDEXOR, HOW TO USE ANY WALLET YOU WANT AND

MAKE IT INTO AN INDEX WALLET!

This concluding piece is not an effect, per-se, but a utility item that has served me very well over the last couple of years. I have owned almost every hip-pocket style index wallet out there. They all have the upside of doing what they are designed to do, but for me they either are too big, are not stylish at all, or do not offer enough regular credit card slots or other compartments (and I need those pockets to store more mentalism!) I always buy any new commercial index wallet that comes to the market but I always come back to this simple idea and throw one or two into a regular wallet. This index I am about to describe will take you about ten minutes to prepare, and once you are done you just throw it into the currency slot of whichever wallet you choose. It offers 8 slots, and of course each slot can be used to house more than one type of “out.” If you want 16 outs, make two of these. All you will need to prepare this are four one dollar bills (the newer the better) and some Scotch tape!

STEP 1:

Take one of the bills and lay it face-up on the table. If you wish for stability, you may tape it to the table temporarily with a little piece of tape on the long top and bottom edges.

Take a second bill and fold it from the bottom to the top so the bottom edge is resting just underneath where it says FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE on the top of the bill. Crease this fold quite sharply. Now take this bill and position it so the top edge is resting exactly in the middle of THE UNITED

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STATES OF AMERICA on the bill taped to the table. Refer to Fig.1 for a position check.

FIGURE 1

Ensure that the bills are both aligned on the left and right edges. Take a small piece and tape the folded bill to the bill on the table by placing a small piece of tape on the center of the folded bill and taping it over the bottom half of Washington’s portrait on the bill on the table. (The entire center of all of the pocket bills will eventually be taped right up through the center to act as our divider, but don’t need to do that just yet.)

We now need to tape the left & right white border portions of the folded bill to the white border portion of the bill on the table. Rip off about an inch of tape, rip that in half vertically, and try to ensure that only the white borders get tape on them. Any more than that on the inside would limit the size of the billet that we will be able to place in the index.

STEP 2:

We will now take a third bill and again fold it just as we did for the second bill by making sure the bottom long edge is folded up to just underneath FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE. Again, make sure the creases are nice and

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sharp. The bottom “V” portion of this fold needs to be aligned exactly along the bottom long edge of the bill taped to the table. Tape this bottom edge of the “V” to the bottom of the bill on the table for the entire length of the bottom with the exception of about ¾” in the very middle. By not taping this portion it will be easier to fold the entire packet/index once it is loaded with billets.

Please now refer to Figs. 2 & 3 to for a position check for Step 2:

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3

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To conclude Step 2, tape all of the left and right short edges down. Again, try not to tape any further inside the bills than the white border edge.

We now have an index with four separate tiered compartments. To divide them into eight compartments we move on to the very simple Step 3:

STEP 3:

This step merely consists of taping up the very inside center of all three bills. This effectively divides the whole packet into eight separate compartments. Only use one width of tape for this. This step can be seen below in Fig.4 (also pictured are eight folded Heirloom cards inside the index.)

FIGURE 4

In Fig 5, below, you will see eight New York Lottery tickets, for a routine of mine, loaded into the same eight pockets. Again, each pocket can hold more than one type of prediction.

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FIGURE 5

STEP 5:

This final step is simply adding a fourth dollar, to cover the billets, to the entire packet by taping it only along the bottom edge to act as a hinge. Again, leave about a ¾” gap in the very center for ease of folding. Refer to Fig 6:

FIGURE 6

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This final bill acts as a “cover” for the billets. You can hold it up against them with your left thumb to show the entire contents of the currency portion of your wallet, or you can hold it open with your right thumb to access the billets. Fig. 7 shows the entire index in my wallet with the cover in the “open” position:

FIGURE 7

Fig. 8 shows the cover starting to flip up to hide the billets:

FIGURE 8

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Additional Thoughts on the $4 Billet Index:

If you have a use for an index, please try this out as I think you will love its ease of construction and simplicity of use. It only takes a few minutes to put together, and if you find it isn’t something you can use you can always respend the bills!

The first one of these I made took me forever because I used a glue stick. I had to wait for each section to dry, use cardboard spacers, etc. What a pain! The reason I did this was I was worried about the spectators seeing some tape on the back of the bill on the bottom of the packet. Who Cares!? This is never seen, and even if was, a lot of bills in circulation have been taped back together. At the very most, you may casually flash the inside of the wallet after to get the correct billet. Any tape will not be seen, so make it easy on yourself and use tape instead of glue.

If you are concerned about someone behind you in line at the store looking into your wallet and seeing the index, try what I have recently incorporated with mine: use a tiny dot from a repositionable glue stick in each both the top left and right corners. The “flap” bill will seal over the index from your sitting on it, and a simply wiping motion with your index finger and thumb will open it right up when you are ready to remove a billet.

While I have never been asked to have my wallet examined after an effect, here is how I would handle it: Simply scoop out the index, along with all of your money, fold it, and silently pocket it, making it into a joke that you don’t trust them with your cash! Your wallet is now as clean as can be

(unless they discover your BusinessCOIN & variants, custom “$” set, ESPnvelope or DOUBLE-DOWN cards!)

I hope you can use this!

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In Conclusion, I would again like to thank you for purchasing THE SAFWAN PAPERS. I hope you get something out of it that you can use. For real people, in drop-of the-hat, impromptu, performance settings. I certainly would not have offered any of these had they not been real-world workers for me, and I am appreciative that some of those in the mentalism field, whom I highly respect, feel the same.

And, yes, there will be a SAFWAN PAPERS 2.0, so to speak. I had developed several other effects during the time period mentioned in the introduction section that I feel will be worthy of release, and again, I am fortunate that others that I have shared them with believe so as well. Some have said they should be separate releases priced more than the book in entirety. I simply do not have time. Also included in 2.0 will be effects that were “in the works” well before my most recent deployment, and others that are of a much more recent vintage.

These will include several new variations utilizing the technology employed in The BusinessCOIN Prediction, a single Index Card that doubles as a gimmicked Mental Epic Board…for real, a couple of new methodologies for the genre of Diary/ Chronologue effects (that utilize no real playing cards, and ONE diary, by the way…,) Book Test work coupled with Psychometry, and a couple of sets of re-written instructions for effects that have very sold well for me as separate releases that I no longer have time to make up myself. In all, I certainly hope you will find them very worthy. Oh yeah…I may release one of my pet pieces that utilizes a Binary Code…

In this age of eBooks, it almost seems commonplace for authors to place some admonition in against, or special software to combat, copying or forwarding an eBook to a friend. You will if you want to, and I simply have no time, nor inclination, to learn methods to try to prevent that. I would appreciate it if you did not, but if you do, you do.

For those interested in some of my other effects that have been released individually, to include necessary gimmicks & props, please check out my website at:

www.mindmagic.myfoolmoon.com

Bryn ReynoldsMarch, 2008