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This idea just came to me and in this instance it would be for a stage show.

You invite a volunteer to the stage.
You have a whiteboard and marker.
You stand the volunteer centre stage facing forward to the audience.
You stand behind her back to back.
Tell them to think of there pin number.
You write down a digit.
Announce that you are trying to read her unconscious signal and have written down her first digit.
You put down the pen so it is clear to the spectator you are not writing anything else.
Next you ask the volunteer for the first digit, for example "it is 5".
At this point you double check and confirm the digit and turn around and reveal you have correctly predicted the first digit.
You repeat this digit by digit.

What do you think of this idea?

Ok, yes, great idea. Many of these effects exist already. One of the best ones I have seen was by Peter Turner. Whilst it wasn't a pin number it was a bank card number and it is amazingly simple to do. It literally looks like you are reading laymans thoughts. I have done this a few times for friends and family and it really messes with their heads.

What kind of method are you thinking of using (obviously not to give too much away)? Swami? Glimpse?

Happy Madison wrote:Ok, yes, great idea. Many of these effects exist already. One of the best ones I have seen was by Peter Turner. Whilst it wasn't a pin number it was a bank card number and it is amazingly simple to do. It literally looks like you are reading laymans thoughts. I have done this a few times for friends and family and it really messes with their heads.

What kind of method are you thinking of using (obviously not to give too much away)? Swami? Glimpse?

it is actually using a variation of the one ahead principle. if you re-read the effect and take the number 8 as a clue. but that's all I will say without giving it away.

What are your thoughts regarding how an audience member might feel if the whole audience knows what their pin number is?

10DD wrote:What are your thoughts regarding how an audience member might feel if the whole audience knows what their pin number is?

That's a real good point. You may also have the problem of some smarta*se changing his mind and simply saying that it's not his number. Why not do it with say four digits of their credit / debit card. Not alot of harm can come from that being revealed. It's still something personal to them and will surely have a similar reaction. Also, you have their card as proof that your prediction is correct.

I would use the last 4 digits of their phone number. Nothing too personal on its own.

Good thoughts! I sensed you didn't mean pin number in the strictest form only (which any performer should have reservations about).

I also like the idea of having some form of physical evidence of the number afterwards, not particularly for the smart-ass reasoning (which I think audience management should address) but in making it less 'abstract'. If using the last four digits of their phone number you might have them in some way call their phone from another as proof that really was the correct last four digits.

A four digit pin code for a smart-phone is another option as you can 'unlock' their phone at the end and it is not too much of an inconvenience for the spectator to change it afterwards should they want to.

I like this, but if it works the way I think it does, then I think someone has already come up with it. I might have got this worng and I cannot lay my hands on my copy right now, but I think there is something very like this in Marc Oberon's Psych Out book. In fact, I suspect it may be exactly the same.

My apologies if I have got this wrong, as of course I don't know your actual method.

A 4 digit number prediction I use is an effect from Peter Turner. It's bold and extremely cheeky in it's method but it generates utter disbelief. Isabellas Star is another one of Peter's effects which is also amazing but it requires quite a bit of on the spot mental arithmetic, which I'm pretty c*** (not the best) at to be honest. I got around this by buying:-

http://www.magicbox.uk.com/zodiacus-by- ... urray.html

With these props it gives the effect a more mystical feel. The original is still fantastic though.

Happy Madison wrote:A 4 digit number prediction I use is an effect from Peter Turner. It's bold and extremely cheeky in it's method but it generates utter disbelief. Isabellas Star is another one of Peter's effects which is also amazing but it requires quite a bit of on the spot mental arithmetic, which I'm pretty c*** (not the best) at to be honest. I got around this by buying:-

http://www.magicbox.uk.com/zodiacus-by- ... urray.html" target="_blank

With these props it gives the effect a more mystical feel. The original is still fantastic though.

my method is abit cheeky too. but no gimmicks or anything.

Not wanting to go on a tangent but I can't stand Isabella's Star (or the majority of Peter's work, to be quite frank).

10DD wrote:Not wanting to go on a tangent but I can't stand Isabella's Star (or the majority of Peter's work, to be quite frank).

That's the spice of life!!! We all have our opinions and views and we should all be able to air them. That's fair enough, as the saying goes what is someones dirt is someone else's diamonds.....or something like that.

Very true!