talkmagic.co.uk

Marvell wrote:

mark lewis wrote:It can be a culture thing too. I noticed that when I moved to Canada and asked people to think of a card the percentage of people who thought of the Ace of Spades went up dramatically in comparison to the result in Britain where there was far less frequency.

Maybe there are more Motorhead fans.

*Groans*

copyright wrote:I always say the 4 of clubs if anyone wants to add that to their statistical data.

Hmmm ... always eh ??
*Makes note* (Just in case I ever get the chance to show you a mentalist trick )

Marvell wrote:It's my experience, that the card you choose depends on how you ask for it as well as what's gone before.

This has been my experience as well. I have successfully forced selections by "guiding" spectators through patter borrowing techniques from equivoque. Phil Goldstein put out a small treatise in 1977 (I have the 1985 , second edition) on the subject titles Verbal Control, which I would recommend but I am sure those here much more experienced in mentalism may have other recommendations.

I once invented something rather wonderful. It was a kind of brainwave deck thing without using a trick deck.

I would ask someone to name a playing card. They had a free choice and I am delighted to tell you they did not necessarily have to say the Queen of Hearts or the Ace of Spades. The named card was reversed in the deck. It could have had a different coloured back too just as in the regular brainwave trick but I never bothered.

I may expose this to you all if I am in the mood. I shall have to see how everyone behaves themselves first.

Hmm. I have had a really high success rate with the Queen of Hearts thing. Well, and I mean WELL over 50% to a very large number of ladies.

I have noticed the "how' to saying it makes a huge difference though.

I was at a fairly large party outside of london once. I was going for hours doing magic because the crowds kept revolving. Towards the end of the night, a guy who'd been watching most of the night pulled me aside and said... "I gotta know. How do you keep suggesting to girls to pick the Queen of Hearts?" I probably asked 15-18 different females that night, and if I remember 1 of them gave me an odd card.

Maybe I am just lucky.

Well I just did a quick experiment on my missus. I asked her to name any card of her choice (I didn't really present it with the usual patter as such - I just explained that I was trying something out).

She named 4 cards - all of which were hearts, the last one being the queen of hearts

Hmmm ... what is it about females and the queen of hearts lol

I wrote a similar post on this a while ago but can't find it now.

I once kept statistics on what card people would choose in the hope it would let me work out what's statistically the most likely card to be chosen.

Women would choose a heart about 75% of the time where men were much more random. Interestingly, the ace of spades was one of the least chosen cards.

In my experience, if asked for a 'high' card, most males give Jack of Clubs. If you ask them to swap it to any other card, most choose 'Ace of Diamonds'.

Don't ask me why, but I have had great success with these two cards, one in each back pocket and pulled out at the exact same time as they call a card. If you get the timing right..they really freak out!

Although, I have had many many failures where I just scurry off into the crowd making parrot noises and blend in with the other nutcases in Leicester Square.

The Joker

I did the ID for a group of girls in a bar yesterday afternoon, asking them to agree a card between themselves. They all chose the 7D.

There's a lot to be said for having a few prime cards secreted about yourself for such an occasion. Anneman talks about it in his Cards book.