talkmagic.co.uk

SYSTEM 88 - LISA CHIN & DOCC HILFORD

Price: £50 from www.worldmagicshop.co.uk

Difficulty: 3 for memory work and presentational skills. No technical sleights though.

WHAT THEY SAY

System 88
by Docc Hilford and Dr. Lisa Chin

Successful members of the PEA or PUA communities understand the most powerful demonstration of worth is the ability to approach a woman cold, yet instantly and accurately reveal her deepest intimate secrets and desires. This is more than mentalism, it's a POWER. A power that attracts - it attracts money, women, prestige and fame.

Clever cold reading techniques require years of study and practice and don't deliver the power a master of the Game necessitates. Most mentalists substitute strong mind tricks because they lack the true power of a master mind -- power for which we so desperately hunger.

Under these demanding conditions, requesting someone to write down personal information is ridiculous. Billets, trick wallets, carbon paper, swami writers and cold reading lines won't help. In fact, here they just make you seem like a phony trickster.

System 88 is NOT simple COLD READING, it does NOT require an understanding of human nature! Within seconds of selecting a target subject, System 88 analyzes the subject, filters through 3,337,000 combinations of specific personality traits and reveals to you over 50 different singularities. These are easily listed on the System 88 chart, a pocket-size card that each subject keeps and cherishes for years.

System 88 is amazingly accurate. Developed by professional mind reader, Docc Hilford and clinical psychologist, Dr. Lisa Chin, it analyzes and defines over 50 personal characteristics. The target subject will be in shock at the unimpeachable information shown to her.

There's NOTHING TO MEMORIZE! Although System 88 can generate over 3,000,000 different factual readings, everything is designed into the chart. It works automatically! If a "tic sheet" is like a tricycle, then System 88 is like a Ferrari!

Once you know a VERY SIMPLE formula, the System 88 chart can be used with ANY type of divination technique or psychological test. You'll be able to use System 88 to accurately read palms, handwriting or the color of a woman's attire! The charts are the right size to carry anywhere and can have your contact information printed on them. Using them will generate fame and fortune because they're perfect for walk-around gigs or trade shows!

BUT WAIT! System 88 also explains a psychological game that Dr. Lisa Chin has used for years to psychologically assess clients. They imagine five simple items and the analyst knows virtually EVERYTHINHG about the client's subconscious desires! Mentioned in a best selling book about how to meet beautiful women, the System 88 game has never before been explained for use by mentalists.

System 88 is 60 pages of information that you MUST HAVE! You will also get a print-ready copy of the chart. And MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, you get special permission to copy the charts for resale to the paying public. This arrangement would cost tens of thousands of dollars if purchased individually. There will only be 1000 numbered copies of System 88 for sale.

Then, they'll be VERY rare and VERY expensive.

Look at All You Get:

"Quick Learn" Formula
Pocket Chart with over 3 MILLION different readings
Special Permission to print and resell the charts
"What-to-Say" written script
60 Page Book
21 Pages of meanings
Example of a complete reading in detail
Pages 60 - Saddle Stitched


WHAT I SAY

'Saddle Stitched' is a phrase which here means 'stapled'.

Docc Hilford is a very clever man, but there's a distinct sense of 'buyer beware' about his products. It's not just that he sells little books with a big price tag, his marketing approach often reeks with the same odour as the spam that collects in my inbox daily, telling me of new investment opportunities or promising me an extra three inches.

His promises are often dodgy too. The Lolita System, for example, claims to be workable with any borrowed deck - which is true, so long as nobody minds you disappearing with it for a few minutes to 'prepare' it.

At his best, Hiford is a genius. At worst, he's nothing more than a flim flam man.

So I parted with a sizable chunk of money for System 88 in a devastating fit of CUPS - but having read enough mixed opinion on the book to give me a more realistic idea of what I'd be getting.

If you ignore all the Hilford Hype, what you get isn't half bad. Whether it's value for money depends on you.

What drew me to System 88 was this:

Look at any in-depth discussion on mentalism in these boards, and you'll see a lot of mention of private readings. Craig Browning regularly - and quite correctly - asserts that working mentalists are denying themselves a very healthy income by not doing private readings. This is also echoed by the likes of Richard Webster, Docc Hilford and others.

Readings also appeal to me, as I love performing Q&A routines as well as apparently prop-free effects such as remote seeing or psychometry. It's much more exciting than working with 'things', and I know that readings would be just as exciting if I had the guts to dip my toe into that world.

I've got very real reservations about readings, however, as palmistry and tarot are too well established - I can't bring myself to spout bullpoop on subjects when there's always the very real possibility that the client knows a hell of a lot more about it than I do. I'm also very aware that many people take fortune telling very seriously - regardless of how much you stress that this is for entertainment purposes only.

And I'm also uncomfortable with the inherent supernatural theme to traditional fortune telling models.

So System 88 looks like it could be my way in.

Chin and Hilford's approach to private readings that takes a purely psychological tone that I'm much more comfortable with. The book is organised into two parts - the System 88 game, and the System 88 chart.

Part One - The Game
Chin and Hilford's System 88 Game is - apparently - similar to games played by 'Pick Up Artists', although the skeptic in me thinks that the legendary PUAs are little more than urban myth created by hormonally-charged fifteen year olds. I could be wrong though, I just hope not. I'm jealous of enough people as it is.

The System 88 Game is a visualisation process in which the spectator creates an imaginary scene and the reader interprets it. So we're reading people's imaginations rather than their cards or palms. And, most attractively, it's pitched as a game, rather than anything spooky or scary. And having no supernatural connotations, it's more likely to appeal to skeptics than traditional new age approaches.

The set up for the game is quite simple - there are really only five core questions. It is necessary to push spectators to add details, elaborate and flesh out their imaginary worlds, as it's these details that give you the meat for your revelations.

Once you know what each element represents, it's not too difficult to bullpoop around the meanings and interpretations. I'm sure that the science behind this game is no more sound than the new age stuff I shy away from, but I find it easier to sell, and there's less scope for clued-up spectators to argue over meaning and method. Nonetheless, Hilford gives a comprehensive list of meanings to attribute to the most common answers. If you want to work 'by the book', you'll have a lot of memorising to do. If you're confident with the gist and with performance, however, credible interpretation should be a matter of common sense for the most part.

Part Two - The Chart
At the centre of the book is a newly designed take on the traditional 'tic sheet'. Despite what the Hilford Hype might say, this isn't 'Print Ready'. Not only does it need to be retyped or scanned into a PC to make it so, you also need to amend it with your own name and contact details. That's only a hour's work on a slow day, but it's still far from being Print Ready.

That said, what you get is intriguing. rather than being tied to Hilford and Chin's System 88 Game, the chart can be applied to anything from established fortune telling styles to crazy nonsense that you make up on the spur of the moment. It features 100 tick boxes covering personality traits, romance and work issues, and many of the entries are subtly ambiguous so as to allow some freedom in interpretation. Hilford also recommends deleting parts of each entry to make them appear more specific. The guide to filling in the tic sheet uses a system based on your first impressions of the spectator. And the system itself is cleverly included as a serial number on the page itself, leaving you with very little to memorise.

The idea of a tic sheet seemed a bit tacky to me at first, but I've grown to be excited about the idea, as it gives me a set of 'bullet points' that I can elaborate on in the reading itself, and also provides a physical something that the spectator can take away with them. It also allows for a very quick reading, which can be a blessing in walkaround situations.

What I like about the chart is that even if your initial impressions of the client are wrong, the results you present are all consistant and it's quite difficult to argue with any of them.

OVERALL

As someone new to the world of private readings, I'm quite excited about System 88. If nothing else, it's helped me put aside my misgivings about new-age style readings and given me the confidence to put myself forward in this field. The chart feels like a bit of a safety net, but right now that's exactly what I need. I can see me using both the game and the chart as standard parts of my walkaround work. So with all that in mind, I do think that I've got my money's worth, but please be aware that my score is highly personal and subjective.

For digging me out of a mental block, I'll give System 88 a generous 9/10
Hilford loses a point for his hard-sell nonsense. I'm sure System 88 won't bring me hot chicks, fame and fortune any more than a herbal pill bought on the net can give me an extra three inches.

Great review! This looks very interesting indeed, I think I feel the same way as you do in terms of readings, so maybe this will fit me quite well. The tic sheet does seem odd, I'm not really sure how it would look from a spectators point of view...

The tic sheet is something of a mixed blessing, I think. Right now, I'm treating it as a set of stabilisers while I learn to ride the readings bike.

The big advantage is that the topics are laid out in an appropriate order for cold reading - Hilford assets that some personality traits should be covered before others, to prevent backtracking, confusion and contradiction. They also serve as a crib sheet for the green reader, allowing them to keep on top of all the topics that need to be addressed. How easily spectators accept the idea of the tic sheet will depend on how confidently you deliver their reading. You need to give the impression of reading them and ticking the sheet, rather than reading the sheet and giving a one-size-fits-all reading.

Another advantage is that people take the sheets away with them. This encourages discussion, and will have more people coming to you for readings. It also puts your name and contact details in their hands.

The main downside for me is that people go away with the sheet and are able to look at all the options available - and see the relatively limited number of them. This is helped slightly by the fact that you can delete adjectives in each option to make the reading seem more specific. And even though it's difficult to give a 'wrong' reading with this chart, it's structured to highlight all the possible contraditions - and if used correctly, your readings will always be consistant and have very strong continuity from one tick box to the next.

So I agree that tic sheets aren't ideal, but I think this is an acceptable way in for me.

Thanks for the review. I'll stick with my trusty Completely Cold system by Kenton Knepper.

.:Ham:.

Out of interest, is there anyway System 88 could be presented by email with the person providing the responses needed for analysis?

Thanks

Neil

As far as the reading game goes, then yes. Although instant messanger might be more appropriate, as people often need to be encouraged to elaborate and add details as they go.

The tic sheet could, in theory, be filtered, cut and pasted into an automated text reading.

However, I doubt that either form of remote reading would be half as effective as working with people face-to-face.

Pete