talkmagic.co.uk

Whilst there are tricks to doing this sort of thing and these of course mustn't be revealed, some of these effects can be done just by reading body language and other 'tells'.

One of the first tricks I learnt was the lying game where I ask someone to tell me three things about themselves but one isn't true. I will guess the lie.

I will then ask them to think of three more things where one also isn't true. This time they just look at me while they think of each one. Again, I will guess the lie.

If you can play poker you can do this sort of thing, its not magic in the strictest sense and Derren Brown reveals some of the techniques on the extras section of his 'Inside your Mind' DVD.

Roland

Yep Ive heard of that trick just with different objects.

shinydiscoboy76 wrote:Just a word to the wise... I'm sure you already know this but the way mentalists say they are doing their tricks is very rarely the truth.
What you tell the audience is far more important than what actually happens.
Hope that helps,
Mathew.

This is quite true. My uncle had me fooled with a trick that he did about five years ago. What he did was to guess which of the four matchsticks, that were on the table, I touched. He had his back turned all the time so it really freaked me out. He told me that it was my breathing that gave me away.
It was only when I spotted his "assistant" that I realized what was up.

I think Anneman's classic: practical mentalism had this trick in it. I've used it several times in a row, with good results. If you can borrow a copy to find it great (I'm not absolutely sure it's in that one, I can't seem to find it in my newer edition). Or just buy it and get a lot of great ideas (I've found most of them have to be re-dressed a little though). Hope it helps

My uncle had me fooled with a trick

That seems to be a very common event - my Uncle got me interested in Magic when I was about 7 and bought me my first magic set. OK, this was way back when Merlin was still an apprentice but things haven't changed all that much. I wonder how many others of us had influential Uncles like this?

chalk one up for me to my uncle did a chinese coin trick and sinc then i was hooked.

Mandrake wrote:

I wonder how many others of us had influential Uncles like this?

That would be an interesting reasearch topic: How many of us had our uncles get us interested in magic?
With me, it was my father. Key card...Urggghh!