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hey all,

working on a simple (but really effective mentalism routine) that deals with specs writing down 3 questions of paper, and i guess what their questions are. Its the basic one ahead routine, and i can switch teh first billet, but im struggling a little as to how to open and read the first billet without the spectator knowing/disguising it for something else ie possibly my own prediciton. Should i open and read their billet to myself saying its possibly a prediction i shall use, and then forget about hoping the spec will?

Many thanks

Alex

...maybe face them side on, drop your arm to the side (with billet in hand) so its hidden by your body, flick the billet open with your thumb then raise your hand to your head as if in concentration whilst getting a quick glimpse of your billet...kind of a classic palm/finger palm positioning...

hope that makes sense...

My suggestion... make the investment and get ACIDUS NOVUS from Loren Tindall's site.

Truth of the matter is, working billets tends to be something that's more difficult in our minds than it is in truth. Magicians, on the whole, fear them!

Bob Cassidy has tons of material on this subject that may very well be a prudent bit of study for those curious about this course of operation. I heavily recommend his Jazz Q&A techniques and One Man Billet Reading material.

Ok one thing i forgot to mention was that the billets are screwed up into small balls.

regards,

Alex

1. Don't screw them into small balls (unless you want to make it difficult )
2. Buy Practical Mental Magic by Annemann

ace of kev wrote:1. Don't screw them into small balls (unless you want to make it difficult )

I beg to differ but screwing them into small balls can make many billet effects much EASIER & is recommended by Corinda in 13 Steps.

This effect sounds like '3 little questions' in 13 steps & is very similar to one I perform (using billet balls).

To get the first 'one ahead' you could use a stooge or pre-show centre tear / impression pad etc. Alternatively a dummy billet but you need to read the first word to get 1 ahead.

Then to maintain the one ahead rather than trying to open the billet secretly do it in front of the audience under a false premise. If you use a 'near miss' revelation you can then open the billet to confirm what the 'actual' word was to the audience.

I now have a method that can be used with any 3 people, no stooges and where I give each person back their word after revealing it (involving a dummy billet and 5 billet switches) which I believe is the ultimate method I have been looking for & will use in a competition later this year

Sorry about that

This effect sounds like '3 little questions' in 13 steps & is very similar to one I perform (using billet balls)...

....Then to maintain the one ahead rather than trying to open the billet secretly do it in front of the audience under a false premise. If you use a 'near miss' revelation you can then open the billet to confirm what the 'actual' word was to the audience.

Bingo bango Kevin - thats exactly the trick I'm working on

What im doing at the moment is this:

After switching the billet with their question on with a dummy billet, i take their billet (the marked dummy goes with the 2 other questions) and place it into my left pocket (retaining it in palmed position) while grabbing 3 other screwed up balls in my pocket which contain pictures of those mind reading pics (forget what they're called - the circle, wavy lines, triangle etc). I open a couple of these balls saying does a eg triangle have anything to do with your question?? After a couple I then open and read their question saying "what about a square", for example. The only problem im finding with this is that its a bit suspect that im bringing out pictures of triangles, squares, onto already screwed up billets, which in the spectators eyes, there is no need for. Can you suggest anything better?

Im very interested in your routine by the way - looking for some killer billet routines. Do you think you could send me the effect? That way mabey I can build upon something of similar effect, using Corinda's book 13 Steps.

Many thanks

regards,

Alex

I don't like the picture's idea. It doesn't seem logical and will lead them to give a negative answer thus leaving a negative psychological impact.

I've PMd you my killer routine. If you win any accolades with it you know who to credit

This effect (3 little questions from Corinda's 13 steps to mentalism) is extremly powerful and you can get great reactions from it. When I was first performing this effect, I had the same problems as you. The most important thing is to make your switch clean and un-suspicious. You can't give them a reason to expect you are using an extra billet. The next step is misdirection. You need to direct their attention away from your hand when you are opening/reading the billet. I am not going to go into detail about misdirection, as Corinda provides an excelent guide in the last chapter of his book (DON'T IGNORE THAT CHAPTER!!!!! Some of the most useful information in the book can be found there). Whatever you do, don't tell them to close their eyes and visualize their question while you open the billet. This will only give them the susspision that you are doing something, like switching a billet. Plus, if you get them to close their eyes and open the billet in front of them, you would only ever be able to perform the effect in front of one person. While you are misdirecting is the time to open the billet. DO NOT look at your hands while you do this. In my mind, the best way to open and read the billet is this:

1. Once you have made the switch and are mis-directing the spectator, you have the billet finger palmed in your hand.

2. Place the hand with the billet on the table in front of the spectator. Your fingers should be naturally curled and your thumb holds the billet in place. Don't put your hand flat on the table, but rest it on the edge of your pinkey (like a karate chop with curled fingers). Have your palm facing towards you. Put your other hand on top of this hand. To the spec., it just looks like you have folded your hands on the table. Chances are they won't even notice this because you are busy misdirecting their attention and paying no attention to your own hands. Because your hand is in front of him and you have made a clean switch, he has no reason to suspect a hidden billet.

3. With your thumb that is holding the billet in place, un-roll the billet. Make sure the only movement in your hand is from the thumb, and the movement is covered by your other hand. Most laymen are lazy and roll sloppy balls. This is a disadvantage to switching, but a huge advantage to reading the billet. With practice, even the toughest balls can be unrolled in this method.

4. Once you have your unrolled billet, keep it finger palmed in your 2nd/3rd fingers. With both hands, draw attention to the three billets while pointing with the first finger and keeping the other fingers naturally curled. From here, you can easily read the billet.

If you didn't understand something, sent me a P.M. I'll be happy to help.

I'm with Ace - use paper folded into quarters rather than screwed up. Easy to open in your pocket etc and bring out. As Craig says, see Cassidy for covers for reading it. I've never been caught reading a billet.

For starters Corinda and Annemann both gave us some ideas about billet work that has pretty much been "removed" from the common practice, the spit ball and screwed down billet being but two such issues in that they are simply too time-consuming and complicated for most folks to work with... the two fold method (akin to a Center Tear set up) is the most common and generally simplest billet mode to work with because you can access the information quickly, easily and without all the fumbling that's involved in those other methods.

Since this post was originally made two new items (resources) have come onto the market; Alan Zingg's MASTER BILLET COURSE and Millard Longman's new ACIDUS GLOBUS (which is worth every penny he's asking, in my book). Too, when it comes to a triple prediction/reading type routine of this sort (what is normally referred to as being 4th Demensional Telepathy or boardless Mental Epic) there are much cleaner and simpler methods such as Docc Hilford's RITCHIE TECHNIQUE. In fact, if you look at some of the back issues of VISIONS I covered the 3-way Prediction a few years ago, offering all sorts of insights as to how you could accomplish this with little to no headaches.

As an alternative to Acidus Globus, TA Waters has a nice routine that uses three sections from a small notebook. It is in Mind Myth and Magick. It is called Triposte and is on pages 50-62. It gives a very clever solution for the one ahead even when using balls.