The following is just a little bit of fun. Yet I have found that it plays surprisingly well impromptu for the lay person if you have nothing else on offer.

I want you to imagine you are paying a visit to a farm. I want you to now think of any farm animal that you can see around you whether beast or fowl.

First I want you to count the amount of letters that are contained in the name of your animal. Please remember this total as a number.

Now please add 5 to your number if the animal you are thinking of happens to be a mammal. On the other hand if it is NOT a mammal then add 4 to your number.

Now please subtract from your new number your original number which if you remember was representing the amount of letters in your animal's name.

O.k now please remember this new number.

Now double this number.

Finally if your animal can naturally fly please subtract 1 from the number. If however your animal CANNOT naturally fly please subtract 3.

WHAT NUMBER ARE YOU NOW THINKING OF?

For a teasing reveal perhaps we might have a picture of Walt Disney's 'Snow White And The Seven Dwarves' ready within our wallet.

It is traditionally said that the Devil is able to influence the minds of the weak willed. Let us see if he is able to influence YOUR OWN MIND.

I am going to think of a random two digit number.....let's say that I think of 86.

Now please think of a position within a deck of cards somewhere buried in the midst of all the cards. So you might choose to think of position 43 or 31 or whatever.....it is your choice any position you like.

Add your two digit positional number to my own two digit number 86.You should end up with a three digit grand total.

Now please take the last two digits of this three digit grand total and add to it your first digit. (So for example if your grand total happened to be 146 you would add the 1 to the 46 to make 47)

Now do you remember your original RANDOM two digit position? Take this number and subtract from it your new two digit number.

What number do you end up with?

The question is was the Devil able to influence your mind?

The next mathematical presentation is best demonstrated through the use of identical D&D role play figures or plastic/tin soldiers. Failing that use games counters if you must.

An army of humans face off in battle against all the myriad hordes of Sauron.

(Decide upon the number of your combatants in your army).

They are mightily relieved to see that an equal number of allied elves and dwarves have arrived to swell their ranks.

(Increase your army accordingly to represent the new arrivals to your ranks).

Even more fortuitous is the arrival of eight Ents led by Treebeard.These huge tree like spirits will surely prove to be of worth on the battlefield spreading fear into the hearts of orc and goblin alike.

(Increase the Allied army accordingly to include the eight Ents).

Unfortunately the strategy of your enemy is blunt and merciless. A whole battalion of club wielding trolls and hill giants break through your front defenses and ramage through your ranks causing wide spread devastation. Even the Ents are helpless as they are scorched to death by the whip wielding Balrogs that marshall the enemy forces.

Half of your combined army is killed in the ensuring chaos.

(Lay down half of the combatants of your Allied army face down on the battlefield to represent their demise)

What is even worse is that in their panic the whole of the army of humans turns tail and -to a man- flees the battlefield leaving their allies to their fate.

(Accordingly take the whole of the ORIGINAL NUMBER of human combatants off the field of battle).

It has been a terrible day on Middle Earth. Only the Maiar within your army have been able to stand their ground and survive by the skin of their teeth to fight another day.Mairon, Radagast, Mithrandir and the mysterious blue wizard.

Always the FOUR.

The next effect will require you to have a die. It is my enhancement of an old Alex Elmsley effect streamlined in the methodology and made to seem a little less restrictive in the final stage.

Take your die and turn it randomly about in your hand before rolling it on to a surface.

Now do as follows.

1) If your die top face is odd move the die two faces forward and then one to the right. If however your die top face is even turn the die one face to the right.

2) Undertake the above once again with respect to your new resultant top face value.

3) Now add the top face value of your die to the forward facing value of your die.If the resultant total is odd you need not do anything. If however the resultant total of the two faces is even then move the die one face forward.

4) Now take a look at the top face value of your die.

If it is a low number please turn the die one face forward.

If it is a middling number turn your die one face forward, then one face to the right followed finally by one face forward again.

If it is a fairly high number turn your die one face to the left.

Now I think you would all agree that there is no way that I could know the state of your die at the start of play. Furthermore I can know nothing about what you have been doing or indeed how you have been doing it.

I will now attempt to view your die with your own eyes. This will require a degree of mind trancendance with your mind. Give me a minute to concentrate...........let me see now.....the left face of your die as you are currently looking at it appears to show a five?......am I right?.......and the top face shows a four!........there is a six showing at the front as well...

How did I do?!!

Here is another effect that utilises dice. This is my own variation of an old card effect. My feeling is that the effect is superior using dice. I am not aware of anyone having used dice before for this one so here goes.....

Take six dice.Have the spectator roll them onto a surface "in order so that you can see that they are indeed ordinary dice".

Now if the result of the spectator roll is that there is a wide diversity of values represented by the die top numbers then stop here (say they happen to roll 3, 5, 1, 1, 6, 4).

If however this is not the case (say 1,2,2,1,4,2) prompt the spectator to roll once more. "Roll the dice again please. I want you to be sure that the dice are not faked in any way".If we do so the probability is that the next roll of the dice will produce something more varied.

Anyway after one or more demonstration rolls the spectator will end up (when we bring things subtly to an end) at a diverse outcome of numbers.

We now need to give the impression that we are using these "random" die top values leaving them just as they are. What we are in fact doing is rearranging the dice by creating a row as follows.

4, 6, 5, 1, 3, 2

Note that no suspicion of any order will be made in the mind of the spectator since most (with the exception of only one or two at the very most) of the dice have simply been placed in a row without changing their values. We may even get lucky and not have to change ANY of the top values of the dice.

We may after making the row exclaim "o.k we happen to have a good selection of values in the row which is great". This patter will serve to reinforce the view that everything has been utterly random.

We now ask the spectator to MENTALLY roll a die in their head and to visualise the top value. Say they visualise a 4.They keep this value to themselves.

We then ask them to then MENTALLY move to the fourth die in the physical row of six dice. Thus they focus mentally on the 1 as it is the fourth die in our left to right row.

We ask the spectator to add this new mental die value to their original visualised die value and to remember the total. This they do. (4+1=5). Total is 5.

We now need to change the order of the physical dice so that the left to right order becomes

2, 3, 1, 5, 6, 4

We must do this only after slide mixing the dice randomly for a few seconds (making sure not to turn over any of the numbers in the process). This gives the impression of randomness as we subtly reassemble the dice in the required order.

Now finally we have them add the value of the die that is in the position in the row signified by their two mental die total. So in our example they would be focussing on the fifth die in the newly ordered row which is 6. (5+6=11).Final grand mental total is therefore 11.

(Note that if their two mental die total is more than 6 then have them go back to the first left most die in the row to count 7 and so on.)

It will become apparent to you that all roads lead to 11

!!!

This may seem like a simple effect but if performed skilfully it will really baffle the lay person.

It is up to you how you make the reveal. Personally I think that a prediction is NOT the way to go with this one. Just gradually unfold the information on the spot. For example.

"I am seeing a number....a two digit number....one of the digits appears to be odd....in fact both digits seem to be odd....am I right?.....o.k so far so good.....let me now look deeper into your mind.....i am seeing that both digits are identical....is this right?....i thought so...and this number seems to be special....is it a prime number by any chance?...."

Anyway you get the idea. Hope you like it.

The following provides a means for binary coding a complete deck of fifty-two playing cards. I wanted to achieve this using charts that the spectator could hold in their hands.

Although the following is my own idea the inspiration for it harks back to an old card effect called 'Transcendental Vision'. (Jordan?)

Please note that there are only FOUR small hand held charts in play to decode all 52 variables.

We first need to have a means where we are able to distinguish between the four cards from a quick glimpse at their back design. I used four different greeting card designs for the backs (the lazy way!).

Chart 1 back. Image of one tree=1
Chart 2 back. Image of two hearts=2
Chart 3 back. Image of four air balloons=4
Chart 4 back. Image of eight candles=8

Now we need to print off from the internet mini images of the following playing cards.Two rows of four to each chart.

Card 1 front

AC, 9D, JH, 3C,
KD, 5C, 7H, 5H,

Card 2 front

2S, 6D, JC, 10C,
7S, 3S, JD, 7C,

Card 3 front

4H, KS, 7D, 6S,
QH, 5D, 2H, 3D,

Card 4 front

8S, 3H, QC, 9H,
KC, 10S, JS, 2C,


1) Ask the spectator to merely think of any playing card they wish to without any restriction.

2) Hand to them the four mini charts (which should be sized slightly larger than the human hand so that a card back design can not be completely obscured when the cards are held up in the hand).

3) Ask them "Hold the charts up so that you can see them properly. Now please look at each chart and bring all the charts that contain an card that is of the same SUIT as the one you are currently thinking of towards the front."

Now the charts have been designed so that there will always be one particular chart (one only) that does not contain any card images of a particular suit. Therefore after they have shifted their cards about as instructed we just need to note which chart is at the rear! We see it and we note the design.

I may see tree and so I think SPADE (to dig it out).

Or two heart design means HEART. (Direct association)

Or four air balloons means CLUBS (In the balloon as ballast)

Or eight candles means DIAMONDS (sparkling the diamonds)

O.K we now know the exact suit identiy of their thought off card. So far so good. However we still need to provide a rationale for the shifting of the cards in their hands in the first place.

"Please now visualise the suit image that is associated with whatever card that you are thinking of. You can look at ANY card you like that is of the same suit. I will see if I can receive any vibes from you."

The second stage of the presentation involves the use of our inbuilt 1,2,4,8 binary coding.

We ask them to look at their front/facing chart.If it contains a card image of the SAME VALUE as their thought card then we ask them to retain that chart at the front/face of the packet. If however it does not contain a card of the same value as their thought off card then we then ask them to TRANSFER THE CHART TO THE REAR of the held up packet.

We do this for the other three charts noting from the back designs only the charts that are transferred/rotated to the rear.

As before we need to provide a rationale for them doing this. For consistancy reasons we therefore have them visualise ANY card image that shares the same VALUE as their thought off card....

"And I will see once again if I can receive any vibes as to the value".

While they are doing this we simply subtract the combined binary values associated with these (rotated to the rear) charts from 15.

RESULT TABLE.

15-14=1=Ace.
15-11=Four.
15-10=Five.
15-9=Six.
15-8=Seven.
15-7=Eight.
15-6=Nine.
15-5=Ten.
15-4=Jack.
15-3=Queen,
15-2=King.
15-1=Two.
15-0=Three. (No cards transferred to rear)

Note that we need to remember the awkward coding for card values two and three. The rest of the coding is simple to remember as it is entirely logical. I am not happy with these two exceptions to the rule but cannot find a way around it?? Anyway it does the job at hand.

The strength of this presentation is that only four cards are at play. No cards are seemingly separated or tabled by the spectator at any point in the proceedings. This thus provides a subtle disguise to the methodology at play.

Let us now recap.

Earlier in this thread we outlined simple mathematical approaches to forcing various numbers. Namely 7, 13, 4 and 11.

The last involved dice for reasons of variety.(I love using dice or colour to liven up any effect).

I then threw in a more complex presentation involving the use of binary code to show just what can be achieved from just a little subtle data relayed to you unknowingly by the spectator!

For the following effect we will go back to basics again to force the number 5.

It uses a simple 'clock force' inspired by an old George Sands effect called 'Reverse Bank Nite'. (Find it in Fulves)

The following presentation/interpretation is -as always- my own. It is an interesting one and should do this simple methodology justice in performance with the right patter.

Five cards. Each have on the face a particular pirate themed image. There are no words on the cards. Present them clocklike as follows.Note that all the images are readily identifiable and easy to spell.

PARROT (12 o'clock)
EYE PATCH (2 o'clock)
PIRATE TREASURE (4 o'clock)
COMPASS (8 o'clock)
TELESCOPE (10 o'clock)

All cards start face down. Spectator turns over ANY ONE of the cards to the face up. They then spell the name of the image that they see moving one place clockwise onwards for every letter that they spell. (Best that you have them do this verbally so that no mistakes are made)

They then do the same for the new card that they end up on turning it face up and spelling the name of this new image. (All cards remain in play so there is no jumping over the card images that are already face up. These are included in the counts).

You will find that however they move around the cards the last card left standing face down will always be the image of the pirate treasure!

We might patter about a hunt for hidden pirate treasure along a circular trail. You will give the spectator four chances to dig for the treasure. You will take the remaining plot.

I forgot to say that the original George Sands idea forced the number 5 since the numbers in play were 1,3,5,2,4 clockwise. The number chosen denoted the number of the moves onwards.

I also forgot to say that we need to outline the four dig rationale only after their selection of the starting position.

This is because if their starting selection happens by luck to be the pirate treasure image then we need to change track with respect to our patter.This of course is best scenario as the effect becomes a one out of five divination with the spectator finding the treasure!

We may also dispense with the spelling approach and use treasure map language such as "three paces forward".

The following effect of mine makes use of the anagram.It also uses parity to help us to reach a limited force range in a subtle way. These two methodologies allow us to make a sure winning prediction.

Create six dominoes using a stiff quality white card. Design and distribute the holes on the double sided dominoes as follows.

Domino 1

Side one=1 and blank
Side two=4 and 3

Domino 2

Side one=2 and blank
Side two=4 and 4

Domino 3

Side one=3 and blank
Side two=3 and 6

Domino 4

Side one=4 and blank
Side two=5 and 5

Domino 5

Side one=5 and blank
Side two=5 and 6

Domino 6

Side one=6 and blank
Side two=6 and 6

Now you will see with experimentation that if we mix up/turn over these dominoes there can be only FIVE possible outcomes if the total dots on all the resultant face up dominoes were to be added up. Namely 27, 33, 39, 45, 51.

Yet we can patter as follows..
"Six dominoes, thirty six possible outcomes."
This will fly by the lay person if we move on swiftly and do not give them time to think.

So far so good. But how do we get from these five force range variables to our one prediction?

Take five scabble cards namely relating to the letters AELST. Place them face down in this alphabetical order into a pile and tie a ribbon around the cards. IN OTHER WORDS WE LEAVE THE PREDICTION OUT IN THE OPEN FROM THE VERY START.The use of the ribbon acts as a deterrant from the spectator tampering with the cards and is a nice touch in itself.

We first introduce the prediction before producing the six dominoes. We then turn our back before having the spectator mix up all the dominoes to their heart's content.

After the spectator states that they have finished their mix we turn our back around for a split second. We then take immediate note of the amount of dominoes WITH BLANKS SHOWING on the table. As simple as that.

This should take literally less than a second.The rationale for us turning momentarily around to face them is that we gesture with our hands towards the dominoes as we instruct that they should count up all the dots that they can see to reach a grand total.

We then immediately turn our back to them again whilst they do the actual counting. The spectator will naturally believe that in that split second that there was no way we could have had time to see anything or to work anything out!

Yet we do not in fact actually need to know the total. We only have to remember the following aide de memoire.

"STALE TAILS writen on SLATE stating that those who STEAL are the LEAST of men".

If we see only one blank domino after the mix then we remember the first anagram word in our aide de memoire which is STALE.

If we see two then it is TAILS, three SLATE, four STEAL, five LEAST.

After the spectator has counted all the dots on their face up dominoes we can then ask them to destroy all evidence by mixing them up again. ONLY THEN DO WE TURN OUR BACK AROUND AGAIN TO FACE THEM.It has all seemed so fair.

We then produce the required list of words numbered from one to sixty and hand it to the spectator to look at.They are asked to remember the word numbered and thus associated with their mental total. They will see that all the words are different on the list.

I will include my own list to help you better make sense of the effect but you may prefer to come up with your own words. My own theme and patter is viking related (Vikings playing dice and dominoes on the longboat during journeys).

Note that this list is FULLY EXAMINABLE.

1 COLD
2 FIGHT
3 ODIN
4 BLOOD
5 WINE
6 RUIN
7 STORM
8 HUNGER
9 ROPE
10 WOLF
11 SIGH
12 MEAD
13 THOR
14 HORN
15 SAND
16 SING
17 FREYA
18 BOAT
19 SALT
20 TREE
21 NUTS
22 WIND
23 SHOUT
24 SWORD
25 LOKI
26 FIRE
27 LEAST
28 PRAY
29 RUNES
30 WAND
31 BONE
32 OCEAN
33 STEAL
34 WHEAT
35 AXE
36 FEAR
37 VICTOR
38 ROCK
39 SLATE
40 TRIBE
41 PINE
42 FISH
43 SILVER
44 COINS
45 TALES
46 DICE
47 FOREST
48 BEARD
49 GIVE
50 GIANT
51 STALE
52 BREAD
53 FROST
54 HURT
55 FROG
56 BLIND
57 MEAT
58 LIAR
59 SPEAR
60 SAIL

Since we know which one of the force range words of the anagram the spectator will be thinking of we may now unravel the cards from the ribbon and count them into a face down row onto the table WHILST SUBTLY REARRANGING THE LETTERS TO CREATE THE REQUIRED WORD in the process!

We bring attention to the fact that there are three lettered words in the list such as AXE and four lettered words such as DICE. We also give an example of a six letter word SILVER.
We say that there are however exactly FIVE cards on the table.No more and no less.

We stress again that these cards have been out in open view on the table since the very start.

We then have the spectator tell us what the grand total of all their dominoes was. We look throgh the words to look for the associated word as if we do not yet know what it is. We confirm with the spectator that this word is in fact the word that is in their mind. Only then do we turn over the five scrabble cards to reveal a perfect prediction!

This effect absolutely baffles. Hope that you enjoy it.

Note the correct anagram word is of course TALES not tails.

Earlier on in this very thread I outlined a more direct and improved methodology for an old Alex Elmsley die effect.

I would now like to steer you all towards an even finer die effect called 'The Moon Die Mystery'. (Bob Hummer's Collected Secrets).

This one is a real corker of an effect and uses binary code in a disguised and subtle way. Best thing is that you can be blindfolded throughout!

I have had the time now to think around the Hummer effect 'The Moon Die Mystery'. The more I experiment with various patters and angles the more I like the effect.

I was intrigued by a passing mention by Fulves of an approach to getting to the exact merely thought off number on the die by asking just ONE QUESTION. There are two core approaches that could make this possible. The first is binary coding and the second the use of the reverse faro.

I prefer the binary approach. I have created a die displaying the following six colours on the faces.

Lighter Red, Darker Blue, Mid Green, Bright Yellow, Mid Brown, Bright tango Orange.

I undertook some research concerning a person's potential favourite colour.There is statistically a very high chance of someone's favourite colour being either blue, red or green.

(Note that I have purposely not included pink or purple as die colours.These would muddy the waters.)

Tango orange, bright yellow and mid brown will clearly repel.
Red, blue and green will clearly attract.
This is what we want.

Thus we can ask a person to "Think of your favourite colour....obviously I cannot know what this colour is.....now look at the die and remember the colour that most closely approximates with your favourite colour."

Note that if their favourite colour is pink they will be steered towards the die colour mid red. If purple towards the die colour royal blue.

Now after the three shows of the die ask the following SINGLE QUESTION.

"In order for your visualised colour to root itself deeply onto your mind ideally I will need you to see your colour at least twice.......Have you seen your colour amongst all the other colours at least twice?"

Note that the above question seems innocent enough. However from the person's answer and combined with our colour set up on the die we are now in the position to ascertain the EXACT colour that the person has been thinking of.Only rarely in the worse case scenario will we need to fish down from two to one variable (which is easy enough to do).

I will leave you to work out how I might be achieving this.

There may be a second possible methodology for ascertaining the EXACT number on an ordinary die that a person is merely thinking of.This approach does not use binary coding but rather a methodology similar to that of a reverse faro.

Once again only one innocent sounding question need be asked as to the rough number of times the person has seen their number at the end of the showing process.

"O.K I have shown you the die a few times now. Ideally I need you to plant the image of the number firmly on your mind stream so it is important that you see your number a least a couple of times or so......Is that the case?"

That is to say from start to finish they do not have to say either what their number is nor exactly when they saw it within the process of the shows.

Now back to the methodology. Try adding up three MERELY VISUALISED die values in your head. Of course you would naturally get a grand total result within the range of 3 to 18.

Now please repeatedly half your total number (rounding upwards to the nearest whole number where necessary in the process) until you reach a number that corresponds with any single dice value.

In the majority of cases (10 out of 18) we will find that we will invariably end up on either four or six. This is what we want. We are therefore going to make four or six our range force.

3=3
4=4
5=5
6=6
7=4
8=4
9=5
10=5
11=6
12=6
13=4
14=4
15=4
16=4
17=5
18=5

So far so good but it is not good enough as it stands. Let us now use a skilful patter to further tighten our range force.

"Please visualise three die values and add them up....try to make your values as varied as possible."

Sounds reasonable enough in the instruction and yet we have now inherently eliminated the possibility (with three dice) that the person will make a problematic mental dice grand total of 3 from three ones.

However some of the variables still lead to 5. This means that we still have 4,5 and 6 within our range force.I cannot see a reasonable means of further tightening the force range through the initial patter instruction so we will have to work with this for now. However be reassured that I have a clever ploy for surmounting this problem through the inherent make up of the die shows as we will see in a minute.

Now take a die and place it in front of you with its point jutting out as follows.The following needs to be displayed from your perspective on the die. Do this rotating of the die secretly within your hands so that the person can not see how you are turning the die each time. You need not wear a blindfold in this particular presentation.

First show.

Front left value=1
Front right value=2
Top value=4

Now REAR RIGHT SIDE ROTATE the die 180 degrees and you should end up with the die displaying as follows.

Second show.

Front left=6
Front right=2
Top value=3

Now turn the die REAR RIGHT SIDE ROTATE AGAIN 180 degrees to the following.

Third show.

Front left=1
Front right=2
Top value=4

Thus with our innocent sounding question we are now in the position to be able to discern the difference between 4, 5 and 6. Simply put if the person has seen their thought of number more than once then they must be thinking of four. If they have however seen their number only once it must be six. If they are confused or say that they have not seen their number yet then they must be thinking of the number five!

WHATEVER THEIR BODY LANGUAGE OR VERBAL ANSWER go on to randomly turn the die secretly within your hands and to further show the die another couple of times as a red herring to throw them completely off the scent.

Anyway now we have a methodology using both the binary approach and now the reverse faro.

I apologise for the clumsiness of my own thinking.My feeling is that many of you reading this thread are probably gently smiling. At the very least I hope that this is food for thought for you to improve upon it.

Another means of surmounting the problem of the 5 is to patter skilfully as follows for the reveal.

"You AREN'T thinking of an odd number are you?" (Spoken with a negative and doubtful tone).

Now if the person confirms to you that they are indeed NOT thinking of an odd number then since you utilized an appropriate negative tone in the question you have therefore been vindicated!

"I thought so!..."

They AREN'T thinking of an odd number as you have stated. You have now made a successful reveal of sorts and in the process have eliminated the 5. You now know whether the 4 or the 6 is their number.

If the person however indicates to you that they ARE thinking of an odd number then this means that your hunch is correct! You also now know that they must be thinking of the number five.

"I thought so!...."

Either way it is a win win for you!

The following is my presentation and methodology for an old effect called 'Long Distance' by Audley Walsh (Self Working Card Tricks,Fulves,p.71)

Take the major arcana of a tarot deck plus the kings and queens of the four suits. That makes thirty cards in total.

I would recommend to you 'The Tarot of the Witches' as the cards can be distinguished to a large degree by the colours on the fronts which is ideal for a peek (if for example undertaking a matching pair type effect.) They can also be easily marked on the back pattern.

You could of course just as easily use thirty differently coloured poker chips or whatever.....

Have a person take the cards from their small velvet pouch and to mix them up to their hearts content. You then turn your back. They are then asked to think of "any single digit number". They are then told to eliminate that many cards by returning them into the pouch.

You emphasise that there is now no way that you could possibly know how many cards they possess. You accordingly ask them to silently count up their remaining cards and to visualise the resultant two digit total.

You then proclaim reasonably that now they have a "two random digits" in mind.

You tell them however that "we will need a third digit on the end of these so would you please think of any single digit number and add it to the end of your visualised two digits".

They are then asked to focus on the first digit of their random three digit number and to eliminate that many cards back into the pouch. Ditto with their second and third digits.

Finally they are to lay out whatever cards remain in a face up row on the table. They may mix up the cards again at this point if they so wish to do so.

They are asked to MERELY THINK of the card in the position of their third randomly thought of digit and you then are able to reveal its identity.

How? The position of their card in the row will always be 18 minus the amount of cards remaining.