You receive an excellently produced booklet which details the workings on this wonderful little mentalism routine plus a well produced card (size of a playing card) that allows you to perform some very strong piece of mindreading. The card is professionally made and will easily fit in to your wallet so it is ready to go anytime. The card will allow you to perform five different effects with a very novel presentation of reading your spectator’s minds. Imagine being able to do a book test without actually carrying around a book - this is pretty much what Pocket Minds allows you to do. For anybody who likes to give personal readings to spectators this is the perfect way to lead in to it. By combining readings and the mentalism in here you will have an incredibly powerful little tool that will really connect with your spectators.
There are several methods involved and one in particular is used for most of the routines but with different results. What is really clever, and the first time I’ve seen this, is if a spectator calls “NO” you actually have a reason for this ‘NO’ and it proves to be a kicker. This is incredibly clever and I think the best version I’ve seen of this principle. It is amazing how much you can get out of this card and you could even do 15 minutes of performance using this if you wanted. You can involve one person or several people so it is perfect for any condition from stage to walk-about or just casual performances when asked to do something.
Effect 1 - a person thinks of their birth date and they end up choosing a word from one of 40 on the card and you are able to tell them the word. This is very direct and I’ve long been a fan of this method and have used it myself in my own book tests.
Effect 2 - this is a great follow up to the first effect and means you can repeat it. If you are with a group of people you could perform several effects at once, which is how I prefer to use this technique. The only thing with this effect is making sure your spectator can add numbers up. I would suggest having them use their calculator on their phone.
Effect 3 - This is a very interesting effect and the method very clever. It uses symbols and colors that are on the card and just by having the spectator ‘think’ of a shape you are able to tell them which one of the six shapes is in their mind. The method reminds me somewhat of an idea by Neal Scryer although the performance is different. A method you need to try to see how well it works.
Effect 4 - In this effect a spectator is asked to think of one of five elements that are on the card. Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space. As well as being able to tell them which one they are thinking of you can do the addition of giving them a reading. The method is the same as Effect 1
Effect 5 - Spectators are asked to think of one day in a week and again you are able to tell them which day is in their mind.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It is obvious that a lot of thought has gone in to producing this amazing little card. I can imagine mentalists carrying this with them at all times and producing some incredible experiences for people. There are ideas in the manuscript on how to use this with your business card and handing it out at the end. There are also bonus ideas such as words that will have more impact in your mentalism routine and phrases used for patter in mentalism. I’m becoming a huge fan of The Unknown Mentalist as he is creating some really practical and clever products. This is a great example of a working performer and a great thinker. As the famous saying goes - “NEVER LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!” This should be the motto for Pocket Minds!
