Three Easy Pieces is a collection of three self-working mentalism effects for close-up, especially one-to-one, presentation.
The first effect, The Prisoner, is a variation on a trick and principle first published by Howard Adams. Two sets of five ESP symbols are shuffled and dealt into two face-down piles. The spectator successively eliminates pairs of symbols by spelling out a key phrase as cards are moved from the top to the bottom of either pile – switching piles whenever, and as often, as the spectator wishes. The last pair of symbols is found to be a match. The other four eliminated pairs are then shown and each of these is also a match! In this novel variation, the same key phrase is repeated for each elimination.
The second effect, Six Sense, uses a set of six colored poker chips (or six color cards). These are mixed and dealt face-down in a circle. While the mentalist's back is turned, the spectator turns over the chips, places a finger on any color, and moves it round the circle as he silently spells the name of the color. The mentalist then names a color that the spectator's finger is not on and this is eliminated. The spelling procedure is repeated four more times, with the spectator freely choosing ANY starting color each time. The final color is also found to match a sealed prediction made at the outset. The effect can immediately be repeated with a different predicted color. This effect is designed for English spellings but may be adapted to other languages.
The final effect, Divine Color, uses three of the six colored poker chips or cards, which are freely selected by the spectator. These are placed in a row and the mentalist demonstrates how the positions of any two chips can be exchanged, and how any of the three chips can be turned over after each exchange. The mentalist then turns his back and the spectator silently makes as many exchanges (and turnovers) as he wishes, ending with two chips face up which he then fully covers with his two hands. The mentalist turns around and, using a pendulum, successfully divines the two covered colors. If desired, the selected colors can then be used as the basis for a psychological reading.
All three effects in Three Easy Pieces:
- Are completely self-working and 100% successful.
- Use no stooges, switches, peeks, equivoque, fishing, dual reality or multiple outs.
- Require no complicated set-ups or difficult memory work.
- Use standard or easily-made items.
2nd edition 2012, 20 pages.
word count: 6358 which is equivalent to 25 standard pages of text
