Hold the coin between the thumb and first two fingers of your left hand. Move your right hand towards the left, pretending to reach down to pick it up with your three middle fingers, while really letting it “drop” into the left hand. Pretend that you’re holding it between the index finger and thumb of your right hand. Blow on “the coin” and open up your right hand, showing that it has disappeared. Reach your left hand toward your elbow and reveal the coin, making it look like that was where you made it disappear.
Hold your hand with the index and pinkie fingers up and the other three fingers touching each other, doing the old “Rock n’ Roll” symbol. Place the card so the last inch or so (2. 5 cm) tucks into the area between the middle and ring finger and thumb. Gently snap your fingers and straighten out your hand. The card will be clipped between the first and second finger and the third and fourth finger, and will appear to have disappeared. Just make sure you’re facing the audience with your palm and they can’t see the card on other side of your hand. If you get more skilled, you can practice bringing the card back and making it disappear again.
Hold the pencil’s edges with your thumb, index, and middle fingers, turning your hands so the backs of your fingers face the audience. Apply a bit more pressure to the pencil with the fingers of your right hand, making the pen bend a bit toward your right inner wrist. Move your hands up and down a bit to create some movement. Appear to snap the fingers on your left hand, making the pen move so it is lying along the right wrist. Discreetly move the pen into the sleeve on the right hand, showing that the pen has disappeared. The faster you can do this, the more convincing it looks.
Think of any number. Multiply it by 2. Add 8 to the total. Divide it by 2. Subtract your original number from the total. Remember this new number–it’s your secret number! Count on the alphabet until you get to the letter that goes with your secret number. (Number 1 is A, Number 2 is B, and so on. ) Think of a European country that goes with that letter. Go over to the next letter of the alphabet. Think of a large animal that begins with that letter. Once the audience member has thought of it, just say, “I know what you’re thinking of. . . the number 4. . . and an elephant in Denmark!” This will work every time.
First, hand out paper and pencils to all of your audience members. Ask them to complete several easy mathematical tricks, about ten of them, such as multiplying 2 x 2, dividing 10 by 5, adding 3 and 3, and so on. You can say that this is getting their minds ready for mind reading. Then say, “Quick, write down the name of a vegetable!” Make sure that people do this as quickly as possible; don’t let anyone “think” about it for too long. Call on a random audience member to say what vegetable he wrote down. If he says “celery,” pull out the piece of paper in your left pocket that says “celery. " If he says “carrot,” then pull out the piece of paper that says “carrot. " Tell the audience that you have such strong mind-reading powers that you were able to predict what they were going to write down before the trick even began. People in the US and Canada pick one of these two vegetables 80-90% of the time. If the person doesn’t say one of the two vegetables, then oh well, you’ll have to move on to another trick! If you’re in a different country with different popular vegetables, then you have to try to find your own “magic vegetable. "
Ask an audience member to shout the name of a famous person. Write the first name down on a scrap of paper and throw it into your hat. Ask the audience to keep shouting out names. Pretend to write each name down, when really, you will just be writing down the first name, over and over. This is the part that takes practice. Once the hat is filled, ask an audience member to volunteer to help you. Say that you will predict which name he will draw out of the hat. Of course, you will predict the first name. Write it down on the slate so that everyone can see. Have the audience member reach into the hat to pull out any scrap. Since they all say the first name, lo and behold, you have correctly predicted the name he would pull out!
Get a deck of cards. Take two out and put them together so it looks like one. Do this before the performance. Only show the bottom card to the spectators. Put both cards on top of the deck. Take off the card on top so that it looks like you’re taking the real card to the bottom. The real card should be on top. Pretend you’re using your mind to bring it to the top. Reveal the card on top and the spectators will be amazed.
