I've worked out a new mentalism routine, and I would appreciate any comments on it. So here goes...

'A member of the audience is called up and is asked to name any card in the pack.

They are then asked to name a colour and a balloon of their chosen colour is popped. Inside is the card they thought of.'

How does that sound to you?
Any comments would be great,
Thanks,
Dave.

Why Balloons? I'd personally stay clear of the use of balloons within mentalism although I know some performers have been known to use them on occaision...

Sounds like a great magic trick though.

Regards,

Kris Sheglova

Sounds like an interesting, and different, idea. I'd suggest making sure the balloons are semi-opaque. Indicate that there is a card in each one, but the opaque quality of the balloon prevents anyone from seeing the value of the card.

Just an idea.
Happy New Year!
Joe L.

I had a similar idea but I found that wearing fiftytwo balloons in pocket indexes tended to make me look fat.

I hope that your idea is more practical than mine.

Sid

I agree with Kris. It seems too tricky looking to be mentalism. But it sounds worth developing as a good magic trick.

Well with the balloon, I was thinking that it could already have been blown up and put up at the side of the stage with other, and empty balloons.

Even though it does sound quite tricky as a mentalism trick it's not. It's actually quite simple.
The balloon was an idea I had as it was a way to hide the card and if my prediction was wrong, then I could just move on to another trick (the choice of a card is more accurate than you would think).

P.S. To clear up any confusion, only one card is needed and it should be put up by the stage as though it were a 'decoration' along with other balloons.

Happy New Year!!!

It all depends on your stage persona. And yes, it is a simple, and complicated as that.

Charles Spector

card index? seems weak.

Ok sorry for asking but what are you talking about, card index?

Dave, the real test will be to try it out in front of living, breathing people.

Break a leg!
Joe L.

Thnx for that I will and I'll tell how it goes,

Dave

Sid, your response gave me a good laugh this morning (52 inflated balloons in an index! Where else can you tell a joke like that?). Thanks!

I agree with Kris on this one. Could you not substitute the balloons with people holding the cards? This may add to the overall impact of the effect.

I don't get why the person is choosing a color and then a balloon of that color is popped. That seems convoluted to me. My guess is that the methodology behind the trick requires the "choosing a color" portion.

The simple and straightforward trick (so to my mind the more powerful trick) is: There is only one balloon, the spectator names any card, the balloon is popped and inside is their card.

Thanks for that spiral I performed it like you said for some friends and it went very well indeed, thanx everyone!