Today I had a new presentationidea for BCS (calling the cards).
After the spectator pulled out a bunch of cards, I tell him to shuffle the cards and distribute the cards among the audience. After each person looked at his card to remember, another person gather the cards and put them with the rest of the pack into the box. You ask each spectator who is thinking of a card to stay up. Then you start the `calling`! I think the advantage is, that there are no more `visible`cards envolved, just the thoughts! I think that will increase the effect? Best kiki

I love it !

Great idea Kiki. I like it a lot, will try it out tomorrow night!

Iain.

Wicked! Brings another, subtle and psychological angle with it...simple and strong !!!!!

The weak point is you don`t know which person have what card. so for the last 3 or 4 spect.(the others are already sitting) I would change the presentation. you have 3 or 4 spectators and you know already the cards, so now it`s easy to assign the cards to each spectator. kind of radar or mindpowerdeck-method!hard for me to explain it in english, but I think you understand what I mean! best kiki

Not exactly an original idea - I saw Peter Zenner use a very similar idea many years ago and I am sure it wasn't new then - but that isn't meant to discourage you - to come up with the idea independently AND to add in the business of taking the cards out of sight (maybe a bit long-winded for me but I can see it working) is great.

Incidentally, the not knowing which person thought of which card didn't pose him a problem at all...just do it.

Think about it - in effect the tossed out deck is pretty much the same in a lay person's eyes but in most presentations you don't identify specifically who thought of which card (indeed you can't do that in the standard version of the effect!) but it hasn't stopped it becoming a favourite effect of many mentalists.

Kiki,

Nice. I'm big on not using props and if you have to use them... take them out of play as soon as possible.

Here's some extra thoughts--you'd have to test them out:

As soon as the person takes the group of cards out, cut and get your key. IMMEDIATELY hand the remainder to the person and ask them to put them in his pocket.

He hands out the cards, collects them and you tell him to put them in his pocket with the other cards and KEEP them as a souvenir.

Ask HIM if he knows the names of any of the cards. He'll say no. Ask if he could know who has what card. No. Thank him and ask him to sit.

Look at the first spectator and tell him/her to concentrate. Suddenly you're getting all kinds of cards! "I can't concentrate! Who's thinking of the eight of clubs? YOU ARE! (whoever that is) Please sit down and thank you! Who's thinking of the SIX of spades??"

And so on.

Put emphasis on the THINKING of cards, VISUALIZATION of cards etc. Don't mention the actual playing cards again.

That routine will play very strong. And not knowing where the thoughts are coming from is not a weakness in any way.

Hope that helps.

I love that 'Who's thinking of ... ?' idea - really strong !

Piers.

That's wonderful, KiKi. Have you attempted to do this in Radar Deck style all the way through, fishing a little bit and then taking a shot? I mean, if you know the cards to come, you are able to say: "Would I be right that 3 of you are thinking of red cards?" Stuart's advice is excellent of course.

Still, I think the layer of impossibility in Radar/ Koran/ Mindpower deck is that the cards aren't handled/ touched by the specs, but merely thought of. Thus, when you're able to name a card that they only glanced at and chose mentally... plus, you have that bonus impact of "did you almost think of the queen of diamonds?" I think in MM#1 a big exhultation was when Richard named the two red cards that two volunteers almost thought of.

I just ran a few errands and realized while driving I forgot another strong bit.

Assume you have 8 people. You won't have a clue who has what card. As the group get's smaller you can single a person out, "I'm having a hard time with your thought". A bluff, of course, but if they by chance end up being the last person standing you can finish by saying "And you are thinking of the Queen of Diamonds!"

This is a subtlety most miss. It creates the false memory that you DID know some of the people's cards.

Depending on how good you are with Richard's system, you can "split" the last two people and do a gentle pump. "You're thinking of a red card, correct? NO? But YOU are (turning to the second last person)... YES... " Now you know who has what card and can finish that way too.

Kiki, I loathe using cards, but this is the first time I've read something and actually wanted to go and test it out. It certainly meets the invisible props criteria, involves a number of people and with the BCS is a mindbender.

Great stuff. Really!

Best,

SC

This is such a great idea. I can wait to try it out...

-thomas

I like the idea! It gets more people into play and after all, with mentalisim the peolple are your props!!
Kent

Another idea. After the "bunch" of cards are selected and you are having them mixed, you can put on a blindfold while they are pssed out ,looked at and then collected. If you then call the cards with a blindfold on it doen't matter who was looking at which card.
Kent

Kiki:You have opened a can of worms!However,it is a GOOD can of worms.Creativity breeds creativity.
I am going to present a version of your idea tommorrow night.(All adult audience)I however,have decided not to have the passed out cards collected and put away.My reasoning for this is that some may be drinking and to remember the exact card can sometimes be a challenge(hic-up).So after peeking the key,I shall turn away.I shall ask all with a card to stand,and please be seated if they hear their card divined("and if I am fortunate enough to get all to be seated{Ala Richard Osterlind} you will give me a tremendous round of applause).Now I can play this to the hilt with no mistakes.I will let you know how it play's. Thank-you and All the Best. Rich

Can't wait to hear how this turns out. I too like the idea of them keeping the cards. I use Animental and discovered even with just four spectators and four animals, some forget which one they selected.

I had some spectators grab 10 or more cards in BCS.

A few times I've used two spectators with BCS and did a quick glimpse with the first but this seems a lot better properly presented.

One positive over the original is there won't be anyone cry out the cards are in order which has happened to me a few times.

Or instead of blindfold, just have your back to them and they can pass them to you just like original.

Keep us posted!

Let me throw one more idea into the mix. If you use Jumbo cards and ask the person who draws them out to shuffle them, very rarely will they do more than mix them a bit. Most will still be in order. Then if you ask that same person to distribute them amoungst audience members, he will probably just deal them off the top, in order.

Sooo....

Once you get going and know who has a particular card, it is very possible you will know the card the next person has. You might say something like, "This person sitting here. Aren't you thinking of a higher, red card? Isn't it the Jack of Hearts?"

Just a little pumping to make sure.

Richard

"ask the person who draws them out to shuffle them, very rarely will they do more than mix them a bit. Most will still be in order."
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How true Richard:) I use to forget to ask them to mix them up and they would be in order (hence a comment here and there about a stack). The other night, I told them more than once to mix them and got them back in the same order:)

Thanks kiki for sharing... bright idea... good thinking...
hope to hear more from you...

Hi! I am very happy about the great response, and the nice added ideas. so lets go on talking!!! best kiki

Another thing you could do is be blindfolded. To the audience this is just so that you cant possibly know what is going on.

Now if you present this as if you are receiving impresssions you could say soemthing like:

"i'm getting the two of hearts, and very close by I can sense there is a person thinking of the six of diamonds."

Thew blindfold allows you tro miss somewhat more as you are "sensing".

Furthermore, if you are blindfolded throughout and use Richards Steel blindfold then how could you possibly peek at any information at all?

Best,
Kennedy