Hello friends,
I would like to know if there are good ideas of how to bypass the time where 3 persons are selected and have to write down a 3 digit number. This time should be used to do "something" so that this is no dead time.
How do you cover that problem? Do you care anyway? Telling some jokes? :-D
TIA for your answers.

It depends to which place in you show you use it ( read Riggs about it)
It depends you personna( read Weber about it)
it depends how you structure you show( also Weber)
It depends you own experiences ( read nobody but listen yourself about it)
Es kommt darauf an.

Exactly as above. It depends on the routine one is trying to create and ones persona.

It would make sense for my character to try to build up some patter by looking at my participants and trying to send them the numbers that I want them to pick.

For a different persona then one might want to tell a story that will lead to the eventual climax of the routine.

Chester,

I think you need to re-frame the problem to yourself. It's not about killing dead time, it's a matter of making the process more interesting. Having spectators write down numbers can be interesting. But just handing them a pad to write down a 3 or 4 digit number, then passing it to the next person, and so on, is not interesting.

In some of Derren Brown's earlier TV shows he did Add-A-No and made the number writing process interesting. That's not only one of the keys to making this routine entertaining, but mentalism in general.

IMO the important issue is not so much how one "passes the time" but that one establishes a rationale for having several people write numbers and for another to total them. As for myself, I think doing so merely to show that the total matches your prediction is probably the weakest reason for doing it. Unfortunately it seems to be the reason most often chosen.

I have some funny lines I use.

Twisting hand trick, this should help

In the past...I have read predictions from a past issue of The Enquirer...my favorite is that Oprah Winfrey will dump long time boyfriend Stegman to hook up and marry Deprok Chopra and become Oprah Chopra. (An actual prediction!).

It went over well during a section my assistant was getting numbers for a book test of Max Maven's.

-Scott M.

Thanks to all!
The ADD A NO will be part of a longer routine. It is no single effect in my presentation. The reveal will be a funny one (hopefully ;-))
The reason why I'm asking is that I've seen some AAN routines, and nearly all of them were a little bit boring when it was time to write down the numbers.
I don't want to make a big deal of the numbers like:" Look at me....I'm trying to influence you in a penetrating manner!!!" *smile*
No heat on the numbers. I'm just trying to find out what others do during this process; Other short effects, funny lines, story telling, some music?
Just want to get some inspiration from you and you experiences.

I've experimented with the idea of using a phone as the prediction in a bag and when the participants add the numbers together it forms a phone number and when the spectators dial lo-and-behold the bag starts ringing and they freely formed the number of the phone.

You could then tell a story of how you and some friends were trying to call a celebrity messing around and then you got the number by pure accident.

Maybe not the best idea but an idea none the less.

I thought of a similar idea with a cell phone but it'd be an audience members phone that rings.

I perform my version of this effect as a way of exploring the idea of randomness versus fate.

I tell a true story of how, one day, I mistakenly took the wrong exit on a Los Angeles freeway, only to watch a large truck flip on its side and smash into the freeway wall. If I hadn't exited moments earlier, my little car would have been in the crash path and I surely would have been crushed.

As I tell this story, I pause at various moments to ask someone to call out a two digit number. The number is written down as I continue with my story. By the end of the story, five or six numbers have been called out.

While someone adds the total, I explain how after witnessing the truck crash, I couldn't help but go over the series of events that caused me to take this early exit from the freeway.

The logic side of me rationalized that these were random events and not directly connected to my narrowly avoiding the crash. But another part of me couldn't help but try to tie it all together, to add a narrative of extra meaning to all those events, to toy with the idea of fate.

I ask a few of the spectators who called out numbers, why they chose that specific number. Was it random? Does that number have meaning to them? In some way, is it possible that this collection of random numbers, like the events that caused me to exit one stop early, actually add up to something greater -- some type of fate?

I then reveal that their random total does in fact match a total I had out on display the entire time.

That's how I eliminate the "boring parts" of ADD-A-NO. I try to add meaning to the procedure.

Thanks very much for sharing your ideas here.
Nice story Mr. Mindbender, and I'm happy that you took the wrong exit! ;-)

How are you having the numbers chosen?

Are they being called out or are they being written down?

If you're having them called out then the best way to keep the audience interested is to keep them involved. Have all of them thinking of a number and then pick members at random to call out their number.

If the numbers are being written down, just keep chatting with the audience, keep intereacting, don't let any silent moments. It dosen't have to be anything to do with the routine really, just keep a dialogue going.

Hi Chester,

only some ideas, what you could do:

Talk about statistical probability an how it change by adding numbers of three different persons.

Brief them to use very personal numbers and tell some funny anecdotes (hope this is the rigth english word) what happens in earlier performance (75C,...)

Just tell them a story, why you want three different persons to write a number...

Make a zodiac routine in the meantime

Lior Manor has some fun ideas in his Mobile Opener.

Mr. Mindbender, your routine seems like a very engaging presentation. It seems like it eliminates any dead time. And it's interesting.

But if people are calling out numbers, then your effect must be a slightly different method of Add-A-Number because if the numbers are said out loud, wouldn't any member of the audience be able to add them up?

Great routine IMO!!

There are lots of different add a number methods, some involve people writing down numbers, others can involve numbers being called out.

Thanks Chester -- I an too

Thanks too Marqus -- yeah, it's a little bit of a variation I've worked on for a while. Full disclosure -- it isn't quite as clean as I describe above because I don't mean to bore everyone with details, just wanted to share my presentation, but I do believe that the effect I describe is what the audience remembers it to be, if that makes sense.