Ok I have seen this effect performed twice in the last couple of months. The first time I was not that impressed but today it was done to me, and the mind reader was a 5 year old boy. Now I have to know what the effect is.

The Magi takes my wallet, his son closes his eyes tightly and proceeds to tell me about my credit card, my pictures, my drivers license. This boy is 5 years old.

Can anyone tell me the name of the effect?

Thanks
Jim

Did the boy just start spouting off about the things in your wallet, or did Dad ask him questions about each item?
Ex: How many credit cards are in the wallet? Are there any pictures?

Knowing this will help us answer your question.

No he just pulled out my credit card and said what do I have here...his son said a credit card..he said what kind...son says visa...then went to the pics, said he was looking at pictures and asked him how many people in the picture. His son answered one then the magi said the person in the picture is wearing a hat, what color is it? The son anwered correctly and said red. He then went to my drivers license and his son told him my birthdate.

Thanks for you relpy
Jim

Quickly now,
it sounds like he sold his soul to the devil,
that's if I'm correct, or should that be right.

I hope not bubbleburst he showed me the effect at church this morning...LOL

If you know his name I can check to see if he is on any of my lists.

I don't know the name, I was hoping someone here might be familiar with the effect

The effect is called "Hard Work"

Luckily, L&L Publishing will be releasing an easy to master version of it next year.

Well.... I got my nephew on 4 can do that!
no joking... yes.... hard work

Thanks everyone, anyone have any idea where I purchase this effect

Those ESP-KIDS will be soon ready to order directly from the factory.
If you pre-order one now, you'll get a free box of ESP-Kids food and an extra arm to plug in their back (really usefull for PK touches).

Ok, well I've read enough crap comments from people who can't be bothered to be helpful, so I'll make an attempt of my own to shed a little light on the subject.

It sounds to me like a Two Person Telepathy type routine. There are methods in 13 Steps to Mentalism to accomplish this, as well as Practical Mental Magic, I do believe. It does take plenty of work for both people to learn the components of the system/routine though. But I'm not sure that I would call it hard work.

This does sound like a simplified 'Two Person Telepathy', like from '13 Steps'. Numbers and dates are easy work, the rest is a lot of preperation, which suits a close relationship of the dedicated performers. (Father/son, husband/wife, etc.)

An important point I'd like to make is that the medium (the boy in this case) sometimes needs to answer quickly (no silence after the father finishes his sentence) and in a creative manner. Silence and short answers do not seem authentic. This is the hard work on stage.

For example, the question "What do I have here?" should be answered in full sentence "I'm not old enough to have one, but it is a credit card." or even "I get the impression of...".

MindExplosion,

I suspect the "wise-guy" answers come from the fact that the original poster, rather than just enjoy and respect the performance, decided to hop on the internet, and essentially try to discover "how it was done".

Perhaps next Sunday, Jim could strike up a friendly conversation with the performers directly rather than go behind their back. Just a suggestion.

MS

Mind Explosion

I am sorry to offend you in any way. But if you will read my first post I in no way asked how the trick was performed. I simply stated that I was impressed by the performers effect and would like to know what it was so I might be able to add it to my act. I also have a 5 year old boy and would love to perform this in my act.

I have been performing magic for 32 years and am very seldom impressed with mentalism. This one impressed me and I do not think that there is anything wrong with wanting to perform an effect that impresses me.

I assume by your post that you have never performed a trick that was done by someone else. It must be nice to have all original effects in your act. I only wish I could be as good as you.

Respectfully
Jim

Illusions4Life,

Probably that was your intention. But, anyway, you ARE directing your speech to the WRONG person, because it was Michael Sibbernsen who posted the comment you are answering to.

MindExplosion, actually, was one of the few that tried to help you with a serious answer.

Paolo Cavalli

Jim,

I believe you are referring to my post as opposed to MindExplosion's.

I have no problem with anyone wishing to supplement their performing knowledge, but as stated in my post, perhaps a more respectful avenue would be to take up your questions with the source. Furthermore, if these two perform professionally (which may or may not be the case) I hope you will consider not mimicking their act.

Regardless, the answers you seek are indeed found in the above posts.

Best of luck with your magic and ministry.

Michael

Oops my bad, my apologies to mindexplosion. I was directing it to Michael. Thank you Mindexplosion for you help.

Jim

Waiter, decaf for our friends here, please.

I answered the original question with a question because the original post did not contain enough information to allow us to be of help.
Yes, it is most likely a two person code and yes, Corinda is one of the best sources.
But a code like that seems like it would be a bit much for even a very bright child of 5 years. They may have customized/simplified it somewhat, perhaps pre-arranging the order in which Dad would pull things from the wallet.
Sounds pretty impressive.

Michael

I would love to be able to take up each effect that I see with the indivdual that performs the effect but that is many times impossible as many of these are seen on tv or in large theaters.

I personally find it an honor if another magician sees one of my effects and choses to add it to their act. Most of these effects are common to the magic market, as I can see by the post that this on is.

I have never mimicked another performers effect. I believe that is what makes magic so unique, each performers own style of performing.

Thanks for your reply
Jim