ESP Trick 1
Preparation
1. Divide the deck into 26 black cards, followed by 26 red cards.
Performance
1. Pick an audience member and tell them that you selected them because you sensed their telekinetic powers. Say you will try to duplicate the card identification studies the Russians used in their ESP experiments in the 1950's, and that anything over a 75% success rate at predicting card colors would be unprecedented.
2. Take a card off the top of the pack and ask your subject to concentrate, then say either black or red, depending on what they think the card's color is.
3. Repeat step two until 26 cards have been selected. Make sure to keep count of the cards as you separate them into two piles as per your subject's instructions.
4. After 26 cards have been selected, you will have two piles of black cards. Pause and say that to keep repetition from being an influincing factor in the study (which might invalidate it), you will now switch piles, putting the cards identified as red onto the pile that had been for blacks, and vice versa. The cards you are dealing are now all red.
5. When you are done, what you have is two piles, each with one portion (probably close to half) all reds in sequence followed by all blacks in sequence.
6. Take a minute or two to build suspense., saying that if they do have ESP, as you suspected, there should be sequences of five and as many as six cards in a row in sequence broken up by the invariable odd cards of the other color, telling them not to be disappointed if it has not happened.
7. When you reveal the cards, most people will be amazed as you turn over red after red after red, then black after black after black. 100% accuracy. ESP indeed.
1. Divide the deck into 26 black cards, followed by 26 red cards.
Performance
1. Pick an audience member and tell them that you selected them because you sensed their telekinetic powers. Say you will try to duplicate the card identification studies the Russians used in their ESP experiments in the 1950's, and that anything over a 75% success rate at predicting card colors would be unprecedented.
2. Take a card off the top of the pack and ask your subject to concentrate, then say either black or red, depending on what they think the card's color is.
3. Repeat step two until 26 cards have been selected. Make sure to keep count of the cards as you separate them into two piles as per your subject's instructions.
4. After 26 cards have been selected, you will have two piles of black cards. Pause and say that to keep repetition from being an influincing factor in the study (which might invalidate it), you will now switch piles, putting the cards identified as red onto the pile that had been for blacks, and vice versa. The cards you are dealing are now all red.
5. When you are done, what you have is two piles, each with one portion (probably close to half) all reds in sequence followed by all blacks in sequence.
6. Take a minute or two to build suspense., saying that if they do have ESP, as you suspected, there should be sequences of five and as many as six cards in a row in sequence broken up by the invariable odd cards of the other color, telling them not to be disappointed if it has not happened.
7. When you reveal the cards, most people will be amazed as you turn over red after red after red, then black after black after black. 100% accuracy. ESP indeed.
