The Eldridge Subtlety
Posted: May 23rd, 2002, 10:46 pm
Here is something from my soon to be published book, The Complete Mind Control. I would like some feedback on this thing that I came up with. So, here it is:
The Eldridge Subtlety
This is an unbelievably easy thing to do, but it will do WONDERS for any Equivoque sequence in which cards (not necessarily playing cards) are used. I came up with this almost by accident. I was in a brainstorming session with San Diego magicians Jeff Marcus and Sumit Dua. We were discussing various ways to make Equivoque more effective. As we brainstormed, we began to discuss the idea of having cards turned over, instead of picked up, pointed to, or any other action of the like. If it were not for that session, the Eldridge Subtlety would not exist. I am going to tell you right up front that it is ridiculously simple, and I think that many of you will not even try it because of its simplicity. Trust me when I tell you that it works, and that it will make your Equivoque sequences much stronger.
To explain this to you, let's use an effect that has already been discussed, Act of B'wavery. In that effect you have four cards laid out face-up in a row, one of which has a blue back (the others are red backed). The idea now is to use Equivoque to eliminate the three red backed cards. I gave you my original version in the Act of B'wavery chapter, but this is the one that I now use in actual performance.
With the cards set out as described above, tell the spectator to push any two cards toward you. The spectator will now do one of two things. She either will push the force card toward you, or she will not. If she does not, then pick up the two cards that she pushed and hold them face-up in your left hand. Do not place them aside as in most Equivoque sequences, but rather hold them in your hand without drawing attention to them.
If, on the other hand, she does push the force card toward you, tell her to pick up the two that she did not push, and hand them to you. In either case, you will end up with two of the non-force cards in your left hand.
Now, tell the spectator to concentrate on the two cards that remain, and tell her to turn one of them over. Do not use the term “face-down”. Many lay people do not know what that term means. Also, I feel that the word “down” implies that you want the overturned card eliminated. Sort of like when you “turn down an offer”. She will again do one of two things. Either she will turn over the force card, or she will not. Now comes the subtlety. If she turns the force card over, leaving the non-force card face-up, casually toss the cards in your left hand face-up on top of the other non-force card.
If, on the other hand, she turns the non-force card over, leaving the force card face-up, do the opposite. In other words, casually toss the cards that are in your left hand face-down onto the other non-force card i.e. the card that was just turned over by the spectator.
In either case, you have now caused all three of the “eliminated” cards to look the same, while the force card looks different. This is kind of like the game that is (was) played on Sesame Street. You know? “Three of these things here go together. Three of these things are kind of the same, but one of these things does not belong here. Etc.” It is that kind of psychology that has been put into play. All of the attention is now placed on the card that “looks” different. Therefore, it is the object with the spotlight on it.
Well, that is the Eldridge Subtlety. It is absurdly simple, but it makes all the difference in the world. Try it and see.
Ok, if you want to give me any feedback, reply to this post, or e-mail me. Thanx
The Eldridge Subtlety
This is an unbelievably easy thing to do, but it will do WONDERS for any Equivoque sequence in which cards (not necessarily playing cards) are used. I came up with this almost by accident. I was in a brainstorming session with San Diego magicians Jeff Marcus and Sumit Dua. We were discussing various ways to make Equivoque more effective. As we brainstormed, we began to discuss the idea of having cards turned over, instead of picked up, pointed to, or any other action of the like. If it were not for that session, the Eldridge Subtlety would not exist. I am going to tell you right up front that it is ridiculously simple, and I think that many of you will not even try it because of its simplicity. Trust me when I tell you that it works, and that it will make your Equivoque sequences much stronger.
To explain this to you, let's use an effect that has already been discussed, Act of B'wavery. In that effect you have four cards laid out face-up in a row, one of which has a blue back (the others are red backed). The idea now is to use Equivoque to eliminate the three red backed cards. I gave you my original version in the Act of B'wavery chapter, but this is the one that I now use in actual performance.
With the cards set out as described above, tell the spectator to push any two cards toward you. The spectator will now do one of two things. She either will push the force card toward you, or she will not. If she does not, then pick up the two cards that she pushed and hold them face-up in your left hand. Do not place them aside as in most Equivoque sequences, but rather hold them in your hand without drawing attention to them.
If, on the other hand, she does push the force card toward you, tell her to pick up the two that she did not push, and hand them to you. In either case, you will end up with two of the non-force cards in your left hand.
Now, tell the spectator to concentrate on the two cards that remain, and tell her to turn one of them over. Do not use the term “face-down”. Many lay people do not know what that term means. Also, I feel that the word “down” implies that you want the overturned card eliminated. Sort of like when you “turn down an offer”. She will again do one of two things. Either she will turn over the force card, or she will not. Now comes the subtlety. If she turns the force card over, leaving the non-force card face-up, casually toss the cards in your left hand face-up on top of the other non-force card.
If, on the other hand, she turns the non-force card over, leaving the force card face-up, do the opposite. In other words, casually toss the cards that are in your left hand face-down onto the other non-force card i.e. the card that was just turned over by the spectator.
In either case, you have now caused all three of the “eliminated” cards to look the same, while the force card looks different. This is kind of like the game that is (was) played on Sesame Street. You know? “Three of these things here go together. Three of these things are kind of the same, but one of these things does not belong here. Etc.” It is that kind of psychology that has been put into play. All of the attention is now placed on the card that “looks” different. Therefore, it is the object with the spotlight on it.
Well, that is the Eldridge Subtlety. It is absurdly simple, but it makes all the difference in the world. Try it and see.
Ok, if you want to give me any feedback, reply to this post, or e-mail me. Thanx