Idea for a video game-themed mentalism routine

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jimb_85
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Idea for a video game-themed mentalism routine

Postby jimb_85 » April 12th, 2020, 3:11 pm

I'm sure this is a variation on another performance, but it's something I thought would be a nice effect for any magicians/mentalists who have a considerable gaming collection.

the performer has four or five game cases, each with a different disc-based title on them (could be from any era of Playstation, X-Box, Wii or WiiU, PC, etc). An audience member is chosen to open each of the cases, take out the disc, and then randomly rearrange them while the performer looks away or is blindfolded before closing them. When they're done, the performer is able to divine which disc is now in which case.

Admittedly, the only way I can think of pulling this off so far is to have an assistant use a signaling device to let you know which game is in which case, but I think this could still be a simple yet impressive routine.

Mike Kamlet
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Re: Idea for a video game-themed mentalism routine

Postby Mike Kamlet » April 12th, 2020, 5:01 pm

David Regal has a routine with DVDS in Approaching Magic called Porn in your pants that uses a cool method to accomplish close to what you’re looking for....

jimb_85
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Joined: April 16th, 2019, 2:04 pm
Favorite Magician: Penn & Teller

Re: Idea for a video game-themed mentalism routine

Postby jimb_85 » April 12th, 2020, 6:55 pm

Mike Kamlet wrote:David Regal has a routine with DVDS in Approaching Magic called Porn in your pants that uses a cool method to accomplish close to what you’re looking for....


I figured there was a similar routine, but wasn't aware of any specific names. Thanks for the info.

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Spellbinder
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Re: Idea for a video game-themed mentalism routine

Postby Spellbinder » April 18th, 2020, 10:34 am

When David Parr appeared on Penn & Teller with his little "Ding Bell" game of "Copy Cat" (8/10/17) it opened up some ideas for other game-show type presentations that I called "Follow the Leader Magic Games."
https://www.magicnook.com/WizJournal/WJ ... eaderMagic There is no reason not to apply the same concept to a mentalist presentation and turn it into a real "game show" atmosphere, not just a duplication of what has come before pretending to be mentalism. In 1961, Bob Nelson published a "Mental Do-As-I-Do" routine, which is another good pattern to follow for this.
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jimb_85
Posts: 91
Joined: April 16th, 2019, 2:04 pm
Favorite Magician: Penn & Teller

Re: Idea for a video game-themed mentalism routine

Postby jimb_85 » April 18th, 2020, 5:13 pm

Thanks, Spellbinder. I'll look for Nelson's routine.

jimb_85
Posts: 91
Joined: April 16th, 2019, 2:04 pm
Favorite Magician: Penn & Teller

Re: Idea for a video game-themed mentalism routine

Postby jimb_85 » April 19th, 2020, 5:00 pm

Thought of a way to accomplish the routine without the need for any electronic signaling. If there was a way to prepare a game case so there was an additional flap that would hold the disc that would go down on top of the main holder when the case was closed, you could prepare five secretly marked blank cases with copies of the discs in each flap, have the participant put the games from the main cases in the blank ones, close them and mix them up, and then you could use the markings to tell which copy was in each case.


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