Take Five by Harry Lorayne

[magicfish]

Fellows,
I've always loved Take Five by Harry Lorayne.
It is published in Jawdroppers (and I believe in Personal Collection- could be wrong)
It is a great trick and I've always done it exactly as taught- going for the miracle- as Harry recommended. However, recently, I am doing this as a mentalism piece. I have eliminated the equivoque and the sleight of hand and introduced a pendulum to make this a piece of Impromptu, Self Working Mentalism. Perhaps I could submit it to Genii? No sure.

[El Mystico]

It's a lovely trick. Jawdroppers is full of them! I think it is one of his best books.
A minor point - Harry displaces one card, with no reason. But if you do a 'shuffle' where you upjog the second and fourth card then strip them out and place them at the bottom; then repeat, it seems like you've casually mixed the cards, but the selection is now second from top - in perfect position.

Not convinced by your pendulum approach - it's not impromptu, since you need to carry a pendulum! But - hey, if it works for you, great!

[magicfish]

I'm not sure if I'm adding to the mystery or muddying things up.
As for the impromptu part- I always carry my pendulum!

[Steve Cohen]

I don't think Harry Lorayne ever wrote this up, but he used to combine Take Five with a count published in Apocalypse called A Psychological False Count (November 1994, Vol 17, No 11, attributed to Tony Miller). The false count allows you to hide the face of one card while rhythmically counting the packet. In Take Five, simply position the card you want to reveal at the top of the face-down packet. Execute the Psychological False Count. It will appear as if you've shown all five cards, with none being the selection. Go into the final revelation however you wish (equivoque, pendulum, or what have you) and it will be a genuine surprise when you reveal the selected card because it apparently wasn't present at the start.

[magicfish]

Wow. It definitely changes the effect- but I like it! Thanks so much for sharing that, Steve.

[magicfish]

I've been thinking. This alternate handling/effect of Harry's shared by Mr. Cohen lends itself to the pendulum nicely.
Five random cards are selected and removed from the deck, and "shown" via the count.
When the pendulum indicates the selection, there will be puzzlement as "none" of the five cards are the selection. The Pendulum isn't wrong. The card is turned over to reveal the selection.
A) how did one of the cards become the selection
B) How did the pendulum know?

A double effect. Hmmmm....