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Details

Price$12.50
Media TypeTrick
CategoryMentalism
Date AddedAug 06, 2006

Mental Yarn

Bill Goldman

(Based on 1 review)
A mental miracle suitable for stage, close-up, and even the phone or internet!

The magician asks a spectator to think of an object from a printed list. The selection process is extremely fair. Yet, even before the spectator makes her selection, the magician knows what object she is destined to pick! This is thought reading the way it was meant to be.

The above is the basic effect of Mental Yarn. Direct, stunning mind reading. However, there are many different ways to present the effect. For example, two spectators can assist the magician, each one selecting a different object. Of course, the magician reads both of their thoughts.

The trick is suitable for use on stage, close-up or even over the phone or the radio! In fact, Bill Goldman has closed many a contract by performing Mental Yarn on the phone with prospective clients. Mental Yarn has even been performed on the BBC and stunned Millions of viewers!

Keep in mind these points:

  • Trick can be repeated with different results
  • No set-up or reset
  • Fits in your pocket, yet large enough to play on stage
  • Extremely easy to do
  • Numerous presentational ideas supplied

Supplied complete with booklet of routines, tips and ideas, and three different versions of Mental Yarn.

Reviews

Brian Reaves

Jul 13, 2009

This effect is about the size of 10 or so Poker-sized playing cards, and it comes with it's own small plastic case to keep the cards in. Basically, you have a spectator choose a characteristic of an item from a list on one card (fuzzy, golden colored, child's toy, etc), then choose an item from a list on another card that they feel matches that characteristic. This is something that's subjective, as it's how the spectator feels the characteristic matches one of the items, and it's not necessarily something obvious. But in the end, the magician can easily tell the spectator what item they are thinking of, even though they never told him the characteristic or even the characteristic number they were thinking of.

You can perform this trick within five minutes of reading the instructions, as there are only about six things you have to memorize. After that, it's all presentation. You can perform this either one-on-one in a close up situation, or on stage with a spectator (or even two at the same time), and yet it packs so small you can carry with you at any time. While they say you can perform this over the phone, I wouldn't suggest it. The spectator will have to write down the lists you give them, and if they keep them and study them long enough, they'll discover the secret. However, someone casually doing this trick at normal speed will never figure it out.

The effect can be repeated for the same spectator six times without them thinking of the same items again, making this one of those rare effects that actually gets stronger with each repeat performance while still remaining impossible for the spectator to figure out. I have performed this close-up and in group settings and always find it plays big to the crowd, especially if you choose to draw the item they are thinking of rather than just say it out loud.

Some people might think it would be cool to actually have the item on hand and pull it out of a bag or something, but to me that just makes the trick go from a mind-reading effect to something different. The spectator will know they were fooled because you had to have the item ahead of time, rather than just going with the moment and drawing. But I guess that's all a matter of personal taste.

At any rate, if you're looking for a powerful, fun effect that takes little practice yet looks like real magic, you can't beat this for the price.
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