Educational Insights EI-5166 manual Heads or Tails, Mind Reading, Magic Paper Clips

Heads or Tails ★★

Take two coins and secretly draw an ‘X’ on one of them with a felt pen (see the first blue figure below). Place this coin on the table with the ‘X’ facing downward. Hand the other coin and the felt-tip pen to a volunteer and ask that person to draw an ‘X’ on it. While you place this coin on the table, you must quickly and secretly rub off the ‘X’ with your finger. The audience will think that you have placed the coin on the table with the ‘X’ face downward. Ask the audience if they know the position of the coin with the ‘X;’ as you do this, slowly move the coins around. Ask the audience again if they know the position of the coin with the ‘X.’ They will always be wrong. Be sure to conceal your ink-smudged finger(s).

Mind Reading ★

Ask a spectator to think of a number between 1 and 100, and to keep it a secret. Now, using a calculator, take your age, multiply by 2, add 5, multiply by 50, and subtract 365. Next, leaving that number from the last step on the calculator, hand the calculator to your volunteer, and tell that person to add the secret number, then add 115. The first part of the resulting number is your age, and the rest of the number is your friend’s secret number!

The Magic Paper Clips ★

Effect: Attach two paper clips to a dollar bill and fold the bill. Suddenly pull open the bill and the paper clips jump out clipped together!

Performance: Fold a dollar bill lengthwise and slide two paper clips onto the bill about half an inch apart, making sure that they are correctly positioned. Fold the right end of the bill under the left paper clip. Turn over the dollar bill and repeat the action. (Observe the diagrams below.) Now pull the two ends of the bill and the paper clips will jump from the dollar bill and become linked together!

36

Mind Reading II ★★

For this trick, choose a volunteer who you know is pretty good at math and geography. Ask a volunteer to secretly pick a number between 2 and 9. Then ask that person to multiply that number by 9. Next, tell the volunteer to add the two digits of the result, and then subtract 5. Tell the person to think of the letter of the alphabet that corresponds to that number (1 is A, 2 is B, etc.). Tell the person to think of a country that starts with that letter. Now tell him/her to pick the next letter of the alphabet, and an animal that starts with that letter. Finally, tell your volunteer you know what he/she is thinking, and that it is “Elephants in Denmark”…Most people will come up with that answer. If your volunteer somehow comes up with something else, tell the audience you clearly heard the person thinking of elephants in Denmark!

37