Now think of an important event in your life.

You can pick any event you like, as long as it has a deep meaning to you. It could be a birth of a child, your wedding day, the day you got your first car. Anything, as long as it has meaning to you.

Got one? Good. I’d like you to visualize it in your mind. Close your eyes if you want. Make the pictures large and bright and clear, make the sounds loud and vivid.

Open your eyes and write down the year that the event happened.

Now, I want to to move on in your mind. Visualizing all the years since that event, all the things that have changed as a result. Imagine it like a montage in a movie, with little snippets from here and there, until you reach the present year.

Now write down the number of years that have passed since this event.

Have you had a birthday yet this year?

If so, I want you to picture that day in your mind. If you had a party, remember that. If your birthday hasn’t happened yet this year, I want you to project forwards in time to your party, imagine what you want to do and who you want to be with.

Now open your eyes and write down what age you became (or you will become) on that birthday. Count the candles on the cake if it helps.

You now have four numbers written down. Add them all together.

Did you get 4018?

Want to know how it works?

If you’re reading this in 2009 your total should be 4018. If you’re reading in 2010, your answer will be 4020. In 2011 it will be 4022.

The answer is always the current year, doubled.

It’s a self-working trick that works on simple mathermatical principles, but it’s a great example of how you can make even the simplest trick into mentalism by making your performance personal to the spectator.

Related Posts

No related posts.

They’re not great, they’re easily guessable, but check out the wallpaper! That’s some seriously nostalgic HTML.

That bird has some serious Geocities styling going on.

Related Posts

No related posts.

You can tell this because there’s a site called eCardTricks — seriously, who’s started a site with an “e-” name since 2001? Nobody! It must be an old site.

But it’s a good one, with a selection of eight or nine prediction effects that work through your web browser.

Head over there and try out their “Three Rows” card trick. I’ll give you five seconds to figure out how it’s done.

Related Posts

No related posts.

It’s been getting good reviews, including this one from none other than Derren Brown, who said it “genuinely triggers that ‘wow – how did you do that?’ response” which has to be a good recommendation.

It looks like the app was designed and/or programmed mainly by Sarah Angliss.

She says: “Telepath can also be used to predict numbers, cute animals, cards and dates — so can even improve your love life.”

Here’s a video of Richard and his friend demonstrating it. Note how the app works even when the spectator does not say anything, which rules out voice recognition as an explanation.

I don’t know precisely how it works yet — I’ll be downloading it later — but it looks pretty amazingly cool.

It does of course require you to install an app on your iPhone, unlike WasThisYourCard.com (/plug)

Related Posts

1. Was This Your Card?

In this effect, Marco seemingly psychically projects the image of a card onto a digital photo we saw him take moments earlier. It’s a really stunning trick.

Marco’s web site has videos of a few more performances. In each one, the chosen card is different. I’d love to know how he does this.

Related Posts

1. Channel 4’s 3D Magic Hour
2. Three Rows Card Trick

Derren Brown was as hilariously pithy as usual, although his role was mainly restricted to providing the links between other magicians’ effects.

As for the rest of it… there were a few too many big, showy tricks for my liking – I usually prefer the close-up stuff – but that’s to be expected with a program designed primarily to show off 3D technology.

It was especially nice to see Marco Tempest, “the virtual magician” and Rubik’s Cube genius, get some richly deserved screen time. He’s one of those technology-focussed magicians who inspired me to create WasThisYourCard.com.

Tempest performed his “Interactive Cards” illusion. It’s a nice card trick in that you can play along with at home, and it has a 100% success rate. It’s a shame it’s been done a bazillion times on the internet already (including this clever YouTube version).

You can watch the full hour of the Channel 4 show, if you live in the UK, here.

Related Posts

1. Marco Tempest’s Mindcam

In this video, he gives you six different ways to force a card in a little over four minutes.

Most of them involve some simple sleight of hand. But it’s so simple, you could master it in half an hour.

Related Posts

1. Marco Tempest’s Mindcam

That got me thinking. Wouldn’t it be cool if I could make a spectator’s freely chosen card appear magically on their iPhone screen – without me touching the phone?

When I got home that night I immediately set about building that feature into WasThisYourCard.com.

After much experimentation, I finally developed a system that did exactly what I needed. I’ve been amazing spectators with it ever since.

But now I’ve decided that if it’s useful to me, it could be useful to others, so I have opened the system up to other magicians.

WasThisYourCard.com will be available in two versions, Basic and Professional. Right now, only the Basic version is available. The Professional system should be up and running soon.

You can sign up FREE to use the Basic version by entering your email address in the box on the left of this page. After you’ve confirmed your address, you will receive a download link for the Basic Manual.

Related Posts

No related posts.