Variations of a powerful card trick

[DominusDolorum]

There's this plot in card magic that I find very powerful and I was wondering if you guys knew of any variations.

The effect is a card is placed face downwards on the table and the spectator is requested to think of any card. When the card is turned over it is found to be the spectators thought of card.

I'm currently familar with the Crystal Thought method found in Expert Card Technique so I'm asking if there are other sources I should look into.

Much obliged!

 

[TylerScottIllusionist]

That is an effect I'm currently working on myself. The effect I'm working on is a sure-fire 100% accurate demonstration of that effect but it's expensive. It requires no hypnosis, forces, or anything of the sort.

Other forms of this style of effect can be found using Peter Turner's methods from his Penguin Lectures. Hope this helps!

 

[DominusDolorum]

I'll check it out sometime. Thanks Tyler!

 

[Prof_Utonium]

Juan Tamariz has a nice version using mnemonica. So its not just a single card. But the card has a different color back than the deck. And the deck doesn´t seem to be involved. I think its the first effect on the Mnemonica Miracles DVD set and most likely also described in Mnemonica (the book).

 

[DominusDolorum]

Juan Tamariz has a nice version using mnemonica. So its not just a single card. But the card has a different color back than the deck. And the deck doesn´t seem to be involved. I think its the first effect on the Mnemonica Miracles DVD set and most likely also described in Mnemonica (the book).

Thank you for the suggestion! I have the book so ill have to do some digging. I have been using mnemonica lately but I'll remedy that soon enough. If you come across another method please let me know so I can research it!

 

[Prof_Utonium]

I´m currently reading John Bannon´s new book Mentalissimo and found something that you might find interesting.
Bannon dissects Ralph Hull´s trick "The three of clubs" from Greater Magic in the chapter "The Slidewinder Variations". There he offers four effects on the subject and an interesting discussion (I´ve always been a John Bannon fan but was slightly disappointed with hist last book Destination Zero. But so far Mentalissimo is really great.)
"The three of clubs" effect is essentially what you described initially. But as in the Tamariz effect the deck is in play so it´s also not the pure "just one single card on the table" mentalist thing.

 

[Martin Eret]

If you truly want at least the appearance of only one card in play the whole time, most commonly you'll find methods that use verbal, psychological, or both means.
There are thousands upon thousands of scripts and structures out there that use these. Since these methods are gimmickless and sleightless they rely on the human brain, and since the brain is endlessly complex the methods are endless too.

Peter Turner is a big fan of psychological forces, and outlines them in a lot of his work - some of his volumes are dedicated to teaching you how to psychologically force any number or card in a deck. Kenton Knepper also outlines many similar effects in his Wonder Words series, which includes some of the most influential ideas on the use of words and suggestion in modern mentalism. One of these effects, called Truly Invisible, he includes in the Kolossal Killer manuscript (original one only). It requires good participant selection and you'll have to take the card out in the middle of the effect instead of the end, but it's equally powerful.
In the follow up manuscript, Killer Konceptions, Knepper takes the amazing use of the Kolossal Killer as a practical out and applies it to many psychological and verbal forces which on their own, many people would be too scared to use them because of the chance of failure (which becomes smaller and smaller with practice) but now have a safety net with the Killer. The effects and subtleties are incredible, however they are intended for mentalists and so magicians might not feel comfortable with them. They also only graze the surface of the psychology behind them.

You don't have to go gimmick and sleightless though. There are some gimmicks that can help make these methods cleaner/smoother such as the Invisible Card here on T11, sleights such as Shin Lim's The Switch, and endless containers like the Toibox system and David Regal's Clarity Box which can work with sleights to accomplish this effect.
Finally, the ability to pull the exact card you need from your pocket is invaluable - it can be incorporated into all the methods mentioned above. A reference for this can be found in step 4 of 13 Steps to Mentalism.
Hope that helps!

 

[DominusDolorum]

If you truly want at least the appearance of only one card in play the whole time, most commonly you'll find methods that use verbal, psychological, or both means.
There are thousands upon thousands of scripts and structures out there that use these. Since these methods are gimmickless and sleightless they rely on the human brain, and since the brain is endlessly complex the methods are endless too.

Peter Turner is a big fan of psychological forces, and outlines them in a lot of his work - some of his volumes are dedicated to teaching you how to psychologically force any number or card in a deck. Kenton Knepper also outlines many similar effects in his Wonder Words series, which includes some of the most influential ideas on the use of words and suggestion in modern mentalism. One of these effects, called Truly Invisible, he includes in the Kolossal Killer manuscript (original one only). It requires good participant selection and you'll have to take the card out in the middle of the effect instead of the end, but it's equally powerful.
In the follow up manuscript, Killer Konceptions, Knepper takes the amazing use of the Kolossal Killer as a practical out and applies it to many psychological and verbal forces which on their own, many people would be too scared to use them because of the chance of failure (which becomes smaller and smaller with practice) but now have a safety net with the Killer. The effects and subtleties are incredible, however they are intended for mentalists and so magicians might not feel comfortable with them. They also only graze the surface of the psychology behind them.

You don't have to go gimmick and sleightless though. There are some gimmicks that can help make these methods cleaner/smoother such as the Invisible Card here on T11, sleights such as Shin Lim's The Switch, and endless containers like the Toibox system and David Regal's Clarity Box which can work with sleights to accomplish this effect.
Finally, the ability to pull the exact card you need from your pocket is invaluable - it can be incorporated into all the methods mentioned above. A reference for this can be found in step 4 of 13 Steps to Mentalism.
Hope that helps!

This is great! Thank you for your input and suggestions!