Marlow’s Mind Reading Trick (as promised in Book 2!)

The Effect

The magician announces to the audience that they are a mind-reader. The magician places three egg cups on a table in a row and asks for a volunteer who is willing to have their mind read. The magician then holds up a small coin or button and asks the volunteer to place it under one of the egg cups while the magician is out of the room. When the volunteer is ready the magician re-enters the room, mutters a few mind-reading spells over the volunteer’s head, and then lifts the correct egg cup to reveal the hidden coin. The trick is repeated as many times as the audience requires with as many volunteers as the audience wishes, to prove that the magician truly can read minds.

You Will Need:

3 egg cups

1 coin or button

1 secret assistant (AKA your ‘stooge’)

(DON’T click the bunny – he’s trying to distract you.)

To Prepare the Trick:

The success of this trick is dependent on a clear but secret signalling system between the magician and their assistant. Well before performing this trick (eg the previous day or earlier) find someone you can trust to discuss and practise this trick with. This person will be your stooge whenever you perform the trick. Choose someone who is good at keeping a straight face (and your secret!). At no point must they tell anyone they are working with you. They will appear to everyone else to be simply one of the audience.

 The signalling system   

1. If the coin is under the egg cup to the stooge’s left, the stooge points their feet to the left.

2. If it is under the egg cup to the stooge’s right, the stooge points their feet to the right.

3. If it is under the middle egg cup, the stooge arranges their feet straight ahead.

4. If the volunteer tries to trick the magician and doesn’t put it under any egg cup, the stooge crosses their legs.

To Perform the Trick:

1. When you have a small crowd of friends or family gathered (actually, the more the better), including your stooge, turn the conversation to the mysteries of mind reading, and announce that this is a skill that you seem to have developed recently.

2. Tell them you’d like to demonstrate your new-found skill, and place your three egg cups upside down in a row where everyone in the room can see them (a coffee table or the floor will do).

3. Ask if someone in the crowd can lend you a coin (or produce a coin or button of your own).

4. Explain that you need a volunteer to place the coin under one of the egg cups when you aren’t looking. Stress that under no circumstances must anyone tell you which cup it’s hidden under. To really show them that you will not be cheating, tell them that you will be going out of the room while the coin is being hidden, and that when it is done, they must come and get you.

5. When you are called back in, make a show of reading your volunteer’s mind, perhaps by holding your hands over their head and muttering spells. Make it seem like it’s hard work and ask them to help you by keeping the right egg cup in their mind’s eye. (You can really play this bit up and make it fun.) Meanwhile, surreptitiously take note of the position of your stooge’s feet/legs, so you know which egg cup the coin is hidden under. (‘Surreptitiously’ means secretly without anyone seeing you look.)

6. When you have ‘read’ your volunteer’s mind, lift up the correct egg cup to reveal the hidden coin.

Try these yourself

I promised at the end of the second Marlow book, to include links to my magician friend Oscar’s YouTube videos on my website. Well, here they are! Watch carefully. Persist with your practice. Soon you too, will be able to amaze the socks of your family and friends. Have fun! (You can check out more of Oscar’s videos here.)