QuintaEbook
Phill Smith
36,713 wordsMentalismintermediateAll contents are protected by copyright: © 2014 Phill Smith. All rights reserved. Unauthorised duplication is prohibited. All design and illustration work by author. That’s right, it looks nice too doesn’t it. Thinking of releasing a book? Your book could look nice too. I’m just saying.
ForceEquivoque
Q U I N T A : : A M I R A C L E I N F I V E P A R T S
All contents are protected by copyright: © 2014 Phill Smith. All rights
reserved. Unauthorised duplication is prohibited.
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ISBN #: 978-1-326-02072-9
All design and illustration work by author.
That’s right, it looks nice too doesn’t it. Thinking of releasing a book?
Your book could look nice too. I’m just saying. [email protected]
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CONTENTS
Introduction 5
Nameless Example 7
Doing Quinta 11
Performing Quinta using just the basic count 17
What about an odd number? 25
Keep Rolling 29
Transmission control protocol 37
Lucky Number 45
Abstraction 47
Classic Practice 53
Deep Geek Thinking 57
Nyceman 67
Proof Force 69
The Chess Piece 73
Avoiding error 77 3
Stash and smab 83
Justifying variation 87
Bluke 93
Bingo/Quanti 99
The Universal 105
Fortune Five 115
This Is The One 121
Street Performer’s Guild 123
Knowledge quin 127
Movie Quin 133
Dat Gap 139
In the Gallery 145
Triforce 153
Triforce Routines 157
Nico’s clock 161
Graphology Trio 1 163
Learning the system 167
Ginormous thanks to: 171
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INTRODUCTION
W E L C O M E T O Q U I N TA
Quinta is a powerhouse utility method. It is a principle that brings effects
to life and which, once you have it under your belt, allows you to freestyle
or improvise complex Mentalism routines with no gaffes or gimmicks
or anything. It is an occasional obsession of mine and hopefully once
you’ve absorbed and assimilated it, it can be yours too.
How would you like to walk out on stage, pick five people from the
audience, have another audience member pick one at random and then
reveal that the envelope they have had in their hands from the very
start contains a letter not just addressed to them, but which describes
their appearance in detail? To be able at any moment to predict which
object from their pockets a person is thinking of? How would you like 5
to be able to walk into any room and know you can create a powerful
TV magic style effect using nothing but the people and environment
and this one simple principle - and blow everyone away… Hopefully this
should give you some momentum.
Normally I have a very specific way of structuring my description of
effects: I write up the effect nicely so you can visualise it and then
explain the method. This text will, by necessity, have to work the other
way round because the method is, in essence, the same for every effect
in the document, so I’m going to have to change things around a bit, to
top-load the effects with this explanation of exactly what Quinta is.
Let’s find out exactly what is required to perform all of these routines.
To start off with, here is the very first effect I described the method with
in my book Yokai…
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NAMELESS EXAMPLE
EFFECT
You have been caught out and about by some fans, who demand you
show them something. After a moment of (fake) reticence you dig into
your pocket and tip a handful of change onto the table. You pick out five
coins and arrange them into a line.
“People often ask me how I can apparently know about things that
haven’t happened yet. It’s tricky to explain, but the way I see it is that,
quantum physics aside, our world is largely causal. Every thing is either
already happening, or the things that will cause it to happen are already
happening. Or maybe the things that will cause the things that will cause
them to happen to happen are already happening. Its complicated. But 7
if you pay attention, you can often deduce ahead of time how things
are going to unfold. Adam, please give me a number, between… I don’t
know… lets say twenty and a hundred.”
“Er, sixty three.”
“Sixty three? Good number. Do you see the freedom Adam had there,
for a moment he was paralysed by that choice. Here is a simpler choice,
to randomise this a little. Pam, you can take Adam’s number and either
increase it by one, or decrease it by one, it’s your choice. What do you
want?”
“Increase it by one?”
“OK, so the number is…?”
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“Sixty four?”
“Sixty four. A random number from that huge range, and an extra
uncertainty, to make something that is impossible to predict. Here is
what I want you to do: I am going to count to that number on these
coins. Please watch as I count, make sure I don’t miscount, and try to
work out where the count is going to stop before I get there. As soon as
you decide on a coin, point to it. Understand? You have to watch closely,
and figure out which coin I will end on… Now, watch:”
You touch the first coin and count one. Then the next, two. You count
out loud along the line of five coins, first one way, then back, then back,
and so on and so forth, until around fifty five you slow down, slower and
slower, approaching their number. It soon becomes clear where you will
stop, and the gathered few point to it. Your last few moves carry the air
of inevitability with them. Finally your finger stops on the twenty pence
8 piece to which the audience are already pointing. You slide it forward to
mark it in the line.
“Very good. You see, you knew how this scene would unfold at least
three moves before it actually happened. If we had gone one higher, we
would have got this coin, one lower, and we would have had this one. But
you could look ahead from within the moment and know we would end
up here. You observed, you modelled the scene in your mind, and you
were able to use that model to predict an uncertain outcome.”
“In a nutshell, that is how I perform my work. Except I have had a bit
more practice.”
You turn over the coins one by one, and the coin to which they pointed
has a large cross drawn across it’s face.
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METHOD
The rest of this book
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DOING QUINTA
At its most basic Quinta is a mathematical principle that lets you force
one item from five.
Jeez summing it up like that is spectacularly anodyne.
The effects it enables aren’t though - they’re massively diverse, powerful
and engaging and capable of electrifying an audience with zero props…
let’s dig in.
I originally developed Quinta after getting frustrated with one of the
fundaments of our art: Equivoque. Don’t get me wrong, Equivoque is 11
a powerful technique and an important part of our art, but when it is
stretched to five items, necessitating three selection phases, it takes a
lot to sell it.
H E R E I S Q U I N TA AT I T S H E A R T:
Five items are shown in a line. A spectator is encouraged to name any
number (and it could be any number) and the performer counts to that
number along the line of items, starting at one end, counting along and
then back until he reaches the number and stops on one particular item.
He clearly explains that if the number has been one higher or lower
the outcome would have been different. A prediction is revealed that
has been in plain sight from the beginning. Of course it matches - I’d
hardly write up an abstracted idealised effect where it went wrong. That
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would be nuts. So it matches and it matches every time no matter what
number they pick. That’s the crux. No matter what number they pick
they WILL end up on the item you want.
There is just a single selection phase here. The spectator has a
completely free choice of number (although it has to be a real number,
come on). There is no additional procedure, nothing else to see and
although this is described as a mathematical force, neither you nor the
spectator has to do any sums or arithmetic. They can literally just say a
number and that’s it.
When I first created Quinta I saw it in a very parochial way, as a small
scale force between items on a table, but over the past few years I have
unpacked the method into a whole different shape. Quinta is a method
of pure thought, it exists entirely within your mind and you can project
that method to whatever size you want. That’s the heart of this book, as
12 you’ll see, not just to show the method (which I will explain in the next
couple of paragraphs) but to show the scale and scope of this method
and indeed any method once you turn the laser beam of your focus
onto it.
So: How do you ensure that no matter what number they call that
you will always land on the force object? That’s the clever bit: there
are basically four possible “outs”, although as with all such things
the spectator only ever sees one, and the outs are tidily hidden here
because it is the counting procedure that subtly changes depending on
the number called. When the participant names their number, all you
need to do is know which of the four outcomes you need to enact. Other
than that simple decision, any Quinta effect will work itself.
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There are two choices to make based on their number:
Basic count or Bounce count (I’ll explain what this means in a minute)
Left start or Right start
The basic count is the most important count and it is how I describe the
core counting method used in Quinta.
Lay out five items in a line. The second item from the left is the force
item, so any time you are using Quinta you will need to make sure that
this is where the force item is located in the lineup. Point your finger at
the far left item and count out loud. “One.” Then point to the next item
along, the second from the left, and say “Two.” Next, “Three”. Next, “Four”.
Now point at the rightmost item “Five”. Now point at the second from
the right and say “Six”, next “Seven” etc. You basically run the count back
and forwards until you reach their chosen number. The key feature of 13
the basic count is that you are counting the objects - the leftmost item is
one, the next two, etc. (You’ll see the difference when we get to the next
count but bear with me.)
The basic count is what we use when the called number is even. It’s
possible to ONLY use the basic count if you like, this was the original
way of doing Quinta in fact. I’ll explain more in a minute, but let’s just
thrash this out first.
So that’s your very first decision - if they call an even number you will
use the basic count. The next choice is simple too: which end to start
your basic count at. It turns out that the rule governing this is simple too:
if the number they have chosen is a multiple of eight, or two more than
a multiple of eight, you start at the left end (the end nearest the force
item). If not, you start at the right end.
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Let’s see an example: they call 18. This number is even, so we will proceed
using the basic count. 18 is two more than 16 which is a multiple of 8 so
we need to count starting from the left.
14 They call 22. This number is even, so again we will use the basic count.
22 is not a multiple of eight, nor is it two more than a multiple of eight,
so we start the basic count at the rightmost item.
It seems like you know half of what it takes to perform Quinta now, but
in fact this simple rule is enough for almost all Quinta effects because
it’s possible to get an even number every time. There are settings
and situations where the basic count is a bit cleaner and nicer so in
certain circumstances this is worth doing. In fact, the basic count was
the entirety of the effect for a long time, with the bounce count being
an emergency afterthought. As it stands now, I’ve brought the bounce
count in from the cold, but to help you to get to grips with Quinta from
the ground up, I’m going to introduce you now to another useful concept.
What I’ve given you here is the bare bones of the method but there are
lots and lots of nuances and variations that make it incredibly flexible.
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PERFORMING
QUINTA USING JUST
THE BASIC COUNT
As I mentioned above, just using the basic count is very doable and for
certain circumstances it is clearer and more streamlined. Fortunately
there are lots of ways to guarantee an even number every time. Here’s
a few:
IBO DBO
IBO DBO stands for increase by one decrease by one and it is a dodge
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used if the punter gives an odd number. You can see it at work in the
nameless coin effect at the beginning of this text. “Some people think
that I know ahead of time what number most people pick or whatever,
so just so you don’t think that I’ve manipulated you into picking that
number, you’re going to change it one more time. I want you (and here
ideally you point to a second punter) to either increase that number
by one or decrease it by one.” Of course this then switches to an even
number.
Remember that because you only employ this dodge when they call
an odd number, 50% of the time your spectators will experience a
completely unrestricted choice. The reasoning behind pointing to a
second spectator is to reduce forward friction in changing the number:
Occasionally you will have someone who wants to stick to their original
number or who thinks you are offering them a chance to change their
mind rather than expressly instructing them to, and there will be a
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little bit of clunky resistance to the IBO DBO procedure. I’ve never had
anyone refuse, but if they resist and perceive that this bit of process is
important enough for you to override their complaints, they are closer
to a solution. If you use this as an opportunity to increase the number of
punters involved though, and ask another nearby spectator to decide on
the change, then for them to resist the procedure would mean denying
their friend from being included. To clarify, what this means isn’t that
they will not want to change but feel uncomfortable speaking out, and
become disengaged from the effect - the situation is set up that they
will likely never consider an opposition to what you are doing, you have
precluded their negative reaction.
Anyway, the endgame of this manoeuvre has a very nice little convincer
that in my eyes fully legitimises it. When you present the option it is
explained as being essentially there to make sure that the number
selection is as fair as possible. You call back to this immediately after
18 the count by saying “Remember, you had a completely free choice of
number - if you had picked one higher, you would have ended here
(pointing), one less and you would have ended here (pointing). Right?
But you didn’t, you chose this one.” This feels super fair because it’s kind
of true, their choices were fair but you presented them with choices that
meant that they actually couldn’t have ended up with either of those
items. This is something they could puzzle through to, but this little line
mentally misdirects them and encourages them to see the one more /
one less bit as a fairness.
TA G T E A M
“OK, I want you both to think of a number, between… One and fifty or
sixty I guess. I don’t want you both to pick the same number so you think
of an odd number and you think of an even one… Got one? Right, both
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of you concentrate on your numbers…” Here you use Mentalism facial
expression #37 (referenced in B. Ardcomb’s seminal Faces of the Mind
Readers) to assess their choices. “Good I want to use… Yours. What was
your number?” Pick the even one ya dummy!
PA R A L L E L T H O U G H T
This is a more process-intensive even-guaranteeing method, basically
it is ‘big’ enough that it takes up most of the brain space for the routine
- you need to build it into the routine rather than just dropping it into
anything like IBO DBO. I’ll explain it in the context of a routine so it
makes sense.
You take five matchboxes and dump all of the matches out of one. You
have two punters each put something of value into the empty box (ring
etc), then you jumble them up under the table and set them out on the 19
table in a line.
“People’s minds can work together to do some weird things. Individually,
do you guys know which box has your rings in? I mean, you could guess
but not know. If you were going to agree, consciously, on a box, which
would it be?” Encourage them to quickly come to a conclusion. There
is a fairly solid chance that they will nail it, in which case you build up
the revelation then high-five yourself and talk to them about teamwork
instinct etc.
If they don’t hit it, shake the box they picked to show them wrong,
then mix up the boxes again and set them out. “Don’t worry. Logically
there was no way you could know, and conscious minds mainly stick to
knowing. Subconscious minds love the illogical though, and I have a way
to trick a group’s collective subconscious into working together.” You
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split the tabled pile of matches so each punter has half.
“I want you each to put a match into the middle of the table, at the same
time. And another. And keep going. There will come a moment where
you feel a pause or a hesitation or doubt from the other person, and
when that happens I want you to stop. No speaking, just minds.”
They each put matches in until they stop. You have been keeping mental
count of so you know which end to start from. (It may be that they carry
on until all the matches are gone, in which case you just switch them
to taking matches from the pile together until they stop. If this happens
either do the maths in your head or just openly count the matches that
are left in the middle at the end.)
You now pick up the matches that are in the middle of the table and
simply put one on top of the first box at the starting end of the line,
20 then the second on the next box - you perform the basic count this
way without using numbers. You must do this very openly until you are
holding just one match, which you show clearly to be the last, put it
on the next box (which should be the force box) and slide it forward.
“Fair? Together, without really understanding why, in a very abstract way,
you chose this box. Subconsciously. Remember, you could have agreed
together to stop anywhere else… Here. Here. Here. Even here… (you just
slide open the drawers of the non-chosen matchboxes here) But your
minds worked together to find your rings. (Here you actually pick up the
chosen matchbox and very carefully open it completely and hold out
the drawer for them to take their rings back.)
Hopefully you see how this method ensures an even number. The
operational number that you use for Quinta is the number of matches
in the pile they are adding to, and it is essentially made up of pairs. You
make a structural feature of them acting together.
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Obviously it doesn’t have to be matches. This effect is built entirely
around the matches to logically justify their use. The punters won’t
question the use of matches because you have engineered a situation
where they are not just justified but the most convenient and logical
counter to use. There are lots of ways to accomplish the same thing.
The trick is in coming up with some physical or logical justification (even
one that is implied) for the pairing procedure. You could have photos of
people and ask them to put them into couples, to pair them off, but to
pay attention to the ones they think are singletons. Then you count up
how many people they have paired off. You could have a deck of cards
that they shuffle and have them pick a colour and deal off pairs and put
aside every pair they deal where both cards are the same colour. Then
count up how many cards they have won, or just deal them back and
forth so the punter is never exposed to the raw numbers. There are lots
of choices of how to do this. It may be that if you have an effect in mind
you will see a way to logically enact part of the premise or structure in
the selection procedure. 21
EVEN SELECTION FIELD
“Reach in this little bag and jingle up the coins inside, then take out just
a handful. The rule is you can’t take none, but you can’t take all of them.
Done that? I’m keen that this is fair for you. Do you want to take another
coin or two, or put some back or just change any? You could look if you
really want. Right, you’re happy with that? Could you please count up
how much money you’ve got.”
This feels super fair, and it is, but by making sure the bag has only even
coins in it then it is impossible for them to choose an odd number of
coins. This works best if you can ensure the total is below £1 so you
don’t a. Have to convert the number from pounds to pennies to count
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(because that’s clunky) and b. Have to count forever.
Remember, Quinta will work for any number this side of infinity, but the
bigger the number the more of your life you will spend counting.
For the coin example given above it would make sense to use it in
a money routine. A small (opaque, dur) bag of change is shown and
they make their selection from it. When they have taken the money
but before counting it you produce four more identical bags, mix them
under the table and lay them out on the table. They are going to get the
chance to win the contents of one of these. What a prize. They count up
how many penceworth of change they have taken, you use this amount
to do the basic count and slide forward their ‘prize’. You then explain that
if they had taken a different amount they would have ended up with one
of the other bags, which you reveal to all contain £20 notes (as you put
them away).
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The last one you open and tip into their hands - it is the one that has the
remnants of their selection in, a paltry sum. Laugh loudly into their face.
There are additional evenising techniques throughout the book,
explained in the context of the individual effects, where they make more
sense. You will see how they can often be organically derived from
routines as you are designing them, and hopefully you will be able to do
the same and eschew my suggestions in favour of your own unique and
specific approaches.
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WHAT ABOUT AN
ODD NUMBER?
Great, we’ve got a million and one ways to handle the punter giving you
an odd number and changing it to an even number, but what about if
you don’t want to add an additional phase and actually want to roll with
the odd number? Like I said, to me this used to be anathema, but I’ve
come to terms with this outcome and you should too. Here was my
initial solution:
If they pick an odd number you don’t use the basic count, you instead
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use the bounce count: point to the leftmost item in your line of five, then
make an exaggerated act of lifting your finger and pointing to the next
and say “One” as you do it. Again you point to the next and count “Two”…
You proceed back and forth along the line just as in the basic count but
this time you are counting how many moves you make.
I won’t lie - with just your finger, this is a bit clunky because it doesn’t
make as much sense as counting on the point - it kind of feels like
the the very first ‘point’ is missed unless you very explicitly count the
‘moves’. This slight incongruity is what turned me off to the bounce
count, but things have changed brother. My current thinking is to not
point but rather to use a small wooden chess piece, putting it down
at the starting point for the bounce count and then taking their given
number and making that many moves with the piece. There are a lot of
prop semantics involved in this so well get into that later, but for now just
nod and read the next bit:
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So if they pick an odd number you do the bounce count, but how do you
know which end to start on? Simples. Just add one to the number and
use the method for even numbers to determine which end to start from.
The bounce count is essentially a logical trick to add an extra uncounted
number to their number.
Example: 19. Odd number so bounce count. One more than 19 is 20
which is neither a multiple of eight nor two more than a multiple of eight,
so the bounce count will start at the right.
33. Odd so bounce count. One more than 33 is 34 which is 2 more than
a multiple of 8, so the bounce count starts on the left.
That’s it. That’s Quinta. Set up the force item second from left, determine
which count to use and which end to start from and that’s it. Looks like
there’s some more pages though so let’s look at a few different ways to
26 wring every last drop out of the method.
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KEEP ROLLING
EFFECT
“Put this in your pocket, don’t look at it.” You hand a small something to
a spectator with your closed hand. “You know what it is right? It’s a die,
like one of these.” You produce five more dice from your pocket and set
them on the table.
“The story of dice is a story of fairness. The cube is a fair shape, because
each side has the same chance of coming face up, making it quite hard
to guess the result of a throw.” You throw the dice. “Dice can be loaded,
but professional dice like these are transparent, so any tampering
would be obvious. That makes it extremely difficult to guess the result 29
of a throw.” You throw the dice again. “These are 19mm precision dice,
machine manufactured with razor edge accuracy. They are played
for less than an hour at a casino, then replaced with new dice, so any
physical damage will not affect the legally mandated fairness of the
game. This impeccable fairness makes it impossible to predict the
outcome of the throw of any one die, let alone five. Don’t take my word
for it though, please, try them for yourself.”
You invite your helper to roll the five dice a few times.
“Once again please.”
After they have rolled the dice a satisfactory number of times, you line
them up, and add up the totals showing on the top faces.
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“Twenty four. OK, please watch closely, and make sure I don’t miscount.”
You point your finger at the leftmost die and count “One”, then the next
die “Two,” and so on, counting back and forth, one number per die. When
you finally reach the number twenty four you stop and slide forward the
die at that position. “This, this die, this is where we stop.”
“If your total had been just one higher, then you would have ended here
on this two.” you point to the next die in line “If you had rolled one less
you would have ended here, on a six.” Again, you point “But the fair roll
you made, twenty four, ended here.” You indicate the selected die. “Right
here. That die rolled a fair five, when you rolled it, a random number,
randomly selected from five different random numbers. Fair?” You
coerce them into agreeing.
“Reach into your pocket, and bring out the die that is there, don’t look yet.
30 Remember, that this die on the table rolled five. Please shake the die in
your hand, then open your hands and call the top number.” This they do,
shaking the die, then opening their hands.
“Five!” You say nothing, but peer into the distance and wonder what it
could all mean.
A moment passes before someone points out that the die in their
hand has in fact only got fives on it, on each side in fact. Again you say
nothing, and they begin to wonder whether this makes it more or less
impressive.
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METHOD
Clearly the standard Quinta method is at work here, but rather than
being swayed by the vagaries of the human mind, it is powered by the
ruthlessly random engine of the dice.
The all five die is a prop that I got from www.cards4magic.co.uk, but
if you can’t get one, you could always just make one. The ending to
this effect is ambiguous, and it makes the spectators think about the
structure of what has just happened. They look at the all five die and call
the top number, thinking it a contrived coincidence. When it is pointed
out that the die has only fives, their brain will click in “Ha, that’s how it’s
done” and then stumble because, how did you know it would be five?
Did you change the die? Was it a prediction? I like the idea that you
invite them into the back room of method and wait for them to step
forward before slamming the door in their faces and laughing through
the letterbox.
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Anyway, let me just explain the handling of this version of Quinta and
then we can all move on with our lives:
You have them roll the dice to satisfy themselves that they are all fair.
I have a set of beautiful red Vegas dice, (that I did get in Vegas - crazy
place and if you go, go and see Mac King, for real, he made my face hurt
from laughing) that I use that appear meticulously fair. They have a real
tactile sense of significance to them as they are obviously something
special, not just dice from a Monopoly set (although you could use dice
from a Monopoly set provided you had enough of them).
You want a throw with either one or two fives showing. Most rolls of five
dice will have a five showing, in fact, the throw I just made with my dice
here resulted in four fives, which is perhaps too many. Anyway, if you roll
a non-five roll, have them roll again.
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When you have a good roll, line up the dice and add up the top numbers
without touching them. The weakness to the Quinta method is the odd
total, what if the number you come up with is not even? Well, with the
dice you can convert an odd number into an even number in a nicely
procedural way: turn one of the dice over, so the opposite number is
showing. Any one will do, except, of course, the five. So:
If one five is showing, line the dice up so it is second from the left, and
invite them to turn over either end die. This gives them a choice, but
stops them from flipping the five, and screwing up your effect.
If, however, two fives are showing, this is a special situation and you have
the opportunity for a nice variation. Whenever two fives show, add the
numbers before the line up. If the total is even, line them up. If they are
odd though, they can flip any dice over, because you are guaranteed to
still have a five: this is an incredibly fair moment, but they must do this
32 before you line them up, so that you can ensure that whatever five is still
remaining is still in the force position.
The wording I use to justify this is that even if they think the dice are
loaded, which they obviously aren’t, there is one way to make the throw
completely unpredictable… Make sure they flip the dice over completely,
and don’t just roll it onto its side.
There is a little wrinkle to lining the dice up that I should mention: when
you point out that if they had been one less, they would have got this
dice, one more, this dice, the two framing dice should be different to
each other for maximum impact, and they should neither of them be
fives. It’s fairly simple to make the lining up process look innocuous, but
you should have a few practice goes to get into your head the idea of
fitting them into the right order without looking like you are arranging
them.
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Once you have your even number, and the dice are in a nice tidy row,
just Quinta and determine which end to start from. Most of the time
the number will be twenty something, and once you have run through
the effect ten times or so,it begins to feel incredibly organic. Everything
flows from the numbers on the dice and it is all impeccably fair, and
yet, somehow, you have pre-prepared the result with the fixed die. I
recommend that you give this effect a go, if only for your own satisfaction.
CREDITS
The idea of predicting the result of a dice roll from a range of throws
is something I got from Richard Osterlind’s Perfected Centre Tear
manuscript. He used a single die and a nice swami handling to enact
his effect, but with some extra dice the plot fits nicely into the Quinta
framework, and look, no swami. The flip over the dice thing, which
replaces the IBO DBO gambit, fell straight out of my brain without the 33
usual grinding of gears, which means that I have read it somewhere,
forgotten where, and assumed I invented it. So that’s mine.
V A R I A T I O N F R O M T H E B AT T L E F I E L D
Dominic Rougier emailed me with a really nice variation on Keep Rolling,
which fits his style more and might fit yours more too - it is a bit more
‘organic’. You’ll see what I mean, anyway here it is:
“I’ve been thinking about the rather excellent Quinta force, and I came
up with a way to improve the ‘Keep Rolling’ routine (for myself, anyway
- each to their own). I didn’t like the idea of an ‘all fives’ die being the
target, since to me that indicates a force… also, I tend to gravitate
towards effects that can be repeated, even if I have no intention of ever
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doing so… it just suits me more. I also liked the idea of throwing in
another psychological force. With that in mind, my (rather top of the
head) variation would work as follows:
Six fair dice, five rolled, and one used as a prediction die, slid openly
under a sweaty and expectant hand when appropriate in the routine.
The five die are rolled repeatedly, but all you are looking for are the
number of odd numbers rolled in this version you want to end with an
odd total, and if there are an odd number of odd numbers, the total will
always be odd.
Being satisfied with the rolling, you spot the predicted number (second
from right) - this should really be a casual glance, not a intense plastic-
melting stare - and the prediction die is slid under the other spectator’s
hand, prediction side uppermost.
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The rolling spectator is then allowed to flip any one die, which you
demonstrate by picking up the force die and displaying its inglorious
underside.*
They will then select a die - almost certainly a different die, and flip it
over - the odd total will then automatically become even, and capable
of forcing.
Then, you calculate secretly, decide which end you need to start from as
per the Quinta force, and away you go.
* You could achieve the same effect with an even number by flipping
two dice, but I think you would run the risk of flipping the force die - I
think a better way of handling even numbers would be to simply not flip
any, but I do like the additional risk and randomness that causes.”
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Brilliant. Dominic’s handling uses 6 standard dice which seems more
natural and open, and it doesn’t rely on any monkey business of
forcing a specific number because you vary the prediction based on
the circumstances of the performance (this is what I mean by organic,
rather than imposing an artificial constraint you flow with the natural
unpredictable structure of the piece). I think that for a more informal
performance I would prefer to do Dominic’s routine over the original Keep
Rolling. One thing you would have to watch out for in live performance
though might be punters messing with the dice under their hand - it
would be very easy for them to ‘accidentally’ change which side is on
top, because some punters are like that and until we can arrange for
them all to be humanely destroyed we have to factor in their hilarious
antics.
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TRANSMISSION
CONTROL
PROTOCOL
INTRO
TCP is my pet effect and it was the eye opener that taught me to think
about Quinta differently. It is a genuine headfuck, even for magicians,
because of how organic and logical everything in it is - the basic and
bounce count variation could not be better hidden. Anyway here it is:
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EFFECT
“Understanding the ebb and flow of the tide of information isn’t just
something that’s useful in shows like this. I did some sub-contracting
for a consultancy firm working with Royal Mail to try and find new ways
to ensure mail gets where it is going, essentially making sure a piece
of information, a letter, gets from A to B intact.” From your pocket you
produce an envelope, with a question mark where the address would be.
“One of the issues is that the more hands a letter goes through, the
more problems arise. It’s like Chinese whispers, but, with the mail, the
message doesn’t get jumbled up or garbled - it just gets lost. Now, what
I came up with was great, and they liked it, but they didn’t really get it. I
think they thought it was too… weird. I know - it’s hard to imagine. The
model I used was: what if the message could know where it was going?
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No address needed, and the more times it changes hands, the more
likely it is to get where it is going. Because I was subcontracting I can’t
legally explain how it works, but I can show you, I need five people to
help me up here on stage… can I have you, you, you, yourself sir, and
maybe… you’ll do. Can I get a round of applause for my postmen please,
join me up on here.”
You get five hapless audience members up on the stage and arrange
them into a line.
“Right, to make this work, we need a number, it works best with a number
between ten and fifty, it works better with more, but it gets boring
for these guys here on stage… everyone think of a random number
between ten and fifty… you, what number are you thinking of?”
“Twenty seven.”
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“Twenty seven? Is everybody happy with that? Great. And that’s just
a random number, right? OK, what I want you to do is count one for
every time the envelope changes hands between these guys, we’ll stop
at twenty seven.” You hand the envelope to the end postman. “Now,
you hand it to him, that’s ONE.” You encourage the audience to count
along. “Then you pass it along, right, that’s TWO. Yep, THREE, FOUR,
FIVE, now send it back… SIX.” The envelope bounces back and forth,
you encourage them to speed up, until you slam the brakes on at twenty
seven.
“The envelope has stopped at you, what’s your name?”
“Mike”
“Mike. Random number twenty seven, if you had picked twenty eight,
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you would have stopped at… what’s your name?” You point to the
person next to Mike.
“Sue.”
“Right, at Sue, if you had picked twenty six, you would have stopped at…”
“Olly.”
“If you had picked twenty six, you would have sent the letter to Olly. In
fact if you had picked two completely different numbers you would have
sent it to these guys, you are…?”
“Barry.”
“and…?”
39
“Geoff.”
“Right, any other number, and the letter would have ended up in the
hands of Sue, Olly, Barry or Geoff… please can we give Sue, Olly, Barry
and Geoff a round of applause as they go and take their seats…” Clap
clap etc. “Mike, it sounds pretty weird to say the letter knows where it’s
going right, with no address? Obviously this is all a little artificial, but in
the normal postal system, after twenty seven steps your letter would
probably be down the back of the cupboard in the Clacton sorting office.
If this letter really knew where it was going, and it got to you, it would
have to be written to you right? Your letter… can you open it up, and read
it out?”
He thumbs open the envelope, and removes the letter from inside.
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“Dear Mike, thanks for your help, please take a bow, and the audience
will give you and your beautiful red shirt a huge round of applause.”
He does. They do.
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METHOD
Firstly, you have to have learnt the name of someone in the audience.
This is not particularly hard, and can be accomplished by asking them, or
perhaps asking someone else, or just listening in to their secret private
confidential conversations, or by looking at the seating arrangements,
or finding out through some Machiavellian pocket picking way, or just
by selecting the booker, the boss or any other recognisable point of
contact you have previously had. This one person, whose name you
know, write a letter to them, including (if you so desire) some detail of
their appearance (as a smarmy kicker). This is the letter you will use so
stuff it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and draw a question mark in.
If you want to.
Obviously you call this person up to be one of your five, and you put him
in the force position, second from the left. When the number is called
out, use the standard Quinta maths to work out which end you need to
41
start from. Remember, if the number is odd, just add one to it, and use
this number to work out the end.
If they have picked an even number, you place yourself at the correct
end, and reiterate that every time the envelope changes hands, you want
everyone to count. “So…” you very deliberately hand the envelope to the
first person, and count “ONE.” When they hand it on to the next person,
you count “TWO.” etc.
If they pick an odd number, you get to the correct end, but, as in the full
effect above, you don’t count the time you hand the envelope to the first
person. Only the subsequent passes are actually counted.
By using this technique, the odd number will obviously go to the same
person that it would have gone to if they had selected instead the even
number that was one above, because the first move still exists, it just
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isn’t counted. Try it out a few times and you will see how it works - for
some reason, this screws people up when they do TCP and it causes
headaches, so let’s reiterate the rules for this particular handling of
Quinta - remember, Quinta is a multiple out and there are four structural
outs available here:
Multiple of 8 or 2 + a multiple of 8: Start at the left end
Not a multiple of 8 or 2 + a multiple of 8: Start at the right end
Even number: Count the pass from your hand to the first person ONE…
and when they hand it to the next person… TWO, so it mimics the basic
count.
Odd number: Hand the envelope to the first punter at your end, and the
first count is when they hand it to the next person… ONE - this is like
42 the bounce count.
Quinta does it again, a solid chunk of entertainment that involves the
whole audience, proceeds with impeccable fairness and still delivers a
very strong very strange ending. Materials used = 1 piece of paper + 1
un-gimmicked envelope. You can prep it in seconds using stuff you can
borrow from wherever you happen to be, and it will leave people with
that thought that what they just saw obviously was real, but what the
hell was it?
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LUCKY NUMBER
You produce five generic business cards from your pocket, mix them up
and deal them onto the table in a line. You ask Generic Spectator A to
give you a lucky number between, say, ten and sixty. They pick thirty two.
You begin to count along the cards, counting out loud, and stop when
you reach the number thirty two, pushing forward and turning over their
card, which is blank on the reverse. You let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew. That really is your lucky number.”
You turn over the other cards revealing skulls on the reverse of each of
the other cards. Oooo. 45
OK, I confess, I only put this in here because it was in the original effect
in Mokele and I feel like I should for posterity’s sake.
T E A R T H I S PA G E O U T.
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ABSTRACTION
INTRO
Abstraction is kind of a universal living and dead test. Mitox readers will
be familiar with the first phase of my graphology routine, which uses the
dramatic structure of a living and dead test to a more personable end.
This piece gives a way of doing the same with a Quinta kicker.
EFFECT
You ask your spectator to think of their favourite food and to write it on a
business card or piece of paper. This they do, then set it aside. You now 47
ask them to write four less favoured foods on four other pieces of paper,
and these are gathered and mixed. You take them face down, mix them
again and lay them out, still face down, in a row.
“Marie, you’re James’ wife? Do you think that you know what he would
write down for his favourite meal? Don’t tell me but you think you know?
Right, I’m going to access your intuition to tell me what it is, and the cool
thing is you won’t understand how this has worked because the whole
thing is totally subconscious. It’s kind of like a game, using this chess
piece. Sound like fun? OK here’s what you do… Look at James, imagine
seeing him eating this now and then whilst you are looking, just say a
number between one and… Let’s say thirty. How old are you James?
36? Any number, completely at random between one and thirty-six. Tell
me… Now.”
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“27”
You put down the chess piece in front of the rightmost piece of card. “So
that was twenty… Twenty-seven? OK count with me.”
You reach 27 and drop the pawn on top of the card, then scoop up the
other 4 cards, looking at them briefly. “James, don’t say yes or no, this
is a hunch but I think you are a Pizza guy. For the first time, what is your
favourite food?”
“Pizza!”
“For real? Me too! Marie, did your conscious mind guess right?”
“Ah, no I thought chicken Balti.”
48 “That’s a good guess but I like to go with your gut.”
You lift up the chess piece and turn over the card underneath it. It’s
wrong. Oh well.
(jk it’s totally right)
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METHOD / HANDLING
Meh thod. Here’s what I like about this piece. It’s universal. The title
Abstraction is based on the face that the effect is a massively abstracted
Living and Dead test which lets you use pretty much any field of
selection. Everyone comes out looking good, it sparks discussion about
what people’s favourite X is, it contains a fairly low key piece of mind
reading from you and it elevates the relationship between the punters
to something magical with the final reveal.
There are a few bits going on here.
Let’s deal with the Quinta bit first, how do you know which is the force
item, their favourite? Well, that card is nail nicked or just straight up
marked / pencil dotted / really, do I have to tell you this? so you can
easily discern from the back which it is. In mixing the cards in your own
hands you sight this card and contrive it to the bottom where you are
going to peek it in a fairly basic way. You gesticulate with the cards and 49
look at it. That’s about it tbh, it is handled on an off beat as you maybe ask
something, you just motion with the cards, glimpse the writing and that’s
it. The crux of this effect is not your revelation that you have divined their
chosen item, this is almost a Dunninger Ploy style throwaway. (it’s also
worth noting that contriving to peek the bottom card of the five cards
does not in itself explain how you know their favourite item, but don’t
worry about it, just do it, but play down its importance in the routine)
Now you deal out the first three cards one by one from the right, then
take the two bottom cards and split them so the bottom card goes into
the force position. From here it’s plain sailing.
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FLEXIBILITY
Abstraction is a great for freestyling in a conversational setting. If the
conversation flows to food, then do the favourite food effect outlined
above. If it flows to schooldays, then have them write down their
best friend’s name from school and then the other cards are lesser
acquaintances. It could be what newspaper they read, which sports
team they most support, what car they drive etc. You can frame it as
dreams - which celeb would you most like to be trapped on a desert
island with? Which star have you got a day pass for? Where in the world
would you most like to go for a week? What job did you dream of doing
as a kid? Etc.
The elegance of effects like this is that you can adjust them to fit a
context that you think will best resonate with your audience. People
talk about Jazz Mentalism and they usually take it to mean working
in set effects in a freestyle format, but having something like this that
50
you can use to create a truly personal routine with is very powerful.
Once you have learned that a punter is a comic book fan (for example),
performing a whole set of routines about learning their thoughts without
once structurally acknowledging is a big missed opportunity.
JUST ASK
If you aren’t performing in an informal conversational setting you can
still elicit this information from the audience, although it’s a useful little
trick to know that people won’t always cue you in to their inner lives,
so it can be nice to ask their friends what they are into. If someone
has something they are a bit obsessed with their friends might want
to mock them for it, but resist that and stick to the line that people’s
interests are fascinating because of what they reveal about them.
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C O M P L E T E LY I M P R O M P T U
Using the Graphology 1 method from Mitox means that you can do this
routine anywhere you encounter a biro and a pad of paper. I’ll include
the whole routine in the extras at the end of the book because, you know,
I’m trying to pad out the page count (I’m joking, obviously, it’s a nice
routine and I know that not everyone has read it / remembers it / can
be bothered to go and call up their torrented copy of Mitox) It’s here in
the book on page 163.
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CLASSIC PRACTICE
Pssst. Hey. Yeah, over here. Listen mate… you wanna… you wanna read
a card trick? Nonono, wait, listen, just one, OK, just give it a go right? Just
to help you unwind yeah? I get you, I get you, cool, I’m just going to leave
this with you, alright? If you leave it, you leave it no worries. If you read it,
and you want more, you know where I am. Sorted.
EFFECT
You produce a deck of cards and give them a quick shuffle before
spreading them and having five cards freely chosen by one of the
spectators. You put the deck in the box and hand it to a punter, and hold 53
the five cards spread out like a poker hand. Look, there’s a picture over
there. Like that.
Said punter gives you a number and you count back and forth along the
five cards until you land on one. You show that to the group and then,
using a complex system of psychological cues and signals, you “read”
them and “tell” them what the card actually is, not just the colour and
suit but the value too. The five of clubs. Astounding.
“You might think that there would be a lot to learn to be able to do this,
and I’ll be honest: there is. Too much. So, to minimise the work involved
in learning it, I cheated a bit. I used my psychic powers to look forward
in time, find out which card you would choose, and then I made sure to
take out all the other cards. It makes it much easier, I literally only need
to know the five of clubs. I know, it’s a cheat, I feel bad.”