As some of you may have read in the general magic discussion I recently screwed up a talent show but I've got another shot in may and I'm putting in a lot of planning. I was going through prism again today and I found rainbow matrix (p199 violet) which is basically a magic square style force. I've concocted a presentation for it (it will probably change but this is the start) but here goes.

I get two sets on stage (about 5/6 mins) so in set 1 I bring a big sealed envelope onto the stage with a question mark on it. This I put to one side and give only a minor acknowledgement to.
After doing my first couple of tricks before leaving the stage I write four colours on a white board and say that if anyone wants to help me out in the next part of the show they just need to put these colours in any order they want but to keep it to themselves.

Ok so for my climax... I call a judge onto the stage and explain just how wrong it would be for him to be a confederate in this competition. I ask everyone who's thought of an order to raise their hand and ask the judge to pick someone. (assuming some people raise their hands, otherwise I'll just strip down to some leather pants and dance off stage.)

spec 1 comes on stage and names their order. I ask everyone who has a different order to raise their hands and have spec 1 pick a second spec.

spec 2 comes up and announces their order. Next I flip a coin and have spec 1 calls heads or tails. Whoever wins the toss is given the choice of drawing their lines horizontally or vertically. Spec 2 does the other direction.

Using the patter about how many different combinations their are (the books says over 500) I circle the numbers of importance (if you have prism you know which ones these are.) and have them totaled I point out how if just one thing had happened differently we would have different numbers and a different total. After making a big deal of the fairness the prediction is opened to reveal the numbers match.

So it's a big deal out of a small thing (my favorite kind of effect) but I'm wondering wouldn't this be a bit easy to re-create and figure out?

A magic square effect can be fantastic if performed well

if you are going to force the order of the colours, why not make it into a chair routine that climaxes with a magic square made of a 2 digit number by the group? use the colours force and place a colour underneath each chair.

the colour orders can be a free choice it's the total that's the force. I'll PM you the details. A chair selection is quite a cool idea but I'd like to give the people something to think about in between my sets. Get them to try and out guess me before they even know what I want. I'm going to do an envelope selection first (marketed here on penguin as "a sucker is born every minute") I decided this would be fast, punchy, involve at least fore people and establish my abilities quickly. So from that I came up with the theme of the illusion of freedom, something I want to try and tie into my whole performance. So adding lots of seemingly random choices into the mix is really going to sell the end and the theme. What concerns me is are people likely to go home, repeat what they see on stage and crack the system?

Its a fantastic premise and I have a beauty for you if you are looking into leaving the thinking P.M me what you have so far and I will have a run through it

I think I'm going to can the matrix force effect and use another force. I figure if I use a grid numbered 1 to 16 it'll be too easy for people to reconstruct when they get home but if I use a grid of seemingly randomly generated numbers (say for example ones that force 5511 (the date of the show) it runs the risk of looking too mathmatical. Still got plenty of books to look through and I just bought a pdf of 202 methods of forcing by Anneman so I should find something there at least.

There is no need to worry about anything looking mathematical

Your job as a mentalist is to look more educated than most in any field, psychology, mathematics and science is the perfect mix.

I love when it leaves anyone scratching their heads especially people in that specific field they will remember it for 20 years after...

fair enough. I guess I'm over thinking and panicing a little as I've already screwed this up once. I just want this time to be awesome, even if I don't win.

Just relax simplicity is the key,

Make a mountain out of a mole hill in performance not, in the run up to it, you will be perfect!

Get the definite amount of time you are allowed and work from their (make sure you open with something very visual if it is a stage show)

Finish with something that seems like you knew it before you got there and you will get a good response

FYI I'm contemplating scraping the matrix force as my finale in favour of one of the magazine or newspaper tests in Practical Mental Magic. Two of these really stood out to me and as one uses an add a number principle to decide a page I don't think another adding number game will work. The only down side to this is while it will have very direct powerful mind reading it won't allow me to set up my climax at the start of the show like a prediction would.

It can do if you add a simple nuance, there are many ways to make it appear as though you have predicted the show before hand I.e you hand the envelope out at the start of the show that says prediction, (you then take a smaller penny/pay envelope out and show the audience) everyone in the audience is asked to guess a 2 digit number (that is sealed in the pay envelope you have in your hand) the person who gets closest to the number (e.g one off) is the one that will come and help you with the headline prediction.

(we will say its a woman in a black flowery dress, smart looking wearing a set of bangles.)

The end of the show comes that person comes up you perform the headline stunt then....the envelope that was handed out at the start of the show is opened and inside the it reads,

'I predict that tonights show the person who gets closest to the number that was sealed in the envelope at the start of the show will be a female, well dressed in a dark colored garment, will have a liking for flowers, lots of jewelry for example necklaces or bangles and if my skills are well homed be one of the number i intended her to guess.

She will come onto the stage on (date here) and (fill in what headline she will select from the paper)

not only have you predicted the person that would guess closest to the number you had in a sealed envelope you predicted she would stop on a certain envelope

This reminds me of the climax to An evening of wonders and I loved that show and pretty much know how it all works.

Anyway I'm back with a forcing matrix as my finale. I read a great three phase effect in Mind Myth and Magick which surrounds a bingo ticket! I saw it and I was like "why didn't I think of that?" So now a bunch of random numbers make sense to our audience and since the show's in a casino it's a relevant context (kinda). Also (I won't be using one ahead as I want the entire prediction to be in a sealed envelope on stage from the start) but there are other things to force, Walters has a participant circle one of the letters on the bingo ticket for example. So I can stretch this one effect into my entire second set. So I may do the magazine tests as part of my first set. While I am pretty indecisive I'm actually starting to feel like I have a short show, and a good one at that.

I searched my archive I have mind.m n m.. forgot I had it opened it this morning (very long book) which section are you focusing on in particular?

I've just read the trionic routine (my God that's clever) page 86.

It is a big book and the contents are written in archaic so how the edited does one reference this lol?