Maxello Magic

This effect closely follows a trick from Barrie's book Theater of the Mind. In that effect, the performer gives a split deck to two helpers.

The performer then retrieves a few cards from each of the helpers and goes on to explain how he uses a simple memory system to recall each card. He teaches this concept using several cards which he holds up as examples and then invites the audience to participate in the experiment.

After briefly looking at the cards held by his assistants, the performer asks them to sort them by suit. Then he quickly and dramatically finds the location of all 52 cards by pointing to the person whom he believes holds that card. When the performer comes to a card that the audience had seen, they are invited to find the location All in all, this is a dramatic and memorable stunt.

"Quartet" has the same theme, i.e. you find the locations of the cards after a quick inspection, but the stunt is more dramatic and difficult, because the cards are distributed to four persons, not two.

The included patter which relates to recalling seeing people in a four-room house - seems more believable.

The performer announces that he'd like to try an experiment, and invites a volunteer to the stage to help him. He asks her to think of a simple object. Once the picture is clear in her mind, she is asked to try to draw the object using an Etch-a-Sketch. To make it more of a challenge (and funnier), she is asked to draw it while holding it upside down. While she is doing this, the performer attempts to draw what she is thinking on a sketch pad. When she is done, the volunteer turns over her drawing to show just a random pattern of lines. She didn't do such a good job at trying to draw the object. (No one could under these conditions!) The performer shows what he drew, and the drawings match exactly! The drawing is given to the volunteer as a souvenir.Completely mechanical.

Easy to do. Instructions, routine and special gimmick enclosed, you supply the pad, marker and Etch-a-Sketch.