USDA binary method with a twist that makes it incomprehensible.
EFFECT: Three spectators select an item off your Bucket List. You show them four short lists and for each list, they are asked if they see their chosen item. Spectator one is asked to answer truthfully and spectator two is told they can either lie or tell the truth but they are not to tell you which they choose. Spectator three is told to only answer silently in their mind. Despite these increasingly more difficult conditions you are able to reveal all three selections.
I have been creating binary effects for a couple of years now. During that time I began to realize that these effects could have a very strong impact on an audience. Once I realized this I understood that binary effects had the potential of being more than a bridging effect. My first aim was to create not just a binary trick but a binary routine and these were well received. Soon I came up with an idea that was to become my binary holy grail. This "holy grail effect" was the effect I present here. Initially, I made a number of effects that fit these requirements but they all still fell a little short of what I ideally wanted. In each of the early effects I came up with spectator three was handled differently to the other two. What you have here is the effect that finally fulfills all the conditions of the binary holy grail that I had set myself, now all three spectators are treated identically and it came as no surprise to me that this has a powerful impact on audiences.
"Wow I love this!" - Tom S.
"Absolutely awesome job again Richard...It's a fantastic routine" - Ben G.
"Great routine" - Yarden Y.
"This is absolutely brilliant Richard" - David H.
"Richard this is absolutely amazing!!!" - Paul G.
"This is bloody good!" - Bert VDL
"This is so good. The direction you went with this is very inspiring. Just wow." - Phil R.
1st edition 2024, PDF 12 pages.
word count: 4766 which is equivalent to 19 standard pages of text
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★★★★★ Date Added: Monday 06 May, 2024
The two techniques used in this three-phase routine are as old as the hills and are well known to mentalists. The routining, however, is original, and I like it a lot. Each phase is handled identically (always a good thing) and the third phase, where the volunteer says absolutely nothing about which of your bucket-list items he chose will blow the minds of laypeople. That phase is a more reliable version of To-Do Voodoo, a Rick Lax effect that I've been using for years to great effect. At $8, if you like tricks using the binary method, this is a steal!
