ONE OF YOUR PARTY leaves the room – the mind reader. The rest of the assembly choose an object in the room, and the mind reader returns.
‘Is it that one?’ you ask.
‘No,’ says the mind reader.
‘How about that thing there?’
‘No,’ says the mind reader again.
‘Or that thing?’
‘Yes,’ says the mind reader.
Your audience might start to suspect some trickery: perhaps you’re communicating with a set sentence formulation, or a trigger word, or even the number of words you use. The great thing about this trick is that they can impose any restrictions they like, including not allowing you to use any words at all.
The trick can be played several times in succession. You can even let the audience choose the question number, in case they think it’s always the one after a certain number have been asked.
The trick? The object they’ve chosen is always the one after the black object you point to.
