Thrift

Three Economical Mentalism Methods

by
Alexander Marsh

Miser’s Peek Wallet

UnLock - Ungimmicked Prediction Lock
Natural State Add-A-Number Pad





www.alexandermarshmentalism.co.uk 

Copyright 2019 Alex McAleer / Alexander Marsh
Miser’s Peek Wallet
Feeling dissatisfied with having one wallet with a great card-to-sealed-envelope function, another
with a practical peek function, and one that you actually use in everyday life?

Uncomfortable with the idea of using that not inexpensive, multi-purpose, Swiss-army-knife of a
wallet as your everyday wallet but hate to leave the house without feeling ready to amaze on
demand?

Well the following may just allow you to turn that excellent card-to-wallet, or even an everyday
wallet, into a practical peek wallet with minimal cost and effort.

Any wallet will work fine for this but many years ago when I started suing this I had a normal,
everyday bill-fold style wallet. This wallet, like most wallets, had two main compartments at the back
for keeping paper money, receipts, etc. much like the one in the diagram below - seen here with an
envelope protruding from each section.



Original Illustration from Hybrid Mentalism (2008)

In one of the cash compartments I keep a normal, unprepared pay envelope with one of my business
cards inside. I usually write something such as ‘Please draw an simple image’ or ‘Please write a name’
on the card, leaving a large empty space for the spectator to do so. In the other wallet compartment
I kept several prepared pay envelopes each one with a large hole cut out from the address side. This
hole allowed me to peek anything written on a business card placed appropriately inside it. This is of
course known as a Window Envelope.

Many of you will be very familiar with this kind of window envelope but you might not be aware
that a good tip when creating the ‘window’ is to make the bottom corners of the window rounded to
prevent the card snagging when being placed inside.

In performance the handling is very simple. Bring out the wallet from wherever it resides and take
out the un-gimmicked envelope from the first compartment, nonchalantly flashing both sides. Tell
the spectator that inside the envelope is a business card and ask if they can see what is written on it.
They will of course answer that they can not, quietly proving the envelope is indeed opaque and
normal without being overtly asked to examine it.
Remove the business card from the envelope and invite your participant to write or draw anything
they wish on said card.

You turn away from the participant as they record their thoughts which allows you ample
opportunity to casually place the unprepared envelope back into the first compartment of the wallet
and take out a gimmicked window envelope. Don’t think of this as move or bold switch. Instead
think of this as a casual action done with your back to the spectators.

When the participant informs you that they have finished writing, turn back to face them. To their
eyes nothing will have changed.

Retrieve their card and place it ‘back’ into the envelope, being careful of course not to flash the
window by keeping the window against your palm. Saying ‘Let’s put the card back in here’ will act to
further reinforce the idea that the envelope is same unprepared envelope they saw previously.

The peek is achieved simply by turning the envelope so the window now faces you exposing its
written contents as you slide it back into the wallet. Your body, hands, wallet, and being mindful of
angles will prevent anyone else from seeing the secret. I would not recommend peeking the
information right away. I usually leave the wallet and envelope in sight for a few moments as I talk
to the participant. When the time is right I put the envelope back into the wallet, as if to get it out
of the way, obtaining my peek as I do so.

The wallet can then be placed back into a pocket out of sight and out of mind, leaving you free to
reveal the information in any manner you so wish.

































UnLock - Ungimmicked Prediction Lock

This is a bold ruse that can be used in place of a Lover’s Lock style routine in which an audience
member or several randomly selected spectators seemingly guess the code to open a combination
lock. Any combination lock can be used be it a padlock or a briefcase. By way of an example, here is
a routine one might use for this ruse.

The Mentalist presents a wooden box that is sealed with a combination lock and teases that inside
the box is a prediction that will be revealed at the end of the show.

Throughout the show he invites a few spectators to try various combinations and check the lock’s
validity, all of whom confirm it is indeed securely locked.

At the end of the show one audience member is singled out as having ‘the gift’ and told that they
will somehow intuit the lock’s combination. Remaining in the audience, this spectator is asked to
conjure in her mind the first of the four digits required to crack the code. Let’s say she says 9, the
Mentalist is seen to turn the first dial of the lock to the selected number. This of course happens
again and again and again until the last digit is called and dutifully entered into the lock by the
Mentalist.

There is a moment of silence as the Mentalist pulls the lock and it is seen to spring open.

The intuitive audience member is invited to the stage, accompanied by a congratulatory round of
applause, as she is the one who gets the privilege of revealing the show’s final prediction. The initial
contents of this previously boxed prophesy contain the following statement –

“Congratulations! You clearly have ‘the gift’ for how else would you have known the lock’s secret
combination would be 9-1-5-6” (or whatever the combination may be)?’

The method is simple and relies on sheer bluff and a convincer.

When the supposedly intuitive spectator is calling out her numbers one by one you will apparently
be entering these numbers into the lock but in reality you will enter the real code i.e. whatever you
have previously set the lock to. This is why the spectator must remain in the audience during this
process so she can not see what you are genuinely doing.

When the lock has been opened, apparently by her innate psychic gift, she is invited to the stage to
open the box. During this time you will remove the padlock and place it away in your pocket or out
of the way somewhere so no one will ever see the true combination entered.

This bold piece of deception is not quite enough on its own to create the illusion so we need a
convincer in the form of a written note that contains the combination she called out. This is
achieved by using a Nail Writer.
My preference is to use an idea from T. A. Waters’ Mind, Myth and Magick of having the folded
prediction/convincer letter partly protruding from the back of the box in the gap where the lid and
the base meet. This allows me to nail write the numbers on to the prediction and then push the
letter fully into the box before opening it.

Aside from using a box and a separate combination padlock this method can also be used very
effectively with a briefcase that has a combination lock built into it. The box or briefcase offers
ample cover for your nail writing.

It is your attitude when apparently entering the named combination, the convincer, and the fact that
this effect is used as a preliminary effect to a bigger revelation inside the box or briefcase that all
work together to create an effective and compelling deception.
Natural State Add-A-Number Pad

What follows is a near self-working switch-pad that requires hardly any preparation and uses
nothing more than the natural characteristics of a certain type of pad.


Specifically one of those small note pads that have an elasticated band attached to the back cover,
such as the one that can be seen in the image below.

A company called Europa seem to have the monopoly on this type of pad. They are very common
and easy to find in most stationery shops. I use the pocket-sized pads but larger (A5) sized pads are
available and will work just as well.

You will not gimmick the pad in any way but you will need to prepare it with whatever numbers or
information you wish to be switched in. For now let’s assume you will be switching in a column of
numbers to be added together for the sake of this explanation. Your force numbers must be written
on the first page of the pad, preferably each one in different hand writing.

To make the explanation easier to follow you may want to acquire one of these pads now whilst
reading this and follow along with pad in hand. So we are starting from the same point – hold the
closed pad in your hands, ring binding at the top, with the front cover facing you and the elastic
band keeping it shut as can be seen on the left in the image above.

Unhook the elastic and open the front cover, that being the one with the Europa logo on it. Fill in
your force items on this front page now facing you and close the cover but do not secure the elastic
over it.

Now flip the pad over from left to right so the back cover is facing you and the ring binding is still
at the top. You will now be looking at the back cover where the elastic band is attached.
Open the back cover by flipping it all the way over so it is touching the face of the front cover, the
elastic band sandwiched between the two covers. You will now be looking at the blank back page of
the notepad.

Now reach in between the covers to bring the elastic over these blank sheets of paper facing you, as
can be seen on the right of the image above.

That’s it. The pad is now ready to use.

Ostensibly the elastic is there to keep the paper down and keep the covers closed and out of the way,
which of course is the genuine use for the elastic in the first place. However for our purposes it aids
our deception as it forces the spectators to write on the blank back page of the pad and keeps the
force items hidden.

In performance you will present the pad to various audience members in the state I have just
described. Thanks to the set up the pad is locked in this position so the audience can freely pass the
pad around themselves. As audience members fill in as many numbers as you wish, use this time to
bring an astute-looking spectator up on stage who will eventually be the one totalling the numbers.

When the audience members have finished filling in their chosen digits, take the pad back from the
last spectator and place the pad numbers side down on your hand so the paper side of the pad is
touching your palm.

On your way back to the stage you will do the following ‘move’ – although it can be done fairly
openly in the act of moving towards your on-stage participant. For sake of explanation let’s say the
pad is in your left hand, spiral-binding at the top, open end at the bottom, with the cover-side facing
out, paper-side facing your palm as previously described.

Use your right-hand’s fingers to reach under the pad from the bottom end to the paper side and
unhook the elastic. Still holding the elastic and using it as a sort of handle, flip over the back cover
as if you were closing the pad. This action will of course actually close the pad but your left-hand’s
fingers will be sandwiched between the back-cover and back pages that audience members have just
filled in.

Take the pad away with your right hand which will automatically remove your left-hand’s fingers
from inside the pad. You will now have the pad in your right hand with the front cover facing up.

Give the pad to your on-stage participant and invite them to open it and total the numbers. They
will naturally do so by opening the front cover that is facing them to reveal your force numbers.
If you prefer you can close and secure the pad completely using the elastic band to lock it shut and
then toss the pad to someone in the audience to open and total the numbers; they will naturally
unhook the band and open the front cover to the true first page of the pad which contains your
force numbers.

Once the participant has totalled the force numbers, take the pad and quickly check his addition.
Tear the sheet from the pad and pocket the pad so all evidence of your deception is out of sight.
Reveal your prediction and take a bow.
 Alexander Marsh is the pen-name of professional
mentalist Alex McAleer, who has been a working
performer since 2007. As well as performing at the usual
private parties and corporate events, he has made
countless television appearances around the world
including ITV’s Good Morning Britain (UK), Seven
Network’s Today Tonight (Australia), and NBC’s Access
Hollywood (USA). In 2019 Alex appeared on BBC’s
Blue Peter, the worlds longest running children’s
television program.

In 2014 Alex took his one-man show to the Edinburgh

Festival Fringe and three shows to Australia’s Perth
Fringe World Festival in 2016 and 2017 where he was
nominated for the cabaret award. Since 2014 Alex has
toured extensively with the ensemble illusion show
‘Champions of Magic’ completing 6 UK tours including
a run in London. The show has toured North America in
2017 and 2018. Under his pen-name he has written and
contributed to several mentalism books including works
by Jerome Finley and Banachek.

Also by Alexander Marsh

Available from www.alexandermarshmentalism.co.uk

Hybrid Mentalism

Alexander Marsh’s Three Envelope Test (OOP)

Head Wired

Smart Alex (Lecture Notes)

Available from Penguin Magic


Delusion by Alexander Marsh (Instant Download)

Transfer by Alexander Marsh (Instant Download)

[PDF] Published Summer 2019