Jack Yates is renowned as a creative innovator as evidenced by his many contributions to magical literature. This work contains nine first-class routines with a mental flavour including Clue which is worth its weight in gold and the P&S System.
Contents
Monty: Three spectators choose one card each and then exchange them so that no one has his original selection. Despite this you are able to tell each spectator the identity of the card he now holds.
Spy Story: A spectator's selected card is revealed when the performer magically decodes a secret message.
Choice: A spectator chooses one of twelve objects. You don't see him do this but you are always able to tell him which object he chose. This can be immediately repeated with a second spectator and a different object.
I Yates: The performer gives the spectator an I Ching reading and manages to predict whatever the fates have in store for her.
Winston: A spectator is handed a small envelope which he places in his pocket. From a shuffled deck a card is freely selected. The envelope is opened and inside is a duplicate of the spectator's selected card.
P & S System: A system for simulated mindreading.
Magi: A self-working effect with four cards bearing the letters M, A, G, I.
Revelation ESP: Five spectators are asked to merely think of an ESP symbol. Without looking at the faces of any of the cards the performer is able to identify each mentally chosen symbol in a very convincing manner.
Clue: The professor has invited six guests to a dinner party. They are a strange group of people. Three of the guests have histories of brain damage which prevents them being able to answer any questions honestly. In other words they cannot help but lie. The remaining three have just the opposite affliction; when questioned they cannot help but tell the truth no matter how unpleasant the consequences for themselves. It was during the dinner party that the lights suddenly failed and in the darkness the professor was fatally stabbed. The lights come on again and the horrified guests discover the professor's body, his head face down in the mashed potatoes. In no time at all the world's greatest detective is on the scene. He discovers the strange malady that affects the guest but who is who? The detective, whose name I omitted, is yourself and with the aid of six spectators you reconstruct the case and uncover the murderer.
Last Words
1st edition 1986, 57 pages. word count: 12976 which is equivalent to 51 standard pages of text