Thought-reading Tricks

Source: What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games And Pastimes
Category: THINKING, GUESSING, AND ACTING GAMES



In all thought-reading games it is best that only the two performers
should know the secret. Of these two, one goes out of the room and the
other stays in, after having first arranged on the particular trick
which will be used. Perhaps the company will then be asked to settle
on a trade. Let us say that they decide on a chemist. The other player
is then called in, and his companion puts questions to him in this
way:--"You have to name the trade which we have thought of. Is it a
grocer?" "No." "Is it a draper?" "No." "Is it a goldsmith?" "No." "Is
it a fruiterer?" "No." "Is it a lawyer?" "No." "Is it a chemist?"
"Yes." This will look rather mysterious to some of the company; but
the thing is really simple enough. The questioner merely arranged with
his companion that the trade thought of should follow a profession.

Perhaps on the next occasion the company will be asked to think of an
article in the room. Let us say that they fix on the clock. The
questions will then run something like this:--"You have to name the
article in this room which has been thought of. Is it the piano?"
"No." "Is it the curtain-rod?" "No." "Is it the carpet?" "No." "Is it
the fireplace?" "No." "Is it the sideboard?" "No." "Is it the
armchair?" "No." "Is it the clock?" "Yes." This again is bewildering;
but again the trick is very simple, the questioner having arranged
that the article shall follow something that has four legs.

A third way is for an article to be touched and for the thought-reader
to be asked to name it. "Is it this?" "Is it this?" "Is it this?" is
asked of one thing after another, the answer always being "No." "Is it
that?" "Yes." The secret is that the article touched is always
signified by "Is it that?" But in this case, and in that of the others
already described, the effect of mystification can be increased by
arranging beforehand that the article in question shall not follow the
key phrase immediately, but, say, two questions later.

A fourth way is for the questioner to begin each question in due order
with a letter of the French word for the article touched. Thus, if it
were the bell, he might say, "Come now, was it the table?" "Look,
was it the armchair?" "Or the piano?" "Come now, was it this
book?" "How about this hearth-rug?" "Endeavor to be quick, please.
Was it the clock?" By this time "Cloche" has been spelled, so that the
next question is, "Was it the bell?" "Yes."

In another form of "Thought-reading" the two players who know the
secret remain in the room long enough for the trick to be made sure.
One stands in a corner and the other calls loudly, "Ebenezer, do you
hear?" (Ebenezer is the usual name, but a more attractive one would
do.) Ebenezer says nothing, but listens attentively to hear who among
the company speaks first. The other player repeats the question and
still there is no answer. Soon after that some one will perhaps make a
remark, and then Ebenezer, having got what he was waiting for, says,
"Yes, I hear." "Then leave the room," says the other player, and
Ebenezer goes out. The other player then makes a great show of
choosing some one to touch, but ends by touching the person who spoke
first after the game began. This done, Ebenezer is called in to say
who was touched, and every one is puzzled by his knowledge.

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