Cardboard

creations
Toby Hudson

Copyright 2015 by Toby Hudson

All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form without
written permission from the author.
For further information, please contact me
at: cardtrick212@gmail.com

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

PLAYING CARDS
Out of Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Vanishing Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The Choice is Yours . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Radish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Buried Treasure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A Simple ACAAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BILLETS
ThinkTank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lunch at Gerris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Memory Lane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Think Ink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2

A Simple Peek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction
Ill begin by saying that Im not very good
at introductions, so Ill try to keep this
brief. What youve just invested in is a
small book of some of my favourite ideas
and effects from performing magic and
mentalism for over 5 years now.
As Im mainly a close up kinda guy, all
the effects within these pages use playing
cards and billets, items that are readily
available. I know there are already
hundreds of effects of this nature
available already, but I hope Ive explored
some new ideas and concepts.
I hope you enjoy these pieces and take
the time to practise and perfect them as I
have and experience the wonder that
mentalism can have on people.
Id like to thank everyone at the Magic
Lounge in Sheffield for taking me in 3
years ago and exposing me to the world
of magic. Steve Brownlee, Roger Curzon,
Russell Hall, Brandon Ellis, the list could
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go on and on and I couldnt have come

up with any of this stuff without them.
Thanks guys, it really means a lot.
Id also like to thank my mum, dad and
sister for enduring all the tricks Ive shown
you over the years (even the crappy ones)
and pushing me to always do what I love.
Best wishes,
Toby Hudson x
April 2015

Routines

Out of focus
Effect
The spectator is shown a card and asked
to commit it to memory. He then closes
his eyes and the Mentalist proceeds to
replace the card with a mystic black haze,
wiping away any memory of the card!

Presentation
Someone is asked to come up on stage
and assist the Mentalist. His name is
Roger. He is asked to close his eyes.

You know how it is when you go into

a room and completely forget what
you were going in for. Its natural, us
as human beings have a way of
filtering out information that isnt
vitally important to us so we can
concentrate more on other things.
However, some people who have
experienced amnesia claim that they
see sort of a black haze and they
cant remember anything because of
7

it. A weird concept, I know, but I

want to try something with just that
idea.
A deck of cards is removed and a card
chosen at random. The card is shown
around. (e.g. 7 ) Richardson is then
asked to open his eyes and lock the card
in his mind. The card is placed in full view
and the subject is asked to close their
eyes again.

Ok, so what I want you to do is keep

the card you saw locked in your
mind. Imagine all the intricacies on
it, see it all clearly in your mind.
Now, imagine a black haze starts to
cover the card. You try and look
around it but you cant. It keeps
covering the thought until it has
completely gone. As you look at the
black cloud, its get closer and
closer to you until
The Mentalist taps the subject on his
forehead. He awakes with a start. He is
asked what he remembers seeing. All
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Richardson says is that he can remember

a black mist and he claims he has no
recollection of the card. Mysterious

Credits
This effect is based on a routine of Patrick
Redford called The Forgotten. It really is
an excellent routine and I recommend you
track down his DVD Glemme for some
good presentational ideas and great
thoughts on amnesia effect in general.
I think that the basic handling at work here
can also be credited to the effect R.G.M
from Luke Jermays booklet 7 Deceptions.
Another highly recommended product.

Concept
In its most basic form, what youre doing
is showing the spectator a completely
black card and making it appear as
though the black is just in their mind. Its a
bold idea, but used with a lot of hidden
subtleties, can really appear like amnesia.
Id also like to add that this routine will still
work if for some strange reason, the
volunteers name doesnt happen to be
Roger.
What you need to do is make up a playing
card with a regular back and a completely
black face. You could print one up on a
computer, or do what I do which is take a
blank card and a sharpie and get to work.
This has the added bonus of looking quite
rough, and cements the idea of it being a
cloud.
Set up by placing the 7 followed by the
black card on top of the deck face down. I
always use the seven because it allows
you to supposedly make them remember
the card again afterwards if you so desire
10

it. I dont always use this last phase as I

dont always think its needed, but if you
want to use it, go ahead.

Performance
Begin by getting someone up on stage
and talk about the cloud that people with
amnesia suffer from. If you really want to
go all Derren Brown on them, talk really
fast and tap his shoulder every so often. If
any mentalists are in the audience, this
may throw them off the method and
believe you really are using suggestion.
Another nice thing about this is that the
cloud you mention actually exists, so if
they were to go home later and Google it,
(which they wont) they would find that
many amnesia sufferers do claim that a
mysterious black haze blocks off their
memories.
Anyway, have them close their eyes. Now,
for the first time, bring out the deck. Its
very important NOT to say well use a
deck of cards for this effect. To the
audience, it will be clear youre using
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playing cards, but if the helper knows,

they might get confused as to why they
didnt see a card.
Just say something like well use these
for the experiment and remove the cards.
Pick up a double and hold it quite close to
the spectators face. Tell him to open your

eyes and commit whatever you see to

memory. Holding the cards near his face
is nice because when he thinks back, he
might just remember the blackness and
nothing round the edges.
If you are afraid they may speak out that
theyve seen something unusual, just add
in the line at the start I dont want you to

talk now until the end of the trick to let the

full amnesia take effect. However I find
its not always needed. The next part is
just presentation and how convincing you
can be supposedly inducing hypnotic
suggestion.
Place the double on the deck, take off the
top card singly and show it around. Talk
about the cloud covering the card (Note:
12

At this point, you can refer to it as a card)

and as you do, let your voice get louder
and louder. Then, pause a beat and tap
the participant on the head.
Dont hit him TOO hard, just maybe a little
more forcefully than normal. Usually at this
point, his eyes will snap open and hell
look somewhat confused. This is perfect.
Quickly ask him use one word to sum up
what you saw. He will either say black or
better yet nothing. Ask him what he
remembers seeing.
What you want to do here is twist
whatever he says slightly to make it
appear as though the black was only in
his mind. For example, if he says the card
was completely covered in black you
could say so it was covering your view,

almost as if you cant remember the card

at all? As you do, nod your head and he
will nod too, making it appear as though
thats what he saw.
The clincher is when you pick up the card
from the table and say so you dont
13

remember seeing the 7 at all? He will

invariably say no so congratulate him
and send him to his seat. If he looks
worried make sure to tell him that the
amnesia wont affect him anymore and
that he has no worry of forgetting anything
again. (Note: If you want to continue with
the second phase, dont show him the
card.

Phase 2
If you want to, you can bring the card
back. Have him close his eyes again and
imagine the cloud lifting. Have him call out
what colour he thinks the card is. He will
say red 9/10 times, but if he says black
use the line no, I think thats the BLACK
cloud blocking your view again. He will
then, of course have to switch to red.
Hearts is the most commonly chosen suit.
Whichever suit he says, dont say
anything. Then have him call out a value
from 1 10. Psychologically, 7 is the most
common response. If he says a number
considerably lower, just ask him to try
14

again. 3/4 of the time youll get the card

bang on, whereas other times youll
maybe get the suit wrong, or off by one or
two.
Whatever he ends up with, congratulate
him and say something about as its your
first time, you cant be expected to get it
bang on. Show him the card and send
him back to his seat.

Alternative
This is quite a bold and cheeky way to
have him remember the card again. As
soon as youve tapped him and hes
opened his eyes, start talking about the
cloud. Then say so you dont remember
seeing this card? Here, all youre doing is
showing him the card. He will say no.
Place it back down and have him close his
eyes again.
Spend a minute or so talking about the
cloud lifting to allow some time
misdirection to unfold. Then say to him

thinking back now, what card did you

see? Of course now he will say 7 and
15

you can send him off to his seat. You

showing him the card briefly flies past the
audience and they wont remember it,
even if they watch the effect multiple
times.

Final Thoughts
I really like this effect, and it really plays
well with audiences big and small. I
always have the black card in my pocket
so that I can whip it out whenever I want
to do this effect. It also leads nicely into
any other psychological effects that you
may do in your repertoire.
You can also frame this effect as
forgetting an important piece of
information. You can have a business
card which has the black face. The
spectator closes their eyes, and you write
something like their name on another
business card. You can show it around
and then switch for the black card and
show it to the spectator. Then, you can
frame it as them forgetting their name or
any personal information. I havent really
16

tested this idea fully, but hopefully you

can see the possibilities this idea could
have if developed.

17

Thinktank
Effect
Three spectators each think of a different
thought and write it down. Somehow, the
Mentalist manages to divine all three,
before showing that he knew way in
advance what each of them would pick.

Presentation
Three mini slips of paper are shown, with
a number 1, 2 or 3 written on each. They
are mixed and three spectators (Brandon,
Nathan and Gaz) take a card each and
remember their number. The slips are then
torn up.

Ok, so right now each of you is

thinking of a number. If you thought
of number 1, think of a simple
geometric shape like a square or
circle, nothing too complex like a
star. If you thought of number 2,
think of any playing card for me, but
not an ace as theyre too easy.
18

Finally, if you thought of number 3,

think of any two digit number from 1
to 50 for me. Please, no decimals or
recurring fractions.
Each spectator writes their thought down
on a billet. These are unmarked and
completely normal. The Mentalist is blind
folded and is handed the billets.
He proceeds to correctly divine all three
thoughts perfectly, (e.g. 19, triangle and
Q ) before giving a short but extremely
specific character reading on all three
participants.

However, I have to admit something

to you. I had a feeling as to what
your thoughts were going to be a
week ago. I gave you (indicates
spectator 1) a deck of cards 2 weeks
ago, and I asked you to bring it
along with you tonight. Could you
please get it out?
The spectator takes out the deck, and with
shaking fingers, removes the card from
the box. He is asked to count down to the
19

19th card. It is turned over. Sure enough,

its the Q , and scrawled across the face
of it, is the word TRIANGLE in big black
lettering. The Mentalist never handles the
deck, and it is completely ungimmicked.

Credits
If you havent already guessed it, this
effect makes use of the brilliant Hoy
Principle by David Hoy. Some noteworthy
effects using this idea are Daves Pin from
Michael Murrays book A Piece of My Mind
and Luke Jermays Touching on Hoy from
Coral Fang.

20

Concept
The basic idea at work here is the famous
Hoy Principle by David Hoy. What this
means is that all three participants are
actually thinking of the same thought
without realising it.
To set up, take a deck of cards and write
the word triangle across any card. Lets
say the 2 . Then place this at position 36
in the deck. It doesnt matter what card
and what number you use, as long as you
know them. You can then put the deck
away and send it to a participant of the
effect weeks in advance.
You will also need a small stack of
business cards that are blank on one side.
Draw a medium sized rectangle in the
middle of each card. In one, write the
number, in this case 36, and in the other,
write the card, in this case the 2 .
Place these two cards on the bottom of
the business card stack face down in any
order. You will also need five mini slips of
paper. On three of these, draw a big
21

number 1 on it, and then write 2 and 3 on

the other two. Make sure the ink doesnt
bleed through. Youre now ready to
perform the effect.
When ready to perform, place two of the
slips that have a 1 on them on your lap so
you can access them easily.

Performance
If you saw the presentation at the start,
its should be clear that I dont really have
a set presentation for this effect.
Sometimes Ill talk about premonitions and
act serious about it, or sometimes Ill
present it as a exposing the psychics
routine and do it quite tongue in cheek.
Its up to you really.
To begin, introduce the effect and say
that youll need three random thoughts.
Show the three slips of paper freely and
have them examined. As this is
happening, get the two slips in your lap,
ready to be palmed. Youll now perform a
simple switch to swap numbers 2 and 3
for the ones on your lap.
22

Switch
Take the slips back so that number 1 is on
top. Hold them face down and get a break
under the top slip. Youre going to let the
two below it to slip onto your lap as you
place the two palmed on top.
Bring your hands together and as you do,
briefly dip your hands below the table and
drop the two slips below the break onto
your thighs. Bring your hands back up as
they meet and drop the two palmed slips
onto the other hand.
Grab all three with your right hand and
spread them on the table. To the naked
eye, it should appear as though you just
transferred the slips from one hand to the
other and spread them on the table. Little
do they know the slips now all have 1
written on them. What fools they are.

Performance
Spread them out on the table and have
the spectators take one at random and
remember the number. Make sure to tell
23

them not to show anyone else what

number they got. This will ensure no one
will see that all are the same. Take the
slips back and dispose of them.
Now follow the presentation written at the
beginning. If you word is as shown, then
all three of the participants should be
thinking of triangle. Each of them also
thinks that the other two are thinking of a
card or a number.
Take three business cards (careful not to
disturb your stack) and draw boxes in the
middle identical to the ones drawn earlier.
Hand one to each participant and have
them write down their thoughts in the
boxes. Again, caution them not to let
anyone else see what they write.
Blindfold yourself and take the three cards
face down. Mix them up and hover your
hand over them one at a time to pick up
the auras the cards are leaving.
You can now proceed to supposedly
receive the thought one at a time. Im

getting a shape coming through here,

24

quite pointy, a triangle maybe? Dont react

anyone, dont give anything away. Next,
the number. This is quite central, like 36?
And finally the card. Oh thats easy, the 3
.no 2 of hearts!
Remove your blindfold and say quick yes
or no, did I get yours? Ask them one at a
time in quick succession and they will all
say yes. Pick up the three cards and set
them on top of the stack casually. Relax a
little here and soak up the applause.
Pick up the business card stack and
transfer the top card to the bottom and
turn over the whole packet. Deal the three
face cards onto the table. This is
discrepant but will fly past the audience.
Even though youve just switched out two
cards, everything should appear normal.
Each spectator will see their thought and
what they presume are the other two
peoples thoughts.
Youre now going to do a quick
handwriting analysis and cold reading
(Note: see the end for an alternative for
25

this) Ill just explain this briefly as it should

be pretty obvious. Begin by saying ok,

the way youve all written and drawn your

answer is very interesting to me. Well try
this with the triangle drawer first. Dont
say who you are, as this might give me a
clue, but what Im getting from you is
Give a brief reading with the usual
Barnum statements. When youre done,
move straight onto the second person
who wrote the number. As this is no one,
you can be as specific as you want as no
one can verify it. The same with the last
person.
Now ask each of them what percentage

of the information that I just gave would

mean something to you? As all three got
the reading with Barnum statements in,
their answer will differ, one maybe saying
Because youll get different percentages,
this cements the idea that all the readings
applied to only one person each.
Finally, all you need to do now is say that
you knew what they were going to pick
26

and go into the final reveal with the deck

of cards. Make sure you NEVER go near
the cards so that any watching mentalists
dont accuse you of switches.

Alternative
Here is an alternative to the second
phase, the cold reading bit. After youve
revealed all three thoughts, all the face
down cards still say triangle so you can
have them mixed as much as possible, yet
you can identify which card belongs to
which person, as they will always get a
card with their thought written on it!

Final Thoughts
I know this might read a bit dull on paper,
but as long as you keep them captivated
and involved, theres no reason for them
to be. People love themselves, so as long
as you keep it centred on their thoughts
and ideas, theyll be hooked!
After showing this effect to a friend of
mine, they said that they liked it but they
thought that revealing that you knew what
27

they would think in advance kind of ruined

the mind reading phase, as it was now
clear that you werent reading their
thoughts.
This is a good point, but I think that as
long as you focus more on the cold
reading aspect and less on the mind
reading. This shouldnt really pose an
issue, Make it look as though the mind
reading was just a casual extra to the
main event (the readings.) But if you just
want to reveal the three thoughts with no
deck ending, you can.
Finally. Im sure some pessimists out there
will be thinking what if a participant
doesnt pick the triangle? What if is all
goes horribly wrong? The simple answer
is that if youve built up good rapport with
your spectators beforehand, then they
wont try and trick you and they will go for
the triangle. Plus, what other shapes can
they choose? Theres really nothing to
worry about!

28

Vanishing point
Effect
A deck of cards is borrowed and shuffled
in an extremely fair manner by the
participant. They then merely peek at a
card, yet the Mentalist can nail it every
time!

Presentation
The Mentalist asks for a participant to help
him with his next cardboard creation. A
deck of cards is borrowed from him (lets
call him Steve) and the cards split into
four random piles.

Ok, so you look like a smart guy.

You probably know all the tricks
using key cards and secret helpers
and that sort of crap. So what Ive
done is split the deck into four piles.
Pick em up on at a time and shuffle
to your hearts contents.

29

The helper does just this. He shuffles the

packets on at a time. The packets are
then gathered and squared.

Right, so Im going to turn my back

and what I want you to do is lift up a
section of cards anywhere, peek at
the card, then slap the deck back
together and thoroughly shuffle. You
done? Good.
The Mentalist should have no inkling as to
what the card is. He stares into Steves
eyes.

Im getting a

30