Spent a little time practicing with the assistant over the weekend. She caught on pretty quickly, but we’ll need more time. In one of the run-throughs she missed the mark by one. I think that would be ok if it were me doing this, since a “near miss” can actually lend credibility to the effect. But the way I have this one planned, it won’t be in my hands at all, so it needs to be dead on the mark! (Can’t say more without giving away too much.) Any way – MORE PRACTICE!
Playing around with the mechanism for the Billet Box, I discovered that this can be handled in more than one way. I’m probably going to prototype each of them and see which one best lends itself to the way I want to handle it. The ideal would be to pass the box around the table and let everyone put in their own slips, returning to me after completing the circuit. It would probably work in any case, but it only takes one clown to screw it up. This is where the “hurry” ploy would be beneficial, but that will only work at the end.
Could put in a locking device, but the more complicated it becomes (mechanically speaking) the greater chance of breakdown. Ah, well…
I’ll keep moving in the path I see, without closing my eyes to possible alternatives.
As I spend time thinking about this, a great routine is developing. Using the four colored papers, I have an assistant draw out one slip of each color (remember Annemann?). I do a simple “Carnak” on these: give the answer, then have the assistant read the question. (And having the assistant handle everything removes the “one ahead” idea, for those who know it.)
That handles the top section, now we move to the bottom.
The assistant chooses one of those four papers and mentally draw an image of what information is there (a la Banachek). I draw the picture being thought of, and finish by giving the name. (And out of respect to the man who taught me this, it won’t be a cat!)