There’s an old packet card trick I bought from Adam’s Magic Company; it was hanging on a wire tree in the drug store. I was fourteen years old, and a dollar ninety five plus tax (in those days it was three percent) was a lot of money. It was worth it. A small manila coin envelope contained three cards, an Ace, Two, and Three of Diamonds. No matter which card the “victim” chose, I could prove that I knew it ahead of time. I forgot that trick years ago…
The Zener Board began as something I read in an old Annemann manuscript. I need to look this up for exact reference, but at the moment I don’t have it. I spent several days completely immersed in as much literature as I could get my hands on, taking notes of what (I felt) would and wouldn’t fly. As a result I have a stack of papers with scribblings in every corner, and lots of arrows pointing back and forth between similar or complimentary effects.
Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to me at the time to ALSO note the source of the data. Some of it is original to me, but most is a distillation of other’s works.
Annemann’s description was for three symbols to be present on the board, with conditions for two possible outcomes. The third was never handled beyond informing the subject that “Nobody ever chooses that one” and “You’re special. Let’s do something else”.
That kind of incompleteness bothers me; I don’t think it even fits in with what people believe my personality to be, so there had to be a solution for every possibility. I also didn’t like the lack of symmetry (to my eye only) of three symbols, so I added a fourth and divided the board into quarters. This has worked very well, and the size of the board would allow it to work for a much larger audience if that occasion ever arises.
In the first show, I hadn’t yet figured out the fourth solution, but was fairly confident that I had chosen the most likely options. Unfortunately the lady who wound up in the hot-seat was one who I knew to be a devout Christian, and I feared that she might choose the Plus Sign (thinking it symbolized the Cross).
As has been suggested many times, in naming the symbols, I called it a plus sign, hoping that an aversion to Math would translate into an aversion to that symbol. In this case it worked; she chose the Square (normally judged most likely) and I directed her to the prediction.
By the second show, I had covered every possibility!
The second show was interesting as well. This effect got a challenge from an unexpected source: my niece, Hailey! My wife had invited her sister and her daughter to “Come see what Don is doing”, and here they were!
The person doing the choosing had bad eyesight from a botched cataract surgery, but the symbols were easy for her to see. She made her choice, and when I turned the board around so everyone could see the prediction on the back, it was eight year old Hailey who called out “YOU PUT IT ON THE BACK!” It was kind of obvious, so I simply said “Yes?”
She wanted to see the board, so I stepped over to her, and she tugged at the corner of the sheet of typing paper I had taped to the back of the board. It was secured, of course, but it settled something that was a thought when I constructed the board.
I hadn’t actually painted the prediction onto the board (as I did the front), thinking that it would allow me to change outcomes if I ever wanted to in the future. I think now that the paper provides a solution (albeit a wrong one) for inquisitive spectators. By next show, the paper will be gone, and the prediction will be painted in place!
Tomorrow, an early failure!