This is one of those cool mentalism effects that require no preparation other than knowledge of the secret. You can do this anywhere, anytime. It is genuinely 'impromptu'. If you don't want to make it part of your act you should still know this one as it can give you a trusted response to even the most unexpected request to see some magic when you might otherwise be unprepared. Nothing destroys your reputation as a magician faster than having to say no to a request for a trick or two.

Just ask your audience for six coins that you can borrow. They can be any kind of coins at all from anywhere in the world just so long as there are six of them and they clearly have 'heads' side and a 'tails' side.

When you've got the coins - and they can be collected from more than one spectator - pocket them and run! No, just joking. Chink them around in your loose fist for a while so they are thoroughly mixed up and then toss them casually on a tabletop or the ground or any flat surface. If you like, you can have an audience member do this for you. That way it's clear that there has been no 'fiddling' with the coins or their order.

Now you will have a truly random array of coins on the table. Some will have fallen heads up, some tails up.

Turn your back so that you cannot see the coins at all. Ask one of your spectators to choose two of the coins at random and turn them both over. Tell them they can do this as many times as they like. When they are happy and still with your back turned, ask them if they want to do it one more time. They are free to say yes or no.

Now ask the spectator to pick any of the coins at random and place their hand over it so that it is completely covered and can't be seen in any way. Then turn around and ask the spectator to look into your eyes. Say something like. "Okay, we had a random selection of coins, tossed randomly onto the table. The coins were then turned over randomly several times whilst my back was turned and, whilst my back was still turned, you selected one of those coins, again at random and covered it with your hand. So there is no way that I could know whether that coin is heads up or tails up. And you're right, I don't know. But I want you to look into my eyes and in a minute or so you'll do something that will let me know. Because you saw what it was. Now don't tell me, don't move your lips...just keep looking in my eyes..."

Keep their gaze like this for a moment or two as if you are trying to read some subtle movement in their face. If they deliberately make a grimace or something like that, just say "No, that's not it." Then suddenly say, "That's it! Do you know what you did? You just told me that it's tails up. Did you know that?" Then they reveal the coin and it is indeed tails up!

They will be seriously spooked by your ability to read thier thoughts just be looking at their face!

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Method:

Okay, the business about looking into the eyes of the spectator is pure bluff, pure misdirection. It's impossible to tell what someone is thinking by just looking in their eyes! This is how it really works:

When the coins have been tossed onto the table, make sure that you quickly count up how many are heads and how many are tails. Now make a note if it is an even or an odd number of each.

When the coins have been turned over in pairs several times and one has been selected and covered, you turn around and take a quick look at the coins you can see. The rest is maths and the rule is very simple.

Look and see if the number of tails up coins is odd or even. If that has changed from your orignal count, then the hidden coin is tails up. If the situation hasn't changed it is heads up. So if they were odd before and odd now, then the hidden coin is heads. Likewise if they were even before and even now. If they were odd before and even now, or even before and odd now, then it's tails.

The staring into the eyes and pretending to look for the give-away clue is to misdirect the audience from what is really happening (ie nothing!) and also give them time to forget what just happened with the coins. Play it out as long as you can but don't lose the momentum of the trick. This, done well, can be very powerful and will have everyone thinking that you are the new Derren Brown!

Here's what you can do next:

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