Online ESP test-scary!

[Whiplash]

Heh, my husband and I have a "psychic" bar trick based on the same principle, but using pennies instead of Zener cards (used to be matchsticks until everything went non-smoking), and a cocktail napkin and a drink for the cues. It worked every time, and we would get free drinks for being psychic!

And yes, we would do a reveal at the end. After the free drink.

There is a similar one my friend and I would do at parties. Using a deck of cards. I would shuffle the cards a few times until I got something on the bottom of the deck I wanted. A card that had a large number, say 7-9, as there would be 7-9 "diamonds" (or whatever suit) laid out on the card itself in a certain layout. This was the key.

Then I would lay out the cards, on the table, in the same pattern as the bottom card of the deck. My friend is out of the room during all this. I then would ask the person to pick a card, and I would telepathically "send" this card to my friend. He would enter the room, and I would be holding the deck of cards in a manner so that he could see the bottom card, and my thumb would be placed over the specific position / card that was chosen.

Fooled people many times.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Articulett figured it out. Immediately. Bah.

 

[CynicalSkeptic]

Another variation on this, a friend does with his family. You have your victim draw a card, then you call your phone number and ask to talk to "the wizard" Whoever answers immediately starts through the suits "clubs... diamonds... hearts... spades" When you hear your suit, you interrupt and say "I want to talk to the wizard", the person then starts "Ace... two... three..." when he gets to the right card, you interrupt again and say "Wizard please tell this person what card he drew", and you hand the phone over.

 

[JFrankA]

Articulett figured it out. Immediately. Bah.

Here's a funny story about figuring it out:

While visiting my 13-year-old son this weekend, I had to wait for him because he wasn't quite ready. My ex-wife had her laptop up and running, so I showed her the video.

Of course, she got all three tests correct. After the video was over, she kept asking me questions, trying to figure out if she had really used some kind of "psychic power" (which she believes she has), or that I was doing something to make it work. I didn't tell her the secret.

After a while of this, my son comes out of his bedroom. So I did it the test with him. By the time the video was on the third test, he guessed correctly how it works.

 

[Azrael 5]

Here's a funny story about figuring it out:

While visiting my 13-year-old son this weekend, I had to wait for him because he wasn't quite ready. My ex-wife had her laptop up and running, so I showed her the video.

Of course, she got all three tests correct. After the video was over, she kept asking me questions, trying to figure out if she had really used some kind of "psychic power" (which she believes she has), or that I was doing something to make it work. I didn't tell her the secret.

After a while of this, my son comes out of his bedroom. So I did it the test with him. By the time the video was on the third test, he guessed correctly how it works.

Generally participant has to be six feet away, was your son? Easy to figure out if watching closely

 

[JFrankA]

Generally participant has to be six feet away, was your son? Easy to figure out if watching closely

They were both the same distance away.

My son is just smarter, that's all.