Fate, Free Will And Influence: Chair Test by Steve Pellegrino

A prediction is held by an audience member. Four spectators are randomly selected to come up on stage and chose any chair to sit on. Six envelopes are shown and it's explained that each envelope contains either a black card or a white card - there are three of each.

One at a time the spectators choose which envelope they want. Now the spectators are given the choice of changing chairs and changing envelopes. It's their decision.

There are two envelopes left on the table. These are opened to reveal two black cards.

The first spectator's envelope is opened and they have a white card.
The second spectator is shown to also have a white card.
The third spectator has a black card.
The fourth spectator has the last white card.

You point out that this could have worked out in any number of ways. The spectator who has had the prediction from the beginning reads it and of course it matches what has just happened on stage.

But you take it one step further. Pointing out that they could have sat anywhere, and have exchanged envelopes in a random manner, you ask if it was fate, free will or influence that the decisions they made have brought them to this moment. The spectators stand up and on the back of the chairs are large cards which match the color order of the cards that were in the envelopes.

• This routine has two very strong applause moments.
• The spectators make all the decisions with the envelopes.
• There is no dual reality, switches, wallets that come into play.

There are ideas throughout the manuscript to show you how to customize the routine to fit your style. Everything can be assembled in under an hour for about $20 and one trip to the office supply store.

A Bonus is also included - The Kurotsuke Pass Over

Max Maven's routine Kurotsuke is a classic mentalism routine. Steve has added another layer of deception to the selection process of the stones which he felt was missing in the original version. Please note this is not the full routine, but a bonus for those who are already doing it and want to make the selection of the stones more deceptive.

1st edition 2014, 27 pages.
word count: 5584 which is equivalent to 22 standard pages of text