I thought I would pass this recommendation along for those who are interested in these types of effects. I recently purchased John Carey's "Minimilistica" and "The Carey Files" from Big Blind Media. John's thinking is elegant and direct. I refer to it as "mature" - meaning that it is evolved. I suspect that he probably has not received a lot of attention in the Mentalism community as his interests lie mostly in card magic, and thus the reason why I felt compelled to bring this to your attention.

"The Carey Files" contains a most excellent match-up routine in it's pages titled "Mirror Match." Is it the best of it's type that's been conceived? No. So why then, am I writing about this? Well, there are many reasons - but mostly because it has some very attractive qualities about it that make it well worth knowing. The effect is simply a match up effect using ten cards and sports these features:

1 - ANY ten cards can be used. You can use playing cards, ESP cards....OR...drawings on the back of your business cards.

2 - The cards are 100% ungaffed and unmarked. Yes - unmarked, and you can set this up on the fly. This also means no visits from Uncle Nick.

3 - The participant actually gets to mix up the cards before dealing 5 to each of you. This is the part I REALLY enjoyed and uses an old strategy that is absolutely brilliant and comes from the wonderful mind of Paul Curry.

4 - Despite the fact that the participant can freely place down any card from their hand and their faces are never seen by you, you are able to know which they have chosen and match it accordingly with ease.

5 - Lastly, it is direct and not procedural-heavy and overly fair in appearance.

In addition to this lovely little number, the book is chock full of wonderful thinking and contains a wealth of interesting ideas that many of us who prefer the more "mental" side of things will enjoy. For example, there was an extremely intriguing new idea for the Open Prediction plot which I thought was also rather remarkable...

Please keep in mind, that this is not an advertisement of any sort and that I did not receive these for free. But I sincerely believe that many here in "Penny" will enjoy this effect and actually use it as it is very user-friendly, easy to get into,perfect in appearance, and almost impossible to forget.

For whatever it's worth.

Thanks Sudo. I love ESP match-up effects. I will look into it.

JD

No problem JD.

I almost wish I hadn't posted this now. It always seems that I delight in very small details that are generally overlooked by others who think I am crazy because they don't see what I am seeing. Not trying to insinuate that my 'seeing' is better or anything like that, but...oh bother - I am always trying to explain myself.

I stick by what I wrote. Paint me crazy if ya like - I'm used to it.

Thanks Sudo! Pointers like these are really helpful for someone like me. I (like many others) either overlook these or just hope to read through everything 'someday'. When someone like you recommends it, I can go and at the very least carefully read it. Hopefully, I can return the favor to you and the community someday.

Best Wishes.

Sounds like a pretty slick effect.

I found Thom Peterson's "Just Fate" to be one of the best "matching" ESP card effects for me. It's inexpensive (always a plus) extremely impressive - and comes complete with very cool ESP cards and is a real fooler.

The cards are "special" (with attractive artwork) - but with one slight change to the routine you can perform this with any set of ESP cards. I believe the impromptu version he teaches on his first video uses non-special cards.

As much as I like that routine (Just Fate), I must say I'm intrigued by what you've shared above.

Oscar

Thanks for your thoughts Oscar.

I'm not suggesting that this is the best version out there by any means - it isn't. But for strictly impromptu situations, no extra cards, and no *m####d* cards, it is well worth knowing.

At least, I enjoyed it greatly. Others may feel differently.

I also love the matching effects of ESP symbols.

In this category, I also recommend "Unfazed" by "Ben Blau"

I'm also a fan of "Unfazed."

But this is different in the sense that it is styled more in the classic "I pick one - you pick one" type of test for each pair. You have 5 cards, and I have 5 cards. Not to take away anything from Ben's routine - just pointing out the subtle differences.

Got it!