I just wanted to share the way I present PhotoPrediction with the included Red Bicycle preset.

I explain to the spectator that I take a picture of a different card everyday. I tell them I am practicing my ability to psychologically influence their mind to think of one card. I explain that my hand gestures and what I say will make them think of one card, the card I took a picture of that day. I ask them to envision a whole deck of cards spread out face down. I ask them what color the backs of the cards are. So far, 100% of the time, they have said red. I then tell them to imagine taking out one card and turning it over. I ask them to name the card and then tell them to look in my photo album. They are amazed! And then I point out that the backs of the cards are red, just like they envisioned. They freak out!

Thanks for sharing Josh.

I like the idea of telling them that you do this every day as a sort of exercise.


Steve

I also like to follow it up with my voicemail prediction effect. I tell the spectator that I had such a strong feeling about that one card that I recorded it on my voicemail greeting.

Can you import photos with this app or must the photos be taken with the phone camera?

MagicMan1957,

Absolutely yes! You can import your own photos and create multiple presets, the app is fully customizable.

Cheers,

Gui

This app is amazing. I have so many ideas. I had to go buy more notebooks. My main presentation angle is that I was walking the the park and noticed something out of place so I snapped a photo. I also like the idea of having the prediction be some detail in the background, instead of the subject of the photo. Here are some of my ideas:

Tarot Cards:

This is the piece I've been performing most with the app. I chose a deck of Tarot cards and took pictures of them in Central Park as if I had noticed them on my morning walk. I tell a story about giving readings "last night" and how the same card was popping up again and again.

"Eventually I had to wonder if the cards had a message for me, not my sitters. Then this morning I was walking through the park and laying on the ground there was a single tarot card... Actually before I tell you what it was, let's see if we can make it happen one more time. Choose any one of these tarot cards that feels special to you. If you don't know the meanings that's okay, just try to get your feelings from the pictures. Aha! I knew the cards were trying to tell me something. The Six of Wands is exactly the card that has been haunting me! You might not believe that, but look, I took a picture... "

If doing regular playing cards I have the card chosen face down, get a glimpse or otherwise learn the identity (I use a Memorized Deck), then tell my story about seeing a card on the ground and show the photo *before* they turn over their card, so that the climax of the trick is not what happened this morning, but what is happening right now. I like this reveal much better, but for the Tarot routine it just felt too 'magic-y'.


Starbuck's Think-a-Drink:

I haven't finished constructing this one yet, but the idea is 120 Starbucks cups with the boxes on the side marked in different permutations. My patter will relate the story in an article I (claim to have) read, about two people who met and fell in love at Starbucks because they ordered the same drink. "The barista put a double tall 1/2 caf soy 1 pump rasberry mocha on the counter and they both reached for it! They knew it was a sign, and just celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. Isn't that lovely?" Then I'll invite a lady in the audience (or perhaps a gentleman if the local laws permit) to mark up an empty cup with me. When we're finished, I'll get excited and claim it's my drink too! For proof, I will show a picture I took that morning when I ran into an old friend on the street. "If you zoom in you can see the side of my coffee cup. It's the same!" Then I'll propose.

Lucky Chess:

I performed this just last night and it went over extremely well. This presentation is pretty specific to me, but I'm sure it could be adapted. I used a system to give a number to 52 chess openings that I thought were most likely to be chosen by my specific circle of chess friends. I took some pieces to the park and photographed them on the chess tables in the different positions.

Here is the script I used:

"I love to walk through the park early in the morning. Morning is the best time to look for signs of magic, and Central Park has a lot of it. Just today I saw something very poetic. A chess game still in the opening stages, but abandoned at the board. Nobody else was around and it looked like the pieces had been set up all night in anticipation and just started to move on their own. Like a Shakespearean version of Toy Story."

(Here I recited a bit from Henry V)
"From camp to camp through the foul womb of night
The hum of either army stilly sounds,
That the fixed sentinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each other's watch:
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires
Sit patiently and inly ruminate
The morning's danger,"

But now the morning had come and the dew was not yet evaporated from their armors but the battle had begun! You guys think I'm being dramatic, but you know I study divination I'm always on the look out for signs, and I tell you this was a special scene. In fact I noticed that same board position come up again in several other games today! I can tell you are skeptical."

I had two of my friends play a few moves each and suddenly stopped them with "That's the position!". Then I busted out my phone and proved it. They were fried. One of them is a huge Derren Brown fan and decided I put subliminal coding in the Shakespeare. LOL.

If you want to use this idea in a more general setting where your audience might not be chess players, or you don't want to make a system of chess openings, get a book of 100 chess puzzles from the book shop. Make sure you get one where the puzzles are numbered and then just let your spectator choose one of them like a book test.

Also, if you don't like the abandoned board premise, you could stage all the photos so it looks like you are taking a picture of something else, and in the background there happen to be some chess players. Coffee shops are just as good as parks for a location, and it's going to be a stretch for your audience to believe that the guys in the back were in on it and just sat there while you took 120 different pictures.

****

Soon I will write up more ideas, but for now I am going to get back to marking coffee cups. Thanks so much Gui, for sharing this exciting tool!

Josh, what do you plan if the spectator says "Blue"? I guess with the 120 preset you could cover both choices, but it doesn't sound like that's what you decided on. I'm intrigued.

I am interested in any other concepts for the customization of this great app!

I find that if part of a trick fails or goes wrong, the part that is right gets a bigger, better reaction. My plan if they say "blue" is to completely ignore that part of the reveal. If they notice, I'll just say that it's harder to psychologically force a color. By presenting it as a test of my abilities, there's no inherent necessity for it to work 100% of the time. Most of the time they see the picture of the card they chose and they react. The back color gets forgotten (unless they did say "red" and then I point it out and they freak out again).

Hi I just downloaded this and thought it was a great idea. I have many other apps for magic on my phone so this is a great addition. My only concern is for some reason the number 120 works in test mode but not in actual use as nothing happens. Why would this be?

Mpicard,

if you choose a number that has no saved photo, nothing happens. You need to create a preset and add your own photos. During the trick, choose one of the positions saved, and everything should work properly. In a preset with numbers, you can add up to 120 photos, but you can add less, if you want, just take care to not choose a wrong number during the trick!

CRshelton,

Awesome ideas!! I'd really like to add some of them in a upcoming update, if you allow me!

Fantastic App
puts all other predictions to shame

Essentially you can have 120 outs, limited by your imagination (words, colors, numbers, coins, cards, symbols etc.)

This app is incredible, I have been playing with it all morning and I love it. I recommend buying it immediately, and shocking your spectators.

Hi Gu,i I love to wave Thís app for my iPad, any future soon?

Suux88 and bob99, thank you so much!

nuno2010, for sure I'll launch a iPad version. But I still have no estimate, I want to give to this project a special care. Stay tunned!

My best,

Gui.

This is a fantastic app - buy it now! The only other one I thought was was truely devoid of suspicion was Angelo Carbone's (from my experience anyway!) but this is better still!

Am desperately trying to think of applications for the 120 outs..! Feels like there should be some mileage in the peg memory system and the associated images...

One query - no matter how long I leave the gap between getting to the home screen and going into the photos, the image seems to appear a millisecond after opening (whilst other photos are already there). No-one has noticed this and it only bothers me....! Any suggestions...?

Once again....brilliant ingenuity!

Hi, Chris!

Thank you!! =)

About the image "appearing": it's normal of the device. To avoid this, you can let the last picture opened in your Photos app. This way, when your spectator open your Camera Roll, he will see this photo opened, not the full list. Just say him: "That is the penultimate photo, slide to the next!".

Thank you again for the words! Don't forget to review PhotoPrediction on the App Store to support the app!

My best,

Gui

Hi Gui,
Thanks for the quick response!
I have been using a slight variation on your suggestion which I have found works even more convincingly for me...
That is, to have the photo app in the camera roll (with all thumb nails visible), but scrolled a little further up through the photos. That way, it gives the app a second for the image to appear, but also subtly sells the message that there are plenty of other photos (but obviously none of which match the prediction!) Hope that makes sense!
All the best,
Chris

It is an excellent idea! Does the trick, and it can be even more convincing!

The only advantage of leaving open the last picture is that the spectator will have a surprise at the time of prediction. See the thumb before opening it can reduce the climax of the moment.

At most, it is a good new idea!

Cheers,

Gui

Jon - a sliding wallpaper is NOT noticeable unless you're looking for it. "A larger action covers a small", so what's noticeable are the icons moving, not the wallpaper. You're simply doing a natural action to open your camera roll, it's not a move, so don't make it one. I wouldn't worry about the wallpaper for real world use.

Also (and this will be self-evident to anyone who has played around with it), if you reposition the app to your home screen, you don't have to start the app, minimize the app, scroll back to your homescreen, and then switch back to the app. If you position it on your homescreen the reminder about switching to it becomes reundant, so I would be in favour of having a toggle to turn it off in the next version.

- Any reason why the card values are laid out top-to-bottom not left-to-right? Not a big deal, just wondered.

If you need a crib you can also reposition your icons so that the first letter of the app on each line cues you into what you need to know ...

Congratulations on a wonderful, workable app.