Popular Mentalism Tricks
Most magicians start out by learning card tricks or magic tricks like those performed by David Blaine or Dynamo on television. However, as their magical journey progresses, many of them will eventually come across a beginner mentalism trick like the “Grey Elephants from Denmark” and be roped into the exciting world of mentalism.
Magicians will often get hooked on the ability to make people believe they have mind reading capabilities or other supernatural powers. They want to harness the powers of analyzing body language, cold reading and other mentalism techniques to become a world famous mind reader or mentalist like Derren Brown.
If you’re one of those eager mentalists, here is a list of some of the most popular mentalism tricks available today:
Glance is an modernized version of a classic mentalism trick known as the “Book Test”. Using the same system as the revolutionary “Mother of All Book Tests”, Glance allows you to easily read minds using an ordinary looking magazine that looks nothing like a magic prop.
Voted as the Trick of the Year by The Magic Cafe, Inferno is a self-contained miracle from world-renowned Magician Joshua Jay. This super easy mentalism trick requires no sleight of hand and allows you to impossibly make a thought-of playing card appear inside a matchbox that your spectator was holding throughout the entire performance.
Created by legendary mentalist Max Maven, B’Wave Deluxe is a mind-reading effect that many magicians and mentalists consider to be one of the best packet tricks ever produced. This prediction trick fits in your pocket and allows you to prove you knew your spectator would choose a particular card in three increasingly amazing ways.
Timeless is an astonishing feat of mentalism that adds a surprising twist to the classic mentalism effect of accurately guessing a thought-of time. In addition to allowing you to read minds, Timeless ends with the hands of the watch completely disappearing—making it seem like you used your mind control powers to erase their memories.
Venom Cube is a powerful mentalism trick that capitalizes on the growing popularity of Rubik’s Cube magic tricks. Despite the fact that there are 43 quintillion possible configurations of a Rubik’s Cube, Venom Cube allows you to perfectly match your Rubik’s Cube on all sides with one that was mixed by a spectator. As an added bonus, you can then visually solve the Rubik’s Cube with just one magical shake.
Six Outs is a mentalism utility device from America’s Got Talent Semi-Finalist Blake Vogt that allows you to have six different predictions written on what seems to be a single piece of paper. This is a super versatile prop for performing mentalism routines that have several possible endings or use a special mentalism technique known as “multiple outs”.
Luke Jermay is a hypnotic performer who is considered by many to be one of the most influential mentalists of the 21st Century. He is the creator of the Marksman Deck (one of the most powerful marked decks of playing cards ever made) and his groundbreaking mentalism material is as close to real mind reading as possible. Watching him perform is like seeing the TV show The Mentalist come to life.
These two beloved video sets contain a massive collection of his original material, as well as his innovative takes on mentalism classics like the Tossed Out Deck, Headline Prediction and Out of this World. We even have a free preview of Jermay’s Mind that you can download right now!
Psypher PRO is considered by many mentalists to be one of the best impression devices ever made. This special utility device can be carried with you anywhere and allows you to secretly pluck thoughts from your audience’s mind such as names, phone numbers, pin codes, playing cards or anything else they can think of.
Spoon bending has been an extremely popular trick among mentalists ever since Uri Geller brought it into the mainstream in the 1970’s. The ability to bend metal with your mind by using psychokinesis or telekinesis is one of the most memorable tricks a mentalist can perform and Liquid Metal—Morgan Strebler’s professional metal-bending routine using a fork—is widely recognized as one of the best methods available.
Blank Night was one of the first tricks to ever fool Penn & Teller on their hit show Penn & Teller: Fool Us. This hilarious take on the classic “Bank Night” mentalism plot allows you to engage your audience in a bar trick-style game where they have a chance to win a $100 bill that is contained in one of the five envelopes you hold. Despite the fact four audience members can freely choose any envelope, you always end up left with the money.
I.D.D. is a baffling mentalism effect that allows you to accurately duplicate an image or shape drawn by a member of your audience. Unlike other drawing duplication routines, I.D.D. uses an innovative method that doesn’t require any forces, peeks or pre-show work.
Powerball 60 is a perfect trick for beginner magicians or mentalists because it is quite possibly the easiest and most straightforward display of mind reading on this list. Using ordinary-looking lottery tickets, you’re able to divine the exact number a person is thinking of.
A memorized deck like Juan Tamariz’s Mnemonica Stack or Simon Aronson’s Aronson Stack is one of the most powerful card magic tools a mentalist can have. While some magicians and mentalists have previously found the memory work to be quite difficult, Memory Arts leverages a clever mnemonic system to help teach you how to improve your memory and easily memorize a deck of cards in less than an hour!
Want to Learn More about Mentalism?
Read our list of essential magic books every mentalist should read or our interesting article on the history of mentalism. We also have a ton of helpful resources filled with free magic tricks and mentalism tricks for beginners.
