Hyper Smith

THE BLURB:
A parapsychological sensation!

Hyper Smith is a very practical and self working mental
effect. It allows you to reveal a word and a symbol randomly
selected by two spectators. No fishing and nothing is
written or forced. With Hyper Smith you can create a
sensation at your parlor or close up show. Very visual and
easy to do.

MY COMMENTS:
An earlier version of this won the Linking Ring magazine's
trophy as the best mental effect published in 1998. This is
truly a stunning effect. If you have Richard Osterlind's
recent No Camera Tricks, you can see him perform a version
of this and what the audience reaction is. And those with
that DVD are now looking it over and probably confused.

You see, this effect is almost exactly Bryn Reynold's Double
Down. This is not to say that this one is a rip-off of the
other or that it's identical. Far from it. The two have
distinct differences. Double-Down uses playing cards and
casino names. Hyper Smith uses symbols and words. And
these words are generic categories so that one can do
readings, if they like. Also, Hyper Smith uses a few more
cards. Other than that, the routine is virtually identical.

And since the routine isn't described, I'll do that right
now. A stack of cards and symbols are shown. One spec cuts
the cards, looks at the bottom symbol or word and remembers
it. The performer then reveals that info. For the second
phase, the remainder of the cards are now handed to a second
spectator. The two are instructed to secretly and silently
count the cards and remember that number. The cards are
then put together and shuffled. The performer now shows and
counts the cards, instructing the first spec to remember the
symbol or word shown at their number. This is then repeated
with second spec. The performer then reveals both of the
looked-at info.

Again, this is a very powerful little piece. I liked Double
Down a lot and I like this one, too. Like Double-Down, it
does require some memorization, but the mnemonics make it
easy to learn. It comes with a nice little plastic envelope
which can be used to carry the cards, a folded sheet of
paper with the instructions on it, and the cards. If you
have Double-Down, then you'll want this because it will
allow you the option to do this routine with words and
symbols, instead of being locked into that casino theme. If
you don't have Double-Down, (I think you know what I'm going
to say) get both!