How do mentalists guess numbers and people’s PIN numbers?
When you watch a mentalist guess a number or more precisely their PIN it’s very impressive. But how do mentalists guess numbers and people’s PIN numbers? Let’s take a look…
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There are two sides to how mentalists guess numbers. These are either through complete trickery. Or by using body language reading. Tricks to guess numbers include the Swami Gimmick, simple maths tricks or by using other clever mentalism trickery. Whereas to guess someones PIN number, this can be achieve using nonverbal signals.
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How do mentalists guess numbers
There are a number of ways this can happen. But just to confirm mentalists (and psychics for that matter) do not have mental telepathy powers. People cannot actually read minds, so mentalists that guess numbers do it through some form of trickery or nonverbal language recognition.
With the first method of guessing numbers, that is through trickery, there are three basic tricks.
The Swami Gimmick
A typical example of where a mentalist appears to read a persons mind is by using the Swami Gimmick.
The mentalist will ask the person to focus on their phone number. Perhaps to create more drama and to add to the trick, the mentalist may ask their subject to think of the number and to repeat it to themselves over and again.
They will emphasise when they tell them to repeat their number over and again in their mind, to not say it out loud. This gives the impression the mentalist is reading the persons mind.
As their subject is doing this, they will write the phone number on a piece of paper or card.
Then once they’ve written what they think the number is, the mentalist will ask the person to write their phone number on a piece of paper too. This is revealed to the audience. This is the same number as the one the mentalist had written down.
Phone number guessing revealed
So the question is, how did the mentalist read the person’s mind? How did they guess the phone number?
Well they didn’t. When the mentalist was writing the number on their piece of paper, they were only fake writing. The mentalist only pretended to write the number.
However, now the phone number has been revealed, the mentalist quickly writes the number on his paper or card using a Swami pencil. Which is a small piece of plastic attached to their finger, which has a small pencil led in it.
The card is then presented to the person and they are convinced the mentalist read their mind.
This method of writing does take practice to master. It is one of the many tricks contained in the 13 Steps to Mentalism book.
Number tricks
The other type of number guessing trick is to use a trick where the outcome is guaranteed.
This one is a simple maths trick.
Ask someone to think of any number. Then tell them to add the next highest number to that first number (so if they chose 10, tell them to add 11). This would be 21.
Then tell them to add nine. This would be 30.
Then divide by two. This would be 15.
Then subtract the original number. This equals 5.
No matter what their first number was, the final answer will always be 5.
Now just pretend your psychic powers told you they were thinking of five and you’ll astound anyone.
The down side of this trick is that most people will be able to work this out. Plus you can only do it once. As each time the answer is five.
More Reading: Master Mentalism Course review (Includes the features and the Pros & Cons)
How to guess a number by predicting the outcome
This simple, but effective trick is not just about how the mentalist guessed the number, but also about how did they predict the number.
In the video below, the mentalist asks three members of an audience to write down a three digit number on a piece of paper.
They then ask a fourth member of the audience to add these numbers up. They then reveal the total.
After this, the mentalist reveals an envelope which has a number prediction, which was written before the three members of the audience wrote their numbers down. But more importantly, before the fourth audience member revealed the total.
When the number in the envelope is revealed, the audience will be impressed to learn it’s the same. But how is this done.
Watch the video below to reveal how this number prediction trick is achieved.
You’ll agree this very simple trick is extremely effective and will have the audience baffled.
How do mentalists guess pin numbers?
The best way to demonstrate this mentalist trick is to show you a video. In this case the video is of Lior Suchard who reveals Harry Connick secret PIN number.
He does this by watching for the smallest of body language movements. He asks Harry to count from 1 to 10. This is when the first number of his PIN number is revealed to Lior.
This mentalism trick is extremely impressive and takes a lot of practice and skill to master. Master this mentalist skill and you’ll be able to do some great shows.
More Reading: How much is Lior Suchard worth? (Mentalist Lior Suchard net worth)
If you would like to learn how to do amazing mentalist tricks that will make your friend’s jaw drop, look at the Master Mentalism course.
Master Mentalism is an in-depth course that will show you the secrets behind most of the popular mentalist magic tricks there are.
In just a short time after learning from Master Mentalism you will know exactly how mentalists do what they do!
For a ridiculously small investment on your part you will be learning some fantastic mentalism and magic skills. These skills will not only make you the life of a party, but they will set you on your way to become the next famous mentalist!
I hope you enjoyed this article about how do mentalists guess numbers…
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your journey to become a performing mentalist or magician (or both). Please comment below. Please also share your experiences, both good and bad.!
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about mentalism or magic, I will try to answer them (or specifically about how do mentalists guess numbers), please comment below with your questions.
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Have fun and enjoy your journey to become mentalist!
I didn’t understand how he influenced 200 people and guessed PIN numbers
Hi Salas,
It’s very impressive, but not something I can give away as that wouldn’t be right. That’s all part of the intrigue and mystery of mentalism.
PIN: the shows staff probably asked him to fill out some made up form with the PIN way before the show.
Star: usually the audience gets told what to do, either directly or indirectly by giving them a clue of what they should draw – it’s TV.
Hello Dingo, thank you for your comment. That’s one possible answer to how he guesses PIN numbers, but I don’t think this is the way this was done.
Not many people are happy to give away their PIN numbers without good reason. I doubt he did this, would you?
Oftentimes, I’ll just know what a number will be. I can roll dice and when I’m in the zone, I can call out what the dice will land on. I’ve done this 12 times in a row before.
Very clever, perhaps you have a real talent there!
Guessing a dice roll 12 times consecutively is less than a 1 in 2.1 billion chance.
What zone are you in, I’d love to see a video of this in action.
Hi Steve, thank you for your comment – I’m based in the UK, what about yourself? What video are you referring to?
Referring to Matthew Kennedy’s comment above. Guessing a dice roll by being in the zone isn’t mentalism, I’m intrigued to understand how he categorises his skill.
Hi Steve, very sorry I now understand your comment and yes me too – perhaps Matthew may be willing to share a video of this in action!! Thank you once again for the interaction, cheers Russell