Closed Circle - Method

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Okay, let’s solve the mystery.

The part that I left out in yesterday’s description is that when you write down the prediction, you don’t do it on a piece of paper—because who carries around paper and pen with them all the time?

So you write it on your phone.

Actually, this trick uses the Jerx App. Specifically the Draw Cycle feature of the app.

Draw Cycle is a way to do an index of outs. The phone cycles through the outs and whenever you move the phone in some semi-significant way, the out that’s on the screen freezes.

With one killer and three victims, there are 24 possibilities you need to account for.

“So what am I supposed to do? Just stare at my phone and wait for the out I need to come up?”

Not quite. It’s actually slightly more clever than that.

The characters in the play are the robot, the billionaire, the chef, and the duchess. Let’s call the robot an “automaton.”

Automaton, Billionaire, Chef, Duchess.

A, B, C, D.

A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4

As the characters are killed you will keep track of the order in which they die. And that will give you a three-digit number. So, in yesterday’s example, they died: Duchess, Automaton, Billionaire. So the number we remember is 412.

At the top of each prediction in the Draw Cycle app, there will be a “speed” for the NW wind. You don’t need to read the entire prediction to know which one you need. You just look for the speed that corresponds to the number you remembered. Because I remembered 412, I was looking for 41.2.

The numbers go in order, so if I look at my phone and see a number that begins with 1 (and I’m thinking of 412) then I know I can take my eyes off the phone for a little bit as I have some time to kill. But if it’s a number that starts with a 3, then I know my number is coming up soon and I shouldn’t let my attention stray too much. As soon as the number appears, I just have to slide the mug out of the way and the prediction freezes in place.

Writing the predictions.

You’re going to have to do this yourself. It will take you about half an hour. I considered having them pre-populated, but really it should be in something close to your handwriting (at least your handwriting as written on a phone).

You’ll probably want to get a stylus that works with the iphone, as you’re going to be doing a bit of writing.

Here are the numbers you need to account for.

  • 123

  • 124

  • 132

  • 134

  • 142

  • 143

  • 213

  • 214

  • 231

  • 234

  • 241

  • 243

  • 312

  • 314

  • 321

  • 324

  • 341

  • 342

  • 412

  • 413

  • 421

  • 423

  • 431

  • 432

Bring up the blank page for the first out in the Draw Cycle feature. Your first number is 1,2,3. That tells us the order of who was killed. The number that’s missing (4) tells us who the killer was.

So first you write down the windspeed note - NW → 12.3

Then you write “Almonds” or some other random “clue”

Then you write the killer. The killer, as I said, is whoever is associated with the missing number. In this case, you’d write: “Killer is Duchess!”

Then you’d write the order the people were killed in. This is just the order of the numbers in your wind speed. 123 = “Killed Robot then Billionaire then Chef.”

Remember the Robot is the same as the Automaton

Then you will add a new prediction and write out the prediction for the next number on the list. (NW → 12.4 - Almonds - Chef is the killer! Killed Robot, then Billionaire, then Duchess.)

You will continue this until you have all 24 outs.

“Writing” the Prediction

When it comes time to apparently write your prediction on the phone, you will just appear to write it with your finger. Keep the phone tilted toward you and take some time to write it. The “cycling” of the outs doesn’t start until you touch the screen, so don’t touch the screen until the phone is placed in the position where it will rest during the performance.

You might say, “If you were really going to do this, wouldn’t you just type the note rather than write it with your finger?” I don’t think you need to worry about that. First of all, taking notes on the digital equivalent of a small pad is more in line with the “detective” archetype than typing in the notes on your phone. And secondly, a scribbled prediction is more unique and less susceptible to be messed with (from the spectator’s perspective) than a typed out note.

To make the hand-scribbled note even more “necessary” you could draw a little sketch of some “clue” in the corner of each note.

The only thing that might come off as somewhat suspicious about writing the note on your phone is if there’s actually a pen and paper near at hand. So I just don’t perform this when there is.

Settings and Timing

In the Draw Cycle settings, turn off the Image Change Haptic, and turn off the Confirm Haptic. Because the phone isn’t going to be in your hand, you don’t want these on.

Change the Delay (the time between outs) to whatever you’re comfortable with. Mine is set at 1.5 seconds. But you can go up to 2.

Go with 2 seconds if you’re nervous about it.

Here’s one of the great things about this presentation. You will know which number/out you need the moment you know the third person who was killed (and you’ll be building up the number in your head until that point).

Now, even if you learned the number you needed, and when you look at your phone you realize you just passed it, the most you will have to kill time for is 48 seconds.

That may seem like a lot of time. And it would be for other presentations.

But what happens at the end of a detective story?

That’s right. The detective rambles on about what just happened and how he solved the case. The bullshitting time is baked into the presentation.

I place the phone in a mug or leaned up against something in front of me after I “write” my notes. I want to be able to gaze out as if I’m thinking and staring forward and be able to see the numbers as they pass by, without it looking like I’m staring intently at my phone.

When the number hits, I move the phone or the mug aside as I talk and put it somewhere near the “killer.” What I usually do is pause when I see my number coming up. I stare out as if I’m thinking and processing what just happened, while I’m actually noting the numbers pass. And when the number I need appears, I slide the phone to the person and say, “I’m going to have you read what I wrote in just a second.” And then I go back to recapping what just happened.

When I do this trick, I can easily filibuster long enough to go through two complete cycles at the slowest speed. Although I’ve never had to. But I pretty much always talk much longer than I actually need to.

Anytime, Anywhere

Once you have this set up on your phone, you’re ready to do it at any time in any situation, as long as you have four people who can play the characters.

If you have more than four people, then choose the four most outgoing people to act in this little play and encourage the other people to see if they can identify the murderer when you do (before the murder happens).

I love having such a big, extended effect on me that requires nothing on hand. Since the killer is chosen genuinely randomly, any method you want to use can be used to determine who the killer is. They can draw straws, decide between themselves, or one of the other people watching can choose.

I knew I wanted to do a trick where I talk about being a detective who figures out a crime before it occurred. When I thought about using the Jerx App’s Draw Cycle feature as the method I was pretty happy. But I wasn’t looking forward to writing new predictions for each group I performed it for.

It was a very satisfying stroke of inspiration when I realized that if I had them playing characters, I could write specific seeming predictions that were actually generic. I could name who exactly killed who, but without using real names. This made the trick 1000 times more practical, as you can now get into it with no notice at all. And it adds a whole element of fun to the proceedings as you have the people playing these different characters.

You obviously don’t have to use the same characters and qualities that I use. But you’ll want characters who are easy to act out, and easy for you to associate with the numbers 1-4.

Weapon

I’ve considered adding in a force of a weapon so the prediction can list the murder weapon used as well, but without the need for any more outs.

I decided against it for the time being because I don’t want to add another app to the equation or other props in order to force a weapon. But it’s something I may consider in the future.

There you go. It’s a great little trick and one of the stronger ones I do that requires me to have nothing extra on me. It gets everyone involved in a fun way and the revelation gets a great reaction. It’s sort of got the feel of a “chair test” but one that can be done casually and close-up.