Spont: Spectator Bingo
/This is another Oliver Meech idea that is related to the one I wrote about last Thursday. He originally wrote me:
Non-tech challenges: do magic versions of existing 'mini quests' that people do. E.g. Like you get printable tick-box charts for a 30/60-day Press Ups challenge (or so I've heard from friends who actually work out!), you could make up something similar magic. Or initial bingo (doing tricks for people whose first names have those initials) - like a broader version of Justin Willman's Magic For Susans. Or location bingo (doing tricks at a range of locations). I like the idea of people helping you to complete your 'bingo card' (or at least a line of it) that's almost full.
I was in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, and I was sitting in the lounge/lobby of the hotel I was staying at, and I struck up a conversation with a woman seated near me. We were talking about how we liked the hotel and our takes on Toronto in general. My take was that it reminded me a lot of New York City, except without the really bad aspects and without the really good aspects. It’s like Mid York City.
After chatting for a couple of minutes she told me her name was Dasha. I told her I liked that name.
“Wait…,” I said, “Uhm, do you mind telling me what your last initial is?”
She told me it was G.
In my bag was a folded piece of paper. I pulled it out and said, “Oh, I need that one… Sorry, this is a little odd, but do you have a couple of minutes to help me with something I’m working on. It’s really easy.”
And from there, I rolled into the trick.
The paper I pulled out looked like this…
Except a bunch of the boxes had Xs through them and signatures in them.
I explained to her that the top row consisted of the most popular first initials and the side column had the most common last name initials.
“I’m part of a group that’s testing something out. It’s kind of a magic trick. But it’s more like a psychology game… like a mind-reading game.”
And I mention how this chart is part of the way that we’re tracking the testing, by testing for people with these initials.
She was interested and agreed to help and I went on to show her a Jerx App trick which crushed her.
When we were done, I X’d the box and asked her to sign her name there.
“How often does that work?” she asked.
“Uhm…,” I counted the Xs on my sheet. “Well, out of the 23 times I’ve done it, it worked that well just this once.”
I put a star in the corner of that box, as if to remind myself of how well it worked. Hopefully letting her feel a little special about this experience, despite the premise being that I’m testing this out a lot.
A few times people have asked what the point is of the chart. Like, they get the idea that I’m testing something out a number of times, but why with the initials?
I have two answers.
The first is that it’s just a way to game-ify the testing process. See who can fill out more of the chart. That sort of thing.
The other is that this is a simplified way to get a good cross-section of people since “certain initials are more common within specific ethnic backgrounds and age groups. So researchers often aim for a wide range of initials to approximate a diverse group of respondents without going deep into demographic data. You wouldn’t do it like this for rigorous scientific research. But for our purposes it works.”
The nice thing about this is that if their initials are on the chart, they feel like they’re helping you complete something. But even if they’re not, or that square is already filled in, you can still use the chart as a way of getting into the effect.
You just bring out the chart to check if their initials are ones you need. Even if not, you still get to explain what you’re doing and set the hook from there and show them the trick regardless.
You can download the chart here.
Fill in a few to begin with, so the chart looks a little “lived in.”
The chart is specifically vague. I don’t have one trick I use this with. I just have it in my bag and know that it’s just one more way I can use to roll into a trick when I feel it would work.