A Revelation Pro-Tip
/I received an email last week from a guy who used to help with the testing we were doing in the late 2010s. He reminded me of something we learned back then that you may find useful.
When we spread a deck for people and had them select a card, and then revealed that card on the back of the magician's shirt, almost everyone—when asked to explain how it might have been done—said the card was forced. (Not everyone used that word, but they expressed a similar idea, saying something like, "You made me pick that card.")
When we did a selection procedure that happened in the spectator's hands, we eliminated the "force”/”you made me pick it" explanation by about half. That's real progress.
But when we used a selection procedure that forced more than one card, the "force" explanation was almost fully eliminated. (Under 10%, from what I remember.)
Why?
My theory is this: for the non-magician, the idea of "forcing" a card is something you do mechanically during the selection of one card. That's their concept of forcing.
When they do a procedure that produces 2–5 cards, I don't think that jibes with their understanding of what a force is.
If I show you a card on the back of my shirt and it's the card you chose, the easy answer is that I made you pick that card.
But if I show you the back of my shirt and it has a poker hand on it, and it matches the five cards you just cut to, then "he made me pick those cards" is a much less easy answer. It's sort of its own impossibility.
Think of something like the Creepy Kid Card Revelation. If it was just a drawing of one card, then it's easy to wave off as, "He made me pick that card somehow." But when it's a string of four cards, the force explanation feels much less satisfying.
So that's the tip. When you have a revelation you like, ask yourself: Can I make it a reveal of multiple cards? If so, it's going to be much less easily dismissible.
(As for the type of procedure I'm talking about, think: "Gemini Twins," "Directed Verdict," "Shuffling Lesson," "Shuffle-Bored," etc.)