Forcing Techniques Every Mentalist Must Know

Forces are the skeleton key of mentalism. Master them, and every prediction, every mind-reading effect, every impossible revelation becomes achievable. Ignore them, and you'll always be limited to effects that work with genuinely free choices – which is a much smaller world.

What Is a Force?

A force is any technique that makes someone think they made a free choice when really you controlled the outcome. Done well, forces are undetectable. Done badly, they're embarrassing. Done excellently, they're the reason people believe mentalists have real powers.

Categories of Forces

Physical Forces

The classic magician's force: you control which card they take, which envelope they choose, which book they stop at. These rely on sleight of hand or clever prop design. They're reliable but require physical manipulation.

Psychological Forces

No touching required. Through framing, suggestion, and exploiting cognitive patterns, you guide their "free" thought to your target. These are what separate mentalists from magicians.

Mathematical/Procedural Forces

A process that looks free but arrives at a predetermined outcome. Think PATEO, equivoque, and various number forces. The procedure itself does the work.

Essential Psychological Forces

The 37 Force

Ask someone for a two-digit number between 1 and 50, both digits odd and different from each other. The majority say 37. It's not 100%, but it hits often enough to be useful when combined with outs.

Colour/Shape Forces

"Think of a colour... now a shape... now put the shape inside a coloured background." Most people think of a red circle or blue triangle. Again, not certain, but statistically weighted in your favour.

The Classic Word Force

"Think of a word... any word... make it short, something simple..." With the right framing, "love" and "happy" dominate. The specifics vary by culture and context, which is why understanding your audience matters.

Equivoque (The Magician's Choice)

This deserves its own section because it's criminally underused by beginning mentalists.

With equivoque, you offer genuine choices, but your response to each choice leads to the same outcome. They pick the left envelope? "Great, we'll use that one." They pick the right envelope? "Great, we'll eliminate that one."

Sounds transparent. Isn't. When done conversationally – without the rigid "pick one" framing – it's invisible. The key is making each outcome sound like it was always the plan.

Equivoque is the force behind countless billet routines and dual reality effects.

Multiple Outs vs Pure Forces

Some mentalists prefer pure forces – one target, high confidence. Others prefer multiple outs – several possible targets, covered by different reveals depending on what they actually chose.

Multiple outs require more preparation but handle misses gracefully. Pure forces are cleaner but riskier. Most working pros use both, situation depending.

Practice Protocol

Here's how to actually get good at forces:

1. Learn the mechanics – Understand how each force works in theory
2. Test on strangers – Friends are too easy, they want you to succeed
3. Track hit rates – Know your actual percentages, not your hopeful ones
4. Build outs – For every force, have a backup plan when it misses
5. Integrate into routines – Forces in isolation are practice; forces in context are performance

The Bigger Picture

Forces are means, not ends. Nobody applauds a force – they applaud the revelation it enabled. Spend equal time on your presentation and routine construction as you do on force mechanics.

And remember: the best force is the one they never suspect happened. If it looks free, it's free – regardless of what actually occurred.