| I've seen this routine elsewhere, and have used it myself, but I have to say I like your version better. The version I've used was the same up until Denmark, then, in my version, you would have them take the second letter of the country and name an animal. Most people would come up with "Elephant". To finish it out, as I was leading them down this path, I would be drawing an elephant on a notecard with the word "Denmark" underneath, and in the reveal, I would say, "That's silly...there are no elephants in Denmark" as I turned around the card to show what I'd drawn. Your way is much better, though.
I've had medium to low success on that version working, however, primarily because girls get bored with the process of doing the math, thinking of a country, etc. It's really important to get them hooked and dedicated to finishing the game, or they'll just say they're confused and give up.
This is how I opened a 3-set (two 7's and a 9/ 9 was the target) last night with this:
I was with a buddy at a party, and he is not into gaming, but we both spotted the set at the same time, and wanting to impress him with what I've learned from you guys, I told him to come with me and just play along. We started walking past the set, and I said, loud enough for the set to hear,
Me: I'm telling you, man...the shit works! (At that point, I turned to the set, and asked for their opinion.)
Me: Girls, have you ever heard of NLP, Non-Lingual Persuasion? It's the theory that you can manipulate someone's thoughts and actions on a subconscious level, like subliminal advertising."
7 Girl: Yeah, I've heard of it, but I don't think it would make someone do anything specific or different from what their own opinions already were.
Me: Well, I've been reading up on it a bit, and I gotta say, I'm a believer. I mean, advertising is a multi-billion dollar a year industry. People wouldn't spend that kind of money on something that didn't work. Let's try a quick experiment to see if it would work on skeptics like you.
7 girl: Okay.
Me (to the 7 Girls): Okay, I'm going to use you two for this little experiment.
Me (to the 9): You don't get to play in this one [a little neg]. I want you to be the control specimen. You just watch me and try to pick up on the subliminal messages I'm dropping. [she was a bit miffed that she didn't get to play, but it got her concentrating on watching me]
Me (to the 7's): Okay, now I need to get you to clear your minds a bit, so I'm going to distract you with some simple math. [at this point, I pull out a notecard and a pen] What I'm going to do, is give you some directions, DEN MARK down on my piece of paper here, as I talk to you, what image I'm trying to pull your minds to. [As I say this last part, I am holding my hand up in front of my face, palm towards my face, and pulling it out and down towards my waste, kind of outlining an elephant's trunk. Remember, in the past, I have used this aiming towards getting them to come up with "elephant". Next time, to adjust to the "kangaroo", I may draw a line across my belly to indicate a pouch, maybe do a subtle little hop in place or something, and at some point touch something that is colored orange. Also, notice instead of saying "then mark" I said "den mark", so I am actually using a bit of subliminality(?) and giving the 9 some things to pick up on. If I really want to lay it on thick, I'll fake a polite little burp, say "excuse me...that Danish I had before coming out is not mixing well with this beer", dropping another subliminal with DANISH.]
Now I go through the math part, getting them to Denmark. I was doing this at a fraternity party at a school in Alabama, a smaller school, so along the way, I teased that I understood if they weren't good at the math or geography, since we weren't in a big college town, like Tuscaloosa (home of University of Alabama, mascot the elephant). Okay, so now I've got them to Denmark, then I continue to the end, with a hope that they both came up with elephant.
Me (to 9): Okay Control, come stand by me [I reached out and took her hand, pulling her next to me]. Don't say anything, but look at what I've written here. [I show her the picture of the elephant with "Denmark" written beneath it. [She kind of scrunched up her face and looked at me like I had written two of the most random things she could think of.]
Me (to 2nd 7, less skeptical of the two): What did you come up with sweetheart?
2nd 7: An elephant. [The 9 gasps]
Me (to 1st 7): And you?
1st 7: An eel.
Me: Well, I was half right...[turn around card and show them the picture and Denmark].
2nd 7 laughs.
1st 7: Well, I was thinking of Denmark.
Me ( to 9): So, Control [at this point, she says "I have a name, you know...I'm Stacy] Okay, Stacy, did you catch any of the signals I dropped?
9: Well, looking back, I guess you were kind of making a trunk motion with your hand.
Me: Yeah, I was...that's good. [Then I explain the rest of the signals I gave.] Okay, I feel bad that you were left out of the game, so I've got one just for you, Stacy.
At this point, I go into another routine based on memory. I wrote the numbers 1-10 down the back of the notecard I had drawn the elephant on and gave it to her (souveneir). I told her to write down 10 random words, one next to each number, then give the card back to me. She did, and then I made a bet with her. I told her that I would look at the card for 20 seconds and perfectly memorize all of the words in the order they were written down. I did this, then gave her back the card. I told her that I wanted her to grab me at any point during the night, in a few minutes or even in an hour or two, and I would be able to perfectly recall the list. She could name a number and I'd give her the corresponding word, or vice versa, or she could name a number and I would recite the words forward or backwards from that number. If I was wrong at all, she could have my cooler and everything in it. But if I was right, she had to give me her number. At this point, I thanked them for their indulgence, and moved on to another set.
About a half hour later, she found me, quizzed me, and I got the digits. I used the memory "peg" technique from Mystery's "Rules of the Game". Hit me up if you don't know it and want me to explain it to you.
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Don't argue with idiots...they'll just bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.
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