available on hedan.

fr/mental
Babel Bonus
Vincent Hedan
with Sébastien Calbry and Raj Madhok
 TABLE OF CONTENT

Introduction.................................................................................................................3

One for all, all for one ................................................................................................4

Cerberus .......................................................................................................................8

A game of 20 questions ............................................................................................11

Funes or the book test ..............................................................................................16

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 INTRODUCTION

When I created Babel years ago, it was because I wanted a versatile tool, a book test with
which I could perform different effects. I combined several principles and imagined
routines based on these principles. Certain methodological aspects were interconnected,
all the while remaining open, which promised the discovery of new applications in the
future.
Babel was then used by many magicians and mentalists everywhere in the world. Some of
them approached Babel with their own technical and psychological tool box, as well as
their needs and wants; thanks to this, they found new ideas and new routines.
This bonus instructional PDF is free and contains some of these ideas. I am sure that you
will nd many more.

Vincent Hedan,
Paris, 2018.

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 ONE FOR ALL, ALL FOR ONE
with Raj Madhok

Effect
The mentalist gives a book to a spectator in the rst row.
«Sir, could you please stand up and open the book at any page please? I will ask you to read this
page from the top (in your head of course, not out loud) and to stop on the rst long word you nd,
it will be your random word. When you have it and you are sure that you will not forget it, close the
book and pass it on to someone at random, two or three rows behind you. Thank you.
Madam, now you are the one holding the book. Please do the same as the person before you: stand
up, open the book at any page, read the page from the top and stop on the rst long word you nd, it
will be your random word. When you have it and you are sure that you will not forget it, close the
book and pass it on to someone at random, two or three rows behind you. Thank you.
Sir, we will end with you. Please do the same as the person before you: stand up, open the book at
any page, read the page from the top and stop on the rst long word you nd, it will be your
random word. When you have it and you are sure that you will not forget it, close the book and pass
it on toward me.»
The book reaches the stage and is left there.

«Three people at random, three random words in their mind... Focus on your word, repeat it in your
mind. Don’t say anything out loud, don’t give me any clue. I think I have established a connection
with each of you and I think I have found your words.
...
The words Anniversary, Kidnapping and Conscience are coming to me. Anniversary, Kidnapping,
Conscience... If I named the word you are thinking of, please sit down.»
The three spectators sit down, con rming that the mentalist has accurately guessed the
three thought-of words.

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 Method
This is an example of an idea that was included in Babel since the beginning, but was never
exploited. During a conversation with Raj Madhok, a mentalist friend from the USA, we
talked about the possibility of combining the logic of the Tossed Out Deck principle by
David Hoy with the structure of my book test. Raj’s ideas are always elegant and fooling,
and you can nd some of his creations in his book Mysteriouser and mysteriouser (in which
he describes an excellent book test... without a book!).

The structure of Babel does all the work for you here.
Begin by giving the book to a spectator in the rst row and use the script given in the
effect description.
«Sir, could you please stand up and open the book at any page please? I will ask you to read this
page from the top (in your head of course, not out loud) and to stop on the rst long word you nd,
it will be your random word.»
The rst long word of the left-hand page is always Anniversary and the rst word of the
right-hand page is always Kidnapping. If he followed your instructions properly, the rst
spectator is thinking of one of these two words.
Ask him to pass the book on to someone sitting two of three rows behind him. This creates
a distance between the two people, therefore decreasing the risk of them belonging to the
same group, or the risk of them talking afterward.
The second spectator repeats the same procedure and consequently also thinks of either
Anniversary or Kidnapping. Repeat the sequence with a third spectator then have the
book returned to the side of the stage, without you touching it.

Each of the three spectators is thinking either of Anniversary or Kidnapping. This is where
you use the typical revelation from the Tossed Out Deck. To «reveal» the thought-of words,
simply announce the two possible words (Anniversary and Kidnapping), along with a
third, random, long word. This third word can be one of the other long words in Babel, or
something else. Since nobody is actually thinking of this word, it can be anything.
You cannot be speci c as to who is thinking of which word, but you can still get
con rmation from the three spectators. In order to do that, repeat the three words clearly:
«Anniversary, Kidnapping, Conscience... If I named the word you are thinking of, please sit down.»
Since you have indeed announced the correct words, the three spectators sit down and
con rm your revelation.

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 Variation 1: A safe choice
Here are two safeties in case one of the spectators skips past the rst long word
(Anniversary or Kidnapping), or even if one of the spectators decides to think of any long
word on the page.

First, instead of using three spectators, use four of them. During the revelation, announce
four words: Anniversary, Basketball, Kidnapping and Lighthouse. Anniversary and
Basketball are the rst two long words on the left-hand page; Kidnapping and Lighthouse
are the rst two long words on the right-hand page. By using four spectators, you cover
the case where one of them skips past the rst long word and takes the second one
instead.

Second, whether using three or four spectators, if one or several of them does not sit
down, don’t panic. This person is probably thinking of another long word on the page,
and you can reveal it using the classic method described in Babel.

Variation 2: A free choice

Here is a variation allowing you to offer an even freer choice to the third spectator. The
rst two spectators follow your instructions : they open the book at any page, read that
page from the top and stop on the rst long word. These two spectators are thinking of
either Anniversary or Kidnapping.
When the third spectator takes the book, tell him that he can choose any long word in the
book. For the audience, it seems like you are giving this person a choice that is even freer
that the others, as if you wanted to go even further with this person.

For the revelation, announce that you clearly see the words Anniversary, Kidnapping and
Mathematician. Why use Mathematician as the third word? Because I have been keeping
track of every long word chosen for years and these statistics showed me that
Mathematician is chosen one time out of ve! Of course, these statistics may be different
for you, so I will let you check with your experience. Anyway, the third word you reveal is
the most «popular» one. It will give you a better chance at correctly guessing the free word
chosen by the third spectator.
«Anniversary, Kidnapping, Mathematician... If I named the word you are thinking of, please sit
down.»
If all three spectators sit down, it’s perfect. If the third spectator remains standing, it is
because he is not thinking of Anniversary, Kidnapping or Mathematician. Again, no need
to panic, you know he is thinking of another long word from Babel. Reveal it by using the
classic method.

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Variation 3: A meaningful choice
In «The path of the book test», described in my book Your mind is still my playground, I
describe an impromptu book test with a presentation involving three spectators in a more
personal way. You can adapt this presentation to the combination of Babel and the Hoy
principle.
In order to that, follow the procedure described at the beginning. Your three spectators are
thinking of either Anniversary or Kidnapping. Ask each of them to associate a personal
question to their thought-of word.
For the revelation, talk to the rst spectator and tell him that you see two N in his word.
Of course, he has to con rm this, because there are two N in both Anniversary and
Kidnapping. Talk to the second spectator and tell him that you see nine or ten letters in his
word. Of course, he has to con rm this, because there are nine letters in Kidnapping and
ten letters in Anniversary. Finally, talk to the third spectator and tell him that his word is
not an animal or a place. By doing this, you reinforce the impression that the three words
are different and you show that you can already guess something about their choices.
As in «The path of the book test», continue by doing a more personal revelation for each
spectator. The revelations linked to the words Anniversary and Kidnapping must be
different but suf ciently general to apply to all three spectators. The revelation for the
third word (which is a random long word) can be a lot more precise and surprising,
because it does not apply to anyone. All the revelation sequence is explained in details in
Your mind is still my playground.
This presentation is inspired by Luke Jermay1 and it will allow you to go further in the
divination and to be more personal in your revelations.

1 Luke Jermay, Cartomancy, 2013.

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 CERBERUS
with Sébastien Calbry

Effect
The mentalist introduces a pile of several different books. The spectator chooses any word,
on any line, on any page, in any book. The mentalist focuses on him and announce his
thought-of word.
«You were thinking of the word Kidnapping, correct? Perfect!
...
I have a pretty good memory when it comes to reading, and of course I have read the books here.
When I thought of your word, Kidnapping, I felt like I had read it already somewhere. In another
book of the pile.»
The mentalist thinks about this for a second then points to one of the other books in the
pile.
«If I remember correctly, it was in this book. Look at page 130... on the fourth line... the last word of
this line. It is the word Kidnapping, correct? Perfect, my memory is still good!»

Method
Originally, Sébastien contacted me because he had an original idea to use my book test. He
wanted to perform an effect with two different Babel books. A word is chosen in the rst
book and Sébastien guesses it with the classic method described in the instructions. Then
Sébastien would remember the position of the same word in the second book.
I liked Sébastien’s idea and it was close to the classic revelation with a dictionary: you
guess a word then announce its position in a dictionary. Since Babel is available in several
titles and formats, it is easy to have two books for this effect. Then I imagined using a pile
of books instead, which would include two Babel books, in order to make this memory
demonstration even more impressive, but also more credible. From the effect perspective,
it would indeed be odd that a random word would always be present in two different
books; on the other hand, with a dozen books, the probabilities of having a word present
in two books increases.
During my second discussion with Sébastien, I suggested using a pile of books instead of
two and he had thought of the same idea. You are free to decide what suits you.

To perform this effect, you will need two different Babel books, and other books that are
normal and different. Decide what book quantity is best for your presentation and the
conditions of your demonstration. Like me, you can also decide to use an entire pile of
Babel books.

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 The rst part of the effect consists in guessing the chosen word. Since you are using
several books, you can take a Babel book from the pile and use for the demonstration, or
force one of the two Babel books to the spectator.
The spectator thinks of a long word and you guess his word. In order to do that, use the
classic method described in the original instructions.

The second part of the effect consists in locating the chosen word in a pile of books. Of
course, it will always be in the other Babel book, so you don’t have to memorize which
word can be found in which books of the pile.
After this, you have to reveal the page, the line and the position on the line. Sébastien and
I have two different approaches to this part of the demonstration. Sébastien made a crib
for himself, on which all sixteen possible long words are listed. Next to each long word is
the page, the line and the position on the line. For example: Anniversary, 13, 4, 6. The word
Anniversary is on page 13, at line 4, and it is the 6th word of this line. Thanks to this crib,
you don’t have to do any memory effort. Here is the list of the long words and their
position:

word page line position

Anniversary 13 4 6

Basketball 53 8 8

Cappuccino 31 12 6

Decapitated 49 16 6

Encyclopedia 55 20 4

Flashlight 63 24 6

Gunslinger 73 28 11

Heartthrob 85 32 12

Kidnapping 16 4 10

Lighthouse 28 8 8

Mathematician 34 12 3

Nightstick 42 16 4

Optimistic 56 20 8

Photograph 82 24 5

Quadruplets 108 28 8

Relationship 126 32 7

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Personally, I don’t use a crib, I am helped by the structure of Babel. The bene t is that I
don’t need to glimpse the crib and read information; the drawback is that I cannot reveal
the position of the word on the line, I can «only» reveal which book, which page and
which line. Here is how to do it.
As explained in the original instructions, the long words starting with A, B, C, D, E, F, G
and H can all be found on the left-hand page and this page is always odd numbered; the
long words starting with K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, and R can all be found on the right-hand
page and this page is always even numbered. This regular structure allows you to easily
announce the page number, without memory! If the long word starts with A, B, C, D, E, F,
G or H, announce any page number that is odd and not ending with a 1. If the long word
starts with K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, or R, announce any page number that is even and not
ending with a 0. Thanks to this, you can easily reveal the page number.
Then you need to reveal the correct line. Again, as explained in the original instructions,
another property of these long words is their precise placement on the page. Each page has
a long word every fourth line, in alphabetical order. You don’t need to memorize these
positions because you can easily calculate them. Take the initial of the long word, then the
position of this initial in the alphabet, only keep the unit, multiply it by 4 and you obtain
the line. For example, Decapitated starts with a D, D is the 4th letter in the alphabet, take
the unit (4), multiply it by 4: Decapitated is on line 16. Mathematician starts with a M, M is
the 13th letter in the alphabet, take the unit (3), multiply it by 4 : Mathematician is on line
12. This bit of mental math can seem long to read, but in your head it will become an
automatism that is much faster. Thanks to this, you can reveal the correct line.
Without a crib, you cannot reveal the precise position of the word in the line, but I don’t
mind: being able to pinpoint the correct book, the correct page and the correct line is
already very impressive.

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 A GAME OF 20 QUESTIONS
with Sébastien Calbry

Effect
A spectator freely thinks of any word, at any line, on any page.
«You see your word clearly in your head? Perfect. Now we will play the 20 questions game. You
know it? It’s very simple: I have to guess your word by asking less than twenty questions, and you
can only answer by saying yes or no. Are you ready? Let’s go.
Are you thinking of something related to violence or death?»
The spectator says yes.
«Is this thing related to a blade?»
The spectator says yes.
«You are thinking of the word Decapitated, correct?»
The spectator says yes.

Method
In the original instructions of Babel, I described a progressive branching system based on
the spelling of the long words. By announcing speci c letters in a speci c order, it was
possible to arrive at the long word chosen by the spectator. Sébastien Calbry thought of
following such a branching system by using general questions about the thought-of word,
like in the «20 questions game». Sébastien and I developed the questions for the French
version of Babel, and I developed the questions for the left-hand page of the English
version.
From the audience’s point of view, it is very deceptive, for three reasons. First, the
audience is convinced that the spectator thinks of any word in the book, but there are only
eight possibilities. In addition to this, you are asking general questions that don’t seem
capable of ltering the tens of thousands of words in the English language. Finally, you
will always be able to identify the correct word by asking a maximum of ve questions
(the best case scenario requires only two questions).

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Here is the branching system I designed for the left-hand page.

violence
blade?
or yes yes Decapitated
death?
no

no Gunslinger

light, object?
yes yes Flashlight
candle?

no

no Anniversary

sport? yes Basketball

no

food or drink? yes Cappuccino

no

object? yes Encyclopedia

no

Heartthrob

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Let’s see each example, in alphabetical order

Anniversary Basketball
«Are you thinking of something related to «Are you thinking of something related to
violence or death?» violence or death?»
The spectator says no. The spectator says no.
«Is it related to light or a candle?» «Is it related to light or a candle?»
The spectator says yes. The spectator says no.
«Is it an object?» «Is it related to sport?»
The spectator says no. The spectator says yes.
«You are thinking of the word Anniversary, «You are thinking of the word Basketball,
correct?» correct?»

Cappuccino Decapitated
«Are you thinking of something related to «Are you thinking of something related to
violence or death?» violence or death?»
The spectator says no. The spectator says yes.
«Is it related to light or a candle?» «Is this thing related to a blade?»
The spectator says no. The spectator says yes.
«Is it related to sport?» «You are thinking of the word Decapitated,
The spectator says no. correct?»

«Is it food or a drink?»

The spectator says yes.
«You are thinking of the word Cappuccino,
correct?»

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Encyclopedia Flashlight
«Are you thinking of something related to «Are you thinking of something related to
violence or death?» violence or death?»
The spectator says no. The spectator says no.
«Is it related to light or a candle?» «Is it related to light or a candle?»
The spectator says no. The spectator says yes.
«Is it related to sport?» «Is it an object?»
The spectator says no. The spectator says yes.
«Is it food or a drink?» «You are thinking of the word Flashlight,
The spectator says no. correct?»

«Is it an object?»
The spectator says yes.
«You are thinking of the word Encyclopedia,
correct?»

Gunslinger Heartthrob
«Are you thinking of something related to «Are you thinking of something related to
violence or death?» violence or death?»
The spectator says yes. The spectator says no.
«Is this thing related to a blade?» «Is it related to light or a candle?»
The spectator says no. The spectator says no.
«You are thinking of the word Gunslinger, «Is it related to sport?»
correct?» The spectator says no.
«Is it food or a drink?»
The spectator says no.
«Is it an object?»
The spectator says no.
«You are thinking of the word Heartthrob,
correct?»

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Memorize these sequences of questions or keep them on a crib. For the presentation, you
can ask questions as if you were thinking seriously. You could also give the impression
that you are improvising silly questions, almost as if they did not matter; the audience will
then think that these questions don’t really help you and the procedure will become less
suspect.

How can you force the spectator to select a word from the left-hand page? When she is
selecting her word anywhere in the book, you will sometimes be able to estimate if she is
on the left-hand page or not. If she is, perfect, use the branching system; if she is not, no
problem, just use the classic method to guess her word.
You can also force the left-hand page if you use two spectators. Ask someone to open the
book anywhere. She and the person sitting next to her must both think of a word. To avoid
them thinking of the same word, ask the rst person to think of a word on the left-hand
page, and ask the second person to think of a word on the right-hand page. Use the classic
method for the second person, and the branching system for the rst person. In this way,
you guess two words, each with a different procedure.

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 FUNES OR THE BOOK TEST

Effect
A pile of different novels is placed on the table.
Several people are invited to write simple, short, common words on the pages of a
notepad that is passed around in the audience; some words are also crossed out randomly
by the spectators. A nal spectator takes the notepad and, among the remaining words,
chooses one freely. She announces it out loud.
The mentalist is then able to reveal that this word can be found in a speci c book in the
pile, at a speci c page, at a speci c line, and at a speci c position on this line.

Method
Here is a variation of «Cerberus», this time with short words coming from the audience. To
perform this effect, you will need at least one Babel novel, as well as other novels (different
and normal), and the Super Mento Pad by Howard Schwarzmann2 (or any special notepad
with the same properties).
Here is an overview of the method: several spectators write short, common words in a
notepad, cross out some of them, then these words are swapped for words that you wrote
in advance. The last spectator makes her choice among your words and of course you
know the position of each of these words in a Babel novel.

The Super Mento Pad is a double face notepad with a locking system on one side. On the
non-lockable side, write a different word list on each of the rst four pages:

page 1 of the notepad page 2 of the notepad page 3 of the notepad page 4 of the notepad
sick calm free close
true night thin sad
soon ower beyond small
about like from head
dead some busy horse
friend food and even
them idea this
her bag
all

2 Available here: hedan.fr/howard

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 Always keep the same pen but change your writing style every three or four words, to
simulate the fact that these words are supposed to have been written by different people.
The crossed out words don’t matter so you can modify then if you want.

Place your Babel novel in a pile of two books (or more), and you are ready.

To begin, open the locked side of the Super Mento Pad and hand it to the rst spectator,
inviting him to write down three or four words that are short and common, anything he
wants. When he is done, he has to pass the notepad on to someone else that is sitting a
couple of seats away from him. This second person also writes down three or four short
words. When he is done, ask him to cross out some words on this rst page, then to turn
the page and to pass the notepad on to someone else that is sitting a couple of seats away
from him.
This third person also writes down three or four short words. When he is done, he has to
pass the notepad on to someone else that is sitting a couple of seats away from him. This
fourth person also writes down three or four short words. When he is done, ask him to
cross out some words on this rst page, then to turn the page and to pass the notepad on
to someone else that is sitting a couple of seats away from him.
This fth person also writes down three or four short words. When he is done, he has to
pass the notepad on to someone else that is sitting a couple of seats away from him. This
sixth person also writes down three or four short words. When he is done, ask him to cross
out some words on this rst page, then to turn the page and to pass the notepad on to
someone else that is sitting a couple of seats away from him.
This seventh person also writes down three or four short words. When he is done, he has
to pass the notepad on to someone else that is sitting a couple of seats away from him.
This eighth person also writes down three or four short words. When he is done, ask him
to cross out some words on this rst page, then to close the notepad and to pass the
notepad on to someone else that is sitting a couple of seats away from him.
Once the notepad is close, the side with the real words from the audience is locked. The
last spectator to receive the notepad opens it (she can only open the unlocked side) and
she sees your lists of partially crossed out words. Since each previous spectators is the only
one to know the words he wrote, nobody can tell if the chosen word is from the real lists.
The spectator shows you the word that she wants to use; by doing this, she gives you all
the information you need to locate her word in the Babel novel.
To designate the correct book in the pile, simply point to the Babel novel.
To reveal the correct page, know that it will always be page 46, 47, 48 or 49. Look at the
amount of words (crossed out or not) on the sheet where her word is. If there are 6 words
in the list, her word is at page 46; if there are 7 words in the list, her word is at page 47; if
there are 8 words in the list, her word is at page 48; if there are 9 words in the list, her
word is at page 49. For example, if the spectator chose the word Soon, you know it will be
on page 46, because there are 6 words in this list.

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 To reveal the correct line, look at the line at which the word is in its list. This word is at the
same line in the novel. For example, if the chosen word is Soon, you know it will be at line
3 in the novel, because Soon is at line 3 in its list.
Finally, to reveal the correct position on the line, it is very simple. If you are on page 46, 48
or 49, it will always be the 8th word on the line. If you are on page 47, it will always be the
rst word on the line.

Here is a summary of the way you use the information from the list and the chosen word:
- The chosen word is always in the Babel novel in the pile.
- The chosen word is always at page 4?, ? being the amount of words in the list.
- The chosen word is at the same line in its list and on the page.
- The chosen word will be at the first position for page 47, and at the 8th position for pages 46, 48 and 49.
That’s all you need to know.

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