THE EFFECT

Five people are given a business card each.

The mentalist turns away as they arrange coloured paperclips around the outside.

They also each write a personal word on the back of their respective cards, which are then mixed.

The mentalist turns around and one card is freely chosen, which he isolates in an envelope.

The mentalist looks at the remaining cards, and gives a character reading of the type of person most likely to have arranged their paperclips in such an order, and to have written such a word.

One by one the cards are handed back out, and the people confirm that the mentalist has divined the correct owners, and characterised them accurately.

For a finale, the mentalist divines the unseen word on the card in the envelope.