"The Game" booklet by Jay Crowe
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In a Blink: 2 Out of 10

"The Game", a booklet by Jay Crowe, sounds like an interesting idea on the surface, but the supplied ideas and presentations sink this one quickly into the mire of impracticality.

I'll admit I was looking forward to this one; it simply sounded too good to be true. "Imagine if you could approach someone you have never met before, and instantly perform one of the most perfect mind readings in history"? Who wouldn't be excited by that prospect? "No stooges, no forces, nothing written down, no gimmicks, etc"? Okay, that's just positively droolsome right there.

But, of course, as things turn out, "The Game" just doesn't live up to the hype.

Let's get the saving grace of "The Game" out of the way, since it'll be a short discussion. The ad clearly state that this "... is a tool best suited for professionals" and the ad is right. I'd be willing to bet that there's someone out there who knows this idea and can make it churn and burn and turn it into reputation-making stuff. The idea is a good one, certainly, and with the brain-sweat this could be something else. That will take the touch of a professional, though; there are a lot of pitfalls to the method that must be overcome to reach that elevated point and a working pro will have a better chance of reaching the summit that the amateur.

So much for the "saving grace". Now on to the problems.

I can't say much about the method without tipping it off entirely (yes, it's that easy to blow). Let's just say that, in all cases, you'll need a certain electronic device or two that is ubiquitous and which you probably already own. You may have to pay some extra bucks for this part of things, and you will pay for the other part in terms of a regular monthly fee (not to Crowe, though), and in some cases you'll need a special assistant involved. Boy, is that a muddled thing to have to describe, let alone read through. Maybe I can make things clearer by describing the presentations of things.

Let's see... First up is what amounts to the basic "pre-show work" side of things. You talk to the spectator and then, later on, reveal things to them which they didn't reveal to you. Pretty neat, sure, but a little pedestrian (and a far cry from the "Spectator is a total stranger and you don't even know anything about him before the mind reading starts" ad blurb). So we'll leave that one alone.

The next methods ought to help. Here's how it looks: you talk to a stranger for a while and begin to read their mind, going through whatever theatrical machinations you'd like, then your phone rings. You stop the theatrical stuff, answer your phone, and then after that begin reading the spectator's mind, telling them their age, address, etc. Or, instead of standing there and taking the call, you walk away for a few minutes to answer your phone and then return and continue the mind-reading.

And with that, I'm sure you've got it, or at least have an accurate idea of what's going on here for the most part.

I'm going to hit this right off the bat: presentationally, for those working professionally, this is just plain insipid. To call it "rude" is to downplay the effect this has on spectators. Want to raise the anger of a paying client? Stop your act in the middle a few times to "answer the phone" and take a call for a while. Personally, there is no way on earth I'd do it unless it were directly related to the effect and not to the method. Forget about it. And, as far as I'm concerned, that ends "The Game" right there.

Now onto the problems with the method.

There are a couple of ways given for doing this, which I'll just refer to as "free" and "pay". The "free" method will allow you to possibly give up some basic information about the stranger in question, things like age, full name, possibly addresses... that sort of thing. The "pay" method may allow you give up more information, things like cars they drive, their social security number, that kind of thing. The price for the info isn't all that much and could possibly be worth the price...

Whoa. Wait a sec. I did use some qualifiers there -- "may" and "possibly" -- didn't I? That's because you can't always reveal correct information on pretty much any level. Oh, you may get the name right all the time, but considering you're asking the spectator for it, that's not much of an accomplishment. The rest? That's up for grabs. Luckily, the method is one where you can "test out" the working in the privacy of your own home without making a fool of yourself. I did try it out and ended up not knowing much about anyone I already knew, let alone a stranger. In most cases, the address was wrong, the social was wrong, the age was wrong... well, you get the idea. Ten tries and no successes... not good odds at all. Now I don't mind missing things when I go into "mentalist mode", but for the time, trouble, and cash, I'd like to at least get one hit every now and then. But the core of the method is iffy by nature and not likely to get better anytime soon.

Now all of this is not to shoot down the basic concept of "The Game". It's been around forever, in one form or the other, and has been updated to modern times. However, rather than being a thorough look at that concept, "The Game" gives us a weak examination of it, with little meat to things. Nothing about dealing with the presentational problems, nothing about dealing with the information flow issues... really, nothing more than "here's the idea, now go use it". The result of that is something that is impractical and unworkable for the working pro "as is".

"Too good to be true", "The Game" certainly is.

"The Game" booklet by Jay Crowe
In a Blink: 2 Out of 10

Material: 2
Oh, man, where to start on this? The idea is admittedly old, updated for the 21st century, but unfortunately mostly well known and given here with some very weak presentations. The saving grace? Someone, somewhere, might not have thought about doing this and may actually make this into a workable, practical piece. But the odds are long.

Quality: 2
The writing is awkward and several grammar mistakes exist. Those can be distracting but can be lived with. Lack of any real depth here is what hurts this one, though.

Illustrations: 3
There are some illustrations, but they really aren't needed as they are placed and make little sense. They could have been left out for all that it matters.

Presentation: 1
Here's where this one blows it. While I'm sure there are those who can turn this into something, what is given here by way of presentations are extremely week, if not downright rude and impractical.


Shane

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