One of the advantages of publishing this on-line e-Journal is
the ability to respond to readers' requests much faster than any
paper printed magazine. After publishing last month's Mystery
Woman, I have had several requests by those who call themselves
"mentalists" asking if my collection of magic notes
contains anything to solve the "Lottery Problem." If
you call yourself a Mentalist, it seems you get a lot of people
asking you embarrassing questions like: "If you can really
predict the future, why don't you just win the lottery and retire
for life?"
Well, my question to the Mentalists is different... if you
can really predict the future, why didn't you know that I would
be publishing a way out of this dilemma for you in this issue of
The Wizards' Journal? OK, I'm only pulling your mental legs! As a
Wizard, I've had people ask me the same question all the time and
my solution is given in this month's Prophecy effect: Lotto.
The answer to these inquiring minds is: "Of course I can
predict the winner of the lottery. But we Wizards (Mentalists)
have a code of ethics about it. We never win enough to arouse
suspicion, or else we'd be 'killing the goose that lays the
golden eggs.' Think about it. If I entered every big lottery and
won the multi-million dollar prize in every state, everyone would
soon know that I can do it and will always win, and the lotteries
would close down. Not to mention, there'd be a lot of hit men out
after my secret. But if I win small, I never get into the papers,
no one knows about my psychic powers and I can live just as
comfortably as the richest multi-millionaire. Do I look like I
dress shabby?"
"But you want proof. I can see you're a skeptic and
won't just take my word for it. How about if I make YOU the big
winner for a little lottery right here and now? Would that make a
believer out of you?"
"On my business cards, I have some scratch-off tabs.
This is just like the Lottery game, except we won't use boring
numbers. Use your finger-nail to peel off one of the tabs on the
card, but don't tell us what it revealed. Place the Lotto card
face down on the table and cover it with your drink." I'm
assuming you're doing this at a bar or night club where these
things are usually done. If not, just adapt the routine for the
situation.
At this point a Tarot deck of cards (or it can be a regular
deck if you prefer) is introduced. Cards are pulled out at random
by another spectator and spread out on the table or bar. Dice are
then used to randomly select one of the random Tarot cards. The
chosen card is turned over and the Lottery picker will usually
let out a scream as she finds that her card was chosen.
"Let's verify the winning Lotto card," says the
Wizard. "Would you show everyone the card you scratched off
at the very beginning? Let me take your winning ticket up to the
bar and claim your prize. The bartender assured me that he would
honor the winning card in any lotteries I conduct in here. What
are you drinking?" You take the card to the bar, show it to
the bartender and return with her card and the drink she chose as
her winnings. Of course, being a gentleman, you have also brought
back a drink for the woman who helped you in the Lottery drawing
part.
"So, are you a believer yet? If it will
make you feel any better, you can peel off the other tabs now
that you've won, just to make sure the Lottery wasn't
fixed."
