A variation of this fooled Penn & Teller! It got me, too, but later I figured out the principle,
though not all of it.
A well-made multipage menu lists foods in various categories from
appetizers to desserts and selection of coffees, this being the only variation from what I saw,
coffee being substitituted for brandies and wines.
The spectator picks an item from each
category while a second spectator adds up the cost. When done, the tip is added with the helper
deciding on 15% or 20%.
A prediction is shown at the beginning and it matches the choices
and total. Variant revelation is suggested.
Marvin Kaye
Author, "The Handbook of
Mental Magic"
I remember seeing a routine like this on "Fool Us," but it did not fool them. They joked about "Steinmeyer's Restaurant" being one of their favorite eating places--in other words, they knew the Steinmeyer routine and that was their coded way of telling the presenter that they had not been fooled. Am I wrong about this? Or was there another variation performed? This does not detract from the effectiveness of the Steinmeyer routine itself, since that might have fooled them the first time they saw it.
Dine Out!
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