From propless mind reading to impossible predictions, Batteries Not Included is packed with practical routines, clever methods and performance ideas you’ll use long after you’ve finished reading.
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Batteries Not Included is a collection of original mentalism from professional performer Alex Ward, built around one simple question:
How little do you actually need to create something impossible?
At a time when mentalism is increasingly built around electronics, apps, secret receivers and expensive gimmicks, Batteries Not Included explores another path.
Inside you’ll discover practical, audience-tested routines that rely on classic principles, clever construction, psychology and strong presentation rather than technology. Many of the methods have been stripped back to their simplest form, proving that some of the strongest reactions can come from the simplest ideas.
You’ll discover Alex’s original approaches to some of mentalism’s most popular plots, including Tossed Out Deck, Drawing Duplication, ACAAN, Free Will, Colour Match, Lottery Prediction, Star Sign Revelation and more. Alongside the routines are essays on performance, intuition, risk-taking, calibration and creating moments that audiences remember as genuine psychological experiences rather than magic tricks.
Every routine has been developed and refined through real-world performance. These aren’t theoretical ideas or pipe dreams—they’re practical pieces shaped by hundreds of performances for corporate events, weddings, private parties and theatre audiences.
Most of the props required cost very little, and there’s a good chance you already own much of what you need. There are no batteries to charge. No Bluetooth connections to lose. No apps to update. No hidden electronics waiting to fail at exactly the wrong moment.
This isn’t about rejecting technology.
It’s about remembering that the most powerful tool in mentalism has always been the performer.
If you enjoy commercial, practical mentalism with clean methods, strong presentations and ideas you’ll actually perform, Batteries Not Included is a collection you’ll return to time and time again.
No electronics. No complicated setups. No batteries required.
Just strong mentalism.
PAM
A new approach to the Tossed Out Deck in which a participant becomes the mind reader and successfully identifies the thoughts of three members of the audience, just using a ordinary pack of cards.
PAM V2
A cleaner alternative handling of PAM that removes the deck from play and uses carefully constructed scripting to transform a participant into a convincing mind reader.
PTOD
A propless approach to the Tossed Out Deck. Several people merely think of playing cards, yet the performer is able to reveal their thoughts without a deck ever being introduced.
A Big Bold Drawing Duplication
A completely gimmick-free drawing duplication requiring no pre-show work. A participant creates a personal drawing while the performer reveals information about them, before producing a matching image.
The People’s Lottery
Six people generate completely random numbers, which the performer successfully reveals. Later, a prediction that has been held from the beginning is opened to reveal a real lottery ticket containing those exact numbers. This lottery ticket can be kept and even played!
Two Guys Three Cups
A playful prediction routine involving three cups and three thought of imaginary drinks. Despite the participant making a series of apparently free decisions, everything has been predicted in advance.
Colour Match
A practical, inexpensive version of the classic Colour Match plot. A participant secretly colours different parts of a picture, yet the performer has created an exact match.
Another Bloody ACAAN
A direct Any Card at Any Number routine designed to feel clean and impossible. A named card appears at a number chosen by someone else in the audience.
Calibration
A simple exercise for testing how closely your thoughts align with a participant’s. When it succeeds, it becomes a powerful piece of direct mind reading; when it misses, it naturally leads into whatever comes next.
Throwing It Out There
Practical ideas for making bold intuitive statements during performance, along with ways to reframe misses using humour, ambiguity and compliments.
Doing It for Real
A straightforward three-step structure for making calculated guesses about real information, including someone’s job, hobbies, relationships, travel plans and personal life.
Thousands of Things
Someone thinks of an item from a category containing thousands of possible choices, yet you are able to reveal exactly what they are thinking.
Thousands of Things V2
A refined handling that feels even fairer than the original. A participant freely settles on a personal thought from a small selection of possibilities, yet the performer is still able to reveal exactly what is on their mind.
Influence
Three people make a series of apparently free choices involving written information, but the performer demonstrates that their thoughts and decisions have been subtly influenced from the beginning.
Three different approaches to the tossed out deck. In this section we explore two methods for the participant to become the mindreader and a way to perform tossed out deck totally prop-less.
Here we look at some classic and popular mentalism plots. We come at them from a new perspective here, showing how these effects can be achieved with very little.
A section focused on doing mentalism ‘for real’ a structured approach to create moments of impossibility without the worry of getting it wrong.
Study this section and start applying the principles and you will elevate your performances, creating real moments of intuition that are impossible to explain.
A couple of close-up pieces that you can do at a moments notice. Simple, direct and strong.
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