The Colour Trap
Think of a colour and a simple shape. Answer fast. This one works on most people, not all.
There's no arithmetic here and nothing is hidden from you. I'm going to ask for a colour and a simple shape, and I want the first answer that arrives, not the clever one you'd give if you had a minute.
Speed is the whole point. Rushed, most people reach for the same small handful of answers. Take your time and you'll beat me, which is fair — but answer quickly and let's see.
If I got it, I didn't read your mind — I read the room, which is a large enough sample that you were likely to be in it. Red and triangle come up more than they have any right to. Blue and circle are close behind.
If I missed, nothing is lost. A fair number of people go somewhere else entirely, and they tend to make the best audience I could ask for. Either way, you now know something true about how quickly a mind reaches for a default.
How it works
There's no method beyond people. Asked for a colour under time pressure, a lot of us reach for red; asked for a simple shape, triangle and circle crowd out everything else. A performer plays the tendency, names the likeliest answer, and accepts that some of the time it lands wide. That's why you'd never build a stage show on a force like this alone — but as an opener, with a graceful line ready for the miss, it earns its place.
- Props
- Nothing, just a fast answer
- Difficulty
- Easy to learn, easy to get wrong
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Close-up magic, mentalism and stage shows for corporate events, parties, churches and theatres.
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Based in Milwaukee · performing across Wisconsin · travelling nationwide