Have you ever witnessed the Denmark Gray Elephant mentalism trick?
Pretty impressive, right?
I mean, this video was able to guess exactly what you were thinking of.
I’m sure you’re now wondering, “How is it done? Can I learn how to do this trick?”
Here, we’re going to reveal the secret to you. This way, you can amaze your friends and family with your new mind-reading skills.
So are you ready?
Denmark Gray Elephant Mentalism Trick: The Science
Before we get to explaining how to do the actual trick, it’s important to know the science behind it.
The Gray Elephant from Denmark trick is a game of probability.
The trick is set up in such a way that regardless of what number your subject chooses in the beginning, it will always end with the number 4.
The game of chance begins when you ask them to think of a country whose name starts with the letter D (since D is the 4th letter in the alphabet). Although Denmark isn’t the only country that begins with this letter (there’s Dominica, the Dominican Republic, and Djibouti), it is easier to recall.
Compared to the number of countries that start with D, there are more animals with names beginning with the letter E. Asides from the elephants, there are eagles, emus, echidnas, or even an elephant seal.
To make this work you don’t want to give your subject too much time to think about things.
This is why you use the calculations to distract the mind so that when you ask them non-mathematical questions, they’ll automatically think of the most common answer they can think of.
Now that you know the science behind it, let’s get to doing the actual trick.
Denmark Gray Elephant Mentalism Trick: The Steps to Perform the Trick
To master the Denmark Gray Elephant mentalism trick, here is a 10 step guide that you need to memorize to play it out.
Step One: Choose
Ask your subject to choose a number between 1 and 10.
You don’t necessarily have to limit the range, but since it’s a series of mental computations, starting with a large number may make it unnecessarily complicated for your subject.
You don’t want your subject to get the computation wrong – but, remember, you also don’t want to give him too much time to think things through.
So we see how the process goes, let’s say your subject chose the number 6.
Step Two: Multiply
Have your subject multiply their chosen number by 2.
Since we started with 6, multiplying it by 2 brings you to 12.
Step Three: Add
Once your subject has doubled his chosen number, ask him to add 8 to it.
Our last step brought you to 12. Adding 8 makes the number 20.
Step Four: Divide
Ask your subject to divide the number they currently have into 2.
Twenty divided in half makes 10.
Step Five: Subtract
Now ask your subject to think of the original number he chose. He has to subtract that from the number he got after the computations.
Back in step 1, we started with 6. So ten less 6 makes 4. As you can see, the answer to this calculation always ends in the number 4, no matter what number the subject picks.
Step Six: Alphabetize
Tell your subject to tell the number he has and match it to its corresponding letter in the alphabet.
For example, 1 = A, 2 = B, 3 = C, so on and so forth.
Since we ended with 4, we’re working with the letter D.
Step Seven: Location
Once your subject knows what letter he’s working with, ask him to think of a country that begins with that letter.
Argentina
Brazil
Columbia
Denmark
Egypt
France
Germany
Haiti
Indonesia
Japan
Step Eight: The Next Letter
Once they’ve chosen a country with the letter D, tell your subject to focus on the second letter in its name.
Step Nine: Animalize
If they thought of a country in the previous steps, now have them think of an animal whose name begins with the second letter of the country they thought of.
Step Ten: Color
Once they have an animal in their head, tell them to think about what its color is.
Since the subject is distracted with all the calculations, they will most likely think of the most common answers. In this case, Denmark, Elephant, and Gray.
Tada!
You just read (and blew) the mind of your mom, sibling, or best friend!
Denmark Gray Elephant Mentalism Trick: The Unveiling
By the end of the trick, your subject is always thinking of a country, an animal, and a color.
If you’re just starting and want to play it safe, you can ask your subject what color they came up with. If your subject says gray, you know that he thought of Denmark and an elephant.
If your level of confidence is high, you can go straight to telling them they’re thinking of a gray elephant in Denmark. Then sit back and watch the amazement on their faces.
Of course, to master this trick, you’ll first need to memorize the calculation. If you get it wrong, the trick will most likely not work out.
You should also practice on performance. Have great showmanship that the subject believes that you really read into his or her mind.
Some Last Words
The Gray Elephant in Denmark trick is an ideal place to start if you’re a beginner in the art of mentalism.
It’s simple, straightforward, and can easily get the response you want.
However, just because the trick is simple doesn’t mean you can wing it. Even if you’ve got the steps down to a T in your head, it is always different when actually delivering it.
The secret to a successful performance is practice. So give it a go and good luck!
If you’re interested to learn other mentalism tricks, check out Magic Mentalism.