The Equivoque Method

There’s one technique that keeps resurfacing in the minds and sets of top magicians and mentalists. On paper, it’s deceptively simple. In practice, it’s one of the most layered and challenging forces to pull off convincingly.

We're talking about the equivoque force, also called the magician's choice.

Whether you know this force inside out or you're just hearing about it now, we’re confident you’ll find something useful here—including a piece of scientific research that might change everything you thought you knew about equivoque.

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Some of the best minds in magic have explored this force and shared their thinking with the community—among them, the legendary Max Maven, who even recorded a playful video just to clarify how the word is properly pronounced.

More recently, brilliant insights on the topic can be found in the work of British mentalist Hector Chadwick, to name just one. Funnily enough, even Chadwick wrote a blog post discussing the pronunciation of this technique.

So, what is the equivoque force?

It's a way of forcing any item present in a set, using no props, only relying on the script and the interaction with the spectator. Most of the time, this happens through a process of narrowing down to that very item, instead of a single, standalone choice.

The Key Words

The most classic approach to the equivoque force employs the use of the words keep or eliminate.

You have likely seen a magician forcing a card using this method before.

In the context of this force, it’s easier to force a picture card. Why, you may ask? Simple—because the set is smaller, which makes it easier to narrow down the choices to one of the picture cards.

You can imagine the simplest form as this: the magician holds an imaginary deck of cards and splits them into number cards and picture cards. Then, they invite the spectator to name one. Whatever they name, the magician can either keep or eliminate the chosen set to narrow down to the picture cards.

You’ve likely just noticed one of the key tools behind the equivoque force: ambiguous language. If a magician asks the audience to select something, it feels odd to eliminate that exact item. But if the spectator is simply asked to indicate one, they’re left unaware of where the magician is steering the process.

There are many clever ways to make this force stronger and more deceptive.

But let's stop here for a moment. Because that's where, unfortunately, many magicians stop. And since you're reading this, we know you're committed to making the best out of this technique.

The equivoque force isn't just about using the words keep or eliminate at the right time. That's pretty much like hiding a card in your palm and not caring about keeping your fingers closed to avoid exposing it.

As with every technique in magic, you can achieve the most by carefully combining different layers—framing, timing, scripting, and more.

And there's a problem with techniques and forces that use no props: it feels like they almost require no practice. And that's so wrong. "Propless," "hands-off," "self-working" don't mean it's easier to do. These are just marketing labels.

The practice here may not demand sleight-of-hand dexterity, but it leans heavily into effect construction, audience management, and knowing which tools to use—and when.

Let’s dig deeper down the rabbit hole.

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