can anyone recommend a no force mental epic?

Try the \"Supreme Slate of Mind\" by Joe Lefler. Very well made, dry erase board which uses the no-force method. I don\'t have one but I know 2 performers that swear by theirs. Retails for $250 which is the only down side.

I\'ve read alot about that one this afternoon. That and Astor\'s mental epic.
they each appear to have their drawbacks. what to do, what to do....

well, if You want to check Astor\'s version, you can see it performed in astor\'s website; the link is the following:

www.astormagic.com/store/index.php?page=...virtuemart&Itemid=26

Or You can check the price in $US Dollars at any convenient American dealer, such as:

www.elmwoodmagic.com/full/mental-astor-epic-astor__5744.htm

Don\'t know if this can help you; anyway a video to watch is far better than a thousand words, as they say...

If you need to ask a specific question (to fit the theme of the event, for instance) you probably should go with Lefler\'s Supreme Slate of Mind. Well made, very clever, no forcing at all.

There is (in my mind) one illogical moment in the process, but it is not a problem unless people see you perform it often.

Thanks for sharing the Astor video. What a clever method!

If you just want to avoid a force, I am happy to share my routine with a standard Epic board. BTW, use the dry erase, since no one uses chalk anymore, and the black on white is so much more visible.

What I do is get three volunteers and ask each of them a question. #1 is asked to name a place they would like to go and spend a week. #2 is asked to name a person they would like to spend an entire day with. #3 is told that I am getting tired and I cannot offer them as many choices as I gave the others. The first person had millions of choices, the second billions of choices, and I just can\'t give them as many choices. I ask them to think of a card - any card except tyhe ace of spades (I have already done a trick with the AS so I disqualify that).

I then reveal that I have named the place, named the person, and after a big dramatic build up, I show that I named the card. I named it Phil. Laughter ensues, and as it dies down, I \"realize\" that this only makes sense to me. \"Let me explain,\" I say as I pick up a deck of cards that has been on the table the whole time. As I show that the backs of the cards all have different names on them, I then find the chosen cards and to a big musical \"tadah!\" I show the back of the card. The name on the chosen card is Phil.

I do the Epic as instructed, except I use Phil Goldstein\'s Phil deck for the final piece. I have four different decks with different names on the card so I can do a repeat performance for the same group next year. The Phil deck is about $20 US and is available at most magic stores. You can get it here. www.hanklee.org/xcart/product.php?productid=8783&cat=0&page=1

A couple of things that make it work. The ending is unexpected. The use of the phrase \"I named his place. I named her person. And I named your card...\" makes it funny. I use this in every stage show I do - for kids and grown ups. It is a lot of fun and I wrote it up in Genii magazine about 10 years ago.

If you have questions, post them here or contact me off board.

thanks. i saw that. but the thing is on one you can\'t show all of the fields uncovered because it\'s made so the cover slides up and down, instead of opening up like a door.
on the other you can completely remove all the covers and show them all fields at the end of the presentation, but check it out - to me the final presentation is compromising.
I\'m trying to be sufficiently vague here, but if you understand the trick you understand the dilemma. what to do, what to do....