Barry's Guide to Impression Pads and Peek Devices (How to Know What They Wrote)
Mind reading is mostly reading. Here is every way of getting a look at what they wrote, from a £21 envelope to a Post-it pad that costs more than a week in Tenerife.
Every mentalist you have ever seen do the "think of a word and write it down" routine has a secret, and I am sorry to be the one to tell you it is not psychic ability. It is logistics. At some point in that routine the performer found out what was written, usually while standing four feet away looking pained and staring at the ceiling as though the ceiling were being difficult.
The job of every item on this page is to make that moment invisible. Some of them are envelopes. Some are card boxes. One is a Post-it pad with a battery in it. They all do broadly the same thing, which is let you read somebody's handwriting without them knowing you have, and the differences come down to three questions. How natural does it look? How much do you have to do? And what happens when it goes wrong, which it will, usually at a wedding, usually in front of the bride's father.
A quick word on terms, because the magic trade loves a label. A peek is when you secretly look at the writing itself. An impression device is when the writing is copied somewhere else (onto a hidden sheet, or into a phone) and you look at the copy instead. Impressions are cleaner, because you never go near the original. Peeks are cheaper, because they are made of paper. Pick your trade off.
| Device | Price | Type | Batteries |
|---|---|---|---|
| My Worker Peek | £21.50 | Peek | No |
| Akkelian Envelopes | £22.50 | Peek envelope | No |
| Tyvek Peek Envelopes | £24.99 | Peek envelope (10) | No |
| The iDetic Peek | £32.50 | Phone wallet peek | Your iPhone |
| Mental Post-It Pad | £34.50 | Writer holder | No |
| The Cheat | £55.99 | Card box peek | No |
| Insider | £55.99 | Peek system | No |
| Sight Unseen Case II | £58.99 | Business card case | No |
| PeekSmith 3 | £212.99 | Electronic receiver | Yes |
| Iarvel Post-It Pad | £257.99 | Electronic impression | Yes |
Akkelian Envelopes by Spidey
They write something on a card. It goes in an envelope. You get a look at it. Words, numbers, simple drawings, anything they like, and there are no moves to learn, which is the part beginners never believe until they try it. Spidey says that if he could only use one mentalism prop for the rest of his life it would be this one, and I am inclined to take a man at his word when his word is that specific.
Twenty two pounds fifty. It is an envelope, so it looks like an envelope, which is more than can be said for a good number of props on this page. If you have never done a peek in your life, this is where you start, and quite possibly where you stay.
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Tyvek Business Card Size Peek Envelopes (10 pk.) by Alan Wong
Ten business card envelopes with a removable clear window, made from Tyvek, which is the stuff they make courier envelopes out of and is therefore very hard to destroy even if you try. Paper peek envelopes go soft and grubby after a couple of gigs. These do not, and they will also let you write on the card inside, which opens the door to predictions as well as peeks.
They are designed to sit alongside the normal envelopes in the same series (sold separately), so you can hand out a properly ordinary one and keep the working one for yourself. Nobody has ever asked to examine a business card envelope. Nobody ever will. That is the whole point.
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My Worker Peek by Axel Vergnaud
A card, a pen, and a way of seeing what they wrote. That is all it is and it is all it needs to be. You get three methods in the box, which means you can do it more than once for the same group without it becoming obvious that you are always doing the same thing with your left hand.
At twenty one fifty it is the cheapest thing here and it lives in your pocket without taking up the space a card box or a wallet would. If you want something to carry every day for the moment somebody at the bar says "go on then, read my mind", this is a good answer.
View on Monster MagicRight. Envelopes and cards are the foundation. Everything below is somebody trying to hide the same idea inside a more ordinary object, which is a noble aim and occasionally a lucrative one.
Hiding In Plain Sight
The Cheat (Red) by Joel Dickinson
The Cheat is a card box. That is not a disguise, it really is a card box, which is the clever bit. Every card magician on earth carries one, nobody in the audience has ever looked at it twice, and Joel Dickinson has worked out how to make it read their writing for you. Drawings, playing cards, numbers, the name of the ex they are still not over, whatever they put down.
Fifty five ninety nine is a lot for a card box, I grant you. It is not a lot for a peek device that nobody will ever suspect because it is already on the table holding your cards. If your act is mostly card magic and you want to drift into a bit of mind reading without changing props, this is the obvious purchase.
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The Sight Unseen Case (Generation II) by Mark Strivings
A business card case that has been a standard tool for working mentalists for years, and which still looks more innocent than almost anything else sold for the same purpose. Peeks, switches, loads, it does a frankly unreasonable number of jobs for something that looks like it came free with a car insurance renewal.
Generation II adds two ordinary pockets inside. That does not sound like much and the description practically apologises for it, but those pockets open up a whole second set of routines. If you do corporate work, where handing out a business card is the most natural thing in the world, this is the one that will earn its money back fastest.
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Insider by Marc Oberon
Marc Oberon's answer to the problem every peek device has, which is that it does one thing in one situation and falls apart the moment the room is darker, the table is lower or the spectator is standing on the wrong side of you. Insider gives you five different peek techniques, lets you peek again later without suspicion, and works in any lighting, which matters more than people think until they are performing in a restaurant lit entirely by tealights.
You also get ninety minutes of instruction covering eight routines and a decent amount of the psychology behind why peeks get caught, which is the part most people skip and the reason most people get caught. No arts and crafts required. Ready out of the packet, which in mentalism is rarer than you would like.
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The iDetic Peek by Mark Lemon
A MagSafe wallet that clips to the back of your iPhone. They write something, it goes into the wallet, they can even hold the wallet, and your head is turned away the entire time. You can still see what they wrote whenever you like. It works with single billets and multiple ones at once, and it doubles as an actual wallet for your actual business cards.
The obvious catch is that it needs an iPhone with MagSafe, and it will not work on Android no matter how much you want it to. The less obvious catch is that you now have a reason to have your phone out during a performance, which is either a gift or a curse depending on how much the audience already thinks you are on your phone too much.
View on Monster MagicNow we get to the electronics, which is where mentalism went about ten years ago and where a certain kind of magician has been spending his children's inheritance ever since.
The Expensive One
The Iarvel Magic Post-It Pad (Red) by Iarvel Magic
It looks like a pad of Post-it notes. They write on it, and whatever they write is sent to your phone, your Apple Watch or a PeekSmith as they write it. You never touch the pad, you never go near the paper, you can be on the other side of the room. This is an impression device in the purest sense and the effect it creates is about as close to genuine mind reading as I am prepared to admit exists.
It is two hundred and fifty seven pounds ninety nine. For a Post-it pad. I have said that out loud to myself several times and it does not get easier. What you are paying for is the fact that it looks like it cost ninety pence, which is the whole trick, and the battery life, which is good for something this small. If you have the money and you perform mentalism for a living, you will stop resenting it after the first gig. If you do not, buy the Akkelian envelopes and go on holiday instead.
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PeekSmith 3 by Electricks
PeekSmith is not an impression pad. It is the thing you look at. A tiny screen with a vibration motor that takes information from electronic pads, boards, apps and gadgets and shows it to you and only you, without you needing to get your phone out and look at it like a teenager waiting for a reply.
If you are going down the electronic route at all, this is the piece that ties it together, and it works with most of the major magic apps and devices. On its own it does nothing, which is a slightly awkward thing to say about a two hundred pound purchase, so buy it when you have something to plug into it and not before.
View on Monster MagicAnd the other direction entirely
Everything above is about finding out what they wrote. Sometimes you need to secretly write something yourself, which is a different job and needs a different tool. That is what a swami writer (sometimes called a boon or nail writer) is for, and the problem with every swami writer ever made is where to keep it and how to get it on your thumb without looking like you are wrestling a splinter.
For Writing, Not Reading
Mental Post-It Pad by Michel
A normal looking sticky note pad (with real Post-its in it) built to keep a Vernet boon writer exactly where your thumb needs it, so you can write naturally and reset without fuss. Works for left and right handers, and your thumb is free while you hold it, which anyone who has tried to hold a pad and load a writer at the same time will know is not a small thing.
A boon writer is included. Thirty four fifty. If you have a swami writer in a drawer that you gave up on because it kept falling off, this is the thing that will bring it back out.
View on Monster MagicEllusionist's REPLICA pocket impression pad would sit in this list as the old school, no batteries, carbon style impression option, and it is very good, but it has sold out at the time of writing. That is annoying for you and gratifying for Ellusionist. Keep an eye on it.
The short version. Buy the Akkelian envelopes, because they are cheap, they work and they look like envelopes. Buy The Cheat if you are a card person. Buy the Sight Unseen case if you do corporate work. Buy the electronics only when you are already doing this regularly, because a two hundred and fifty pound Post-it pad in the hands of someone who has never done a peek is just a very expensive way to learn you need to practise. Our best mentalism tricks guide covers what to do with the information once you have it, and if you want your peek hidden inside a wallet, Barry's guide to magic wallets is next door.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a peek and an impression device?
A peek is when you secretly look at the original writing. An impression device copies the writing somewhere else, onto a hidden sheet or into your phone, so you never go near the original at all. Impressions are cleaner and usually more expensive. Peeks are cheaper and need a bit more nerve.
What is the best peek device for beginners?
Akkelian Envelopes by Spidey. There are no sleights, it handles words, numbers and drawings, and it costs twenty two pounds fifty. It is also an envelope, so nobody will think it is anything else.
Do electronic impression pads need an app?
Most of them send what is written to an app on your phone, a smartwatch or a dedicated screen like the PeekSmith 3. Check what the pad talks to before you buy it, because a pad with nothing to send to is just a very expensive notepad.
Can spectators examine a peek device?
Some can and most should not. Envelopes and card cases survive a casual look because they really are envelopes and card cases. Electronic pads survive being written on, which is the point, but not being taken apart. Build the routine so the device goes away before anybody thinks to ask.
What is a swami or boon writer?
A tiny writing point that sits on your thumb or finger so you can secretly write a prediction after you know the answer. It is the opposite job to a peek device. The Mental Post-It Pad by Michel exists to make the swami easier to hide and load, and it comes with a Vernet boon writer.
Will a peek device work in a dark room?
It depends on the device. Paper peeks need enough light to read, which is a genuine problem in candlelit restaurants. Insider by Marc Oberon is designed to work in all lighting, and electronic impression pads do not care about light at all because you are reading a screen.
Browse all peek and impression devices
Everything above is in stock (except REPLICA, which is being popular elsewhere), along with plenty of things I did not have the patience to explain. The electronic mentalism range is next door if you have a bonus coming.
Browse peek devices at Monster Magic →