“That’s great – I love that.”

– Marc Kerstein

If you don’t have the WikiTest app by Marc Kerstein, this post won’t be of any use for you. Actually, for those kitted out with PeekSmith devices, Apple Watches, or $400 Sharpies with screens in them, this will be useless for you too.

After seeing the newest update of WikiTest that Marc put out, I thought it’d be good timing to share this peek that I’ve been using when performing this effect. This is for those like me, who only have the WikiTest app, the Pro Tools addition, and the phone the app is on (obviously). That’s it. I think this is probably the cleanest approach to doing the peek with a barebones type of setup.

With the dawn of the new $120 DFB app, it’s beginning to be hard not to argue that the current trend in tech/app magic is that clean methods fetch big prices. I want this post to contradict this trend in magic. You don’t need money to have clean-ass methods. (This post emphasizes the ass part, as you’ll see.)

For a long time, I was using the calculator peek. I would do those bullshit calculations and then peek at the top of the calculator. It was good, and it was a motivated action. However, I thought that not having my phone in play at all would be the most deceptive. That being said, I didn’t want to cough up hundreds of dollars for ridiculous little screens. I was toying with the idea of buying a used Apple Watch and taking the straps off so I could hide it somewhere. I quickly gave that idea up because I didn’t want to carry something other than my phone around with me.

Then the idea of this peek suddenly came to me.

You’ll need pants that are not skin-tight per se, but fairly form fitting. Assuming you’re right-handed and that your pants have back pockets, the phone will be positioned in your pocket so that the long edge will be placed against your butt forming a little “T” shape. The top of the phone will be upwards, and the screen will be facing to your right. In other words, you are not putting your phone flat in your pocket as you usually would.

This little situation will resemble a little tent in your back pocket that is held in place through the tension of the pocket pulling on the phone. Important note, the phone isn’t making a perfect “T” shape. The screen is angled slightly away so that it’d point to 2-3 o’clock from your perspective. You’ll be peeking under your right armpit to see the screen, so it’s to make the peek a bit easier.

It will look like this:

You don’t want to flash this weird butt setup to the person you’re performing for. You’ll want WikiTest Pro-Tools for this because you’ll want to use the Auto-Pair feature. I like to have vibrations on so I get confirmations that each step of the setup was done correctly. Get the app on the Auto-Pair page before you stick it in your pocket in that T formation.

(Note: Now that you can make presets on WikiTest, you can set this all up and label it “The Butt Setup” or something.)

Now, have them go to the W.C. page (you know what that stands for, I just don’t want this post to show up on Google). As they click the refresh arrows, with your right hand by your side, you’ll casually double tap the screen of your phone. I try to do this as I’m next to them, or as I’m leaning over their screen to see the “numbers change in real time”. You’ll get a vibration when you’ve successfully paired.

Now back up around 6 feet with your hands in the air. After you tell them to look up whatever they want, you’ll cover your eyes/forehead with your left arm as you look down and to your right. You’ll also put up your right hand to further “block your view” (almost like you’re blocking a very bright ray of light). See the picture at the top for elaboration. Your nose will be practically touching your right armpit. As you do this, you’ll be able to see the screen of the phone in your pocket. Here’s a picture of my point of view. How neat is that?

I enable the pictures in the peek as well, it makes it easy for me to gather information during the peek. I also have the auto-redirect on, so you never have to go near your phone to clean up the routine. I use an auto redirect of 20 seconds. I have them place their screen against their chest when they’ve finished thinking of a word. Then I turn back, and “read their mind”. It’s during this time the screen redirects. This way you don’t have to worry about touching your phone in any way to clean up the routine.

I’ve performed WikiTest this way a handful of times now, and the reactions have been stellar. There have been comments like “And that was on MY phone!” and more importantly, “You had nothing, you got that just from looking at me?” The comment about me not holding or having anything affirmed that my approach of not having any phone in play at all has been effective.

That’s your no external gimmick, (seemingly) no phone, empty hand approach to your WikiTest.

Saved you a few bucks there, friend.