Review of “Paranormal Mind Reading Magic” at Horseshoe

Key Points:

• Frederic Da Silva randomly selects members of the audience to participate in mind reading, hypnosis, and more.

• I came into the experience skeptical and left impressed and amazed.

• At $35.88, this show was worth every penny – Highly recommended.

Frederic Da Silva’s Paranormal Mind Reading Magic calls the Imagine Showroom at Horseshoe Las Vegas home and features mental tricks that include mind reading, magic, hypnosis, and brain “hacking” for lack of a better term.

In addition to his stint in Las Vegas, Frederic Da Silva has gained notoriety in numerous contests like “France’s Got Talent” and other European mentalist and magic competitions.

When it comes to stuff like this, color me a skeptic. With that attitude in mind, I hadn’t taken the time to see Paranormal Mind Reading Magic over the years as it just wasn’t something I “bought into”.

That all changed recently when I found myself at Horseshoe with some time to kill.

I bought the cheapest ticket in the theater ($35.88 all-in) and checked it out with the intent of sharing my experience.

What I Liked

Randomized Participation

One of my main concerns coming into the show was that there would be “plants” invited to participate – It’s easy to “read the mind” of someone “in on the bit”.

Those fears were put to rest quickly, as Frederic turned his back to the crowd and tossed frisbees to select the first 4 participants.

A lady in front of me caught a frisbee, and was confused as to what it meant until her group urged her to “Go! You need to go on stage!”. It was obvious to me that she wasn’t “in on the bit”.

The Performance

I was wrong to steer clear of Paranormal Mind Reading Magic for so long. Throughout the first half of the show, I tried… so hard… to poke holes in Da Silva’s work.

I failed.

Finally, I just bought in and enjoyed the show.

I don’t want to give it all away, but some of the most impressive feats included:

Phantom Touches: Two audience members were blindfolded. Frederic then touched one of them in various parts of the body and the other, who was not being touched, indicated they felt the touches in the same spots.

Word Picking: A member of the audience was handed a novel and was told to pick any word from the book they wanted and to write it down. Da Silva didn’t guess the word, but rather a page number and row. He then handed a dictionary to a volunteer to check the page and row… and it was the word initially selected.

I was gobsmacked for lack of a better term. Even if he had a way of knowing the word selected… how would he know where to find that exact word in a dictionary?

The dictionary was then passed around the room so that everyone could verify that the page/row was the word previously selected from the novel.

Blindfolded Serial Number Guessing: Frederic placed quarters over his eyes and wrapped his head in black duct tape. A random member of the audience then produced a dollar bill that Frederic was able to guess the unique serial number of.

Time Guessing: A member of the audience volunteered their mechanical wristwatch so that another audience member on stage could turn the dial to adjust the time until another volunteer told him to “stop”. The random time the arms landed on were guessed correctly.

This is by no means an all-inclusive list of what you’ll see at Paranormal Mind Reading Magic. There’s more mentalism, hypnotism, and even magic to see. I was truly impressed.

Post-Show Meet & Greets

A cool touch, Frederic met any and all audience members outside of the theater following the show for pictures, autographs, or even more mentalism to prove that what they saw on stage wasn’t manufactured.

Unfortunately, I needed to run immediately to catch the Battlebots Destruct-A-Thon, so I didn’t have the opportunity to meet him.

The Theater Itself

The Imagine Showroom at Horseshoe is small, yet modern. It just felt cool.

I slipped into the show with enough time to gauge where the best seats were and was happy to see that the view from all vantage points was pretty darn great.

I sat in the rear general admission section and was placed in the last row on the right side of the theater (as you face the stage).

While I could see everything, those who want to clearly see what’s written on paper, etc. may want to upgrade to the Premium or VIP seats.

Those closer sections also offer an elevated chance to participate on stage, as the frisbees rarely make it to the last couple of rows.

One thing that could potentially be a bummer is that there isn’t stadium-style seating, meaning back roos are at about the same height as the front row.

Now, it’s a small theater and the stage is elevated so it isn’t normally an issue, but I would pity the poor soul who got stuck sitting behind my 6′ 5″ self… Fortunately, I was in the last row.

Something to keep in mind if you’re short or coming with kids. The front rows may be a better option.

What Was Lacking

If you follow my other show reviews or attraction write-ups, you know that I almost always find some faults. Even the best of the best have things they can work on.

This is one occasion where I’m at a loss. This was a great show, in a nice, intimate theater.

There just isn’t anything that left me wanting more.

Is Paranormal Mind Reading Magic Worth the Money?

Tickets to Paranormal Mind Reading Magic start at about $50 with the box office online, but I was able to score a ticket for $35.88 ($28.25 ticket + $7.63 in fees) on Vegas.com – Price it out to get the best deal!

Keep in mind, I came into this skeptical and wasn’t all that excited to see it to begin with.

This show is an absurd value for the $35 I paid. I was wowed. Amazed. Astonished. (Insert other superlatives here).

I don’t get how he was able to do what he did, but it was abundantly clear that no plants were used.

If you’re remotely interested in this type of magic or just want to pursue something out of the ordinary, then Frederic’s show is a must.

Do me a favor, if you figure out his tricks, leave it below in the comments… I’m still a little rattled.

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• Awakening at Wynn

• Atomic Saloon at The Venetian

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