Peter Duffie - Virtual Miracles

VIRTUAL MIRACLES Compiled and Edited by Peter Duffie

TABLE OF LINKS to CONTRIBUTORS Please read the INTRODUCTION first.

Jason Alford Steve Beam David Britland Dave Campbell Aldo Colombini Paul W. Cummins Daryl Peter Duffie Iain Girdwood Phil Goldstein Paul Hallas

Steve Hamilton Pit Hartling J. K. Hartman Richard James Marty Kane Peter Lamont Walt Lees Val Le-Val Gene Maze George McBride Peter McLanachan

Robert Neale Jon Racherbaumer Dave Robertson Robin Robertson Fred Robinson Gavin Ross Allan Slaight Roy Walton Gary Ward R. Paul Wilson Andrew Wimhurst

TABLE OF LINKS to TRICKS Jason Alford

Sandwich Spread

Steve Beam

Remember & Forget

David Britland

AT003 Sweet Little Lies The last Game An Old Bar Bet Offworld

Dave Campbell

Premonition Ricochet

Aldo Colombini

Jump and Pass Twin Expedition

Paul W. Cummins

Phone Home

Daryl

Universal

Peter Duffie

Packet Switch The Topless Bottomless etc...

Iain Girdwood

Gerrymandering Threes

Phil Goldstein

Forked Tongue

Paul Hallas

Easy Number

Steve Hamilton

Stressed Out Card A New Twist

Pit Hartling

The Three Musketeers

J. K. Hartman

Sham on You (Too!)

Richard James

Jack Trapped (Duplicate Card) Jack Trapped (Non-Duplicate)

Marty Kane

The Jack Queen King Ace Trick Best Poker Hands

Peter Lamont

A False Solution

Walt Lees

Royal Ace Cut

Val Le-Val

"X" Marks the Spot Snoz!

Gene Maze

Peeping "Tom" World's Greatest Sponge Ball Routine!

George McBride

Countdown Location Home to Roost

Peter McLanachan

Queen Piece

Robert Neale

Who Is this Woman?

Jon Racherbaumer

Tick-Tock Dot Doc

Dave Robertson

Misdirection Replacement

Robin Robertson

Aldo Colombini's "Chance" Revisited Double Lucky

Fred Robinson

Fred Robinson's Blackjack Stack Poker, Rummy & Bridge

Gavin Ross

On My Way Up

Allan Slaight

Castor & Pollux

Roy Walton

Cardputer

Gary Ward

Countdown Mates Another Countdown

R. Paul Wilson

Diminished Responsibility The Omniscient Queen

Andrew Wimhurst

Whispering Henry's Triumph

Virtual Miracles © Peter Duffie 2000

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Virtual Miracles. An electronic collection of fine card and close-up magic from some of the top names in the field. This book acts just a like web site. The index page contains two tables of contents. The first table lists all the contributors in alphabetical order. Simply click on a name to be taken to his first effect. However, as some people contributed more than one item, a second table lists the contributors but gives links to each individual trick. This is also useful if you want to find a particular trick by name. I would like to thank everyone who participated in this electronic venture. A particular word of thanks to Gary Ward for testing this ebook. And, to Marty Kane and Richard James who also tested the book and helped in other ways. So, click on and enjoy! Best Wishes

August 2000

Virtual Miracles © Peter Duffie 2000

SANDWICH SPREAD By Jason Alford Jason comments, "This is my favourite trick that I’ve ever created! It is very visual! It is my answer to the "purist sandwich challenge" by Richard Kaufman. I've fooled some fast company with this one. Why? Because it's direct and simple. Believe it or not, it's practically self-working." EFFECT The magician shuffles a red deck of cards thoroughly. He then removes two Jokers from a blue deck. A willing spectator removes any card he wishes and signs it across the face. The card is returned to the deck. Our hero the magician slides one of the blue Jokers about 1/3 of the way from the top of the deck. He then slides the other about 1/3 of the way from the bottom. Both are face-down and left outjogged for about 1/2 their length. Our hero then pushes both flush and immediately spreads the deck. The two blue Jokers have somehow come together in the center. They are now separated by only one card. Our hero shows that it is the signed card and leaves to thunderous applause. REQUIREMENTS You will need a red deck and three blue Jokers. Place a small piece of double sided tape in the center of the back of one of the Jokers. Also, you need to place a breather crimp in one of the red cards. If you don't know what a breather crimp is, use a regular crimp. Place this card on the face of the deck. Place one of the Jokers (one without the tape) on the face of the deck (onto the crimped card). The other two Jokers are dropped face-up onto the table. WORKING 1. Shuffle the deck without disturbing the bottom two cards. Be careful not to flash the blue card on the face. Spread the cards and have one removed. As your helper is signing the card, casually cut about 3/4 of the deck to the bottom and hold a break. You should have a pinkie break below the blue back Joker. Your left hand pinkie now kicks the card to the right a little and pulls down on it. This transfers the break to above the blue Joker. 2. Take back the selection and insert it directly into the break. As soon as the card has entered the break, your pinkie can release its break. Leave the card sticking out of the deck for half of its length. Table the deck and slowly push the card flush. 3. You now pick up a Joker (the one with tape on its back) with your left hand, as your right hand lifts up about 3/4 of the deck. Turn the Joker face-down and put it onto the tabled portion. Make sure that you leave it outjogged for half of its length. Replace the right hand cards. As your left hand lifts the other Joker, your right hand lifts the cards up at the break. Place the Joker face down onto the tabled portion. Don't forget to leave it outjogged. Replace the right hand cards on the tabled portion. The Joker with the tape on its back is toward the bottom. When squared, it will stick to the card above it. 4. The selection is now between two Jokers (one is outjogged) about 1/3 of the way down in the deck. All that is left to do is to square the outjogged cards into the deck and spread the cards on the table. It appears as if the two Jokers instantly come together to find one card. Show the trapped card to be the selection. Gather up the cards and run before someone else wants to use the deck!!

************* This effect originally appeared on The Second Deal Website and this is its first appearance outside that members-only forum. [email protected]

REMEMBER & FORGET By Steve Beam EFFECT "When I perform card tricks, people occasionally forget the cards they selected. This makes for an underwhelming climax. So, I decided to make up a card trick where it’s okay to forget at least one of the cards. I call it, ‘Go Fish.’ This is because three of us are going to play a game of fish. I’d like you to shuffle the pack and deal three hands of seven cards each so we can play the game." The spectator shuffles the pack and deals three piles of seven cards. The remainder of the pack is discarded for now. The magician asks a man and woman to assist him. He asks the lady to pick up one of the hands. She is instructed to mix the hand she is holding and then lift off some cards, note and remember the card on the face, and then drop those cards on one of the hands left on the table. "Burn the card you are holding into your memory – I don’t want you to forget it." She is then to hand the remaining cards to the male. He is to mix them, note the top card, and then pick up the remaining untouched hand from the table and drop it on top of the cards he holds. He is then to place all the cards in his hands on the cards on the table. " You are both remembering cards. Who would like to forget their card?" There is an opportunity for humor at this point. No matter who decides to forget their card, the magician takes advantage of it. If it is the man, "That’s funny. The man is always the one who forgets his card." If it’s the woman, "That’s funny. The woman is always the one who forgets her card." The cards on the table are reassembled with the remainder of the pack and the entire pack is cut. The magician states that it’s time to "go fish." The magician turns to the person who was to remember their card which we will assume was the lady. "Do you still remember your card?" She answers in the affirmative. "That’s great. You would be surprised how often I get a negative answer at this point. You’ll agree I couldn’t possibly know what or where your card is since you are the only person remembering it." Again she answers in the affirmative. "I’m going to spell the word ‘remember.’" The magician deals one card for each letter of the word and stops and holds the card at the last letter. "What was the name of the card you are remembering?" He turns over the card he is holding and it is the selection. The magician turns to the person who forgot their card, the male in our example. "A moment ago, you too remembered a card. Then you forgot your card. Do you remember the card you were supposed to forget?" He says that he does. "You do? So, you forgot to forget your card? Well, in that case, let me see if I can find your card too. The card you were supposed to F-O-R-G-E-T." The magician spell/deals the word ‘forget’ and holds the card at the last letter. "What was the card that you forgot to forget?" He names his card and the magician turns over the card he’s holding, the second selection. This is my butchering of an ingenious Roy Walton handling of the now classic plot. Walton’s version entitled The ‘Thing Er Me Jig’ Trick can be found in Some Late Extra Card Tricks. STEVE'S EXPLANATION The trick practically works itself if you follow the above instructions. Before the 21-card packet is added back to the balance of the pack, the cards are in position for a unique revelation. Assuming the lady choose first and the gentleman second, the gentleman’s card will be at the 8th position and the lady’s card at the 15th position. You can spell ‘remember’ from the top of the face down packet and arrive at the gentleman’s card. Continuing from that point and spelling ‘forget,’ you’ll arrive at the lady’s card. If you turn the packet face up, you can spell ‘remember’ and end with the lady’s card followed by ‘forget’ to end with the gentleman’s card. Your role is to have the deck reassembled properly (the 21 cards after the selection along with the balance of the pack that was discarded at the beginning of the trick). If the lady who chose first is the one to remember her card, the balance of the pack is replaced on top of the 21-card packet. The spelling / dealing is then done with the pack face up after a quick false shuffle. If the man who chose second is the one to remember his card, the 21-card packet is placed on top of the balance of the pack. The spelling / dealing is done with the pack face down after a quick false shuffle. That is all that is required to complete the trick. However, I don’t want it obvious that the spelling is done from the same 21-card packet after the deck is assembled. To blur the lines, I make it appear that the spectator controls the point from which I start dealing. This means that if the lady remembered her card, I force the bottom section of the pack. If the gentleman remembered his card, I force the top section of the pack. The force is the same regardless, the only difference is whether the pack is held face up or face down in the process. The Force. If I want to force the top section (to spell the gentleman's card in the above example) I hold the pack face up in the right hand and dribble cards into my palm-up left hand asking the spectator to call stop. When stopped, I place the cards remaining in my right hand face up on the table as my left hand turns its cards face down. I can then spell/deal from the original top of the pack face up onto the face up cards on the table. If I want to force the bottom section, I hold the pack face down in the right hand and dribble cards into my palm-up left hand asking the spectator to call stop. When stopped, I place the cards remaining in my right hand face up on the table as I rotate the cards in my left hand face up. I can then spell/deal from the original bottom half of the pack onto the face up cards on the table. Leftovers. Remember and Forget is a wonderful plot that has many opportunities for humor that are seldom realized. This is because the same person is usually asked to track both cards. When that happens, the person often forgets both of them. This was the reason I use two people for the routine. Using two different sexes for the trick opens the door for numerous opportunities depending on the style of the performer. If the lady is the one to remember her card, just before revealing it, I ask if she remembers her card. When she says that she does, "Well, it has been my experience that women never forget anything." If the lady is the one to forget her card, just before revealing it, I ask her if she remembers the card she was supposed to forget. When she says that she does, I use the same line - "Well, it has been my experience that women never forget anything." Another opportunity for humor is the natural play on words. Did they remember to forget or forget to forget? Did the first one remember to remember or forget to remember? Of course, a little of this type of wordplay goes a long way. Hopefully, you will know best how far you can drag it. [email protected]

AT003 By David Britland Yet another variation on the seemingly infinite permutations three cards can be put through. This routine is the result of experiments with Roy Walton’s ‘The Changeling’ from The Devil’s Playthings. It can also be considered a version of a Dai Vernon problem in which any one of three cards is transformed into the spectator’s selection. Here you show that it really could have been any of the three, any one at all. WORKING 1. To begin, remove the Ace, Two and Three of Clubs from the deck and display them face up in numerical order with the Three uppermost. Ask the spectator to think of "any card in the pack… except one of these…." 2. Flip the three Club cards face down and deal them, from left to right, onto the table in a row, saying, "…the Ace, Two or Three" Sneakily you execute a Bottom Deal on the first card so that the Three goes down instead of the Ace. The order of the cards has therefore been secretly displaced and the incorrect order branded onto the spectator’s memory. 3. Hand the spectator the deck and ask him to pull out his "thought-of card" and then show it to his friends without revealing it to you. Have the card replaced in the deck and then secretly control it to the top under the guise of a shuffle. 4. Point to the tabled cards once again, calling them "the Ace, Two and Three of Clubs" as you indicate each card. "Now I said you could think of any card except one of these but if you had picked one of these which would you have chosen?" The spectator points to one of the tabled cards, let’s say it is the supposed Ace. "The Ace?" you say. Pick the card up and Hofzinser Top Change it for the selection as you snap the card a couple of times. Rub it on your sleeve, tap it against a glass, blow on it or do whatever it takes to provide that moment of magic. Now turn it face up to reveal it has changed into the thought-of card. It is worth noting at this point that the deck stays face down in the left hand for the rest of the handling. 5. "Of course you’re probably wondering what would have happened if you’d pointed to another card. What if you’d chosen the Two instead of the Ace?" There’s a system in operation here. You’re moving clockwise along the row. If the spectator originally nominated the "Ace," you now pick up the "Two" by scooping the face down card up from the table with the face up selection held in the right hand. The two cards are face to face at the right thumb fingertips in a position that will facilitate the Paddle Move that is to follow. Rub the pair on the left sleeve, executing the Paddle Move in the process. You’re really just curling the fingers in to secretly turn the packet over. When the right hand returns to its palm up position the lower card of the pair will be a face up Ace. Push it onto the table, face up, in the vacant spot that the original "Ace" occupied. It is, appropriately enough, the Ace. Now slowly turn the card in your right hand face up. It is the thought-of card. 6. "But you always get someone who says I didn’t choose the Ace and I didn’t choose the Two." Use the face up thought-of card to scoop up the remaining face down tabled card. Repeat the previous sequence to transform it into the thought-of card while replacing the Two on the table. Finish the routine by Hofzinser Top Changing the thought-of card for the Three, which is on top of the deck. END NOTES This is just a basic handling to put forward the cyclical notion of the changes. If, say, the "Three" is the first card chosen then you start over at the other end of the row and use the "Ace" for your second transformation. You can spruce the routine up with all kinds of Through the Fist flourishes or Paddle Move substitutes. And it’d be nice to finish with something other than a repeat of the Hofzinser Top Change. When I came up with this, more than a decade ago, I favoured Al Smith’s P. C. Change or Twitch Switch as it was called in the original series of Talon magazine but there are even more spectacular changes available which would give it suitable flourish-gilded finale. To each his own. mailto:[email protected] GO TO DAVID'S NEXT EFFECT!

SWEET LITTLE LIES By David Britland For this odd truth and lies routine you’ll need need the ability to cull cards secretly, execute Marlo’s Simple Shift neatly and four counters or poker chips. The chips have lettering on both sides. Chip One: Says RED on one side and BLACK on the other. Chip Two: Says SPOT on one side and COURT on the other. Chip Three: Says HEARTS on one side and DIAMONDS on the other. Chip Four: Says CLUBS on one side and SPADES on the other. WORKING 1. Begin by throwing the counters onto the table and handing the deck out for shuffling as you tell the spectators some fable about the deck being a handy device that enables you to sort fact from fiction. Request the help of a spectator whose eyes are perhaps too close together and tell him he looks like the sort of person who might be able to tell a fib or two with sincerity. Ask him if he’d mind helping and when he replies that he wouldn’t mind at all congratulate him on his ability to lie so effectively! 2. Have him select and remember one card from the deck. It’s returned and you secretly control it to the face of the deck. Give the deck a cut but retain a left little finger break below the selection. Retain the break as the right hand hinges the deck over on its side, turning it face up and splitting the deck at the break, giving you a brief glimpse of the index card of the selection. This is a standard move. 3. Close up the deck but retain the break. Now you’re going to spread through the deck and upjog three cards including the selection. At the same time you’ll be looking for some other cards. You’ll need to find a card that is the same colour as the selection, one that is the same suit and another that is either a spot card or court card depending of course which one of these the selection also happens to be. Ready? Go! Let’s assume that the selection is the Three of Spades. As you spread the cards face up, from the left to right, cull any Spade that is also a spot card. As you reach one third of the way in from the face outjog any card that contrasts well with the selection. Let’s assume that the Queen of Hearts (a card totally dissimilar to our Three of Spades) has been upjogged. Continue spreading until you arrive at the selection. You held a break above it just in case you forgot it. Look at the card immediately above it. Ideally it should be a spot card just like the selection. If it is then just outjog the selection. If it isn’t then divide the spread at this point so that the culled card becomes the rear card of the upper portion, and then outjog the selection. The culled card, you will remember, was a spot card. You’ll see why in a moment. Continue spreading until you’re two thirds of the way through the deck. Look for any card of the same suit as the selection, in this case Spades. Now outjog the card immediately below the Spade card. You’ve now got three cards upjogged. If you didn’t have to use the culled card when you upjogged the selection, then continue spreading to the end of the deck so that the culled card becomes the rearmost card of the pack. If you did get rid of the culled card earlier, then cull any black card and move it to the rear of the deck. Whew! Almost there. And it’s not as complicated as it sounds, honest. Occasionally you can set the whole trick up without ever needing the culled card. Anyway, square the sides of the deck and flip the cards face down in the left hand. Spread the three upjogged cards and then hold the deck up towards the spectators so that they can see their faces. Tell them you have made three guesses as to the identity of the selected card. They can see that one of them is indeed the selection. Add that the only way you can be sure is to use the services of your cards as a lie detector. 4. Square the three projecting cards so that they are once again parallel with the deck. Lower the hand and deck in preparation for the Marlo Simple Shift. With the right hand pick up Chip Number One and tell the spectator that you are going to ask him three questions regarding the identity of his selected card. He can lie or tell the truth as he pleases during this interrogation. Question number one is, "Was your card red or black?" Place the chip on the left of the table top with his answer uppermost. Pick up Chip Number Two and ask, "Was it as spot card or a court card?" Place the chip in the centre of the table with the appropriate answer uppermost. Ask him for the suit of his chosen card and pick up either Chip Number Three or Four and place it with the appropriate side up on the right of the table. Pocket the remaining counter. We’re nearly there. 5. Tell the spectator that you’ll have his answers verified by the pasteboards. Perform Marlo’s Simple Shift, pressing the outjogging cards into the deck so that they plunge out a block of cards from the inner end. Grip the plunged-out block with the right hand and twist it ninety degrees to the right. Move the block back, clear of the left hand cards, and then strip it out away from the deck. You’ll find that it emerges with one card (the selection as it happens) projecting face down from the block. Now put all the left hand hands face down next to the left hand chip. Place the right hand packet next to the centre chip. Cut this packet at the projecting card and place these cards next to the right hand chip. Take the projecting face down card and place it forward of all the chips. 6. Time for the truth. Point to the left hand chip, which displays the spectator’s answer as to whether his card was red or black. Turn over the top card of the left hand packet for the correct answer. It will be the same colour as the selection. Chide the spectator suitably if he had tried to lie. Similarly the top card of the centre packet will reveal whether the spectator’s card was a court card or spot card. And the top card of the right hand packet provides the suit. Finally, recap what you have gleaned so far regarding colour, denomination and suit and ask the spectator to tell the truth for the first time. He answers and you turn over the single face down card to reveal, in this instance, the Three of Spades. END NOTES It’s a simple routine. Bits of paper can be substituted for prepared counters although I prefer the latter. It’s one of a number of routines I developed which exploits the revelatory possibilities inherent in the Marlo Simple Shift. The first of these, Computer Deck, was originally described in Babel magazine many moons ago.

GO TO DAVID'S NEXT EFFECT! BACK TO DAVID'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

THE LAST GAME By David Britland This poker routine began as an attempt to simplify Karl Fulves’ According to Hoyle, which was published in his The Magic Book. It’s a poker deal in which the spectators get the opportunity to switch hands during the game. Fulves’ own stack was more suited to someone who played poker and was not easily remembered. The following stack is much simpler and you always win with a four-of-a-kind, a hand easily recognised even by non-players. I’ve also added the repeat deal and final blow-off, proving that the spectator just can’t win. Remove the Ten of Clubs, Ten of Hearts and Ten of Diamonds from the deck and place them in the card case, wallet or anywhere else that you can produce them from later in the routine. The rest of the deck is stacked as follows, from the top: AS, KS, QS, JS, 10S, AD, KD, QD, JD, X, AH, KH, QH, JH, X, AC, KC, QC, JC, REST OF DECK. The "X" can be any card. A quick glance will reveal that you are merely stacking the Royal Flushes minus the missing Ten spots. The flushes can be in any order as long as the Spades are on top and the other values follow the order of the Spades. For now use the above stack until you become familiar with the principle. PHASE ONE 1. Bring out the deck and give it your best False Shuffle, retaining the stack. Tell the spectators that you will show them a very unusual game of poker. Nominate four spectators to help as you finish your shuffles and cuts. Announce that you will deal a five handed game, five cards each, but each person at the table will get a chance to swap his cards with yours as the game proceeds. 2. Deal out the first five cards, from left to right, dealing to yourself last. Point out that you each have one card and that one of the spectators can now swap with you, "Who will it be?" Let them choose the lucky person and then openly exchange your card with his. No one looks at their cards while this happens. 3. Deal a second round of cards so that you now have two cards each. Invite another spectator to swap his two cards with both of yours. It can be anyone except the person who swapped cards in the first round. 4. The cards are exchanged and you deal a third round. Again one of the spectators exchanges his hand of cards with yours. This leaves only one spectator who has not swapped. It also tells you which four of a kind you will end up with at the end of this phase. As you deal the cards are being dealt out Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten (or indifferent card). So, let’s say the second spectator from the left is the only one who has not swapped. You now know that you will end up with four Kings at the finish. Two rounds of cards have yet to be dealt but you could, if you wished, mention that you are trying to force the spectators to part with the four Kings. 5. Deal the fourth round of cards and ask the spectator, the one who has not yet exchanged cards) whether he would like to swap cards now or wait until the last round of cards is dealt. It makes no difference what he decides. Swap cards if he chooses and then deal a fifth round. Alternatively deal and then swap. 6. At this stage you have the winning hand but you play up the impossibility angle by offering them another choice. Tell them that only one spectator may play against you. Without looking at their cards they choose who it should be. Pick up the discarded hands and place them on top of the deck. Don’t shuffle each hand, just drop them one atop the other and then onto the deck because you are setting up Phase Two. Finally, the nominated spectator turns over his hand as you turn over yours. You win with four of a kind. Don’t disturb the order of either hand as you pick them up and drop them on top of the deck. It doesn’t matter which hand goes on top of which. PHASE TWO 7. False Shuffle and Cut as you tell the spectators that you had, of course, psychologically forced them to give up their best cards. This time you’ll give them a straight deal, no swaps. 8. Deal out five hands of poker from the top of the deck, dealing yourself last. Ask the spectators to choose one of their number to play against you. They choose and you now surprise them by saying that maybe, you’ve already forced a choice so you give him a chance to pick any one of the hands, bar yours, on the table. The situation is, reading left to right, the first hand contains only spot cards, hands two to four contain Royal Flushes minus the Ten spots, your hand contains a Royal Flush in Spades. If the spectator chooses hands two, three or four then just return the discarded hands to the deck. If he chooses hand number one let him take it, then say that you’re feeling lucky tonight and you’ll let another spectator play against you. He chooses one of the remaining hands. If you now have two spectators playing against you: Get number one to look at his hand (the spot cards) and offer him the opportunity to discard some of his cards and take replacements from the deck as is usual. Make sure he shows his hand to everyone who is watching so that they can feel part of the game. He exchanges cards and then you ask number two (holding what is almost a Royal Flush) to do the same. Of course he will discard only one card in the hope of filling his Royal Flush with the missing Ten. If you’re only playing against one spectator: It will be the one trying for the Royal Flush. In these circumstances I offer him the opportunity of discarding a card (or cards?) and choosing the replacement from anywhere in the deck which I spread face down across the table. Nothing could be fairer. 9. The spectators turn over their hands, one at a time, and you reveal yours to show an unbeatable Royal Flush. Finally, look at the spectator who was trying to fill a Royal Flush and ask him, naively, which card he was looking for. He will reply, "Ten of Diamonds," or whatever, and you say, "I never take chances" and produce the missing Ten Spot from your card case or wallet. Be sure not to let the spectators see the other two cards that are in there. This should get a great response if you’ve been able to get the spectators involved with the win or lose situation. END NOTES If you are going to use this, you might like to produce the missing Ten spot from up your sleeve in classical card cheat fashion. This routine is particularly adaptable to a pseudo mental presentation because you know the type of hand you are going to win with and how the spectator will lose in the final phase. Judicious use of some alternative predictions could produce a very strong mental effect. Give some thought to the presentation and you may have something you’ll use for a long time. One final point. If you are performing this routine for people who know a little more about poker than you do, you may find that in the second phase they will not want to exchange any cards. This will be because they possess a flush (five cards of the same suit) and will not risk swapping one of their cards in order to obtain the Ten spot. In order to prevent this just ensure that all the indifferent cards in the set-up are of the Spades suit. This way they’ll never end up with a flush following the deal in the second stage of the routine.

GO TO DAVID'S NEXT EFFECT! BACK TO DAVID'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

AN OLD BAR BET By David Britland "I have three coins in my hand," said Steven and held his hand out so that everyone could be sure exactly which hand he was talking about. "What?" said Eric, who obviously had no idea what was going on. Steven started over again, holding out his closed right hand for all to see, saying, "I have three coins in my hand." "So," said Eric. "So the strange thing is that these three coins add up to eight pence but one of them isn't a one-pence piece. Which three coins have I got?" Eric realised that it was another one of Steve's party tricks. He looked at Steve and said, "Don't be stupid. You can't have only three coins if one of them isn't a one-pence piece. How are they going to add up to eight pence?" "That's what I'm asking," said Steve. "I have three coins in my hand, they add up to eight-pence and yet one of them isn't a one-pence piece. Which coins do I have?" Steven smiled. He liked bar bets and this was his favourite. He'd already conned Eric out of the first round of drinks and now that his glass was empty it seemed time for another. Eric hated puzzles of every sort but most of all he hated Steven's smugness that seem to come with every one. Steven held his arm outstretched, the fingers of his right hand clutching the coins tightly as if they were a dark secret. I should force his hand open, thought Eric, and break every finger. That would show the smug bastard. If they'd been on their own he might have done just that but today they were in company and Laura sat at the pub table seemingly entranced by the impromptu entertainment. Anyway, he fancied Laura, always had, and wasn't yet drunk enough to make a complete fool of himself by throttling Steve across the table and forcing the coins down his throat. Eric tried to parry Steve's question by turning to Laura, saying, "Well, mastermind over there says he's got three coins that all add up to eight-pence, but one of them isn't a one-pence piece. Can't be done can it?" Laura, roused from her thoughtfulness, said, "If it wasn't for the business about not having a one-pence piece, I would have known. It would have to be a penny, twopence and a five pee, wouldn't it?" Steven, another fan of the softly spoken Laura, immediately opened his hand to reveal the very coins Laura had named: a penny, two-pence and five-pence piece. "Very good Laura, right again. That's two to you and none to Eric. Must be feminine intuition." Eric stared at the three coins, baffled, thinking he must have misunderstood something but not sure what. Finally indignation triumphed over embarrassment and he shouted so that he could be heard above the general buzz of the pub, "You said that one of the coins wasn't a penny!" Steve looked straight at him, smiled then winked at Laura. Eric realised he'd just made a fool of himself again. "Yes, I did didn't I?" said Steve. He lifted up the five-pence piece and tossed it to the table where it spun and wobbled with a hollow rattling sound. "Yes, one of the coins isn't a penny. This one. It's a five-pence piece!" Laura and Steve laughed as the coin spun around a couple of more times before lying on the table as flat as Eric's ego.

GO TO DAVID'S NEXT EFFECT! BACK TO DAVID'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

OFFWORLD By David Britland Marlo was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt about that. No more twisted cigar wrappers littering restaurant tables, no more Marlo’s Magazine, no more double-digit versions of whatever card plot interested him at the time. No more letters to cardmen pointing out the error of their ways and the righteousness of his. What the Dickens am I talking about? Well….. Marlo’s obsession with card magic was not confined to his own books and magazine articles. He made it a point to read as much as he could about everything anyone else was doing in the field. And, if he thought that you had unwittingly trespassed onto territory he considered his, he would write a long and detailed letter pointing out the true source of your ideas. As it happens, that source usually turned out to be Marlo and as a consequence his letters had an air of pique about them rather than a willingness to share information. I’ve seen several such letters and even received one myself. But the most unusual example I ever saw was addressed to Terri Rogers. Marlo had read, in her book Secrets (1986), a description of an "Out of this World" effect she had seen performed: I dealt the cards into two piles and he did not stop me at any point. This knocked me for six. He didn’t divide the cards either, but what he did do was brilliant and new; a completely original concept. It was seeing this breakthrough which inspired me to think again and what I came up with does look quite impressive. Terri then went on to describe her version of the Paul Curry classic, a version in which the deal is not stopped halfway through (see "Curry Flavour"). Marlo though took umbrage at Terri’s claim that it was "a completely original concept" and pointed her in the direction of some of his own original concepts. He was probably right but the letter was galling all the same especially as the trick hadn’t even been fully described. Until now that is because the person who performed the trick that Terri saw was me. The trick has an ignominious history, Long before Marlo had lambasted it, it had the honour of being rejected for publication by Donald Bevan of Abracadabra magazine. This was back in 1976. Donald thought it too complicated. Now just what kind of trick can be dissed by Marlo, rejected by Abra and considered inspirational by Terri Rogers? You’re about to find out, but only if you follow through with cards in hand. Begin by setting up your face down fifty-two card deck with the red cards on top and the black cards below them. WORKING 1. False Shuffle and Cut and generally convince your audience that you’re handling a shuffled deck. Spread the top half of the deck and have a card selected. It will be a red card. Have it remembered and replaced in the lower half of the deck, among the black cards. False Shuffle and Cut again, ostensibly to lose the selection. 2. Hand the deck to the spectator and tell him that you’d like to try an experiment in imagination. Ask him to imagine the colour of the top card of the deck. It might be red or black. It can be either, it all depends on his imagination. Caution him not to tell you what he has in mind. "Red or black, just imagine it, don’t tell me." Ask him to deal the top card face down on the table. You now explain the exercise more fully. "Because what I want you to do is imagine the colour of each card and deal all the red cards in one pile and all the black cards in the other. Now you have one card on the table already. If the next card is the same colour, then deal it on top of it. If it’s a different colour, then start a new pile." Basically you’re giving him the usual "Out of This World" instructions and he’s dealing the cards into two piles, one red, one black. The difference is that only he knows which pile is which. After all, the difference exists only in his imagination. 3. Magicians will be waiting for you to stop the deal half way through. You don’t. Instead, when the deck has been dealt into two piles, you ask the spectator which pile did he imagine contained all the red cards. He points to one and you turn it face up. He should be astonished to find that there is a red card at its face. "You must have a strong imagination." 4. Pick the other packet up, keep it face down and Faro Shuffle it into the face up packet. Use a standard in the hands Straddle Faro. The face down half is closest to you. The face up half is furthest away from you. As you push the two halves together your left thumb riffles down the side of the face up outer packet. You’re surreptitiously looking for the dividing point between the red cards and the black cards. Squeeze the packets together, creating a break at this dividing point. This takes just a moment as you say, "Let’s see how strong. Because if I shuffle the packets together like this, then all the face up cards should be red. Can you imagine that?" You then spread the deck across the table but just before you do so you Half Pass the lower portion at the break. Amazingly, all the face up cards are red. "But what was your card?" The spectator names it. You look through the face up reds, saying, "because all the red cards are here except one…." And you repeat the name of the selection. "Wouldn’t it be odd if it was the only card among the blacks?" Either flip over the spread or scoop it up and respread it across the table. All the cards showing will be black with the exception of the red selection.

************** And that’s it. Well almost. If you went through the trick with the cards in hand you probably discovered that some cards, either at the top or bottom of the spread, were out of place. Don’t worry about it. I never did. What you need to do is the best Straddle Faro you can when you mix the cards and then, just in case some are still out of order, be careful not to expose the top or bottom couple of cards when you make that first spread. That way you will hide any errors. Hey, what do you want, perfection? I’m sure there must be a simple way of guaranteeing the accuracy of the Faro but I’ve never nailed it down. Let me know if you do. The trick is certainly not better than the simple genius of "Out of This World," a trick that has survived all attempts at improvement, but it’s good for entertaining fellow magicians. And who knows, if Marlo is somewhere out there reading this, we may be graced with another of his formidable letters. Let’s hope so. mailto:[email protected] BACK TO DAVID'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

PREMONITION By Dave Campbell Dave Campbell was one of Scotland’s premier thinkers. When he passed over in January 1994, the loss to Scottish magic was tremendous. As a tribute to the great man, here are two of his clever routines. EFFECT The deck is shuffled then spread face down and a spectator is invited to touch the back of any card. This is a completely free selection. The card that he touches is flipped face up along with the one directly next to it. These two cards might be the Ace of Hearts and the Six of Clubs. The spectator is given another choice, that is to create IN HIS MIND ONLY, one new card from the two he selected. So from the two just mentioned, he could create either the Ace of Clubs, or the Six of Hearts. He now takes the deck and deals through face up with the instruction to stop when he comes to the card that is in his mind. He deals straight through without stopping because his card is not there. You immediately reach into your pocket and bring out the card which you placed there before you left the house due to a premonition. BACKGROUND The "Premonition" effect is one that intrigued Dave for many years ever since he bought the Eddie Joseph version, which used pocket indices. The original version of the effect and method appeared in J.N. Hofzinser's Card Conjuring (1931) under the title of "Domination of Thought". Hofzinser used the same method as Eddie Joseph to achieve the same effect. (See "Domination of Thought" second version) The main difference was that Hofzinser didn't have pocket indices, instead a deck was split between four different pockets. Considering that there were only thirty-two cards in a deck, this was a fairly workable method. Dave disliked the pocket index method to produce the card and experimented with the effect. He eventually hit upon a method with which he was "absolutely delighted". Unfortunately, Edward Marlo had come up with exactly the same method some years previously, and so it was back to the drawing board. The story resumes when Dave received a copy of Jerry Sadowitz' magazine The Crimp, issue number 10. In this issue, Steve Hamilton had published his excellent routine "Thinking Out Loud". Steve's trick also appeared in the Roger Crosthwaite compilation card book, Roger's Thesaurus. The principle used in this trick intrigued Dave and he quickly saw that it could be used to achieve the "Premonition" effect which would obey the strict conditions that he had set himself, and which until now had evaded him. Only one regular deck is used, and nothing else. The method closely follows Steve's original "Thinking Out Loud", with the main alterations coming in at the end which send the effect off in a different direction. A full deck stack is required, and this is the same arrangement as used by Steve in his original routine. The stack is basically the classic Eight Kings set-up but with the cards set in PAIRS, though any other similar stack, such as Si Stebbins, can be used. Here is the stack reading from the top down:

8C-8H KC-KH 3C-3H 10C-10H 2C-2H 7C-7H 9C-9H 5C-5H QC-QH 4C4H AC-AH 6C-6H JC-JH 8S-8D KS-KD 3S-3D 10S-10D 2S-2D 7S-7D 9S-9D 5S-5D QS-QD 4S-4D AS-AD 6S-6D JS-JD. WORKING 1. With the deck stacked as above give it any False Shuffle that retains full order, followed by a False Cut. 2. Spread the deck face down between your hands and ask a spectator to touch the back of any card, saying, "I will turn whichever card you want face upwards along with the card that lies directly next to it." This is a true statement, however, the colour of the card touched will determine which card on either side of the selection is also turned. So, once the spectator has touched a card, flip it face up keeping it in position in the spread. If it is a red card you flip over the card immediately to its left. If it is a black card you flip over the card immediately to its right. Dave used Steve's memory jogger to avoid any unnecessary thinking here:

RED AHEAD - BLACK BACK 3. At this point there are two face up cards in the spread, and owing to the pre-arrangement of the deck along with the above simple rule, these will always be of different values, and different colours. Remove all the face down cards to the right (above) of the face up pair and place them to the bottom thus bringing the two face up selections to the top. Deal the two face up cards onto the table so that they lie side by side. Let us assume that the two cards are the Ace of Hearts and the Six of Clubs. If you check the top and bottom cards of the deck you will find that they are the Six of Hearts and the Ace of Clubs respectively. These are your essential cards in what is to follow. Hold the deck in readiness for an Overhand Shuffle and milk off the top and bottom cards together then shuffle off the rest of the cards on top. Now cut off the top half of the deck and Faro it into the lower half, ensuring that you begin your Faro above the bottom two cards. The Faro is merely to destroy the stack so there is no need for perfection. An in-the-hands Riffle Shuffle could be substituted. 4. Spread the deck face down between your hands as you say, "You have selected two different cards completely by chance and the rest of the deck has been thoroughly shuffled. If you look at these two cards you will notice that you can make another two cards by using their properties. By taking the value of this card and the suit of the other, you could make up the Ace of Clubs....or, if you take the value of that one and the suit of the other you would have the Six of Hearts." Here, you point out the two possible combinations of value and suit between both cards which will give two completely different cards. As you speak close up the spread and obtain a left little finger break above the bottom two cards then immediately Palm them into your right hand. If you find this Palm difficult, then a regular left hand Bottom Palm can be used. As you make the Palm, ask the spectator to hold out his left hand palm up. The instant the Palm has been made, take hold of the outer end of the deck with your right hand and turn it face up, while at the same time you hold out your left hand palm uppermost by way of demonstrating what is required of the spectator. Place the face up deck onto his outstretched hand then relax. You will have to vary the foregoing procedure slightly if you have palmed the cards into your left hand. 5. At this stage the spectator appears to have all the cards in his possession with the exception of two, and these are lying in full view on the table. He has yet to make his decision on a card, so the position is a very strong one from an audience point of view. Of course, it doesn't matter which of the two possible cards the spectator finally decides upon, because you have both of them securely in your palm! Ask the spectator to decide on one of the two combinations, which he does openly and out loud. Now say, "Make a vivid mental picture of that card in your mind. Now I want you to deal the cards face up onto the table and when you reach your card STOP, and I will show you a wonderful coincidence." Allow the spectator to deal through the entire deck and of course his card will not be there, at which point you say, "That is the wonderful coincidence....because I removed your card before we started and placed it in my pocket." Reach into your inside jacket pocket with the two palmed cards, and as a memory check you will be able to glimpse the colour of the front card as your hand goes to the pocket. Leave the unwanted card behind in the pocket and bring out the correct card with its back towards the audience, then dramatically turn it round to conclude. NOTE: If you have used a regular left hand Bottom Palm, you will not be able to make the final glimpse, therefore, you will need to remember the colour order of these cards by glimpsing the face card of the deck during the Faro. END NOTES As with Steve's original "Thinking out Loud" routine, there are two crucial cards that must not be touched by the spectator, otherwise the trick won't work. These are the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh cards. This is easily controlled by spreading the upper half widely, and if no decision is taken, the middle few cards are then pushed over together and the remainder of the cards spread. A small problem, but one that you must be aware of. However, if you care to think about it, the two composite cards which can be made from our two Jonah cards lie at the second from top and second from the bottom positions. GO TO DAVE'S NEXT EFFECT!

RICOCHET By Dave Campbell EFFECT A spectator (A) selects a card and signs his name across the face. You take this card and place it into your inside jacket pocket. A second spectator (B) selects a card, signs his name across the face, and this card is placed face down between two face up Jacks. A third spectator (C) selects a card, signs his name across the face, and this is buried into the middle of the deck. Now the fun starts. You attempt to cause the third selection to shoot out of the deck, only to find it is now the second spectator's card which is supposed to be between the Jacks. The card between the Jacks is removed and it is now seen to be the first spectator's card which is supposed to be in your pocket. You finally remove the card from your pocket to show that it is now the third spectator's card. The first revelation is a slight variation on Peter Kane's classic "Shooting Joker" which appeared in Hugard's Magic Monthly (1963), and also "Single Shot" which can be found in A Card Session with Peter Kane (1967). WORKING 1. Remove the two red Jacks and place them face up on the table to your left and forward. Remove the Ace of Spades and place it face up on the table to your right and forward. 2. Spread the deck face up between your hands and invite spectator A to select a card. Hand him a pen and have him sign his name across the face. As he doing this, close up the spread and obtain a little finger break below the top face up card. Take the selection and place it momentarily face up on top of the deck, tilt your hand inwards slightly, then insert your right first finger into the break and withdraw the second card from the face. Without pause, your right hand places the card into your left inside jacket pocket, as you say, "I'll do a trick with your card later." 3. The first selection is on the face of the deck, so turn the deck face down and shuffle the bottom card to the top. Turn the deck face up again and spread the cards, inviting spectator B to select a card and sign his name across the face. While he is doing this turn the deck face down. Take the card from him and place it face down on top of the deck to allow your right hand to slide the two face up Jacks towards you. Now bring your right hand back and execute a Second Deal, switching selection B for selection A, which you place between the two face up Jacks. 4. Once again turn the deck face up and have spectator C select a card and sign his name across its face. As he is doing this, turn the deck face down, then raise the inner end of the top card of the deck in readiness for the Vernon Depth Illusion (Tilt). Take the third selection and apparently insert it face down into the middle of the deck, really executing Tilt so it finishes second from the top. The top card of the deck is selection B and selection C is below it. 5. Cut off less than half the deck from the top and weave this section into the larger bottom section for about one inch. Turn the smaller section so that it is at right angles to the larger section, with both sections forming an L shape. Hold the larger portion in your left fist with the upper portion pointing forwards to represent a hand gun. The faces of the cards should be facing to your left. Selection B is the topmost card of the upper angled section. As your right hand picks up the Ace of Spades from the table, turn your left hand so that the faces of the cards are towards the audience. Turn the Ace so that it faces the same way as the cards in the deck, and place it against the back of selection B. Slide the Ace down so that it enters the larger section and comes out at the bottom, at which point you stop and position the card so that it is downjogged from the bottom of the larger section. Move the downjogged Ace gently upwards until you feel the edge of the card touch the edge of selection B. This will leave about an inch or so of the Ace still downjogged. Tilt the deck (gun) to a forty degree angle then flick the downjogged ace sharply with your right first finger. This will cause selection B to shoot out of the deck, into the air and land face down on the table. 6. Ask spectator C to turn over the card to discover that it is spectator B's card. While he is doing this, strip out the smaller portion of the woven deck and place it on top of the larger portion. Ask spectator B to remove the card from between the two Jokers to find spectator A's card. As this revelation is occurring, Palm the top card of the deck into your right hand. Finally reach into your left inside jacket pocket and bring out the palmed card at your fingertips. Turn it round to reveal the third and final phase of this pasteboard ricochet.

GO BACK TO DAVE'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

JUMP AND PASS By Aldo Colombini EFFECT Two selected cards change places with the four Kings! The trick has some affinity with a Phil Goldstein routine that requires one to be seated at the table. I have changed the handling a little so that I can do the same routine standing up. Give it a try and see for yourself how strong it is. WORKING 1.Remove the four Kings from the deck and leave them aside. Have two cards selected from the deck of the same suit (say they take the 5H and the 9H). Leave the deck aside. Pick up the four Kings and place them face down in your left hand. The KH (same suit of the selections) is the top card. 2. The right hand picks up the two selections and places them face up onto the packet. Steal the KH below them as you square them and lift the three-card packet from above with the right hand. The left thumb slides off the top card (say the 9H). This card is turned face down and taken below the right hand cards. Repeat with the next card (5H) which is flipped face down and taken under the right hand cards. Hold the three-card packet from above in the right hand. From top down: KH, 9H, 5H. (in your left hand you have the other three Kings). Have a spectator check inside the card box. At the same time the right hand is above the left hand and drops the bottom two cards (selected ones) onto the left-hand cards. The right hand holds only the top card (KH) from above. Place the KH into the card box (to the audience you are inserting the two selections just shown). Leave the card box to a spectator to hold. 3. Spread the top three cards keeping the last two as one and show four cards. Square the packet. Flip the top three cards face up as one onto the cards remaining in the left hand showing a King. Turn the left hand palm down, turning the cards as well and with the left hand remove the bottom King (the one previously shown), turn it over face up and replace it to the bottom. During these actions you can say, "You may have selected two cards of this suit or this one." Turn the left hand palm up. Flip the packet over and do an Ascanio Spread, showing that apparently the KH is now face down third from the top. Move the double card to the top. Say that the KH will turn again face up. Spread the cards showing two cards face down between the Kings. Surprise. Turn over the two cards and show the two selections. Ask the spectator to remove the card from the card box showing the KH for a strong finale. http://www.mammamiamagic.com GO TO ALDO'S NEXT EFFECT!

TWIN EXPEDITION By Aldo Colombini EFFECT Two cards are selected and replaced in the deck. The magician shows the four Kings and one is selected. The selected King disappears and reappears in the deck between the two selected cards! This is a very easy routine with a direct-to-the-point climax. It has similarities to the classic Hofzinser plot. WORKING 1. Remove the four Kings from the deck (or any other four-of-a-kind of your choice) and leave them face down on the spectator’s hand (or on the table). 2. Have two cards selected and replaced. Secretly control them second and third from the top. Obtain a break below the top two cards of the deck with your little finger of the left hand. At the same time, the right hand picks up the four Kings, turns them face up and places them on top of the deck. Spread the four Kings and ask a spectator to select a King, say he chooses the KC. Move the KC on top. Square the Kings above the deck and at the same time secretly steal the two face-down cards below the King packet, taking the six cards squared with the right hand from above. With your left thumb slide the KC onto the deck. Drop the five-card packet on top and do a magic gesture. Spread the top four cards to show that the KC has vanished. Leave the three face-up Kings in the hands of a spectator. 3. Casually turn over the top card of the deck showing it indifferent. Replace the card face down on top and cut the deck completing the cut. Spread the deck face down between the hands and show the KC face up in the middle of the deck. Remove it and the two cards on each side. Turn them over and show the two selected cards.

BACK TO ALDO'S PREVIOUS TRICK

PHONE HOME By Paul W. Cummins For some years I have been looking for a baffling card routine that is easy to do, easy to remember, and that can be performed over the telephone. I specifically wanted to give the impression to the person I’d called that she had choices to make during the routine that would seem to prevent my having any control over the outcome of the process. And, importantly, I didn’t want the person I’d called to be able to reconstruct the routine by following the steps again after we’d completed the phone call. Jim Swain demonstrated a routine to me after having seen Jon Racherbaumer perform Marlo’s "Nouveau 21-Card Trick" at the 1997 Magic On The Beach magic convention in South Florida. Jim’s version of Marlo’s routine could be done over the phone successfully, and he added an important, appealing, step to it - but the effect could be reproduced after the phone call if the spectator could remember the proper steps to take. Jim’s routine led me to develop the following. Since the patter used in the routine is extremely important, this description will be unusually patter-heavy. WORKING 1. Telephone a spectator and, after making the appropriate amenities, ask if she’d like to see a card trick. If she does, and only if she does, ask her to round up any deck of cards. When she has done so, ask her to shuffle the deck and create three face-down piles of seven cards apiece. Have her place the remainder of the deck aside. It is important to give specific and simple instructions! Say, "Pick up one of the piles and hold it in your hand as if you were going to deal the cards. Is the pile in your right hand or your left hand?" Assume the spectator answers that the pile is in her left hand. Say, "Then with your right hand, lift off a portion of the pile and turn your right palm toward yourself so you can look at the card you’ve cut to. Remember that card! Okay, place the cards in your right hand onto one of the piles on the table." 2. Continue your instructions: "Now place the remaining cards in your left hand onto the OTHER pile on the table. Pick up that OTHER pile and place it onto the pile that contains your card." The spectator will do so. 3. You’ll now execute Swain’s excellent addition to Marlo’s routine. This is the first time that the spectator will be given some choices that apparently take all control away from the magician. Say, "Pick up the pile on the table and hold it like you were going to deal again. Cut a little packet off the top and place it onto the table a bit to your left. Now cut another packet and place it to the right of the pile on the table. Finally, place the remaining cards to the right of the piles on the table." Students will recognize these actions as the first part of the Ose False Cut. Since the spectator is executing the false cut for you, some time misdirection is helpful. Say, "If I were there in the room with you, I might be able to eyeball all the cuts you made and estimate the location of your card. But since I’m not there, I can have absolutely no idea how many cards you cut when you chose your card, nor how many cards you cut into the piles that are on the table in front of you; do you agree?" The spectator will have no option but to agree. "Okay," you say, "place the pile on your left onto the middle pile. Now place that whole pile onto the pile on your right, and pick up the entire packet." "Please pretend that I’m sitting across from you and deal me the top card face down. Deal the next card to yourself, and one to me, another to yourself, and keep dealing until you are out of cards." The spectator will indicate when she is finished. You will now give another instruction that allows the spectator a choice. Say, "Pick up either pile - yours or mine, it doesn’t matter which one - and spread it faces toward you between your hands, just as if you were playing a game of Gin Rummy or Bridge." By virtue of the mechanics of Marlo’s selection procedure, the selection is the fourth card from the top of the pile in front of the spectator. The spectator may pick up either packet; you will learn which packet was selected in a moment without having to ask. When the spectator indicates that she has spread out the cards, say, "All right, I’m getting the sense that you can see your card; is that not correct?" If the spectator has chosen her own pile, then she will respond positively, in which case you say, "Yes, I thought so." This will in itself surprise the spectator! If she had chosen the pile she dealt for you, then she will respond negatively, in which case you say, "Right, that’s NOT correct." This is an old gag that allows you to capitalize on the ambiguity of the first patter line in this paragraph. Most importantly, this whole sequence allows you to determine which packet the spectator has selected. If the spectator does not see her card, then she selected your packet; if she does see her card, then she selected her own packet. So, if the spectator can see her card in the packet she holds, have her place the other packet aside with the deck proper. Also, have her close the fan of cards and hold the packet face down in her left hand. If she does not see her card, have her place the packet she holds aside – and have her pick up the other tabled packet. 4. Continue your patter: "Obviously, we are eliminating cards. Deal the top card to me again, the next to yourself, and continue just like before. Let me know when you’re finished." At the conclusion of this deal, the selection will again be the fourth card from the top of the packet she has dealt to herself. You must to direct her to pick up this packet, but you should use one of the following patter lines to emphasize that the choice is her choice and not yours. If the spectator initially chose the packet she dealt to herself, then you should say, "I don’t know which pile you chose the last time, but this time pick up the same pile. So if you chose your own pile last time, pick up that pile now." If the spectator initially chose the packet she dealt to you, then you should say, "I don’t know which pile you chose the last time, but this time pick up the other pile. So, if you chose my pile last time, pick up your own pile now." Have the spectator place the other pile aside. This is the point at which your spectator’s retrograde analysis of the routine will fail if she decides to try to reconstruct the trick after you are off the phone. You had given her a choice of packets earlier. Now, although you are not giving her a choice of packets per se, your instruction is based on a choice she made earlier – a choice with an outcome that you have no apparent means of knowing. Actually, of course, you are directing her to choose the packet that contains her chosen card and to discard the packet that does not. 5. Continue, "Okay, one more time. Deal the top card to me, the next to yourself, like we’ve been doing. Let me know when you’re finished." Here comes another red herring. Say, "Again, I don’t know which of the piles you chose before, but this time I sense that you must use the pile that is in front of you. Pick that pile up and discard the pile you dealt to me." In the spectator’s mind, this direct instruction cannot possibly be based on her previous choices because she believes that her previous choices are unknown to you! More smoke for the retrograde analysis. 6. The final red herring: "You may have two or three cards. If you have three, then discard any one card of the three. Okay, are you down to two cards?" The spectator, of course, has only two cards, but this patter supports the theme that you do not have any knowledge of her previous choices because you have allowed for the possibility that she might have three cards – the exact amount of cards in the packet she dealt to you in this round. Also, because you ask her to "discard any of the three," she will think to herself later, "what if I had had three cards and I discarded the selection?" 7. To finish, say, "Take the top card into your right hand and give me a moment." Pause briefly, then say, "You cut to a card and remembered it, you cut the deck onto the table into piles whose number I could not know, and you made your own choices about which packets to discard. Place the card in your left hand aside. I believe you are now holding the card you cut to moments ago; take a look." The spectator will follow your instructions and be left with the very card she chose. Given your recap of events in the above patter line, the spectator has no option but to be surprised to find that she is staring at her selection! And, as discussed above, retrograde analysis will only frustrate her attempts to discover how you led her, apparently through all of her own decisions, to the very card she had initially selected.

References, Credits, and Remarks * The only portion of Marlo’s "Nouveau 21-Card Trick" that is used in the above effect is a simplified version of the cutting/placement procedure from the Third Phase of the Marlo article in Racherbaumer’s Marlo Without Tears, found on page 148. * Racherbaumer also cites Marlo’s "The 21-Card Trick Streamlined" from The Cardician, by Ed Marlo, on page 134. He also mentions that David Solomon, Steve Draun, and Jon himself have work on Marlo’s routine, but he didn’t reference them. Steve Draun’s "Twenty-One Again" may be found in Secrets Draun From Underground, by Richard Kaufman, on page 128. James Swain’s routine, "The Twenty-One Card Trick," may be found on page 23 of his terrific book, 21st Century Card Magic. * See also Marlo’s "21 Plus Subtlety" from Racherbaumer’s Kabbala, Volume 1, Number 7, page 57; Chuck Smith’s "Imaginary Card Trick" from his lecture notes What If; Chris Kenner’s "You Must Be 21 To Enter" from his Totally Out of Control, on page 145; and Doug Conn’s "Impossible 21 Card Trick" from, Tricks of my Trade, The Magic of Doug Conn, on page 105, by Paul Cummins. * Jay Ose’s great false cut, "Ose’s Cut," was first published in Harry Lorayne’s Close Up Card Magic, on page 93. * I have used gender-specific pronouns in the above description. Magicians are referred to as males and non-magicians are referred to as females. This is not an attempt to be sexist or judgmental; it is merely an attempt to provide ease of reading. mailto:[email protected]

UNIVERSAL By DARYL Written by Richard Kaufman - reprinted from Richard’s Almanac (Spring 1985) Copyright 1985 by Richard Kaufman

The real parent of this item is a routine by L. Vosburgh Lyons in THE JINX No.22 (July, 1936). Lyons had three cards selected and returned to the pack. A Joker was shown on top of the deck, and it magically turned into each of the selections one at a time. Not really a General or Universal card in the true sense of either plot, this is, for lack of a better term, a changing card trick. Daryl's handling is both simple and impromptu. The only preparation is to control the Joker to the bottom of the deck before the routine begins. Do it at the end of the previous effect, or while fiddling between things. To perform, shuffle retaining the Joker on bottom and then have three cards freely selected from the deck. Spread the cards between your hands and split the deck at about center so the third spectator (let's assume he's on the left) can replace his selection. After the card has been inserted in the spread your right hand lowers its half of the spread deck onto the cards in your left hand and does a Hofzinser Spread Cull, stealing the first selection beneath the right hand cards as you immediately continue spreading lower into the deck for the return of the second selection. Stop spreading after a few cards and split the deck again for the return of the second card (assume this card belongs to the spectator in the center). Now you must use Marlo's Multiple Spread Cull mechanics as you bring the halves of the deck together, stealing the second selection beneath the right-hand cards, under the first selection. Both are allowed to lie beneath the spread. Continue spreading and repeat the same control with the first selection (which belongs to the spectator on the right), squaring the deck afterward. The selections are now on the bottom of the deck in one, two, three order (from the bottom up) with the Joker directly above them. Spread the cards and sight-count four cards from the bottom, obtaining a left pinky break above them. Double cut them to the top. Begin spreading through the deck and say, "I'm going to take out one card which I hope is all three selections." Of course this is impossible, but you'll get around that in a moment. Outjog the fourth card from the top, then square the deck without disturbing the outjogged card. Grasp the right long side of the outjogged card between your right thumb, above, and fingers, beneath. Lift slightly as you strip it out of the deck enabling your left pinky to obtain a break beneath the top three cards of the deck. In other words, by lifting the outjogged fourth card you also lift the sides of the three cards above it, automatically providing the necessary gap. Your right first finger snaps the card in that hand. As attention is directed on the card in your right hand your left hand obtains a second break this one beneath the top card of the deck. Usually you would simply misdirect away from the deck for a moment and turn it slightly as your left thumb pushed over the top card just enough to allow your left third finger to sneak under it. But Daryl has a nice finesse which enables you to obtain the break in full view (if anyone happens to be looking). Your left first finger is at the outer end of the deck as is usually the case in dealing position. Here, however, the very tip (just a bit of the flesh) must be curled over onto the outer end of the top card. Your left thumb, which rests on the outer left corner of the deck, pulls diagonally outward and to the left. That causes the top card to buckle very slightly. Slide your third finger into the break and release the left-thumb pressure. Your right hand places its card on top of the deck and immediately does a Double Turnover to the first break, levering two cards as one face up on top of the deck and outjogging them. Say, "Jokers are wild." (This is an explanation of your last statement where you said that you would find one card that would be all the selections.) Turn your right hand palm down, fingers together and straight, and lower it over the face-up Joker. Say, to the first spectator on the left, "Just by rubbing the Joker with my hand I can cause it to change into your card." Do The First Transformation described by Erdnase on p.151 of THE EXPERT AT THE CARD TABLE. This is the familiar color change where the top card is outjogged slightly and the card beneath it is slid inward with the heel of the right hand. When the cards clear the right reverses its direction and moves outward to align the card hidden beneath it, the first selection in this case, squarely on top of the outjogged Joker. While the cards are still hidden by your right hand, your left first finger reaches to the outer end of the outjogged double card and pulls it flush, at the same time pulling downward slightly so the inner end of the double card rises a bit. This enables your left third finger to obtain a break beneath the double card. (Remember that your left pinky maintains a break beneath the fourth card throughout the preceding actions.) Lift your right hand to reveal the first selection. Immediately lift the double card and cleanly flash both sides, then replace it flush on top of the deck (still face up). Insert your right first finger into the left pinky break, then lower your thumb onto the face of the quadruple card. Lift the four cards as one about an inch. Your left hand immediately turns palm down and takes the quadruple card beneath the deck. Extend your right arm and rub the face of the deck on your right sleeve. Say, "Of course I don't have to use the whole hand, I could just use my sleeve." Turn your left hand palm up to reveal the second selection face up on the deck. Do a Hit Double Lift and flip the top two cards face down onto the deck as one. Ask the third spectator (on the right) to hold out his hand palm up. Say, "In face, I don't have to use anything of mine - you put your hand out." Thumb off the top card and place it onto his palm. After a moment ask him to turn the card over to reveal the third selection. http://www.Daryl.net

PACKET SWITCH By Peter Duffie You remove the four Aces and the two black Kings. The Kings are placed on the table. A spectator now selects an Ace which is replaced among the other three Aces. You state that the selected Ace will fly from the Aces and appear between the Kings. An unexpected transposition now occurs. You snap the cards you are holding and turn them over revealing them to be the two black Kings with the selected Ace trapped between. The other three Aces are now found on the table. WORKING 1. Hold the deck face up, spread through and upjog the four Aces. Strip them out and add then to the rear of the deck obtaining a little finger break above the rear two Aces. Spread through again and upjog the two black Kings. Strip them out adding the two Aces via the Vernon Strip-Out Addition and place these cards to the rear of the deck. Turn the deck face down, push off the top six cards then discard the rest of the deck. 2. Hold the packet face down and spread showing six cards. Close the spread and obtain a little finger break under the top four cards. Flip these four cards face up and push over the top card to show the two black Kings, as expected. Flip the four cards face down again and drop the top two cards onto the table so they lie semi-squared. 3. Reverse count the four remaining cards, saying, "This leaves the four Aces." You can casually flash the faces of the last two cards. Fan the four cards between your hands as you ask a spectator to give you a number from one to four, inclusive. As soon as he announces his number you do one of the following actions: If he names number one or two, remove your right hand leaving the fan in your left hand. If he names number three or four, remove your left hand leaving the fan in your right hand. You now count to the card at his number. For one or two you count from the top using your right index finger. For three or four you count up from the bottom using your left index finger. Either way he gets an Ace. Standard force. Pull out the card and raise it so the audience can see its face. Now push it back into the fan second from the bottom. 4. Square the packet and palm the top card into your right hand. Immediately lift the packet in a Biddle grip with the same hand and wave the cards over the two apparent Kings on the table, saying, "I’ll now make your chosen Ace appear between the Kings." Place the packet back into your left hand then place your right hand flat on top of the tabled Kings and spread revealing three cards. Reach down as if to remove the middle card, then stop, saying, "What I didn’t tell you is that the Kings are now up here." Snap the cards you are holding face up and spread them revealing the two Kings with the chosen Ace trapped between. Conclude by showing the three Aces are now on the table. mailto:[email protected] GO TO PETER'S NEXT EFFECT!

THE TOPLESS BOTTOMLESS BOTTOM DEAL DEAL By Peter Duffie EFFECT Offering to demonstrate a gambling trick, the four Kings are inserted into the deck at random positions then the deck is given a cut and placed on the table. You explain that if there are any Kings near the top of the deck you could be accused of using a crooked deal to manipulate them into your hand. Alternatively, if they were on the bottom of the deck you could be accused of dealing them straight off the bottom and right into your hand. Therefore, to nullify this, you invite a spectator to remove about a dozen or so cards from the top and a similar amount from the bottom. These cards are discarded. You pick up the talon and immediately deal two hands of cards - one to the spectator and the other to yourself. The spectator gets the four Kings, but, unexpectedly, you get the four Aces! WORKING 1. Cull the four Aces to the rear of the deck and hold a break above them as you remove the four Kings. Explain that you’ll demonstrate a way of dealing the Kings in a head-to-head game of poker. Ask a spectator to examine the Kings for marks etc. As he’s doing this - the deck is still face up - give the four Aces a squeeze at the inner end to create an upward Bridge, then drop the break. If you prefer, this preparation, including the culling can be done before you start. 2. Give the deck a complete cut to centralize the Aces, then make a face up fan - the rear half of the deck should be less prominent with the front half widely spread. However, you want to see the Aces. Insert the four Kings at varying places leaving them outjogged, the last King goes directly in front of the Aces. Close the fan then execute Marlo’s Simple Shift. This plunges all the cards between the Kings inwards. Grasp this injogged block, pull it out and slap it on top to complete the move. 3. Turn the deck face down, turning it sideways, and place it face down on the table. Following the basic patter given above, invite a spectator to remove a portion of cards from the top, followed by a portion from the bottom. These cards are discarded. 4. Take the balance of the deck and place it into dealing position, but as you do so, allow the cards to break below the Bridge and insert your little finger. Say, "I’ll deal two hands of cards - one for you and one for me." As you speak, execute a two-handed Pass. Do not simply cut the deck. It’s imperative that nothing is seen to happen at this juncture. 5. Deal two hands as follows, the first card being dealt to the spectator: Top - Bottom - Top Bottom - Top - Bottom - Top - Bottom. Finish by showing that the spectator has the four Kings. Act as if the demonstration is over, then as a kicker show that you have the winning hand with four Aces.

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GERRYMANDERING THREES By Iain Girdwood This effect was worked out from Jerry Sadowitz' "Magician versus Spectator" which appeared in his magazine The Crimp, Issue 34. It is a spectator cuts the Aces type routine, but in this case it is done with three spots. EFFECT You shuffle the deck and place it on the table in front of the spectator to cut into three piles. The top card of the centre pile is shown to be a Three spot. This card is placed in front of the piles. You now count to the third card down in each of the piles to reveal the other Three spots.

Before you begin, set up the face down pack as follows from top down: Three spot - Three spot - three indifferent cards - Three spot - three indifferent cards - Three spot - rest of deck. WORKING 1. Give the deck a false shuffle or two retaining the top stock, then Double Undercut the top card to the face of the deck. Spread the cards casually obtaining a break below the fifth card. Palm the top five cards into your right hand as you place the pack on the table in front of the spectator. 2. Instruct that the spectator cut the deck into three piles. Gesture that he should cut the pack from your left to right. Scoop up the centre pile with your right hand adding the palmed cards as you do so. Transfer the packet into your left hand and explain to the spectator that he has randomly cut to this card. Turnover the top card to reveal a Three spot. Deal the Three spot onto the table and replace the packet back in the centre of the row. 3. Say "You cut the pack into 3 piles and the card you cut to was a Three spot. Now that's uncanny." The spectator will shrug with indifference most likely. You continue, saying, "What is even more amazing is this," as you scoop up the left hand pile into your left hand. Now deal three cards onto the table at the spot where the left hand pile was, counting as you do so. Turn over the top card of the packet to reveal a Three spot. Leaving the Three face up on top, replace the pile at the left end of the row on top of the three dealt cards. 4. Use your right hand to scoop up the centre pile into your left hand and repeat the above procedure except that you replace the packet back at the centre of the row. 5. Clearly scoop up the right hand pile into your left hand as before and deal three cards onto the table as before. This time you do a top and Double Deal Turnover of top and bottom cards onto the packet to reveal the final Three. Replace the pile back at the right end of the row. END NOTES A description of the Double Deal Turnover onto a packet/pack can be found on Page 93 of Here's My Card (1978) by Allan Ackerman. This sleight was first shown to me by Jerry Sadowitz. Jerry has never published his handling as far as I'm aware. [email protected]

FORKED TONGUE By Phil Goldstein I developed this in the fall of 1990. It has remained unpublished as I've held it with some related material for a planned book on truth/lie plots that may actually come into existence at some point. This routine has its roots in "A Pack Of Lies" by Bob Somerfeld, from the 1951 Ireland Yearbook. A six-card stack is required. From the top of the pack: 5H, 8S, 3C, KH, QS and JC. WORKING 1. Begin by shuffling the pack, retaining the set-up on top. Run sixteen cards, Overhand Shuffle fashion, onto the set-up, keeping a break above the Five of Hearts. 2. Riffle Force to the break, cutting the sixteen cards above the break to the table. Explain that you will show the spectator cards from the stopped-at point, asking that one be remembered. Display the six-card set-up, raising each card into the spectator's view. If this display is done deliberately and without haste, the spectator will have thought of a card by the time you have shown six. Return the six-card stock to the top of the talon, then replace the previously cut-off stock. 3. Say that you will ask the spectator some questions about the thought-of card, and that you will spell the answers. (At this point no mention is made of any lying option; the spectator is expected to answer truthfully.) Ask if the card was RED or BLACK. Spell the answer, dealing one card from the top of the pack to the table for each letter of the spell. Ask if it was a SPOT or PICTURE card. Spell the answer, again dealing one card for each letter of the spell. Observe, "If we continue in this way, I'll find out your thought of card. Therefore, I will ask only two more questions, and on one of them you can lie." Ask if the card was ODD or EVEN. Spell the answer, dealing as before. Finally, ask the suit of the thought-of card, reminding the spectator of the prior commitment: if the previous answer was false, this answer must be true. If the previous answer was true, this answer will be false. Spell the name of the suit. For SPADES, HEARTS and CLUBS include the final S; DIAMOND is spelled without the final S. 4. Re-cap the situation. Have the spectator name the thought-of card. Turn over the last dealt card; it will be the selection. There is one exception: if the named suit is CLUBS, the selection will be on top of the talon. mailto:[email protected]

EASY NUMBER By Paul Hallas EFFECT The performer introduces two decks of playing cards, and gives the spectator a choice of one of them. The selected deck is shuffled and table spread face down. The spectator is requested to slide one card out of the spread and off to one side sight unseen. The remainder of the deck is cased and placed away so that no-one may suggest later the card was switched for another card of the same back colour. Removing the deck with contrasting back design from its case. This deck is also shuffled and then the spectator is asked for a number between 1 and 52. The performer fairly counts to this number and turns the card face up. A quick recap on the fairness of number selection and hands off approach to the card selection is made and then the initial selection turned over, it is a perfect match. REQUIREMENTS a) One deck is a one way Force Deck with a different card at top and bottom. b) The other deck is regular with different coloured backs to the Force deck. The top card of this deck matches the force card in the Force Deck. Both decks are in their cases. METHOD 1. Place both case decks on the table and offer a choice. This is simply a magician’s choice and Force Deck is targeted, which you pick up. 2. Open the case and remove the cards. The face is flashed as the cards are taken out and then the cards are given an Overhand Shuffle, but in doing so the top card is taken singly, as is the last card so that the top and bottom cards of the deck are transposed. Spread the deck and invite a spectator to pull out any card. After the selection has been made the deck is scooped up and cased flashing the other X card at the face. The deck is cased and placed out of the way. 3. Pick up the other deck and remove it from its case. The top card of this deck matches the force card in the first. Give this deck a shuffle retaining the top card in place. Now ask the spectator to give you any number from 1 to 52. You count the cards from hand to hand without reversing their order. When you arrive at the selected number you simply transfer the card to the top momentarily as you square up the deck then do a double turnover naming the card. Flip the entire deck over and spread several of the cards pointing out that obviously a different number would have led to a different card then again square the deck and flip it back over so the apparent selection is seen again. Draw attention to the blue card which remains untouched, then have someone turn it over to show the perfect match. END NOTE If you can perform the "Double Deal Turnover" you can have the spectator deal the required number of cards face down onto your palm then square them up and do a double deal, turning over the top and bottom cards together as one. This approach means you handle the cards even less. If you wanted to continue with two decks, a deck matching the one placed away can be brought into play (in fact this could be a stacked deck for something else, minus the force card which when added will make it a complete deck). mailto:[email protected]

STRESSED OUT CARD By Steve Hamilton This routine is an in the hands colour changing pack routine. Basically it is Roy Walton's "Overworked Card." In playing with it, it occurred to me that throughout Roy's routine, you only ever see two backs, and this could be used to create a colour changing pack, here is the result. This routine is ideal for walk-about as no table is required. REQUIREMENTS & SET-UP You are going to need a rainbow deck, two normal blue backed cards and a double backed card with a blue back on one side and a rainbow design on the other. The double backer should have some Pelican tape on the blue side of this card, this is a roll-on sticky tape available at most art stores. Any other similar non-permanent adhesive will suffice. The only requirement is that it shouldn’t stick unless pressed. Hold the Rainbow deck in your left hand and place on top of it the two normal blue backed cards. Finally on top of all place the double backer blue side up. WORKING 1. Casually spread the top two cards of the pack using your left thumb, no attention should be paid to this, it is just a casual gesture. As the right hand squares the pack, pick up a right hand thumb break under the top three cards. Having done this, slip cut the top card to the middle of the pack, being careful not to expose any of the rainbow designs, and again retain a break between the halves as they come together, this time with the left little finger (right thumb break is maintained). Follow this by doing a normal cut at the little finger break and retain a left little finger break. At this point, you will find you now have a left little finger break below the two regular blue backed cards. Half pass all the cards below the left finger break and follow this by letting the two regular cards fall off the right hand thumb, and regain the left little finger break (have you ever seen so many breaks being held?). 2. The right hand lifts off all the cards above the break and turns them face up placing them below the remaining left hand cards. The top half appears to be face down while the lower half appears face up. Slowly and deliberately square the pack, no breaks being held (hooray!). 3. Double Cut one card from the top to the bottom of the pack, this shows more blue backs. State that to make life even more confusing you will mix the cards even further. Match this statement by cutting off the top half of the pack, and Faro Shuffle the sections together, making sure the top and bottom cards remain where they are. As the cards square apply a little more pressure to the outer left hand corner of the pack, thereby slightly side jogging the face up cards. Finally completely square the pack. This last action is simply to emphasise the face up and face down condition of the cards. Also the Faro Shuffle does not need to be accurate, this is simply an easy way to shuffle the cards in your hands without exposing cards. 4. Again Double Cut the top card to the bottom. Turn the entire pack over end for end and draw attention to the face up card there. As you are doing this get a break under the top two cards then tum both cards over as one, naming the card as you do so. Now remove the top card of the pack and place it on the bottom. Shake the pack and take it in a Biddle Grip then turn your hand to show the face card. The card just placed there has vanished. 5. State that the card is working its way through the pack - as you are talking the right hand tums palm down and deposits the pack onto the left hand. Comment that it should have finished by now and reached its way to the top. As you say this the right hand turns over the top card showing it to be the named one. As you tum this card over, leave it outjogged for half its length. In this condition, flip the entire pack face up (sideways) in your left hand and spread it to show that on its way through, it turned all the face down cards face up again - thus sorting out the pack. Be careful not to flash the card next to your outjogged card by spreading too far. 6. Push the outjogged flush then flip the entire pack face down, apply a little pressure so the two blue backs stick together. State that it also tried to sort out all the backs but found it too hard and that it succumbed to the influence itself and joined the rest - as you speak, spread the card revealing the rainbow backs. Finally, after a pause, flip over the named card showing it now has a rainbow back. mailto:[email protected] GO TO STEVE'S NEXT EFFECT!

A NEW TWIST By Steve Hamilton This is a variation of Dai Vernon's "Twisting the Aces." Included in this routine is a new reversal procedure that can be used within the Vernon routine. The effect is the same as "Twisting the Aces," which can be found in More Inner Secrets of Card Magic, written by Lewis Ganson. WORKING 1. Run through the pack and remove the four Aces. The order of the Aces should be, reading from the face, Ace of Clubs, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Spades, Ace of Diamonds. When the packet is held face down the Ace of Diamonds should be the top card. 2. Holding the packet face down in left hand dealing position and carry out the following actions which will secretly reverse two Aces in readiness for the routine: a) Revolve your hand palm down displaying the Ace of Clubs on the face. The right hand thumb moves onto the face of the Ace of Clubs and slides it out, as it clears the packet the left hand turns palm up again. The Ace of Clubs is placed face up on top of the packet. b) Turn the left hand again this time drawing out the Ace of Hearts. Once again turn the left hand palm up and place the Ace of hearts face up on top of the Ace of Clubs. c) Repeat this procedure with Ace of Spades but when you place it on top of the Ace of Hearts leave injogged slightly. d) As you repeat the move for the final Ace of Diamonds, the entire block of three cards is removed as one, and placed on the top of the Ace of Spades. This procedure has reversed the middle two Aces. 3. Turn the packet face down and perform a standard Elmsley Count. The Ace of Hearts will show face up. 4. Twist the packet and count again using an Elmsley Count to show the Ace of Hearts has now changed into the Ace of Clubs. Place the last card counted to the bottom of the packet. 5. Comment that sometimes it happens so fast that you can miss it. As you are saying this, the right hand takes hold of the packet from above in a Biddle grip. The left thumb moves onto the face of the Ace of Clubs, while the first finger goes below, then the top and bottom cards are drawn off together with the Ace of Clubs being outjogged as you do so. These two cards are now held in the left hand. The left hand turns over displaying the back of the Ace of clubs, and as is does so, the right hand turns its double card over also. The procedure for the right hand action is that the third finger of the right hand pushes the double along the thumb which rides/slides along the underside, then applies pressure and both cards turn over end for end. This action takes place as you are drawing attention to the Ace of Clubs in the left hand, finally the right hand cards are placed on top of the left hand cards injogged slightly so the Ace of Clubs is visible. 6. Square the entire packet then give it an Elmsley Count - the Ace of Clubs is now seen to have changed into the Ace of Diamonds. Spread the top two cards of the packet to the right and place the remaining double into the middle of the two face down cards. As you square the packet all the cards below the top face down card are flipped over with the entire packet coming to rest face down in your left hand. 7. Snap the cards one final time then spread to show the Ace of Spades, face up. END NOTES The secret reversal move at the beginning of the routine can also be done as follows: Hold the four face down cards (CHSD order as above) in a standard left hand grip. Reach below with your right hand and draw the face card to the right then flip it face up onto the top of the packet. Repeat this with the next card and then again with the third card. As you move to take the final Ace from the bottom of the packet, the left thumb pulls the Ace of Spades to the left for just a fraction, allowing the right hand to grip all three cards and flip them face up onto the face of the Ace of Spades. This procedure works very well but the first version has no angle problems. In this last version be sure that the right hand finger and thumb grip each card removed from the face at the outer right corner, the first finger effectively over the index on the face of the card. This means the right hand is giving almost full cover over the full right hand length of the packet.

BACK TO STEVE'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

THE THREE MUSKETEERS (All for one - and one for all) By Pit Hartling EFFECT Talking about the three Musketeers, the performer offers to find three selected playing cards at exactly the same time (just like D'Artagnan fought three villains at the same time)! Three spectators each select a card and the cards are shuffled back into the deck. With an elegant flick of our hero's wrist, one card flies out of the deck, into the waiting hand. His pride seems to weaken a bit, however, when a member of the audience points out, that only one card has been found, instead of all three at the same time, as was promised just seconds before. Hesitating for just a moment, the performer asks for the names of he three cards. Surprisingly enough, each spectator names the same card! The hero triumphantly turns over the card in his hand - and there it is; "all for one and one for all !" This is a quick, fun trick. I use it a lot for walk-around animation, where things like this can be very useful. WORKING 1. To perform this little piece of bravery, you simply have one spectator freely select a card, remember it and put it back into the deck. Then you force the same card on spectator number two. The card goes back into the deck again, and is once more forced on a third spectator. Take care, that the spectators look at the card only themselves, without showing it around to everybody. 2. You then control the card to any position from where you can make it fly out of the deck or produce it face down in any other flashy way. I usually crimp the card, have the deck shuffled briefly and then cut the card to the bottom, using Daryl's Hot Shot Cut to make it fly out of the deck. 3. Proudly, you present the card without revealing its face, yet. Just wait until a spectator points out, that you found only one card. Then you hesitate a second and ask for the names of the cards. They all will call out the same card and you turn it over to show that you have indeed found all the three cards "at exactly the same time!" The handling of the free selection of the first card should resemble the way you later force the same card on the other two spectators.

************ This is a short, fun trick. I mostly use it as a short "relaxer", to give the spectators the chance to laugh and get ready for more sophisticated things to come. Just handle it lightly, and enjoy this little magical joke yourself. Alexandre Dumas would have liked it; maybe you do, too. mailto:[email protected]

SHAM ON YOU (TOO) By J. K. Hartman This following is a refinement of a trick (“Sham on You”) published in Tom Craven’s Havenly Close-Up column, The Linking Ring, February 2000, itself an elaboration of Karl Fulves’ "The Secret Out," which appeared in that column in the December 1998 The Linking Ring, p. 105. The Fulves routine is a clever idea that packages a simple procedure in an entertaining presentation to produce a fine effect. WORKING 1. Prepare by secretly culling the four Deuces to the top (back) of the deck, making sure in advance that none of the Aces is among the rearmost two or three cards. Downjog the facemost Deuce a half-inch or so. Close up the deck and lower it to face-up position, at this point 'deciding' what trick to perform next. Begin by Hindu Shuffling the uppermost half of the deck, preserving the injog in position throughout. As the deck is squared following the shuffle, obtain a break above the Deuces via the injog. As you then launch forth with your introductory patter, openly look through the deck for the Aces, outjogging each for half its length as you come to it. As the fourth Ace is outjogged, angle it slightly to the left. 2. Close the spread, the Aces outjogged with the index of the lower Ace visible. Immediately grasp the deck proper at its inner right corner and execute a Vernon Strip-out Addition as you extract the Aces, secretly adding the Deuces beneath them. Drop the deck on the packet and turn the reassembled whole face down. During this opening procedure, say to a spectator, "Most of us, whether or not we have indulged in games of chance from time to time, have a larcenous gene or two. In fact, I’m willing to wager that inside your cherubic outside resides a closet gambler who’s not above using fast hands to make a fast buck. Let’s use these Aces to transform you into a skilled card mechanic." Your patter concludes as the deck is turned face down. You then continue, "As you can see, I’m arranging the Aces in a group at around the middle of the deck, sticking part-way out so you can easily distinguish and control them. Now you take the deck, keeping everything in place." As your accompanying sequence of actions, tilt the outer end of the deck a bit downward, and neatly and carefully lift off the top half with the right hand from above. With the left thumb, pull each of the supposed Aces one by one onto the lower half, injogged for half its length or so. Replace the upper half square with the lower, the injogged block clearly in view. Still using meticulous handling, grasp the deck proper at its inner right corner and in that position give it to the spectator, asking him to hold it as if he were about to deal. In the spectator’s hands, the supposed Aces are outjogged. Your patter then proceeds, "Now imagine you’re that super-stud gambler, capable of legendary sleight of hand, and you’re about to play a two-handed game of cards with an innocent patsy, played by me." 3. Tap the top of the deck, saying, "Deal a card to me off the top of the deck." When he does as requested, tap the uppermost outjogged card, saying, "...But to yourself, deal one of those Aces from the middle." When he deals this card, tap the top of the deck, saying, "Now the next card to me..." When he does so, tap the uppermost outjogged card, saying, "And another middle deal to you." 4. Continue with comparable patter until four cards have been dealt to each of you. Then say, "Now there’s no doubt in your mind, is there, that you’re the winner of this little twohanded game, with Four of a Kind." Pause momentarily, then go on, "Except for one little detail. However skilled a gambler you may be, don’t forget that the innocent patsy you’ve been playing with is a magician. So that kind that you have four of...are the Deuces!" As this last remark is made, scoop up his hand, turn it face up, and re-spread it on the table. Conclude by turning your hand over and spreading it as you remark, "The patsy’s got the Aces!" mailto:[email protected]

JACK TRAPPED (Duplicate Card Version) By Richard James EFFECT The performer borrows a deck of cards and removes the two Black Jacks. A spectator is then asked to select a card, which is placed between the two Black Jacks. This ‘Sandwich’ is then given to the spectator to hold. The performer now selects a card for himself and freely shows it to all. The performer's card then vanishes, and is found between the Jacks that the spectator has been holding onto. The spectator’s card is produced from the performer's wallet. REQUIREMENTS One duplicate card to match the deck in use. Kaps wallet (Or similar card to wallet).

METHOD 1. Borrow a deck of cards and, in doing so, secretly add your duplicate card on top. Spread through the cards and upjog the two Black Jacks. While doing so, secretly cull the card that matches your duplicate to the top of the deck. Strip out the two Jacks and place them face up on top of the face-down deck. 2. Spread the cards before a spectator and have him select one, making sure that he doesn’t select one of the top four cards. If he allows you to (Remember, they’re HIS cards), have him sign the card. While the spectator is looking at his card, get a little finger break below the third card (First face down duplicate). Have the spectator's card replaced face-down between the face-up jacks. 3. Lift off the top four cards (easy due to the break), perform a Kosky Switch, and give the Jacks & selected card to the spectator to hold. What you have actually done is switch the selected card for one of the duplicates. For an excellent description of the Kosky Switch, see page 127 of, "The Magic of Michael Ammar." 4. Now select a card for yourself, but make sure that you take the second card from the top of the deck. One way of doing this is to do a necktie second deal, immediately turning the dealt card face-up on top of the deck. Out-jog the card and let everyone see it. To vanish the card, either use the ‘Marnase Vanish’ from, The Last Heirophant or ‘Transformations Two Hands’ first method from, The Expert at the Card Table. 5. Have the spectator examine the cards he holds. His card has vanished and in its place is your chosen card. As he is doing this, palm the top two cards and load them into the wallet as you bring it out of your pocket. Open the wallet, pull down the zip and take out the bottom card of the two that are there. His chosen card comes out face-up and you are left clean. The spectator has his own original deck again, and your duplicate card is safely hidden away in your wallet. mailto:[email protected] GO TO RICHARD'S NON-DUPLICATE VERSION!

JACK TRAPPED (Non-Duplicate Version) By Richard James EFFECT The performer borrows a deck of cards and removes the two Black Jacks, placing them faceup on the table. The performer then selects a card for himself, which is freely shown around before being placed face-down on the table. A spectator is then asked to select a card, which is placed between the two Black Jacks. This ‘Sandwich’ is then given to the spectator to hold. The performer picks up his own card from the table, waves it over the spectator's hand and the two selected cards change places. WORKING 1. Borrow a deck of cards and remove the two Black Jacks, placing them face-up on the table. 2. Hold the deck in dealing position in your left hand. Using your left thumb, riffle down the top left corner of the deck and ask a spectator to call stop anytime they like. Stop at that point and insert your right middle finger into the break. Release two cards (silently) from your left thumb, catching them on the tip of your right middle finger. Pivot these two cards out, around your left middle finger, and face-up on top of the deck. All you have done is perform a simple double lift from the centre of the deck. Show the card around telling everyone that it will be your selected card. Flip the double card face-down and thumb off the top card onto the table. 3. Have a spectator select a card and show it to everyone (It doesn’t matter if you see it). Whilst the card is being displayed, pick up the two Black Jacks, place them face up on top of the deck and get a break under the top three cards. Have the spectator replace his card face-down in between the two Black Jacks. Lift off the top four cards (easy due to the break) and perform a Kosky Switch. Give the, ‘sandwich’ to the spectator to hold. For an excellent description of the Kosky Switch, see page 127 of, "The Magic of Michael Ammar." POSITION CHECK: At this point, the spectator believes that he holds his own card in between the two Black Jacks, and that your card is still face-down on the table. In reality, the spectator has YOUR card in between the Black Jacks, his card is on top of the deck. The card on the table is an indifferent card. 4. Pick up the card on the table (don’t let anyone see it) and miss-call it as your selected card. Wave the card over the spectator’s hand, and then have him look at the cards he holds. He will find your selected card between the two Jacks. Whilst he is examining the cards he holds, you have more than enough cover to perform a Top Change (which you do) before turning over the card in your hand to show that you now hold his card.

BACK TO RICHARD'S PREVIOUS VERSION

THE JACK QUEEN KING ACE TRICK By Marty Kane WORKING / PRESENTATION Phone a friend and ask, "Would you like to perform the famous Jack, Queen, King, Ace Trick? Yes? Okay! Please take out a deck of cards and hold it face up. Sort it into 2 face up piles. One pile should have all the cards of - guess which 4 values? That’s right, every Jack, Queen, King, Ace should be in one pile and the other pile should be all the cards with lower values. "Done? Great! Please cut the Jack, Queen, King, Ace pile into 2 uneven sized piles. Place the smaller of these 2 piles onto the pile of cards with lower values and then turn that combined pile face down. "Look at the face up pile and memorize the card facing you. You won’t see it for a long time. Now turn that pile face down and pick it up. "You may have figured out that this is called the Jack, Queen, King, Ace Trick because, quite obviously, the cards with those values are the only ones we’re using. But there’s another reason - you’ll be spelling those same values aloud. At the same time, you’ll be transferring one card from the top of the packet to the bottom of the packet with each letter that you spell. Let’s begin. Say J and transfer the top card to the bottom. Good! Now say A and transfer the top card to the bottom. Super! Please continue with C, K and then spell the words Queen, King, Ace. "It sounds like you’re done. Now you’ll see if you’ve spelled it all correctly, by putting the packet through the semi-automatic Spell Check. This is done by dealing the top card down onto the deck, so please do that. The next card is transferred under the packet like before, so please do that. The next card goes down onto the deck. The next card goes under the packet. Please continue this down and under Spell Check until you hold just one card. "You’re finished? Terrific! What’s the name of the card you memorized? "Please turn over the card you’re holding and announce its name." END NOTES This is a restructured and greatly simplified version of my "8 9 10 Jack Trick," published in Precursor #63. Both were inspired by Steve Jones’ "Spectator Discovery" from Cards for all Occasions. All have their roots in "Australian Shuffle" from The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Volume 1 by Stephen Minch. mailto:[email protected] GO TO MARTY'S NEXT TRICK!

BEST POKER HANDS By Marty Kane This was inspired by Peter Duffie’s "Heavyweight" from 21 Card Tricks. Prearrange the top 14 cards of a deck into the following order:

H - S - 2 - H - S - 2 - H - S - 2 - H - S - 2 - H - S - rest of deck H is any card of a Six through Ten of Hearts; S is any card of a royal flush in Spades; 2 is any Two spot. Here is one such set-up, with Hearts in red: 9 - Queen - 2 - 7 - Ace - 2 - 6 - Jack - 2 - 10 - King - 2 - 8 - 10 rest of deck.

WORKING 1. Introduce the deck. Give it a brief face up ribbon spread. (The prearrangement won’t be noticed.) Square the spread. Turn the deck face down and shuffle it, maintaining the top stock. Table the deck. Say, "In this effect, I'll be giving a demonstration of the best poker hands. That’s B-E-ST-P-O-K-E-R-H-A-N-D-S." As you spell the phrase aloud, deal down one card for each letter, forming a 14 card pile. Discard the remainder of the deck. 2. "Please pick up the packet and deal it back and forth into two piles…Good job. Please place the first pile you started onto the second pile you started…Great going. Again pick up the packet and deal it back and forth into two piles…Well done. Again place the first pile onto the second pile. Please continue this same mixing up process as much as you’d like." Encourage much mixing. 3. When the spectator has completed all these deal/mixes, say, "Congratulations. You’ve mixed the cards up very well. Now it’s time for your demonstration. Please deal three cards in a left to right row. Now deal three cards in a left to right row on top of the first row. Please continue dealing out all the cards this way." 4. It’ll be obvious that the last pile will be have one card less than the first two piles. "That last pile is smaller than the others, so let’s look at it first. Please turn it face up." The four Twos will be revealed. "Nice! Four of a kind! It’s one of the best poker hands. Please turn over the second hand." The straight flush in Hearts will be revealed. "Good! A straight flush! That’s even stronger than four of a kind. It’s truly one of the best poker hands. Please turn over the final hand." The royal flush in Spades will be revealed. "Great! A royal flush in Spades! It’s the absolutely best poker hand."

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A FALSE SOLUTION By Peter Lamont WHAT HAPPENS The magician carefully places a glass of clear liquid on the table. A borrowed coin is even more carefully dipped into the liquid. After a few seconds the coin is seen to be bent. The magician picks up the glass extremely carefully and explains that a special acid was one of the theories behind demonstrations of psychic metal-bending, but that nobody was able to discover what sort of acid was used. With that, he drinks the liquid in one go. WHAT REALLY HAPPENS 1. Ask to borrow a coin and, before you take it, carefully place a glass of clear liquid on the table. The liquid can be anything you like to drink. If you get nervous while performing, you could have a tequila to calm your nerves. If you're already suffering from having extensively calmed your nerves the previous night, you could make it soluble aspirin. 2. At some point, before or as you get the glass, get a bent coin in left hand finger palm. The coin should be in a rough 'V' shape of about 140 degrees. Take the borrowed coin at the right hand finger tips and explain that you have to be very careful with the liquid, as it's not the sort of stuff you would want to get on your clothes. As you say that, you look at the liquid and pull up your sleeves, first the right one, then the left one. As you do so, it is natural to pass the coin from left hand to right, to allow your right hand to pull up the left sleeve. However, as you apparently pass the coin to your left fingertips, you simply pull back on that coin and push the bent coin into sight. As you pull up the left sleeve, classic palm the borrowed coin. The switch should be a natural action seen in the peripheral vision of the audience's view, as they are directed towards the liquid. If the audience responds in any way to what you have done, there are only two possibilities:

One: you pushed the bent coin so far into view that the audience can see it is bent;

or Two: the bent coin is a different denomination from the borrowed coin. If either of these things is likely to happen, better stay off the tequila. 3. Reach out and carefully pick up the glass, and hold it at chest height. Carefully dip the coin into the liquid. Blow on the coin and wave the hand back and forward a little, as if to dry the liquid. As the hand moves, smoothly turn the coin at the fingertips so that, when the hand stops, the bend is in view. Slowly show the coin and place it on the table to let the bend be clearly seen. Hold up the liquid and, as you speak, look at the liquid, moving the glass close to your mouth. Whenever you feel the moment is right, down the contents of the glass. After about five minutes, your headache should be gone. mailto:[email protected]

ROYAL ACE CUT By Walt Lees It was way back in the early '60s that I found myself sitting with Gus Southall and Walt Rollins at a British Ring convention. How I came to be in such exalted company is a long story. Rollins was holding the fort. He placed a pack in front of me, inviting me to cut it into four piles. I did so and with no further ado, he turned over the top card of each pile and showed it to be an ace! I was staggered and any thoughts of showing one of my tricks were quickly abandoned. I was way out of my depth and knew it only too well. Walt Rollins used the effect as a repeat gag during his close-up act. On several occasions he would place the pack in front of somebody and have them cut the aces. It would get to the stage where he would no longer bother to ask - simply putting the pack in front of the person and nodding was enough - the effect gaining in strength and reaction with every repetition. In some ways, it was a foretaste of Albert Goshman's coin under the salt cellar - a treat we had to wait several more years to experience, in those far-off days. Since then, I have had an ongoing fascination with the effect and have eagerly studied every method I could find in print. Few have satisfied me, as they all seem to involve too much handling before the aces are actually revealed. With Rollins, it was simple, casual and direct the cards were cut and the aces turned over! No possibility of switching; no delay; no funny moves. Perhaps there were, but there did not seem to be - and I still do not know how he did it! Anyway, here is one of the cleanest methods I developed for my own use in commercial situations. It needs a short card, so the "purists" will not like it. Put the short card on top of the face-down pack and then place the four face-down aces above it. You are now ready. WORKING 1. Plonk the face-down pack in front of a spectator and request that it be cut into four piles. This should be done so that they finish in a row, with the one with the aces on top to your right. 2. With your right hand, pick off the top card of the pile on the extreme left. This is done by seizing its short ends from above, the thumb at the inner and the second finger at the outer. The forefinger presses lightly on the centre of the back. Without showing the card's face, go straight to the next pile and lift off its top card beneath the one you already hold. Keep the two in alignment, although this does not have to be perfect; just avoid any wide overlap. However, it is important to have the two cards slightly separated at the inner end by holding a small thumb break between them. Without hesitating, go straight to the third pile and pretend to lift off its top card in exactly the same way, taking it beneath the other two. In fact, you do nothing of the sort. Instead, release the lower card of the two you hold, so that it is deposited on top of the pile and only one remains in your right hand. Without pausing, go straight to the fourth pile and in the guise of lifting off its top card beneath the three you supposedly hold, feel for the short card with your thumb, and pick off all those above it. You now hold four aces and one indifferent card. 3. Turn the five-card packet face up, keeping it square and allow the ace on the front to be seen. Then slowly fan out the top three cards, keeping the bottom two in alignment as one. Four aces will be seen and, because there is only one extra card to hide, they can be handled with considerable freedom. Some magicians may feel that the presence of the fifth card is a weakness in the method, and may wish to palm it away or otherwise dispose of it. However, I use this trick as an intro to my Open Travellers routine, where secretly having an extra card is a necessary part of the method, so I am happy for it to be there. mailto:[email protected]

"X" MARKS THE SPOT By Val Le-Val This is my version of "Mark of the Pirate" by Joe Gattis. In the original effect a handkerchief is displayed showing a cross marked on it to represent the mark of the pirate Captain Hook. The handkerchief is then held by a spectator in his closed hand. A card is selected to represent the treasure which is subsequently "buried" into the pack. After some concentration, the "X" vanishes from the handkerchief and appears on the back of the selected card. Finally the "X" vanishes from the card and reappears back on the handkerchief. Whilst the trick is a good one, I never found it to be 100% in performance. The method depended on the heat of the spectator's hand to make the cross disappear from the handkerchief. If the spectator had cool hands, or the room temperature was cool, it just didn't work. Another point was if the cross did appear, it did so too quickly, not allowing enough time to display and show the disappearance. Also, there are now toy cars on the market which change colour using exactly the same method, that is, you hold the car in your clenched hand and the heat causes the colour to change, then after a short while it reverts to its original colour. So, here is a method, which uses the same handkerchief as supplied, but overcomes the above problems. REQUIREMENTS What you require is a chemical hand warmer, which is a paper packet about the size of a teabag. The ones I use are manufactured by a company called "Mycoal" and are available from sports equipment shops here in the UK. They come in pairs and are very cheap to buy. One of these is placed into your top outer jacket pocket prior to the performance. You also require a pack of cards and one double backer to match. On one side of this double backer draw a large "X" then lightly wax the other side at the outer end only. With the pack face down the double backer is placed on the bottom with the "X" side uppermost. WORKING 1. Begin by saying, "You have probably heard of Captain Hook, he was a pirate, and all the treasure he plundered, he buried. But he didn't need any maps with an "X" to mark the spot because he was into voodoo and mysticism, he carried his "X" in his handkerchief!" Display the handkerchief to show the "X" then bunch up the centre and tuck it into the top jacket pocket with the bulk of it hanging out. Now introduce the pack of cards, saying, "As we don’t have any island or any treasure, we’ll use this pack of cards to demonstrate. The pack will be the island and we'll have a card selected to represent the treasure." 2. Fan the pack, taking care not to flash the double backer on the bottom, and have a card selected. You now start. to Overhand Shuffle, saying that you are digging a hole for the treasure (card) and ask the spectator to call stop. When stop is called, have the card replaced on top of the left hand section then throw the balance on top and square up. This places the double backer on top of the selection which will now adhere to it due to the wax. Place the pack to one side. 3. Continue, saying, "All Captain Hook had to do when he wanted to find the treasure was to concentrate on the "X" on his handkerchief and the "X" would disappear...." Remove the handkerchief from your pocket and hold it displayed between the hands to reveal that the "X" has vanished. The hand warmer will guarantee this. Once the effect has registered, bunch up the handkerchief and casually place it aside, as you continue, saying, "....and appear on the spot where the treasure was buried." Pick up the pack and spread through until you come to the "X" card. Remove this card (really two as one with the selection stuck on the underside of the double backer) and flip it face up on top of the pack to reveal the selected card. Slide off the selection alone, which is easy due to the wax being at the front edge only, and place it face up on the. table. Take care not to prematurely expose the back. 4. Now state, "After Captain Hook had found his treasure and he had taken out what he wanted, he buried the rest again and of course he couldn't leave his "X" lying around for someone else to find. So all he had to do was concentrate again and the "X" would disappear from the treasure ( Flip over the card to show that the "X" has vanished ) and appear once again on his handkerchief!" As you say the final remark, pick up the handkerchief and display it to show that the "X" has returned. mailto:[email protected] GO TO VAL'S NEXT EFFECT!

SNOZ! By Val Le-Val EFFECT A few pictures of bottles of perfume are shown. One is selected and placed back into the packet and the packet mixed up. You then mention that you could find the selection by merely sniffing which card and picking up the scent from the person who selected it, but you have a more sophisticated way of finding it. The cards are laid in a face down row on the table, and then you introduce SNOZ. This is a mechanical wind-up walking nose. SNOZ is placed at the end of the row and he proceeds to walk along. At one point he stops on one of the cards. The other cards are turned over and none is the selected perfume. You lift SNOZ and turn over the card he stopped on revealing the chosen perfume. REQUIREMENTS I use seven cards, each bearing a picture of a different bottle of perfume. Mine are cut from catalogues and stuck onto card stock which is then laminated. You will also need a wind-up walking nose! These are available in many toy shops. Lay your cards on a wide row on the table. Now wind the nose up and let it walk over the row of cards. See how far it walks and on which card it stops. Do this a few times until you’re sure it will stop on the same card. I always have mine stop at the fourth card (centre). This means I can work from either end of the row. There many variables to consider - the toy mechanism you buy, how many cards you use, how many turns of the key, plus the spacing between each card. So there’s much trial and error. WORKING 1. Show the seven cards then ask a spectator to mix them. Take the packet and fan it face down inviting the spectator to pick one. As she is looking at it, close the fan so the cards turn end for end. Re-fan the cards and have the selection pushed back into the fan. Immediately give the cards to the spectator for further mixing. The selected bottle will now point in the opposite way to all the others, thanks to the one-way principle. 2. Take the cards and hold them with the faces towards you in a fan. Hold the fan up to your nose, saying, "I could find your chosen perfume by merely sniffing each card then picking up the scent from the person who chose it." But what you really do here is glance at the faces and note which bottle points one way, and also where it lies from the top of the packet. 3. Close up the fan and hold the cards ace down. Give them a little mix, secretly repositioning the chosen card at the required position for SNOZ to walk to when the cards are laid out in a row. Deal the cards into a row, then bring out SNOZ. Now proceed as explained in the EFFECT above.

BACK TO VAL'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

PEEPING "TOM" By Gene Maze This is a variation of "The Hotel Mystery" effect which I feel is slightly different from the original. Required are four Queens, four Kings and a Joker. The Joker represents the peeping "Tom," also referred to as the hotel clerk. Set the cards in the following order, reading from face to back: Red king - black King - red King - black King - Joker - red Queen - black Queen- red Queen - black Queen. STORY- LINE STAGE 1: Four couples were out on a date and the evening went by so fast that they weren’t aware of the time. Because they lived quite a distance away they decided to go to a hotel, but discovered that there were only four rooms available. STAGE 2: The boys decided to let the girls have the rooms while they slept out in their cars. A short while later the four boys were seen sneaking into the hotel by the hotel clerk. STAGE 3: After about an hour, the hotel clerk, who was a peeping "Tom" decided to take a peek at the rooms. So he looked through the keyhole only to discover that the girls had decided to share two of the rooms between themselves and let their dates share the other two. STAGE 1 - SHOWING THE PACKET Holding the nine cards face up in dealing position, thumb over the first red King into the right hand, taking the card with the fingers below and the thumb on the face. Then push over the second king (black) but place it under the first King. As the third King (red) is to be thumbed over, place it between the right little finger and the remaining three fingers. This is the Vernon Wedge Break. Place the fourth King (black) directly under the previous king. The Joker will now be showing. Push the Joker over and place it into the Wedge Break. If this has been followed correctly, the right hand will be holding five face up cards - in order; King, King, Joker, King, King. Count the four Queens normally one at a time under the packet. Turn the packet face down and hold it in dealing position. The top four cards are the Queens, followed by two Kings, the Joker and the other two Kings. STAGE 2 - THE LAYOUT Here is a layout guide

1

2

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Turn over the top card and show it to be a black Queen. Turn it face down and deal it to position 1 on the table. Turn over the next card showing it to be a red Queen and deal this face down to position 2. Turn over the next card showing it to be the other black Queen, then turn it face down. As this Queen is about to be dealt to the table, deal a Bottom and deal this card to position 3. (You are forming a square here, but don’t make the square too neat - the reason will be given shortly). Now do a Second Deal and turn the card over showing the last Queen (red). Flip it face down and deal another Bottom to position 4. You have formed a square as below.

1

2

3

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Cards 1 and 2 are Queens and cards 3 and 4 are Kings. You now continue and execute another Bottom deal, but turn this card face up and deal it in the center of the square. As your right hand is dealing the Joker to the table, your left hand turns palm down and casually drops its packet face up on the table, as you then proceed to straighten the square. The face card showing will be a King and it should be presumed that all four cards are Kings. Having sorted the square, pick up the face up packet, turn them face down. You now deal these four cards onto the four tabled cards to form four pairs, as follows: Deal the first card onto the card at position 2. Deal the next card to position 1. The next goes to position 3, and the last one to position 4. STAGE 3 - THE FINISH To finish, turn over the pairs at positions 1 and 2 revealing two sets of Queens, then turn over pairs 3 and 4 revealing two sets of Kings. mailto:[email protected] GO TO GENE'S NEXT EFFECT!

WORLD'S GREATEST SPONGE BALL ROUTINE By Gene Maze The Sponge Balls always go over well with the spectators but I've always felt that the climax should be stronger. I've spent over thirty years developing my routine and after each and every performance, the applause has been deafening. Select the most frail looking female in the audience and the paler she looks the better it will be. WORKING 1. Do the standard Sponge Ball routine but each time you request her to open her hand to show a sponge ball, hit the back of her hand very sharply with your fist before she actually opens the hand. 2. After you've gone through the standard routine, have her open both hands and put one ball in her left hand and load two balls into her right. Once her hands are closed, smack the back or her right hand and then have her open it to show that she is now holding two balls. Thus proving that the ball in her left hand has travelled over to join the ball in the right hand. Of course you instruct her not to open her left hand. Now have her close the right hand. 3. Again smack her right hand and then have her open her left hand to show that the ball has returned. Take the ball from her left hand and do a vanish. Smack her right hand again and then request her to open it. She is now holding two balls again. 4. Remove the two balls and toss them into the air but as they're being tossed, reach into your pocket and remove a golf ball. Pick up one of the sponges and say that you'll have her hold onto it. As you are about to place the sponge into her right hand, switch in the golf ball. Because of your smacking the back of her right hand throughout the routine, her hand will now be numb and she won't feel the difference between the sponge ball and the golf ball. 5. Vanish the second sponge ball. Now smack the back of her hand again and then tell her to open it. Of course everyone, including her, will expect to see a sponge ball but to their surprise - she'll now be holding a golf ball. Hand your female assistant some pain killing lotion as you take your applause. I always sign the golf ball and give to the one that assisted me, as a souvenir.

BACK TO GENE'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

COUNTDOWN LOCATION By George McBride This trick depends on a very subtle key card principle known as the "Sunken Key" developed by Oscar Weigle. WORKING 1. To begin secretly note the 11th card from the top of the pack. Let’s say it’s the Joker. 2. Now ask for the assistance of two spectators; sit one on your left and one on your right. The spectator on your right is asked to think of any number from one to ten. When they have decided on a number, give him/her the pack and ask them to deal that many cards onto the table one at a time from the top of the pack. Just before they start to deal turn your back so you can’t see how many cards they are dealing. When they have finished dealing ask them to drop the pack on top of the dealt cards and to square the pack. They must remember their number. 3. Face the front and ask the spectator on your left to cut the pack into roughly three equal piles. Next tell him/her to pick up the centre packet, shuffle it and to note the face card. This packet is now dropped on top of the original top portion of the pack. The other packet, which is of course the bottom portion, is now picked up and dropped on top of all. At this point the spectator may cut the pack as often as they wish. 4. You now explain to the left-hand spectator that you will place their card at a specific position in the pack. That is, their card will appear at the exact number that the right hand spectator is thinking of. 5. The pack is now picked up and spread, faces toward yourself, look for your Key Card in this case the Joker and spread over ten more cards to the left of it, cut the pack at this point, this will bring your Key Card back to its original position, 11th from top. To conclude ask the spectator on your right to name the number they’re thinking of. Deal down to that number and reveal the left-hand spectator’s card. mailto:[email protected] GO TO GEORGE'S NEXT TRICK!

HOME TO ROOST By George McBride The following routine contains ideas from Larry Jennings' (Ambidextrous Travellers) and Francis Carlyle’s (Homing Card). Before your performance place one card in each of your trouser/pants pockets, backs facing outward. WORKING 1. Begin by having two cards selected either by two spectators or have the two selected by one spectator. Have the cards signed replaced and controlled to the top of the pack…this should pose no problem. Holding the pack in your right hand draw attention to your left trouser pocket. Place your left hand into this pocket as you explain: "One of your selections has flown to this pocket" pull out the card that’s in there… half way. As this is being done the right hand is executing a One Hand Top Palm. Push the card back down into the pocket and come up and grasp the pack with your left hand, the right hand now goes to the right trouser pocket and produces the palmed card as you say: "and one has flown to this pocket". This card is actually removed and displayed. As this is being done the left hand is obtaining a pinkie break below the top card of the pack. 2. This first selection is placed on top of the pack face up and the top two cards of the pack are pushed forward as one, they end up outjogged about half an inch. These cards are now grasped with the right hand and placed into the outer end of the pack in readiness for an Erdnase Diagonal Palm Shift. Execute the shift. Almost immediately, the lefthand with its palmed cards reaches into your left trouser pocket and produces the second selection, leaving the first selection behind. This card is placed on the face of the pack and then the whole pack is turned face up. This second selection is displayed briefly before being taken in the right hand and held face down. 3. We now move into Francis Carlyle’s idea of dipping this second selection into the right hand trouser pocket and secretly switching it for the odd card. This is of course done under cover of a tongue and cheek explanation of the cards flying invisibly from the pack to the pockets. This dipping in and removal of the odd card is done almost as a casual gesture. This odd card is now placed face down into the middle of the face up pack. As the card is pushed in it is angled slightly so that it can be straddle gripped with the left-hand forefinger and pinkie. The pack is now turned face down. Actually the face up pack is moved slightly to the left and revolved face down on top of the straddle-gripped card, thus secretly righting the odd card! 4. Explain to them that you will attempt to repeat the effect. Riffle the pack for effect, then spread the cards face down to show both selections have gone. Square the pack, flip it face up and re-spread the cards, face up this time, to show they really have gone. Hand them the pack before placing both hands into your pockets and removing the selections. Incidentally, don’t worry about the selections ending up in opposite pockets after the repeat, this appears all the more puzzling.

BACK TO GEORGE'S PREVIOUS TRICK

QUEEN PIECE By Peter McLanachan EFFECT A spectator selects and notes a card, which is returned to the deck. The selection continually appears between the two black Queens under ever-increasingly impossible conditions. WORKING This routine is in three phases. Phase 1 1. Remove the two black Queens from the deck, placing them face up across the top of your card case (to make things easier when you come to pick the cards up later) and explain that you will be using these to find a selected card, but first you need to have a card selected. Have the spectator select and note a card. This card is then returned to the deck and controlled to the top using whatever method you want (OK, so use your favourite method if you want!). As you pick up the Queens from the card case, get a break under the top card of the deck, the selection. The Queens are picked up by the inner right corner with your thumb on top and index finger underneath. The left thumb pulls the top Queen onto the deck, square with the card above the break, the other Queen. is inserted into the break. This is done as if you are simply toying with the Queens and should not look like a move. At this point, there will be a face up Queen on the top of the deck, a face down selection second from the top and a face up queen under the selection, third from the top. Square the cards up and do not hold any breaks. 2. Get a break about half way down from the top of the deck and perform a Riffle Pass to effect the vanish of the Queens from the top of the deck (if you are not confident about the effectiveness of your pass as a vanish, see the "End Notes" section for another handling). Spread the top two or three cards and show there to be no Queens amongst them, then turn the deck face up to show that there are no Queens near the face of the deck (it is amazing the number of lay people who think that the Queens have just been moved to the face of the deck). Flip the deck face down again and spread through until you reach the face up Queens, which will have a face down card between them. Up jog the sandwiched card for just under half of its length, then up jog all three cards together and keep them fanned slightly as you close up the deck. Remove these cards with your right hand, thumb on top and fingers underneath and as you ask the spectator to identify their card, get a break under the top card of the deck. Turn your right hand palm down to show the selection trapped between the two Queens. The selection is pulled from between the Queens on top of, but not square with, the deck with your left thumb as your right hand turns palm down and places the Queens, face up, back on top of the card case. Phase 2 3. Pick up the selection in readiness for a Top Change. You should relax at this point in the routine, as if that is the end of the entire trick. This allows you plenty of time to do the Top Change, but remember - it must be done on the off beat, the audience must think that the routine is over. It must also be choreographed into your movements so that NO attention is drawn to it. After you do the Top Change, offer to do the effect again. Insert the card into the deck from the front but leave it out-jogged for about one-inch. Pick up the queens from above so that you are holding them in "Biddle Grip". As you pick the Queens up, get a break under the top card of the deck, the selection, then bring the Queens over the deck, briefly squaring them on top and secretly picking up the selection beneath them. Your left thumb pulls the top Queen onto the deck and the double in your right hand is placed on top of this Queen, loading the selection between the two Queens once again. 4. Push the out jogged card flush with the deck, riffle the deck in the same way that you do for your Riffle Pass and show that a card has appeared between the two Queens. This should be done quickly but smoothly - it should look as if the selection has jumped from its point in the centre of the deck to between the two Queens. Lift off these three cards, the two Queens and the face down selection, and as you turn your right hand palm down to show the face of the selection between the Queens, obtain a break under the top card of the deck. With your left thumb, once again pull the selection out of the fan, again so that it is not square with the deck. Turn your hand palm up again, turning the Queens face up and slip them under the selection. Phase 3 5. Square the top few cards up and pick up everything above the break (4 cards - from the top; the selection, the two Queens and an unknown odd card) in your right hand, handing the deck to a spectator standing to your right to hold for a moment. Your left thumb pushes to top two cards over to show the selection and the two Queens, the bottom Queen being a double. Square these cards up and, as you retake the selection only in your right hand, get a break above the bottom card of the three (apparently two) in your hand - the odd card stolen from the top of the deck. The selection should be held by the outer right corner with your right hand palm down so that your first and second fingers are on the face and your thumb contacts the back of the card. This means that when you turn your hand palm up, which you now do, you hare holding the card face down and in the correct position for the up-coming switch, holding the card at the inner right corner with your thumb on top and first and second fingers underneath. As you patter, insert the face down selection into the break. Your right thumb and fingers now grip the two queens as well as the selection as your left hand moves away slightly with the odd card and places it on top of the card case. For this to really work, you should be addressing someone to your right to whom you will give the queens to hold in a moment, which is why you gave the deck to someone on this side. 6. After placing the `selection' on top of the card case, your left hand moves back to the C~ueens. Move the face Queen behind the double and ask the spectator to give you back the deck. As they do so, ask them to keep their hand held out, palm up. Place the Queen packet in their hand and ask the spectator to put their other hand on top to guard the Queens so that nothing can come or go. Pick up the odd card from on top of the card case, the apparent selection, and place it into the deck. Make a magical gesture and ask the spectator to look at the Queens in their hand. The spectator will now freak out when they see that their selection is now back between the two Queens that they have been holding. END NOTES This routine plays brilliantly well for lay audiences with each section of the routine becoming more and more impossible, ending with the effect happening IN THEIR HANDS. I feel that a routine that either happens or finishes in the spectators' hands is~ a very strong point to any effect. I have also found that this routine is excellent for performing in almost any walkaround, table-hopping or formal situation. You do not need a load of room on a table to perform it in. If you have room to put your card case down, you probably have room to perform this effect. At this time of writing, I am still playing with the idea of having the selection signed to prove that there are no duplicates being used. I have found over the last month performing this that I get just as good a reaction when the card is not signed as I do when it is. I will leave it up to you whether you wish to have the selection signed or not. The switch used at the start of Phase 3 is one that Paul Wilson used in his routine called "The Red Headed League" from his Obscure Acts lecture notes. A fine routine that provided the starting point for this routine. The Top Change I use is Larry Jennings' handling of the "Hofzinser Top Change" and a description of this can be found on page 48 of The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings. This method allows you to do the Top Change with the minimum amount of misdirection. Although I only use this method for the Top Change, I believe that pretty much all methods of Top Change will work for this routine. OK, so what do you do if you are not confident with your Riffle Pass? Side Steal the bottom card of the deck into your palm and use a Colour Change to effect the vanish of the queens. Instead of showing the top of the deck first, turn the deck face up, performing a Turnover Pass in the process, and show the face of the deck then the top. Continue as per the text. Oh, by the way, just to explain the title, in some parts of Scotland, a sandwich is a `piece', hence the name "Queen Piece".

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WHO IS THIS WOMAN? By Robert E. Neale I have just uncovered a terrible conspiracy. I will expose it right now and destroy it for all time. The diabolic plot is by the U.S. Playing Card Company! I began to suspect the plot when I examined these winged figures on the corners of the backs of the cards. Look at them. They have human heads and arms. But the lower limbs are quite bestial. And there is a long appendage between them that is either a tail or something unmentionable! Are these winged creatures the Lord's angels or the Devil's demons? But there is more-truly damning evidence of diabolism. It involves the number of eyes on the cards. Count the eyes on the backs. What is the total on this back? 12. So on the backs of all fifty-two cards there are 624 eyes. Now look at these court cards. What creatures do these two-faced masks conceal? These have one eye to a mask, while these have two eyes. What is the total? 42. Adding the two sums, 624 and 42, we arrive at what total? Six hundred and sixty-six-six, six, six. Yes, according to the Book of Revelations, 666 is the number of the Beast. These eyes are Demon Eyes. So I wonder now about the Ace of Spades. Look at that spade! So very black and in the shape of a heart with something inserted. We know that it represents death. For good reason. Once it was a red, living heart! Now it is a black, dead heart due to the dagger that has pierced it-the Devil's Dagger. These are truly the devil's pasteboards. Something must be done. I will do it now for the sake of us all by the magic of invoking the woman who exorcises demons. If she appears, this demonic ace, and all the other aces of spades on all the other Bicycle decks in the world, will be transformed. If she appears, because she has two eyes, the full count of the eyes in the deck will be a safe 668. And if she appears, the demons on the backs of the cards will be converted into different beings, maybe even angels. Woman of mystery,

Maiden of power, Show thyself now In this magical hour. Cast out all demons, Change all such decks. Make thine appearance And break now this HEX. She is here! The diabolic conspiracy has been foiled. But who is this woman? By whose power did she cast out the demons? I am not telling. Oh, is she on the card case too? Yes! The magic is complete. ROUTINE Place the Ace of Spades with the pip right side up and face down. Pencil dot the upper right corner. Obtain an extra Ace of Spades and employ a black Sharpie pen to black out the woman and the surrounding starred area. Position the court cards together on top of the deck with the three one-eyed cards at the very top. Place the Ace of Spades on the face and the blackened ace on top of it. Case the deck with the cards face down. Bring out the card case without showing the side portraying the ace (or cover it up with fingers). Show the side that indicates the manufacturer. Remove the cards, laying the case aside with the ace hidden. Remove the top three court cards and offer them out to spectators face down for the backs to be checked. Let the audience determine the number of faces and eyes on the back of a card. Remove the nine remaining court cards and lay them face up in a wide spread. Turn the other three court cards face up in a wide spread. Let the audience determine the number of eyes on the faces. Use the three one-eyed court cards to scoop up the other nine court cards and replace them at the top of the deck. Show the faked ace at the face of the deck, holding the cards in a normal dealing position. The audience sees the Ace of Spades right side up. Just before doing the Glide, twist the wrist so that the deck faces the audience in a vertical position and the Ace of Spades is upside down. This assists in making the point about the spade pip being dead heart. Furthermore, from this position, it is quite natural to twist the wrist to turn the deck face down and apparently remove the face card. Employ the Glide to deposit the normal ace on the table face down. Place the deck in the case, concealing both the ace at the face and the ace on the case, and table the case. If you wish to reset the deck at the end, leave the ace jogged outward a little bit. Now you will perform a "moving revelation." As the chant is delivered, the card is held face down by opposite corners and also up and away from the performer. At the end of chant, it mysteriously turns face up. Hold the card face down in the left hand with the thumb on the back and the fingers on the face. The pencil dot on the back corner is at the lower right. Grasp the upper left and lower right corners with the right second finger and thumb, respectively. The right palm is vertical. Before letting go with the left hand, bend the two corners downward by pressing upward with the left hand and downward with the right hand. Remove the left hand and raise the right hand higher than normal and away from the body. At the end of the chant, release pressure gradually so that the card slowly turns face up. Grasp the corner held by the thumb with the left hand, forefinger on top and thumb underneath. Raise up this corner so that the card is vertical and faces the audience. Move the right thumb along the back in order to clip the opposite corner between thumb and second finger. Remove the bend while showing the face. (In his "Yellow Lecture Notes," Peter Studebaker recommends crimping the card "both horizontally and lengthwise" in order to render the work less visible. As Martin Gardner says, some practice is required. But, as both Gardner and Studebaker say, the effect is quite mysterious.) After the revelation of the woman, slide the Ace of Spades above the blackened ace on the face. Close the case. The deck is reset. Reveal the Ace of Spades on the case. One can bring out another deck as if to check to see if it too has been transformed. Once this has been done, the original deck can be removed. SOURCES This is a version of a trick by Max Maven. Martin Gardner told Rhett Bryson about the existence of 42 eyes on the court cards. Rhett had the delightful idea of counting the number of eyes on the backs of Bicycle cards and adding the two results to reach the total of 666. He reported this amusing discovery in his December, 1999 pamphlet, The Devil's Prayer Book. On receiving this useful contribution to our card lore, I saw the figure of the woman on the Ace of Spades. I informed Rhett and Max Maven about this problem of two extra eyes immediately, for some facts are too important to keep to oneself. After the passage of twentyfour hours, I devised a way of handing the situation. It was an attempt to turn the problem into an asset. Max responded with a trick that used an extra Ace of Spades with the facial features scratched out (and a double lift for a switch) to go with my presentation. It never occurred to me to create a trick and Max, as usual, did it very well. It is simple, direct and underscores the presentation. It is perfect as it is, but I had to tinker so I could use my new presentation for his trick. Parker Gilbert and Tim Trono viewed my early attempts and assisted their development. My only change in the trick is to increase the area of the ace that is removed and this changes the plot a little bit also so a new being can be evoked and other beings cast out. Magicians should achieve no less! Max notes that the idea of changing all the decks in the world is similar to ideas from Karl Fulves, George Sands and Michael Weber. And what a superb idea it is! Why just change a playing card in one deck when one can change them in all decks? The chant has been provided by the creative magician and clergyman of Herefordshire, England, Mark Townsend. My original:

Woman, come forth. Mark all such decks. Cast out demons. Show thyself now. On request, Mark also provided this shorter version:

Woman of Mystery, Break now this hex, Turn demons to angels, And change all such decks. "Martin Gardner's Corner" in MAGIC (Volume 7, Number 4 December, 1997) outlined a stunt to be presented as a demonstration of psychokinesis. A playing card was to be secretly bent very slightly to make a convex back. The card is held face down between the tips of the thumb and middle finger at diagonal corners. On releasing pressure until the card is about ready to drop, the card will slowly turn face up. Gardner comments that it takes practice to hold the card lightly enough and that the effect is quite spooky. COMMENTS I do not suggest that the blackened Ace of Spades will fly by the cardician or card player with ease. It will not. But it will pass right by the average lay person and some of the above as well. Please note that I have written with considerable forbearance. I have not mentioned the female breasts on the corner figures which, combined with the mysterious appendage, render the creatures hermaphroditic. Nor have I offered a detailed interpretation of what the apparent bicycle really is-a magician's wand working its wonders on the mysterious appendage. I have not speculated on the spade image as representing two intimate organs in action. And I have not chanted for the dead heart to become a living womb and give birth to the woman. But I do encourage us to wonder about that woman on the Ace of Spades. Who is she? Liberty, pagan goddess, drag queen, my grandmother, your mother or. . . ? Impromptu Story Version One can communicate the plot in impromptu fashion by telling a story about what happened in the past. Following the script given below, accept a shuffled deck and cut the Ace of Spades to the top. Remove the court cards face down for examination of the backs. When appropriate, turn these cards face up, spread them, and separate out the three one-eyed court cards. The spade pips on any one of these court cards are pointed to when discussing their meaning. Remove the Ace of Spades face down and show the face by means of the "moving revelation." The script need have only minor changes as indicated in the following example. STORY SCRIPT Modern magicians are prone to use decks of Bicycle playing cards because of a peculiar history. Years ago, a real magician discovered a terrible conspiracy and decided to fix it for all time. The diabolic plot was by the U.S. Playing Card Company! The magician began to suspect the plot when he examined these winged figures on the corners of the backs of the cards. Look at them. They have human heads and arms. But the lower limbs are quite bestial. And there is a long appendage between them that is either a tail or something unmentionable! Are these winged creatures the Lord's angels or the Devil's demons? But there was more-truly damning evidence of diabolism. It involved the number of eyes on the. Count the eyes on the backs. What is the total on this back? 12. So on the backs of all fifty-two cards there are 624 eyes. Now look at these court cards. What creatures do these two-faced masks conceal? These have one eye to a mask, while these have two eyes. What is the total? 42. Adding the two sums, 624 and 42, we arrive at what total? Six hundred and sixty-six-six, six, six. Yes, according to the Book of Revelations, 666 is the number of the Beast. These eyes are Devil Eyes. So the magician wondered about the Ace of Spades. Look at these spade pips! So very black and in the shape of a heart with something inserted. We know that the large pip on the Ace of Spades represents death. For good reason. Once it was a red living heart! Now it is a black dead heart due to the dagger that has pierced it-the Devil's Dagger. These were truly the devil's pasteboards. Something had to be done. So the magician did it for the sake of us all by the magic of invoking the woman who exorcises demons. If she appeared, the demonic aces of spades on all the Bicycle decks in the world, would be transformed. If she appeared, because she has two eyes, the full count of the eyes in the deck would be a safe 668. And if she appeared, the demons on the backs of the cards would be converted into different beings, maybe even angels. So the real magician chanted:

Woman of mystery, Maiden of power, Show thyself now In this magical hour. Cast out all demons, Change all such decks. Make thine appearance And break now this HEX. Did she appear? Yes! The diabolic conspiracy was foiled. But who is this woman? By whose power did she cast out the demons? We magicians are not telling. mailto:[email protected]

TICK-TOCK DOT DOC By Jon Racherbaumer John Bannon published a couple of worthy clock tricks in Smoke And Mirrors (1991). "Clock O’ Doom " inspired this variation and its roots lie in "Kaplan's Clock Trick." It substitutes Alex Elmsley's "A Minor Triumph" for Sid Lorraine's "Slop Shuffle" and adds Marlo's predetermined hour bit. Bannon's use of Marlo's Face-Up Switch is safe and deceptive, but you may prefer to keep the clock-cards away from the deck. EFFECT The standard Clock Procedure is followed to arrive at a card in the Clock Dial. The performer removes a prediction card from his pocket and puts it face down on the table. The ClockCards are gathered and shuffled by the spectator. The performer then further mixes them in a topsy-turvy face-up/face-down fashion. The spectator announces their hour. The ClockCards are spread to reveal a single face-up card, whose value matches the chosen hour. The selection is then revealed reversed in the spread-packet. The spread is closed and the cards are again dealt into a Clock Formation. A space is left at the spectator's hour, but after close examination it turns out there are only eleven cards on the table. The tabled prediction turns out to be the selection! SET-UP Mark a known card on its back—say, the King of Hearts. METHOD 1. Have someone shuffle the deck. Spread the deck face down between your hands and have twelve cards removed from different parts of the deck. As you spread the cards, locate the marked King of Hearts and casually cut it to the bottom. 2. Ask the spectator to shuffle the twelve-card packet. Meanwhile, perform an Overhand Shuffle with the talon and shuffle the marked King of Hearts to the top. Table the talon face down in front of the spectator. Say, "This trick, in a wacky sense, is about time. Notice I say, 'about time,’ because time is a tad abstract. Suppose that your packet of real cards represents the twelve hours found on old-fashioned clock dials. When I turn my back, place some cards from your packet onto the deck. Simply cut off a few, then drop them face down on top of the tabled deck. Secretly count the left-over cards and place them in your pocket. These cards will represent an hour on our imaginary clock. For example, if you have two cards left over, your hour would be two o'clock. Understand?" 3. Turn around and permit the spectator carry out your instructions. Face the spectator and say, "We also need twelve cards to create a make-shift clock-dial." Pick up the talon and quickly deal twelve cards face-down to the table, reversing their order. Hold them face down in your left hand and place the talon aside. Continue: "I don't want to see the faces of these cards. When I show and count them one at a time, please remember the card that coincides with your hour. In my example, your hour was two o'clock. Therefore, you would remember the card at that designated hour." Deal the top card face down into your right hand. Show its face to the spectator and say, "One o'clock…" Drop this card face down to the table. Repeat this action and patter with the next eleven cards, each time uttering the sequential name of the next hour. In the process, notice when the marked KH appears. Suppose it shows up as you show the Five O'clock Card. You then know the spectator's hour. 4. Ask the spectator to pick up the Clock Cards and shuffle them. Say, "Now the sequence of these unknown cards is destroyed. There's no way to know your hour or card." Take back the cards and casually spread them face down between your hands. Sight the marked KH. Close the spread and obtain a left pinkie break under it. (If it ends up on top or bottom, do nothing.) 5. Side-steal the KH into your right palm and say, "I have a prediction-card in my coat pocket!" Reach into your left (inside) coat pocket and then come out with the palmed King of Hearts (selection). Toss it face down to the table without revealing it. (If the selection ended up on the top or bottom of the packet, perform a Bottom Cop or Top Palm.) You are now "ahead of the game." The known selection is already on the table and you know the number of the spectator's hour. Say, "If I gaze at these cards, I can only guess which card you selected and which hour you thought of…" Fan the eleven-card packet with the faces toward yourself Look for a card with a value equal to the spectator's hour. In our example, you would look for a Five. If you find one, manoeuvre it third from the face (bottom) with a casual cut. The next phase emulates John Bannon’s approach of mixing the cards face up and face down. Bannon uses the Slop Shuffle. A more deceptive handling is to apply and perform Alex Elmsley’s mini-Triumph effect from The Collected Works Of Alex Elmsley - Volume One (1991): "A Minor Triumph," p. 256. Elmsley uses ten cards, although any packet consisting of an even number of cards works. Because you have an eleven-card packet (an odd-number of cards), the starting location of the principal card has been changed. Elmsley starts with the principal card on the bottom. The rest is an application of the Kardyro-Biddle Steal. This is my variation of "Minor Triumph": 6. Grasp the face-down eleven-card packet from above and by the ends with your right hand. Obtain a left pinkie break above the bottom two cards, using Marlo's Buckle Break, KickCount, or Pull Down. Move your left hand away, taking the bottom two cards. Turn your left hand palm down, rotating the thumb toward yourself. With the tips of your left fingers, pull the next face-down card from the top of the packet, taking it beneath the lefthand cards. As your left fingers pull it flush, retain a left pinkie break between it and the other two cards. Turn your left hand palm up. The audience sees the face of the card just peeled. Peel off the next face-down card from the right-hand packet with your left thumb. The right-hand packet momentarily covers the left-hand cards as in a standard Biddle Count position. In the act of drawing this third card, steal back the face-up card under the right-hand cards. 7. Repeat the two steps just explained three more times, performing a face up-face down mixing process. You seemingly alternate four face-up cards with face-down cards, although the audience probably will not count the cards. To conclude, turn your left hand palm down and take all the right-hand cards underneath as a block. Turn your left hand palm up. The Five is now face up and fifth from the top. Use Bannon's patter during this mixing procedure. Talk about putting the cards through a time-warp. Say, "Things get so mixed up, nobody's knows what time it is!" Hold the packet face down and continue: "Sometimes the clock itself digitises the hour! For the first time, please name your chosen hour!" As the spectator names it, quickly perform a one-hand fan to reveal the face-up Five. 8. Hold the cards face down between your hands and perform the Larreverse as you apparently turn the Five face down. In the process, you secretly turn another indifferent card face up. Perform the turnover casually, then square up the cards. Flip the packet face up and add, "This time ... (pause) this time ... get it? ... think of your card." 9. Perform another one-hand fan with your right hand to reveal a face-down card among the face-up cards. Remove the face-down card with your left hand and look at its face. Miscall it, saying: "Ah, yes! You chose the King of Hearts!" Turn the fan face down and quickly insert the face-down indifferent card without showing it. This miscall is convincing. Because you apparently cannot know the name of the selection at this stage, the miscalling is believable. Besides, if they scrutinized the face-up cards in the fan, they would not see the King of Hearts. This strongly suggests that the face-down card must be the selection. 10. Continue: "Let's try something more timely! That is, let's make a mock clock dial." Hold the packet face down in dealing position and deal cards face down into the circular clock formation, starting at the one o'clock position. As you deal each card, name each hour. When you get to five o'clock (the spectator's hour), say: "Here's your hour, five o’clock!" Leave an open space, then continue dealing the rest of the cards around the clock. This is Marlo's handling. After you have created the mock-clock dial, some spectators will realise that a card is missing. Others will be oblivious. Wait a few seconds, then add: "That's odd! Somehow we've lost an hour. Oh well, time always flies when you're having a good…" Look sheepishly at the audience and do not finish the last sentence. Finally, say (under your breath): "I can't say it!" Turn the other Clock cards face up, leaving each at its original position in the dial. Continue: "I can’t believe it! We have completely lost five-o'clock. If this happens, there is only one thing to do. We must turn back the clock. We must go back in time." 11. Gather up the Clock cards and place them face down onto the deck. Ask, "Does anyone know the time we started? (Pause) Does anyone care? Remember of course the timewarp." Stare at the card still face down on the table and keep staring at it until the audience catches on. Say, "Remember the prediction-card we placed on the table at the beginning? Well…" Ask the spectator to turn the KH face up to cap the effect. Do not offer any explanations or say anything else. Let your audience figure out what happened or did not happen. The matching-value bit is puzzling, especially if you do not see a card with a value that matches the spectator's hour. If this happens, simply skip the bit and perform Elmsley’s trick to reverse an indifferent card. The rest follows the original explanation step-by-step. This version is dated December 1991 and was published in The New Tops (April - 1992) in a slightly different form. http://www.jonracherbaumer.com/index.html

MISDIRECTION REPLACEMENT By Dave Robertson (Described by Peter Duffie) Based on the Ovette/Kelly Replacement, the following, while easy to do, requires that the spectator’s gaze be averted from the deck at the crucial moment. While Dave worked this out independently, I draw the reader’s attention to the Gene Maze "Block Ovette" move which has recently been published by Karl Fulves. Here, Gene slips all but the top card to the bottom as the upper section is replaced. This has the same end result as a Top Card Cover Pass. Dave’s version results in a complete transposition of the halves. WORKING 1. Hold the deck face down in dealing position and riffle down the outer left corner with your thumb as you ask a spectator to call stop. Lift off the upper section in a Biddle grip with your right hand and raise it straight up to allow the spectator to see the face card, which he remembers. "Can you remember that card?" The right hand grip is the same as for the Ovette/Kelly, with the fingers extended over the front end. The left hand fingers should lie along the right side. 2. You now lower your hand and apparently replace the upper section. As you carry out the following, look at the spectator and say something like, "I hope you’ve got a better memory than me!" As the right hand is lowered, the right fingers grip the packet in, what’s best described as, a Finger Palm. This disengages the grip from the right thumb, which remains in position, but no longer takes part in holding the packet. The packet is now slid under the front end of the left hand section - the right thumb coming to rest at the inner end of the deck, then the right hand makes a squaring action to finish. In all, the actual move takes less than a second. Here’s the simple direct trick Dave likes to perform using the above move.

MISDIRECTION COUNTDOWN A spectator remembers a card in the middle of the deck. A second spectator tries to cut to it but fails. However, all is not lost. Using the value of this card, the performer counts down from the position of the cut and finds the selected card. WORKING 1. Have a card chosen using the Misdirection Replacement to control it to the bottom. Or use any other method. 2. With the deck face down in dealing position, invite a second spectator to try to cut to the card by lifting off a portion and turning it face up. This, of course, will not be the selection. Draw attention to the value of the card. Let’s say it’s a Six spot. Say, "Wouldn’t it be amazing if the chosen card was the sixth down in this half? Let’s see." Deal off five cards into a face down pile on the table, then deal a Bottom on the final card, dealing to the right of the pile. Ask the first spectator to name his card then turn over the card to reveal the correct card. If the second spectator cuts to an Ace, spell the name of the card, unless you feel confident executing a solitary Bottom Deal. mailto:[email protected]

ALDO COLOMBINI'S "CHANCE" REVISITED by Robin Robertson

Aldo Colombini has shared a great deal of fine magic with us over the years. One effect I've enjoyed is "Chance," which he included in his April 1986 Linking Ring Parade. The effect is that the performer asks a spectator to merely think of a card. He isn't sure which of two cards to predict, so he lays out both. After the spectator names his card, the performer insists he got it right, but he'll give the spectator a further chance. The performer takes out the two red Deuces from the deck. [Aldo uses Kings. God knows why I've been using Deuces for years now.] EFFECT The spectator gets to pick either of the two "predictions." It goes between the two red Deuces for a moment and is then shown to be the named card. It's laid face-down on the table, then the performer remarks "I wonder what would have happened if you had chosen the other card?" No sooner said than done: it goes between the two red Deuces and again the chosen card appears. Though it's unusual to have two of the same card in the deck, that's exactly what we have here, and the performer predicted that would be what the spectator named. "Of course it's all an illusion." With that, the performer shows the four cards are actually the four Deuces for his finish. Aldo reproduced the named card again, but that always seemed like gilding the lily to me. I've used this off-and-on ever since Aldo published it and have worked out many variations over the years. I'll only share the one I now use. What's changed from his original? The main point is that I like to put a face-down prediction between two face-up Deuces; Aldo had them all face-down. It's a marginal point, but looks better to me. Beyond that, there are a fair number of handling changes. WORKING 1. Say that you're going to make a prediction of which card the spectator will later pick. Upjog the two black Deuces without revealing their identities. Act undecided, then finally say that you're not sure which to pick so you'll have to take both. Lay the two black Deuces face-down as your prediction. 2. Ask the spectator to name any card in the deck. Nod your head up-and-down affirmatively, as if he got it right. Then say that you need the two red Deuces to help you. This makes no sense at all, but just move on as if it did. Now you want to secretly cull the Queen of Spades to the top of the deck as you openly place the red Deuces on top of it. Not a very difficult proposition, but let me explain it as many magician are awkward at such culls. 3. Spread the cards from left hand to right, with the faces facing you, as you look for the two Deuces. You're also looking for the Queen of Spades . Now there are three possibilities: it's nearer the face than the Deuces, between the Deuces, or nearer the back of the deck. In the first case, keep your right fingers on the Queen of Spades as you continue spreading the cards. Upjog the Deuces when you come to them. Then move the right hand, with the Queen of Spades on top of its cards, upwards to pull out the two Deuces on top of its cards. Place the left hand cards to the face, then turn everything face-down. The Queen of Spades will be third from the top with the Deuces above it. If the Queen of Spades is nearer the back of the deck than the Deuces, you upjog them as you come to them, but continue spreading until you reach the Queen of Spades . Right fingers hold it at the back of the right-hand spread, as the left fingers take all the cards above it, then pull out the two Deuces, place at the back of the right cards, then place its cards on the face. Finally, if the Queen of Spades is between the two red Deuces, the actions are similar, though slightly more complicated. Upjog the first Deuce as you come to it. Hold the Queen of Spades with your right fingers as you continue spreading to the second Deuce. Upjog it. Separate the hands, with the Queen of Spades on the back of the right hand's card, but also with both upjogged Deuces held in the right hand. Stare at them a second as if deciding, then nod to yourself in agreement, come back with the left hand, pull them out and place at the back of the right hand cards. Left hand's cards go on the face. Sorry about all that, but since there's no logic at all to waiting to get the two red Deuces until after a card is named, the last thing you want is for the spectator to be able to see that you're looking for their card and controlling it. 4. Now get a break under the third card from the top of the deck as you push over the top two. Flip them face-up and pick up the two red Deuces with the face-down Queen of Spades underneath in Biddle position. Lay the deck aside as you're through with it. Fan the two cards to show the red Deuces, keeping the Queen of Spades hidden beneath. Tell the spectator that they have already done a wonderful job in naming one of your two predictions. But now they have to help you further by deciding which prediction card is the right one. Pick up their choice and place it face-down between the two red Deuces. Square the packet briefly, then pull off the top Deuce into the left hand, then the face-down prediction card on top of it (still fanned), then the last Deuce (with the Queen of Spades hidden beneath) on top of all. Immediately square and flip the packet face-down, then spread again from the bottom. The Queen of Spades will show up face-up in the middle of the face-down red Deuces. I usually use the card(s) in the right hand to flip the Queen of Spades face-down, then face-up again. Close the spread, turn face-up, and spread again from the bottom to show the Queen of Spades (?) face-down. Drop it face-down on the table from the spread. Place the right hand card(s) underneath the left. 5. Repeat the handling in step 4 with the other prediction card to show another Queen of Spades and lay it face-down on top of the first one. Close the fan with the right hand red Deuce (with the Queen of Spades underneath), going under the other red Deuce. Drop them on the two cards on the table and pick them all up in one motion. 6. Pull off the two red Deuces one-at-a-time into the left hand then flip them face-down, deep in your left hand. Casually pull the top card off the remaining card(s) and shift it to the bottom, holding the two (actually 3) cards at your left fingertips. Now do Hamman's Flushstration Count with the three cards to show two Queens of Spades. That is, grip them from above in Biddle position with the right hand and turn it palm-up to show a Queen of Spades. "It's normal to only have one Queen of Spades in the deck." Turn hand palm-down again and pull the top card off onto the left cards. "It's very unusual to have two in one deck." Turn your right hand palm-up again to show another Queen of Spades, then palm-down as you lay it down on the other cards. 7. "But it's all an illusion." Flip the packet face-up and do a modified Ascanio Count to show four Deuces. Just pull off the top and bottom cards fanned into the left hand. Once they clear the right cards, come back with the right hand, grip the top Deuce with the left thumb until the Deuce (with the Queen of Spades hidden underneath) clears slightly to the right, and pivot this last Deuce (and hidden Queen of Spades) into the fan second from the face. This last subtlety was, as far as I'm aware, originally developed by Brother Hamman, but it's pretty standard by now. Display the four Deuces in a fan in the left hand. A nice touch is to take the two face Deuces off with the right hand, still fanned, and brush the cards in each hand against one another as if to say that there are only the four cards. Replace the right hand cards under the left hand cards, flip them face-down and put them into the deck to finish. mailto:[email protected] GO TO ROBIN'S NEXT EFFECT!

DOUBLE LUCKY by Robin Robertson Aldo Colombini's effect, from his April 1986 Linking Ring Parade, inspired this effect, though it's quite different from Aldo's. It uses a very old principle: two cards of different suits and values can be used to identify either of two cards, using the value of one card and the suit of the other. WORKING

1. Have the deck shuffled by the spectator, then take it back as you explain that you're going to try and make a prediction. Note the top and bottom cards of the deck. As long as they are different suits and values, you're all set. If not, casually cut between any two cards that are. We'll say that the Queen of Spades is on top and the Nine of Hearts is on the bottom of the deck. Remember the value of the card on the bottom: a Nine in our case. Now upjog their "crossed twins," i.e., take the value from one card and the suit from the other, then the value from the second card and the suit from the first. In our case, upjog the Queen of Hearts and the Nine of Spades. Act undecided, then tell the spectator that you can't decide which of these two cards to use, so you'll have to take both and let the spectator help you out. 2. Have the spectator pick up either prediction, hold it face down, then insert in anywhere she likes in the middle of the pack. Have her leave it protruding from the deck. Now ostensibly turn their chosen "prediction card" face-up where they inserted it. Actually use Bill Simon's calling-card force to place the prediction face-up between what was the top and bottom cards of the deck. In brief, since it's so well-known: spread all the cards above the outjogged prediction card into the right hand. Right hand turns palm-down, grasping the prediction card, then palm-up again, turning it face-up. The left hand's cards go on top. 3. Ribbon-spread the cards on the table, then remove the face-up prediction card and the cards above and below it. Now there are two possibilities: the prediction card is the same value as the value you noted; i.e., it's the Nine of Spades in our example, which matches the Nine you noted. Or it's the Queen of Hearts, which doesn't match. Let's take each in turn. It matches (Top). Call this the Top case. Pick up the sandwich and place the Nine of Spades face-up on the table. Remark, "Isn't it interesting that you picked the Nine of Spades and placed it between a Nine . . ." while turning the top card face-up, then dealing it behind and to your right of the Nine of Spades . ". . . and a spade." Turn the remaining card face-up and dealing it behind and the your left of the Nine of Spades .

It doesn't match (Bottom). Call this the Bottom case. Pick up the sandwich and place the Queen of Hearts faceup on the table. Remark, "Isn't it interesting that you picked the Queen of Hearts and placed it between a Queen," while turning the packet over to show the bottom card face-up, then dealing it behind and to your right of the Nine of Spades. ". . . and a heart." Deal the remaining card face-up, behind and to your left of the Queen of Hearts. Congratulate the spectator on her success. 4. Turn the first prediction card face-down and place it into the deck, as if the trick were over. Then look up and muse: "I wonder what would have happened if you had picked the other card. Now maybe you would have placed it somewhere else in the deck. But what if you had put it in the same place?" Now your next action depends on whether the first prediction card was a Top or a Bottom.

TOP: Pick up the two face-up cards in your right and left hand, respectively. Scoop up the remaining face-down prediction card with the right card on top.

BOTTOM: Pick up the two face-up cards in your right and left hand, respectively. Scoop up the remaining face-down prediction card with the right card on bottom.

5. Square up the sandwich and turn it face-down. Spread to show the new prediction card and place it face-up on the table. Now if the first prediction card was a top, repeat the top actions to show that the prediction card was put between the exact two cards that match it; i.e., turn over the top card first. If a bottom, repeat the bottom actions; i.e., turn the packet over to show the bottom card first. The whole point of remembering Top or Bottom is simply that your actions are identical for both predictions and you don't have to think about what your actions should be. As I said, this is a very old principle, but perhaps in a slightly new dressing.

BACK TO ROBIN'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

FRED ROBINSON'S BLACKJACK STACK Fred Robinson was a friend and a huge inspiration to me and countless others. Technical Editor of Pabular and a card handler of extraordinary ability, he will never be forgotten. The following are two items plucked from his bag of creations. There are many, many more.... EFFECT The deck is shuffled and a spectator gives it a cut. Regardless of the number of cuts, the deck is always set for the dealer to win in any number of two-handed games of Blackjack. The complete stack is as follows (where X = Tens & face cards):

X-X-X-2-9-A-6-3-7-X-5-4-8 - repeated three times. WORKING Begin by saying that many sharpers cheat by remembering the position of cards as they fall during the hand being played prior to the one in which it is their turn to deal. "As we are not playing the game I will just shuffle the cards...." Carry out a full deck False Shuffle, as you continue, "...And I’ll quickly glance through them." Next give the deck a couple of false table shuffles, claiming (untruthfully) that you are getting the cards into the right order to ensure that you will win. Let the spectator give the deck a genuine cut and it is now in order for the dealer to win every hand, with the possible exception of one, in a two-handed game. Replace the dealt cards face upwards on the bottom to donate when the stack runs out. NOTE: In Chuck Smith's 1994 lecture notes, What If, there's a similar idea using a different stack. Smith says it was shown to him by a card shark in 1949.

GO TO FRED'S NEXT EFFECT!

POKER, RUMMY & BRIDGE By Fred Robinson EFFECT The performer deals out four hands giving himself a Royal Flush - Ace, King, Queen Jacks & Ten of Clubs. He next deals four hands of seven cards each as for a game of Rummy. This time he receives a running flush - Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 of Spades. Finally, he deals out all the cards into four hands and he receives all thirteen Diamonds! The set-up required is as follows: (H = Heart D = Diamond F = Royal Flush cards R = running flush cards B = remaining black cards).

H-H-H-H-B-H-D-H-B-H-H-H-H-B-B-B-B-B-B-B-D-D-D-D-D-2DB-F-B-F-B-F-B-F-2C-F-H-H-2H-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-D-D-D-D-D-D.

WORKING 1. Commence by giving the deck a perfect Out Faro (top and bottom cards remain in place), saying that you are mixing the cards. The two of Diamonds being the 26th card acts as a check when cutting for the faro. Give the deck a couple of false table shuffles, claiming that you are stacking the cards for a game of Poker. Deal out four hands of five cards turning your cards face up as you deal them. This will be the Royal Flush. 2. Gather up the dealt cards in the following manner, the undealt section being face down in your left hand: With your right hand turn the Royal Flush face down and drop it on hand no.3, returning the combined hands to the top of the deck. Next place hand no.1 on hand no.2 and return these to the top of the deck. 3. Carry out another Out Faro, this time the Two of Hearts is your guide to the 26th card. Follow this with another couple of false table shuffles, saying that you are now stacking the cards for a hand of Rummy. Deal out four hands of seven cards turning your cards face up as they are dealt. These will be the Ace to Seven of Spades - the running flush for Rummy. 4. Gather together the four hands exactly as you did after the Poker deal, then give the deck another Out Faro. This time your guide to the 26th card is the Two of Clubs. After a couple of false table shuffles, deal the complete deck into four hands for Bridge. Deal your cards face down this time. Finally turn over your hand revealing all thirteen Diamonds!

This ends the demonstration, but Fred gathered the cards together as follows and went straight into Paul Curry’s ‘Out of this World.’ Turn your hand of Diamonds face down and pull hand no.2 towards you and push both hands together - obviously mixing them together. Drop these onto hand no.3, then pull over hand no.1 and push it into the main section - this is done in a seemingly casual manner but you make sure that they only mix with the bottom 13 cards. Square the deck. You will find that the reds and blacks are now separated except for a single red among the blacks and a single black among the reds. Toss these two cards face up onto the table - false shuffle - and you are set to perform Out of this World.

GO BACK TO FRED'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

ON MY WAY UP By Gavin Ross EFFECT You remove the four Kings and the four Aces. The Aces are placed on top of the Kings - after a magical shake - the Kings rise to the top. WORKING 1. Remove the four Kings and the four Aces and place them in two separate face down piles on the table. Discard the rest of the deck. Pick up the King packet and hold it face down in dealing position. Begin to turn the Kings face up, end for end, one at a time while naming each one as you do so. When you have completed this, spread the face up packet to display the four Kings and then square up taking a break below the uppermost (face) King. Perform a Half Pass below the break as you ask if the spectators know what suit order the other cards are in. 2. You should now have four Kings in dealing position, the top one is face up and the three Kings below this card are face down. Keeping the Kings in dealing position, pick up the Aces with the right hand and place them face up onto the face up top King and outjogged for half their length. Flip the Aces face down one at a time, end for end, below and square with the King packet. It appears that the Ace packet (below) is back to back with the King packet (above). Flip the combined packet over and spread the top three Aces to reveal four face up Aces. Square the spread and gain a break above the lowermost card of the combined packet. Flip all the cards above the break over onto the lowermost card. This should look as if you merely flipped over the four Aces onto the kings. 3. Give the packet a little "Magical Shake" and then deal the top card face up onto the table. This card will be a King and not, as expected, an Ace. Now do a Bottom Deal turning the card face up onto the first King followed by two straight top deals. This will leave you with the four Aces in your hands and the impression that the Kings have risen through the aces. mailto:[email protected]

CASTOR & POLLUX By Allan Slaight Gemini Twins, published in 1984 in Karl Fulves' More Self-Working Card Tricks, is unquestionably one of the finest examples of the coincidence genre. (Fulves first brought this effect to the attention of his hard-core readers in his manuscript Impromptu Opener, released in 1979; there, he wrote: "It goes back prior to 1940, yet it seems to be little known among magicians and consequently little used.") In 1993, Scotty York marketed Quintuplicate Coincidence -- "A Handling and Presentation of David Van Vranken's Version of 'Gemini Twins.'" This impactful variation came with a deck consisting of cards with backs from some twelve or thirteen different casinos. In the same year, Fulves published Tony Bartoletta's "Named Gemini" in Rigmarole #4. Allan Ackerman's Las Vegas Kardma (1994) featured four variations of the basic plot. Ackerman confirmed Fulves' contention that the trick is an old one. He wrote: "The two-card force that is used in this routine has been around for a long time. Dick Koester showed me this move in 1968. He had found it in the Linking Ring. I showed the procedure to Marlo and he mentioned that Al Baker used it in a trick back in the forties and it was old news then." Martin Gardner advanced the plot in Issue #3 of Fulves' Underworld, released in August, 1996. Gardner's version allowed a repeat of the matching concept with the cards dealt face up; it was titled simply "Face Up Gemini Twins." In the same issue, Fulves' "Cross Hatched" provided a subtle refinement for Gardner's trick. (The accompany Fineprint manuscript carried three more variations by Fulves.) Coincidentally, Bill Miesel published the 'LV' edition of Precursor at the same time as the third issue of Underworld appeared. Miesel's magazine featured yet another version, "Multiple Gemini," by Al Thatcher. All of the above involve the performer making a prediction by removing certain cards in advance of a spectator dealing procedure which then produces mates of the prediction cards. Why not convert the premise to a synchronistic theme? Employing an idea reminiscent of Ken Krenzel's Double S'Entendre from his fine book Close-Up Impact (1990) I have assembled the following germination.

*********** A four card set-up is required. For this example, from the top, we will use the JH 6C JD and 6S. The talon is placed face up on this face-down packet. WORKING 1. Use two spectators who have a strong relationship to each other: husband and wife, boy friend and girl friend, mother and daughter, etc. Give Juliet half of the face-up cards and ask that she shuffle them. When they are returned place them face down under the cards you hold and then, as an apparent afterthought, hand the remaining face-up cards to Romeo as you say to him, "You might as well shuffle the rest of the deck." His cards are then placed under the face-down talon. Double undercut two cards to the bottom of the pack. 2. Instruct Juliet to cut the cards, "Somewhere around the centre but the exact place where you cut is your choice." Place the face-down lower half across the face-down upper half in the traditional "Xing the Cut" manner. Patter for a moment or two about the oftenpowerful force of synchronism, explaining that the word came from the Greek language and means, "The simultaneous occurrence of causally unrelated events and the belief that the simultaneity has meaning beyond mere coincidence." Struggling to suppress a giggle, ask Romeo to choose one of the two cards cut to by Juliet -either the bottom card of the upper portion or the top card of the lower group. He turns it face up before him. Juliet removes the other card in the equation and turns it face up. (One will have the six of clubs and the other will have the jack of diamonds.) These actions will normally result in the two packets going separately to the table; casually assemble the deck so the former lower portion goes atop the other cards as you explain that you will not handle the cards. 3. Instruct the person with the six of clubs to pick up the deck and deal cards singly and face down on the table until he or she has the inclination to stop. Ask that the six of clubs be dropped face up on the dealt pile, then have the remaining cards dropped face down on top. Request that the cards be "evened up" as Krenzel wisely puts it. The owner of the jack of hearts now takes the deck and repeats the dealing process; when the deal is stopped, the jack is placed face up on top of the dealt cards and the remainder is dropped on top as before. "The deck was shuffled by both of you. Then you each chose a card from where the pack was cut at the inclination of Juliet. Each of you then dealt cards until you had a premonition to stop. You left the card you picked at that spot. Let us see if synchronicity is at work here." 4. Ribbon spread the pack in a long face-down row on the table. Remove the two face-up cards, each accompanied by the face-down card immediately above it. Drop each pair in front of the person who chose the face-up card. "Romeo, you happened to pick the six of clubs and Juliet got the jack of diamonds after she cut the cards. When I count '3' I want each of you to turn over the face-down card you freely stopped at when you dealt the cards. 1-2-3!" In this example, Juliet will turn over the six of spades, the mate of Romeo's card; Romeo will turn over the jack of hearts, the mate of Juliet's card. mailto:[email protected]

CARDPUTER By Roy Walton In this trick you create the effect of the cards becoming a computer, but unlike the behaviour of a real computer, it is able to produce accurate results when rubbish is fed in. It seems appropriate for this type of book that the trick should have a computer presentation and that it is a variation of a trick devised by Peter Duffie which was originally described on his web site under the title of "1st Experiment." PRIOR ARRANGEMENT The following ten cards should be placed on top of the pack in the order given, the QD being the top card of the face down pack.

QD, QH, JH, KH, 7H, 9D, QC, QS, 10S, 4C Please note that these are not the only cards that can be used. Other ones may be substituted but they must conform with the specification of each of those given in respect of colour, parity and spot or court. For example the 4C is a black even spot card, so the one you replace it with must be a black even spot card. PERFORMANCE AND PRESENTATION OUTLINE 1. Give the pack a shuffle that retains the top ten cards in position. I suggest a simple overhand jog type but do whatever you fancy. 2. Deal out two hands of face down cards with five cards in each, dealing in conventional alternate fashion. If you want to check that all is O.K. at this point, one hand should contain the QH, KH, 9D, QS, 4C, and the other the QD, JH, 7H, QC, 10S, reading from the face of the packets. (QH and QD on the face). Immediately after dealing out the two hands, get a break under the top two cards of the main pack by pushing them over with the left thumb and getting a break under them with the left little finger. Retain the pack in the left hand. 3. Request a spectator to choose either of the tabled hands. Lift his choice up with your right hand and fan them out slightly, faces towards the spectator. Ask him to think of any card in the group. When he has done so, drop the packet face down on the other one, already on the table. 4. Pick up the ten card group, which should be in a slightly unsquared condition and place them on top of the main pack. Start to square them on the pack but then as if changing your mind on the way you are going to proceed, remove them from the top with the two cards added to their face and place the main pack aside with the left hand. Finish squaring the twelve cards and under cover of this action drop the face two from the right hand thumb and get a break above them with the left little finger. If preferred, you can retain the break when you add the two cards from the pack to the face of the ten card packet, and thus avoid having to pick it up again. 5. Explain that you are going to turn the packet into a computer made of cards. Wave your hand over the packet and say, "There, it's done." Continue, explaining that you are going to feed information into the computer by dealing cards and that you will demonstrate this procedure. Say, "If I asked you to say if I were the greatest magician in the world, you would immediately answer 'no' and I would deal two cards face down on the table one for each letter of your answer." As you explain this, deal down two cards one on top of the other. Continue saying, "...and they are fed into the computer like this." Drop all the cards above your break on top of the dealt ones and then drop the final two cards on top of all. This dropping of the balance on top should be a casual action so that no undue attention is given to the two section drop. You are just demonstrating what you are going to do. 6. Now ask the spectator whether his card was red or black. When he answers, act as if you are going to commence dealing cards but pause and say, "You know, with an electronic computer, if you put rubbish in you get rubbish out, let's give our Cardputer a real test by feeding in completely wrong information." If the spectator said red, deal down the appropriate number of cards for black, spelling out loud as you do this and then dropping all of the undealt cards in the packet of top of the dealt ones. Say, "There you are, completely the wrong information in." Remember, you deal cards for the opposite answer to the one given by the spectator. 7. Now ask if his card was a spot or a court one and again feed in the wrong answer by your dealing procedure. Always say the answer out loud as you deal the cards down, so that it is fully understood that wrong answers are being fed in. After dealing the cards, the balance is dropped on top of them as before. 8. Finally ask the spectator if his card was odd or even. You may have to help him here, by explaining that Jacks and Kings are odd and Queens are even. Deal the opposite to his answer again and drop the balance on top. Say, "There we are, completely wrong input again." Take off the top card of the packet and hold it face down in the right hand. State that completely wrong information has been fed in and then ask for the name of the thought of card. Say, "With the Cardputer, rubbish in does not produce rubbish out." On the final word, turn the card in your right hand face up to reveal it is the thought of card. mailto:[email protected]

COUNTDOWN MATES By Gary Ward I came up with the following items while toying with new card plots that could be produced using the products and sums of limited number sets. For those who wonder about my sanity for thinking about such things, please be aware that I spend a lot of time in airports waiting for delayed flights. If nothing else, being able to think of such things during these times may preserve what little sanity I have left! When you perform this routine, try to keep in mind what the spectator is seeing as you go through the motions. This will help you focus on how it should look as you spread cards and perform the major sleights and counts. A key component in this routine, (and its following corollary), is Derek Dingle's "NoLap Switch." If you are not familiar with this move, please refer to The Complete Works of Derek Dingle, by Richard Kaufman, (page 85.) EFFECT A spectator is asked to assist in removing five random cards from a spread deck. From these five cards, the spectator is allowed to freely select one and place it aside, face down. The other four cards are turned over and their values added together to arrive at a number. From the top of the deck, cards are counted one-at-a-time into a face down stack equal to the number derived from adding the values of the four remaining cards. The card at the final position in the count is turned over and shown to be the "pseudo-mate" of the selected card. SET-UP This routine requires a set-up, which is not complicated, but will require some explanation to utilize properly. To begin, remove the following five sets of "pseudo-mates" (cards of the same value and color), red deuces, black threes, black fours, red sixes, and red sevens. Five of the cards, (a deuce, three, four, six, and seven), will be placed in the deck as shown in the starting position in following table: CARD

STARTING POSITION

ENDING POSITION

Deuce Three Four Seven Six

23rd 22nd 21st 18th 19th

20th 19th 18th 15th 16th

The Ending Position column shows where the card will be located after following the selection procedure described below. The remaining five cards are placed on the bottom of the deck. Take care not to place them in order so as to appear random and avoid suspicion. WORKING To aid in moving through the performance, it is broken up into the individual steps. 1. Bring out the set-up deck and perform some false shuffles and/or cuts, making sure not to change the order of the deck. 2. Spread the cards between your hands and ask the spectator to point at five cards, one-ata-time as they pass by. Selected cards are pushed forward, (up-jogged), in the spread so as to protrude from the end of the deck away from you. As you spread the deck, count in blocks of three cards up to 15. 3. Keep track of how many cards are selected above the set-up block. You must pace the spread so that no more than three will be selected in the portion above the set-up. Since you are counting the cards as they are spread, when you reach 15 push over a larger block of cards so that none may be selected from the set-up. You must also be careful so as not to allow a card to be selected from among the bottom five. To facilitate the next step, take advantage of the spread to obtain a little finger break above the five bottom cards. Maintain this break as you square the deck with the selected cards outjogged. 4. After five cards have been selected, you will need to perform Dingle's "NoLap Switch" to exchange the five selected cards with the five bottom cards. A brief description of the switch follows. For a more complete description, the reader is advised to consult the reference listed above. The initial part of the switch is performed by bringing your right hand over the deck and kicking the outjogged cards to the left with your right fingers in a manner which allows the right fingers to grasp the deck from above and right of center. The right thumb will be holding the deck in the back, taking over the location previously held by the right little finger. The left hand comes under the outjogged cards and strips them out while simultaneously taking the five bottom cards under the outjogged cards. Maintain a break between the bottom five cards and the selected cards. At this point, the left hand should be in front of the right hand. Now pull all ten cards free from the deck by moving the left hand forward. You will now steal the five selected cards back under the deck by moving the right hand forward and coming in contact with the block of cards in the left hand. As the right hand passes over the left, the block of selected cards is pushed flush on the bottom of the deck. After picking up the five selected cards, the right hand continues forward to place the deck on the table, (or if performing standing up, hand it to a spectator.) This movement of the right hand forward can be masked as a brief squaring action of the cards. 5. Now you will need to slough off any extra cards from the top of the deck. The number to move is determined by how many cards were selected above the set-up during the spread. If one were selected, double undercut two to the bottom. If two were selected, double undercut one to the bottom. If three were selected, then do nothing or perform a false cut or shuffle. (If two were selected, you could elect to do nothing and take the card that falls after the spectator finishes counting and dealing the cards in the following steps.) 6. Ask the spectator to select any one of the five cards from the "supposedly" selected cards and to place it aside face down. 7. Take the four remaining cards and turn them over to display their values. Add up the values to derive a number. Based on the five cards, the number will be one of the following; 15, 16, 18, 19, or 20. 8. Ask the spectator to take the deck of cards and deal the cards into a stack one-at-a-time, while counting to the derived number. 9. Turn over the card stopped at in the counting. (This will be based on how you handle the slough off in step 5.) Now turn over the selected card to show that the two cards are "pseudomates." The key ingredient to selling this routine, is to develop a smoothness in the spread, while maintaining control over where the spectator is selecting cards. The best case is that the spectator selects three cards within the top 15, you push over a block to preserve the set-up, and then they select two more cards below the set-up in the middle and above the bottom five cards. With some practice and misdirection, this is not too difficult to achieve. Another handling is that when you reach the place where the middle set-up needs to be pushed over, is turn to a second spectator, while pushing over the block, to help in selecting the last two cards. Now that you have been exposed to the "NoLap Switch," and acquainted yourself with the five values available from the cards used in this routine, please look over the next effect. mailto:[email protected] GO TO GARY'S NEXT EFFECT

ANOTHER COUNTDOWN By Gary Ward

This uses the principle applied in the previous routine concerning the limited set of values that may be derived from the numbers 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7. It also requires that the spectators be familiar with the rules of Blackjack. SET-UP Place a deuce, three, four, six, and seven on the bottom of the deck, taking care to mix the colors and not to put the cards in a specific order. Place the Ace of Spaces at the 23rd position in the deck. WORKING 1. Perform the spread as described in the previous routine, making sure to keep track of the cards selected above the 23rd position. Perform the NoLap Switch to end up with the five cards set up on the bottom of the deck in the left hand. Spread the five cards face-up on the table. 2. Using the remaining of the deck, slough off cards, similar to the previous effect, in order to place the Ace in the 20th position. Place the deck face down on the table. 3. Ask the spectators to look at the five cards and to make the best Blackjack hand possible. (They should throw out the deuce to make a 20.) 4. Count down in the remainder of the deck and turn over the 20th card, the Ace, to make the hand a 21! This second handling of the principle is a good bit easier to set up. The set up is so limited that it can be done under the noses of the spectators and during the course of a routine in such a manner as to occur between other effects. I find it to be one of those things to keep in the back of your mind, because the opportunity may present itself as cards are moved around in earlier effects.

BACK TO GARY'S PREVIOUS EFFECT

DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY By R. Paul Wilson An excellent worker from Paul featuring three selections, four Aces and a table-turning finish. WORKING 1. Start with four Aces on top of the deck. Turn it face up and spread, inviting three people to name cards, outjogging them as you do. Close the spread and execute the Vernon Multiple Shift, Hindu shuffling cards into the left hand until the right hand is holding about half the deck. Drop the right hand cards onto the left, creating a natural jog and turn the deck face down, sideways. Push down on the jog and break the deck at this point, perform an In-Faro, ensuring that the top four cards of each packet weave - the rest are unimportant. 2. State you will use your famous sense of touch to find their selections. Double Cut the top card to the bottom and Double Lift to show an Ace. Ask the spectator if this is her card - she will say no. Turn the double down and deal the top card in front of her saying, "Do me a favour and pretend it is your card, the..." Get her to name her card. 3. State that the problem is that there are too many cards. Outjog about half of the deck from the centre (i.e. retain the top and bottom quarters) and place these cards into your pocket, discarding them. Double Cut the top card to the bottom and repeat the first sequence - Double Lift, show an Ace, turn down and deal it in front of the second spectator, asking them to name their card and pretend the Ace is theirs instead. Again remove half the remaining cards from the centre and pocket them. Double Cut the top card to the bottom and repeat the preceding sequence. Now remove all the cards from the packet except the top card and bottom three. Cut the top card to the bottom and turn over the last Ace. Note that there are three other cards and ask them to name their cards again. Turn over the other three in your hand to show the four Aces - the cards in front of each spectator will be their selections. END NOTE The above trick is excellent for switching decks! Simply have your Cold Deck in the same pocket with the four Aces removed. mailto:[email protected] GO TO PAUL'S NEXT TRICK!

THE OMNISCIENT QUEEN By R. Paul Wilson EFFECT You place a card face down on the table. This an "all knowing" card. Six spectators each select a card and these six cards are placed, unseen, in a face down row on the table. You pick up the card you set aside to begin - it is the Queen of Clubs. The Queen now correctly identifies all six cards in turn, and you prove that the Queen did so every time! This works with Bicycle and Tally-Ho cards and may work with other USA Playing Card Company decks. Set the following six cards on top of the deck in the given order: Three of Clubs - Ten of Clubs - Three of Spades - Six of Spades - Two of Diamonds - Queen of Spades. The Three of Clubs is the top card of the deck. WORKING 1. Run through the deck, remove the Queen of Clubs and place it face down on the table, saying that this is an ‘all knowing card.’ 2. You now force the top six cards on six spectators. See End Notes for the force that Paul uses. As each card is forced it is placed unseen on the table to form a row. For this description we’ll assume the Three of Clubs is at the left and the Queen of Spades is at the right. Place the rest of the deck aside. 3. Pick up the ‘all knowing card’ and hold it face up in front of you. Pretend to study the face, concentrating deeply, then say, "She’s indicating to me the Three of Clubs." Hold the card in front of the audience and draw attention to the Queen’s head-dress. Count aloud the number of Clubs - there are three. Turn over the first card revealing it to be the Three of Clubs. You now reveal the remaining five cards as follows, continuing to work from left to right. Remember to ham up the studying of the card each time and turn the selection over after naming it: TEN of CLUBS: Draw attention to the body of the Queen where there are ten Club symbols. THREE of SPADES: Draw attention to the sleeve just below one of her hands where there are three Spade symbols. SIX of SPADES: After further deep study it suddenly occurs to you that she has two sleeves. That makes six Spade symbols giving the Six of Spades. Hey, you appear to be struggling. TWO of DIAMONDS: This one is supposed to look weak, as if you’re running out of ideas. So, play it up as if you're searching for something and then you find it. You reveal this in a sort of "take my word for it" manner. What you point out is the flower she is holding in her hand. The centre has a diamond shape, and she has two hands, so you announce the Two of Diamonds. QUEEN of SPADES: Show the audience the Queen you’re holding and ask if they can guess what the last card will be. They will look deep into the Queen and not answer. Now turn the Queen over and say, "Actually I predicted the back of the last card." Pick up the last card and hold both face down for a moment, then say, "In fact, I predicted the face too!" Turn both cards over to show two black Queens for a strong finish. END NOTES The Marlo-Thomson Bluff Pass as a Force. The Marlo-Thomson Bluff Pass can be found in Card Finesse by Jon Racherbaumer - page 3. Paul has adapted this move to a Force. Begin with the six card stack on top of the deck then Double Undercut three to the bottom. Dribble the cards from hand to hand and invite someone to stop you anywhere. Indicate the top of the left hand half saying, "We'll take three from here..." then perform the MarloThomson Pass, raising both hands - as the hands come together, the upper half goes in front of the lower. Continue, "...and three from here," as the right hand holds the entire, stepped, deck allowing the left fingers to point to the face of the packet nearest you. Lower the hands taking the lower portion in the left hand and move it to the left (so now the upper half is stepped to the right). The right hand retains the upper half (originally the lower) as the left thumb pushes the top three cards off onto the table, without disturbing their order. The left hand then removes the three face cards of the right hand packet and drops them onto the other tabled cards to complete the selection process.

BACK TO PAUL'S PREVIOUS TRICK

WHISPERING HENRY'S TRIUMPH By Andrew Wimhurst Andrew sent me this by email a while back, saying, "Thought you'd be interested in a conclusion to the effect that differs from Mr. Walton's, making use of the condition of the cards after the selection procedure." The effect Andrew refers to is Roy Walton’s "Whispering Henry" that was published in Five Times Five - Scotland, (Kaufman and Company, 1998). This is, indeed, a worthy addition. So, grab the book, open it at page 118, and proceed up to the point where both selections have been made and the upper half has been turned face down onto the lower half, and you ready to reveal the selections. Now proceed as follows: 1. Cut to the natural back-to-back separation and execute Tenkai's Optical Reverse, apparently tabling a face-up section and a face-down section. (You could also cut at the break and ribbon spread, being careful to conceal the face-up card. Now square and use the other hand to flip over the lower portion and spread it face-up. As this occurs, the left hand "flops" its cards. Now table both packets and you're in the same position.) 2. Shuffle the two packets together, dropping the top two cards of the supposedly face-down packet last. Next, perform Vernon's Cold Deck Cut to apparently show a mixed up deck. 3. Announce that despite the condition you know that the second spectator's card is face up and you know its name and position in the deck. "The such-and-such is EXACTLY here," you say, as you execute a tabled Slip Cut. Complete the cut, centralising the other selection as you reveal the forced card. 4. Make similar comments regarding the first spectator's card, snap your fingers, then ribbon spread the cards to show a single card face down. Flip it over to reveal their card. mailto:[email protected]