cS Co eS a Gc ee cc Karl Fulves DECEPTIVE PRACTICES Illustrated by Joseph K. SchmidtES a we oma or DECEPTIVE PRACTICES Artwork By Joseph K. Schmidt=4 cn re Ea Ca [CONTENTS OFFICE SUPPLIES (Card tricks with paper clips, rubber bands, typewriters) Wire Room Yumpin' Yaks -46- Fly By Wire -17- Wire Service -56- Wire Copy -32- Etaoin Shrdlu -77- ‘Transfer of Power ~44~ (see also ‘Typecast’ pgs. 93 - 107) CRIME TIME ‘The Parallel Police -24- Witness -78- A.K.A. =30- Partner in Crime (Sam Schwartz) -80- Diamond Jack Jr. -39- CARD LOCATIONS Gnomenclature -11- Zodiac Sell -70- ONCE UPON A TIME Juliet -14— Legal Tender -65- Wrong Way William -62- SLEIGHTS Breakaway Palm -53- Jordan Double Cut -67- UNCLASSIFIED Letter of Intent -20- Counterfeit -48- Face Value -25- GAMBLING TRICKS Don't Ask -5- Future Glimpsed -37- Bar Room Bingo -22- Blindfold Aces -59- Push Thru Poker -27- Turnover Draw -73- THE FUTURE Change X Change -3- A Trap Cut -42- Median -19- By Proxy -68- RED/BLACK TRICKS Baby Grand -34~ Balancing Ace -50- Red Shift -36- A Martian Chronicle -75- UNSOLVED PROBLEMS ACB-C-D -47- Switchblade -58- Self Cut Deck -69-E b Co fs oo INTRODUCTION In an earlier era, trick titles served a direct purpose. This one from Modern Magic is typical: "A Card having been Drawn and Returned, and the Pack shuffled, to place on the Table six Rows of six Cards each, and to discover the chosen Card by a throw of the Dice.” With rails forged in steel, there was only one way the train could have proceed down that sturdy track. Early in this century, trick titles underwent 2 change. The Svengali Deck, Yogi Wonder, and Satan's Trance promised intrigue and mystery without offering a clue as to the content of the trick itself; having ordered Devil's Own from Bailey & Tripp, what could the purchaser reasonably anticipate receiving in the mail? Innovations followed in short order: Titles that used words in no dictionary (Stewart James: Gnikool, Miraskill), puns (J.G. Thompson; Peas and Cues, The Shadow Nose), and obscure references (Roy Walton; Karl LeFong, Norvelle). Having been associated with obscure titles, I thought a change of pace was in order with the ms. before this one. It was called 28 Card Tricks. Some one wrote in to ask if there was a hidden meaning. Sam Schwartz (whose A.£.1.0.U. is one of the great trick titles) is to be thanked for the terrific "Partners In Crime” which closes this ms. Joseph Schmidt's league-leading artwork makes the text easy to follow. March 1, 1992 KARL FULVESfl ea ra fo fn CHANGE X CHANGE Two random numbers are chosen by the throw of a die. These are used to select two playing cards. The card chosen by the first spectator has the same value as the number chosen by the second spectator. The card chosen by the second spectator has the same value as the nunber chosen by the first spectator. Another card makes a surprise appearance, and there is an unexpected ending to the trick. Deck is freely shuffled by the spectator at the start, and there is no force of numbers. Method: A packet of cards is set up as follows: x-6-5-4-x-3-2-1. This Packet is in the left jacket pocket along with a die. To perform, have the deck shuffled. If you feel someone might notice that the deck is short several cards, you can use the dodge of dividing the deck between two spectators. Each shuffles about half the pack. In either case, remark that you will have two numbers chosen in a moment by the throw of adie. First you want to make a small prediction. Take back the deck. Turn the deck face-up. Cut any 7-spot to a position second from the face of the deck. Say the face card is a king. Say, "This will represent my prediction.” Double lift the two face cards. Turn them over onto the deck, maintaining a break between these two cards and the balance of the deck. Have the spectator sign the back of the double card. Turn the double card over onto the face of the deck so the face of the double can be seen. Remark that you will place the prediction card in @ precise location in the pack. When the deck is out of sight behind the back, remove the 7-spot and Place it face-up second from the top of the face-down deck. Hold the deck face-down in left hand dealing grip when you bring it into view. Say, “we'll use a die to pick a couple of random numbers.” Place both hands into the jacket pockets as if to search for the die. Add the set-up packet to the top of the deck. Grasp the die. Bring both hands into view. Toss the die to the spectator. Say, “Roll a low number, that is, one of the numbers 1-2-3." say the spectator rolls a 3. Deal three cards off the top of the deck into a heap it front of the spectator on the left. Deal off the next card and place it in front of this spectator. The dealt packet goes back on top of the deck. Say, “And you (indicating a spectator on the right) will use the opposite number.” Grasp the die between the first and second finger withr L co oom the palm up hand. Turn the hand palm down and release the die. This is a clean method of turning the die over so it does not appear a fake turnover is used. In our example the new top number will be 4. Deal four cards into a face-down heap in front of the spectator on the right.Deal the next face down card in front of this spectator. Put the dealt cards back on top of the deck. As you reach for the card in front of the spectator on the left, say, "We dealt three cards in front of you, but we arrived at his number." Turn up this card to reveal a 4-spot. Grasp the card in front of the spectator on the right. “We dealt four cards for you, but we arrived at his number.” Turn up his card to reveal a 3+spot. Say, “Three and four are seven.” Deal seven cards into a heap on the table. A face-up 7-spot will show. Put it onto the dealt packet. Now the finish. “Oh, and that prediction. What I predicted was that Your signature would end up on this card." Turn the 7-spot over to reveal the spectator's signature. It is a surprise finish to the trick. Further Thoughts The small set-up packet can be concealed behind the back so that when you take the deck behind the back at the start to secretly position the signed card, you can do all the secret work at that time. I prefer to divide it up so the deck is not out of sight that long. This routine was devised in the 1950's, after reading a trick ascribed to Stewart James in Scarne on Card Tricks and being unable to get the trick fo work from the written description. Stewart cleared up the problem in Stewart James: The First Fifty Years, one of the few magic books published in ny Iifetime that transcends and redefines the genre. See page 499 of the SJ book for the details on the original routine. ye both the original routine and the one described above, you must begin dealing by using the smaller of the two numbers. Perhaps a reader can devise @ means whereby either number is dealt first.r Ca tm A co DON'T ASK Choosing to answer the request from a heavy loser, Lady Luck sald, “Okay, I'll change your luck, but on one condition; don't ask questions.” The player's luck experienced an immediate inprovement. All went well until he entered a high-stakes game. A memory lapse caused him to ask an entirely logical question. His reversal of fortune was surprisingly swift. Method: The set-up uses the aces plus the royal flush cards in clubs. They are arranged as follows from the top down: A-AC-A-JC-A-X-10C-QC-X-KC. This stack is placed on top of the deck. Explain the premise- essentially the old saying that one should not look @ gift horse in the mouth. The deck can be given a false shuffle. The overhand false shuffle known as the pick-up shuffle is a logical choice though not required. To test his improved luck, the card player dealt two hands of three cards each. Deal from the left to the right, a card at a time. The cards in the player's hand are dealt face up, one on top of the other. The cards to the dealer's hand are dealt face down. When you deal the last face-down card, use it as a scoop; slide it under the other two face-down cards, then place the 3-card hand on top of the deck. Since the player's hand is dealt face-up, the audience can inmediately see that the hand contains three aces. Gather the 3 cards without disturbing their ofder. Turn the packet face-down and drop it on top of the deck. As you do, say, “The player Started to ask, ‘Will this work all the- ' Then he realized he was not Supposed to question his good luck. Instead, he said, “Let's see if it works again.” Repeat the above deal. The player will get three face-up aces. The hands are dealt and gathered on top of the deck exactly as explained above. Say, “The player started to ask, ‘Will this work if I dealt a four- ' Thee he remembered not to question his luck. Instead he said, ‘Let's see if this works with 4-card hands. . Deal two 4-card hands. Follow the above procedure exactly as to the dealing and gathering of the cards back onto the top of the deck. The player will have gotten three aces once more.f i cm Say, "He started to ask, "Will this work with a five- " But he remembered not to ask. Instead, he entered a poker tournament, bet a Lot of money and was dealt this five-card poker hand." As you patter, deal two hands of five cards each. This is the final hand. To increase suspense you can deal the cards face-down to each player. Bo not scoop up the dealer's cards. Leave his poker hand on the table. Turn the player's hand face-up. Once more he has three aces. Just, about to rake in the sizable pot, the player had a lapse of memory and said, "I wonder, where is the fourth ace?' It was the wrong thing to say. A voice from above replied, ‘Over here with the rest of the royal flush. While you patter, turn up the bottom card of the dealer's hand. This is the ace of clubs. Then turn up each of the other cards in the dealer's hand from the top down. they reveal the rest of the royal flush. Further Notes Don't Ask” can be described as a progressive 3-Jacks Deal. In this rendition the player can depend on getting the same hand no matter how many cards are dealt. In another version, as more and more cards are dealt, the player gets progressively stronger hands. The reverse effect may offer more of a challenge. Two 5-card hands are dealt. The player gets an ace. Then two 4~card hands are dealt. The player gets two aces. Now two 3-card hands are dealt. The player gets three aces. Finally, two 2-card hands are dealt. The player gets a five-card royal flush.ES Fe ot cS Ge Bet WIRE ROOM While searching for a solution to a card effect to be described later, this technique was developed. A simple ap- plication will be described here, then the handling for the card problem. The spectator cuts off about half the deck and shuffles it. This portion of the deck is placed inside the card box for safe keeping. The magician shuffles the balance of the deck, removes a card sight unseen, and paper clips it to the top of the card box so it is secure and always in view. To avoid even the appearance of skull~ duggery, the free end of the prediction card is shown to a nearby (and presumably honest) spectator, Figure 1; since the face of the card is known to this person, the card cannot later be switched. Cards are removed one at a time from in- side the card box, Figure 2, until the spectator says stop. The prediction is re- moved and handed to someone for the moment. The cards still inside the box are allowed to slide out into another person's waiting hand. The top card of this packet is turned face-up. It is the four of spades. The pre- diction card is shown. It is the other black four, the four of a clubs, a perfect match. No part of the procedure is faked. You deal from the top of the packet. You do not switch the prediction. The spectator calls stop whenever he likes. He himself takes the top card of the packet.r cao r = t Method: Dump the deck out of the card box. Place the empty box on the table with the semi-circular side up. Slide the 4S face-down in- to the card box. Paper clip it in place by sliding a paper clip onto the semi-circular opening. Position the 4¢ on the bottom of the deck. Case the deck until ready to perform. In performance, dump the deck out of the card box into the hand. With the open end of the box pointing down, give the box several vigorous shakes to make sure you got all the cards. This is a visual signal that the card box {s empty. The spectator cuts off about half the deck, shuffles the packet and hands it back to you. Put the packet into the card box for safe keeping. Overhand shuffle the balance of the deck, simply shuffling the 4¢ fron bottom to top. slide the 4C sight un- seen under the paper clip. The situation with the card box removed is shown in Figure 3. Let a nearby spectator see the face of the prediction card, Figure 1. Deal @rm re bs r & cards one at a time out of the box, figure 2, until the spectator calls stop. Grip the card box at the sides, thumb and forefinger overlapping the front, Figure 4. The right forefinger pushes the prediction card upward, Figure 5. The left thumb and forefinger, by applying pressure to the open end of the card box, keep the force card from moving. The grip is almost like a buckle grip, but applied to a boxed deck. If the thumb and forefinger push slightly on the tabs, they too will aid in keeping the 4S in place as the 4C and the pazer clip disengage during their forward movement. Hand the prediction card to a spectator. The paper clip is of course still at the upper end of this card. Dump the remaining cards out of the card box and into the waiting hand of a spectator. When the prediction card and the paper clip slide free from the card box, the force card auto- matically dropped onto the top of the packet. The spectator turas up the top card and shows that he stopped at the 4S. The prediction zard is then shown to be the matching black four, the 4C. Second Method No preparation, any deck, any paper clip. Spectator shuffles the deck. say that you will remove a prediction card. Spread the cards with the faces toward you,note the top card (say the 4S) and remove the mate of this card, In this example you would remove the 4C. Paper clip this card to the out side of the card box. Cut off about two-thirds of the deck (or have the spectator do it). Shuffle this packet, retaining the force card on top. Slide the packet in+ to the card box, but as you do, push it up against the top of the box (Where the semi-circular cut-out is). Hold the packet in position in this elevated condition by squeezing the sides of the box as in Figure 4. You are going to remove cards one at a time as in Figure 2, but you will use an old form of the bottom deal. Check the chapter entitled "Manipula- tion” in J. N. Maskelyne's 1894 classic, Sharps and Flats, specifically Fig. 35 ‘Bottom Deal’ on pg. 117. (I have wondered why the glide is not done from this grip; surely there can be no rational argument that the glide is more ‘natural’ in appearance when the deck is gripped from above) As the right hand enters the card box in Figure 2 to take a card, the right fingers draw out the bottom card. This method of base dealing would drav too auch heat if attempted with deck in hand, but it is within context and perfectly covered when the deck is cased.a Se ee ptr oa =10- Bottom deal until stop ts called. Let the spectator withéraw the cards from inside the card box. The top card is turned over. It {s the 48. The prediction card is the matching black four, the 4c. This method can be used to force more than one card. It can also be used in situations where you want to segregate the dealing procedure, giving some cards (from the bottom) to one person, some other cards (fron the top) to another. An example would be L. Vosburgh Lyons' “Mental Rescue in Jinx #55. “Cased Count” in Epilogue Special no. 5 (1976) is a count based on a related technique, the application being to the vanish of a card unnis— takably placed into a card box. I had once worked out tricks tied to ideas in “Flying Clipper” and “Mechanical Switch” in Methods With Cards (1975), pgs. 62 - 65. For exam= ple, the spectator signs the face of the AS and places it at a precise epgteton in a packet of cards, say 4th from the top. The magician places the packet into a a card box designed to act as a logic scranbler, Paper S[ipped to the top of the card box is a face down playing card. Garde ace Showly dealt one at a time from inside the card box. The AS is aot ath fom the top of the packet, nor is it anywhere else in the packet. The card Paper clipped to the outside of the card box is shown to be the signed AS. 4 card problem that came to mind in conjunction with paper clipped cards was to use the above approach to produce two aces, then cause the Paper clip to vanish. The paper clip is then found in the center of the deck, clipped to the other two aces. See “Fly by Wire" later in this ms. for one solution.mL oa en eS rt co oe eR om “ne GNOMENCLATORE This is an offbeat version of the trick known as The Pairs Re-Paired. Ten pairs of cards are placed on the table from any shuffled deck. While the performer turns his back, one pair is chosen.The two cards in that pair are noted. The pairs are then gathered on top of one another. From the balance of the deck, the performer deals a row of four face-up cards. The group of ten pairs is then distributed in packets under the face-up cards.The layout is shown in Figure 1 below. Each heap is fanned with the faces toward the spectators. They are asked if either (or both) of the chosen cards are in that heap. Say that one card is in the heap with the face-up 2, and the other card is in the heap vith the face-up 4. The performer says, “Two and four are six." He counts to the sixth card in each heap and turns up one of the selected cards. Method: This routine combines ideas in The Pairs Re-Paired and the trick some- tines called New Age Cards.Many times neglected in the presentation of tricks of this kind are point that add to the impact. For this reason, I'll go thru the description in some detail. Take the shuffled deck and deal out ten pairs of cards. You are holding the balance of the deck. Turn your back. Ask that someone pick a pair of cards. He notes one of the cards. Another spectator notes the other card of the pair. Have the cards jotted down on a slip of paper. This protects you fron possible confusion; you don't want the five of clubs and six of dianonds later recalled as the five of diamonds and six of clubs. White your back is turned, run thru the cards in hand and cull out any ace, two, four and eight. Put them on the bottom of the packet in any order. Remember the face card of the packet. Say it is the ace of hearts. ee * Mt ated @ | || |t om Co he wa FM mize Turn and face the audience. Ask that the pairs be gathered in any order. make sure the cards within any pair are not split up. Drop your packet on top of the 20-card packet. You are going to perform a simple false shuffle that does not require injogs, outjogs or breaks. A shuffle at this point stops dead anyone who knows the traditional method behind this trick. Grasp the deck by the ends in the right hand in position for the over- hand shuffle. The left thumb pulls a block of 5 or 6 cards off the top of the deck into the left hand. Then two or three cards are run singly into the left hand, then another block of 5 or 6 cards, then the balance of the deck is thrown on top of all. Place the deck on the table. Have one of the participating spectators give the deck a complete cut. Then ask the other spectator to give the deck a complete cute Say, “I'm going to use the ace of hearts plus a couple of more cards.” Nane the card that was on the face of the packet you held when your back was turned. Make sure you name it before turning the deck face-up. Turn the deck face-up. Locate the AK. Cut it to the face of the deck. Deal the ace plus the next three cards off the face into 2 heap on the table. These four cards are the 1-2-4-8. Unknown to the audience, the ten pairs from which the selections were made are now on top of the deck. Deal the ace-tw-four-eight in a face-up row on the table. Turn the deck face down. Ten pairs of cards are then dealt out according to this layout: Cm mw we camanmn Cen me oma aw The idea is that the cards of each pair go into the spaces indicated by a matched pair of letters. Thus the top pair of cards could go into the upper two spaces in the first column indicated by the B's. The next pair could go in- to the two spaces in the upper row indicated by the two E's. Since it doesn't matter where the cards go as long as they fall into a pair of matched letters,2 r Em GE RIOT or ot -13- you can have the spectator indicate a space on the layout. Deal the first card of the pair to that space. Mentally “find” the matching letter and deal the other card of the pair to that space. (For example, the spectator indicates that the top card is to be dealt to the second space in the second column. This is a space. Deal the card to that space. Find the other “U" space. It is the fourth space in the second column. Deal the second card of the pair to that space.) Continue in this way until all ten pairs have been dealt.Then gather the cards in each column; place the top card onto the second card, these onto the third card, and these onto the fourth card. Do the same with the cards in each of the remaining columns. You are now at the situation of Figure 1. The audience saw the deck being shuffled and cut. They assume you have random cards on the table. Say, "Let's see if either or both of your cards are here on the table.” Pick up the heap under the face-up ace. Fan it so each spectator can see the faces. Do the same with each of the remaining packets until both spectators say they have seen their cards. If both cards are in the same packet, proceed as follows. Say both cards are in the packet under the face -up 4. Count to the fourth card in that heap by transferring cards one at a time from top to bottom. Turn over the 4th card and it will be one of the thought cards. Replace this card on the bottom of the heap. Count four cards again. Turn up the 4th card. It will be the other thought card. In all other cases the thot cards will be in different heaps. Say one card is in the heap under the face-up 4, and the other is in the heap under the face-up 8. Add together 4 and 8, arriving at a total of 12. Count to the 12th card in each heap (by transferring cards one at a time from top to bottom). The 12th card in each case will be one of the thought cards. Rupert Slater was the first to suggest genuinely shuffling the ten pairs (he switched the shuffled packet for a stacked packet). Without switches, but using a mneumonic, Al Baker did the trick impromptu. L. Widdop, in his 1914 book. Card Tricks Without Sleight of Hand or Apparatus, incorporated the idea of let- ting the spectator dictate where the cards would be placed in the layout (his trick is reprinted in The Phoenix #228.) An automated version of the basic Mutus Nomen effect I've used is entitied "The English Equivalent” and appears in The Book Of Numbers (1971). Objects other than cards can be used, i.e., a coin paired with @ ring, a key paired with a comb, each pair of objects contained in a Separate envelope, the trick one whereby evidence was gathered at the scene of 2 crime. Perhaps the reader can devise a method where selections are made from groups of 2's and 3's, rather than from groups containing just two cards.ae r Ea =e JULIET Juliet's dilemma, much reported on in the press, was thet her family tried to come between her and her lover Romeo. In this re-told version, the story has a happy ending. A packet of five cards is set up as follows from top down. The Packet may be kept in the pocket until ready to perform the routine. The set-up: SH-5H-x-x-x. All cards are blue=backed except the underlined 5H. The indifferent cards represented here as x-x-x are low value black spot cards. Hold the packet _ face-down in left-hand dealing grip. Remark on the feuding families who forbid co-mingling of their offspring. As you patter, double lift and place the double card on the packet in an outjogged position, Figure 1. This card will represent Juliet (though the QH is Eh card you should use in performance). Patter that when Romeo met her, his heart went out to her. Have the spectator draw a heart on the face of the 5H. Leave the double card outjogged. Turn the packet over side for side. pou wild now perform a standard alignment move. Grasp the face-up cards between right thumb and middle finger. The tip of the middle finger also contacts the top of the Juliet card. Push the face-up cards forward. At the same time push the Juliet card forward. The action is shown ie Figure 2. The result is that all cards are squared with one enother except the outjogged, blue-backed 5H. the right hand transfers the top face-up card (2C in Figure 2) to the back of the packet, then the next card. Flip the packet over eile you side into the left hand, Figure 3. Transfer the bottom card to the top of theU C2 | Rr -15- packet. The face-up 5H is now the only outjogged card. The covering patter for these actions is, “Lawyers for her family surrounded her in an effort to keep her young suitor away. The 5H has been outjogged and in view at all times. Slowly slide it free from the packet. The heart drawn by the spectator has vanished. Say, “They tried to erase all evidence of the young man's ardor.” Place the 5H on the packet and hold the packet in the left hand, more or less in a classic palm position, Figure 4. Turn the left hand palm down. Say, "They even tried to change Juliet's appearance." Keep the left hand palm down. Withdraw the packet from the left hand. The audience sees a red-backed card,Figure 5. Deal this card face-down to the table. Push the face card of the packet into the right hand, to a position be- tween the thumb and first finger, then the next card under it, and the third card (really a double) under that, all in a fanned condition, Figure 6. Square this packet and drop it into the pocket. Say, “there is an oldF & m7 Es = a Re Bee -16- saying in Juliet's part of the world to the effect that love conquers all, That was why even they could not keep the lovers apart. When he saw Juliet again, Romeo immediately identified his true love.” Turn over the red-backed card to reveal the hand-drawn heart. kground In the 1960's a magician friend had learned the move known today as the Jordan Count and wanted to perform a routine I was doing that used the count. One aspect of the routine used a stranger card. It was hecessary to conceal the stranger back. A handling was worked out that he found practical. This handling was the basis for the series of actions covered in the sequence from Figure 1 to Figure 3 of “Juliet.” “Juliet” is structured so that when the heart is shown to have van- ished from the Juliet card, the audience assumes the heart was erased in some way. When the Juliet card is later shown to have a stranger back, the audience thinks the card was switched. Actually, in the first case the card was switched; in the second, the original card is back. The display of the three spot cards at the end can be done differently, So that faces and then backs are shown. You have a packet of four cards in the hand. Three of them are face-up; the back card is face down. Count then from hand to hand, placing each card on top of those already in the right hand. The last card is a double. Square the packet, but as you do, obtain a little finger break above the backmost card, a 4th finger break under the face card. Using just the one hand, turn the packet over. The cards will spread so that three blue backs show. This action is akin to a one-hand 4-as-3 display displayed in Mexican Monte,m5 Ea Ea Be Bsr -17- FLY BY WIRE Mention was made a few pages earlier of a card problem involving cards clipped to the card box. This is the problem. A card is paper clipped to a card box as a prediction. A card is chosen from a packet of cards in~ side the card box. The chosen card is a black ace. The prediction is the matching black ace. The paper clip is removed from the predic~ tion card. The performer says, “People ask what would happen if they chose a red ace. The paper clip would find the matching ace. The paper clip is caused to vanish. It teappears clipped to a red ace in the mid- dle of the deck, and that ace is face to face with the other red ace. Method: Place the AD face up on the table. Attach a paper clip to the near end. Deal the AH face-down onto it, then the AC, and then the AS. Slide a paper clip over all four cards. The preparation is shown in Figure 6. Slide the packet onto the card box so that the AS is on top and the other three aces are inside the card box. The rest of the deck is then boxed. To present, dump the deck from the box. Have it shuffled. Ask the spectator to give you half the cards. Put them into the card box. Show the prediction to @ spectator who can later vouch that it wasn't switched, Figure 1. Hold the boxed deck in left hand dealing grip. Remove cards one at a time, Figure 2, until the spectator calls stop.So eg er a0 Push the prediction card (and the paper clip) off the front end of the deck, Figure 5. hand them to the spectator. Remove the cards from inside the card box (or you can deal the top card of the boxed packet first, then remove the packet). The paper clipped end of the AD is toward you and away from the audience. Turn the stopped at card face up to show that the spectator stopped you at a black ace. Reveal the matching black ace as the prediction. You now have two face-up black aces on the table. Pick up the remainder of the deck and place it face down on top of the packet that has the red aces. As you do, remark, "People ask- suppose they picked a red ace?” Renove the paper clip from the pre- diction card and vanish it. I use a vanish shown to me many years ago by Jack Miller. It is one of the best and most magical vanishes of any small ob- ject that fit into the sleeve. The pa per clip rests on the left palm near the base of the middle finger. the left hand moves toward the right hand. The tip of the right middle finger slaps or taps against the left palm at a position near the base of the left first finger. ‘The left hand stops dead as it contacts the right mid- dle finger, but momentum carries the paper clip into the right jacket sleeve. It appears as if the paper clip vanished as it was tapped. The sleeving move based on momentum is not new. See “Copper Silver Transposition in Linkti Ring, June 1954, For one of many examples. The Miller Rethod {s the most magical T've seen.fa BS Eo oe ~19- Show the hands empty. Pick up the deck. cut it at the paper clipped card, first showing that the vanished paper clip attached itself to the AD, then revealing that the clipped AD is adjacent to the other red ace, the ace of hearts,Figure 7. MEDIAN This is a different prediction. Two cards are removed from the deck, placed on top of one another in a squared-up condition, and the face-up pair put on the table. A 5D shows as the face card of the pair. “I'm predicting that the card you pick will have the same suit as these two card, and a value that is between them.” The card paired with the 5D could be the 3D, thus predicting that the chosen card would be the 4D. The card paired with the 5D could also be the 7D, thus predicting that the spectator will pick the 6D. The spectator picks a card. It is the 6D. He separates the two predic- tion cards to reveal that the magician was correct; the 5D was paired with the 7D. “Let's try it again.” The magician removes two cards, squares then and places the packet face-up on the table. The 2S shows as the face card of the pair. The spectator again picks a card. It is the AS. The ace of spades doesn't lie between two cards since it is the lowest value card. The spectator separates the two prediction cards- or,-at any rate, tries to. There is no card paired with the 2S, indicating that the magician knew the AS would be chosen. Method: Both chosen cards are forced. The second time the magician does the trick, he upjogs two cards, one of which is the 2S. The second card is stolen back into the deck as the jogged cards are apparently removed from the deck. An alternative is to actually remove two cards, but then steal one back under the top or face card of the deck using any of the add-on techniques. Still another approach is to have the 2S paired with a blank-faced card. Still another is to have the two prediction cards change into the other three aces.mo mm 2 ra -20- LETTER OF INTENT The magician displays three envelopes, labeled A, B, C. The envelopes contain prizes, some more valuable than others. Also on display is a payoff schedule: The ace thru six in mixed suits are dealt into two rows on the table. The layout looks like this: The magician explains that the spectator is going to exchange pairs of cards three times. The two cards that end up in the middle will be added together. Lf the total of the two cards is 3, 6, or 10, the spectator gets to Keep the contents of envelope A. If the total is 4, 8, or 11, the spectator keeps the content of envelope B. Finally, if the total of the two cards is 5, 7, or 9, the spectator will keep the contents of envelope C. The spectator exchanges the ace with any card in the bottom row. Then he exchanges the two with any other card in the bottom row. Then he ex- changes the three with the renaining card in the bottom row. Thus, each card in the top row has been exchanged with a different card in the botton The outcome might look like this: The two center cards ere the 4 and 1. Added together they total 5. According to the payoff schedule, a total of 5 means that the spectator gets ©o Keep the content of envelope C. When he opens that envelope, he finds ‘a candy bar. Envelope A contains a check for a million doliers. Envelope B contains the deed to an estate.av Packet of Cards. -21- There is nothing more to the method than what has been described above. The spectator will always get a total that delivers envelope C. At the start, show that the lowest total one can get with two cards ig 3 (arrived at by adding the 1 and the 2). The highest total is 11 (arrived at by adding the 5 and 6). Shuffle the cards. Deal them face down into two rows, but make sure they are dealt in numerical order: To run through @ sample set of exchanges, on the first round the spec- tator might exchange the ace with the 5: On the second round, the spectator can exchange the 2 with the 4, or the 2 with the 6. Say he decides to exchange the 2 with the 4: On the third round he exchanges the 3 with the only card that hasn't been part of an exchange yet, the 6: 4 6 1 3 ou cannot predict in advance how the cards will be arranged in either conga gt YOu are Safe in betting that the two cards in the center row sill fotal 5, 7, or 9. Just remember that the spectator first exchanges the ace with a card, then the deuce, then the three. Scher tricks involving exchanges between two rows of objects include jiatch Mates,” pg. 115 of Self Working Handkerchiet Mepic (1988), and Praga ties under “Handicrafe” in the 1989 manuscript entitled. ands 1s jletter of Intent,” if a force total is desired, say 7, arrange the wn. Ente, 0 tow, the 4-5-4 in the bottom row. The two concer weege will total 7 after the exchanges.E 226 BAR ROOM BINGO Under the title "Mug Shots," I worked out @ series of tricks where glasses or coffee mugs were moved around or interchanged. This is one such routine. It involves six glasses or mugs. Cards will be placed into the glasses according to a pattern dic- tated by the spectator. The values of the cards will be totaled at the end of the exchanges. The object of the game is to get as close to 14 as possible without going over. The performer will always choose the center two glasses. The spectator can choose the two glasses at the left or the two at the right. Needed are six glasses or coffeenugs of a size to hold playing cards. They are arranged in two rows like this: DOE F Six playing cards are removed from the deck. The performer gets three, the spectator the other three. Each person shuffles his three cards. The performer places his cards in glasses A-B-C, one card to each glass. The spectator likewise places his three cards in glasses D-E-P. ‘The spectator will exchange glass A with any glass in the D-E-F row. Say he picks glass E. The performer puts the top card of the deck inte Blass A, the next card into glass E, Then the spectator exchanges these two glasses. The SPectator will exchange glass B with one Of the renaining two glasses arene bottom row (i.e., either D or F). Say he picks F. The top carder ene deck is placed into glass B. The next card is placed into glass Fy The Spectator exchanges these two glasses. The final two glasses are C and D. The top card of the deck is dropped tare Sigh BeXE Card into D. The spectator exchanges these tuo glasses Ta this sample game, the layout would now look like this: Df) cia ins’ jgutcome cannot be anticipated since the spectator has a free choice of how the glasses are exchanged. The performer takes tre center-23- two glasses, F and A in this example. The spectator can choose either E and C, or D and B. Each player totals the values of the cards in his two glasses. The person who gets a total closer to 14 without going over is the winner. The other player pays for dinner. The performer wins. Which cards will be in glass D, for example, cannot be anticipated, nor can the final position of this or any glass. The exchanges are not forced. There are no gimmicks, sleights or switches. The center pair of glasses will always contain cards that total exactly 14. Method: There is a stack on top of the deck that does all the work. From the top down, the stack is: 4-5-6-1-1-1-6-1-5-3-4-2. This 12-card stack can be easily maintained through a’ series of false shuffles and cuts. Arrange six glasses in two rows of three glasses each. take the top three cards (4-5-6) for yourself. Shuffle them any way you like, but make sure the 4 goes into glass 4, the 5 into B, the 6 into C. The specta— tor gets the next three cards (1-1-1), shuffles them and drops a card into each of the glasses D, E, and F. Make sure no one sees the faces of any cards. Renark thet the spectator is to exchange glass A with any glass in the bottom row. Put the top card of the deck (2 six) into glass A, the next card (an ace) into the designated glass from the bottom row. The spectator then exchanges these two glasses. Glass B is now to be exchanged with one of the other glasses in the bottom row. Place the top card of the deck (a five) into B, the next card (a three) into the glass designated by the spectator. He then exchanges these two glasses. Finally, the spectator is to exchange glass C with the remaining glass. Drop the top card of the deck (a four) into glass C, the next card (a two), into the remaining glass. The spectator exchanges these two glasses. You said at the start that you would take the two glasses in the center. The spectator can have the pair of glasses at either end. Dump out the cards from your two glasses and total their values. The total will always be 14. The spectator must get a different total. Since he pays for dinner, make sure you pick an expensive restaurant.77 | a7 aA 7 a rem 2 a eg aoe TRE PARALLEL POLICE The spectator removes four jacks from a borrowed deck and places then in his pocket. The balance of the deck is shuffled and eight cards removed by the spectator. The magician turns back. The spectator removes one card from the packet, signs his name on the face and places the card on the table. He then drops the packet on top of the signed card. The spectator is asked to remove some of the jacks from his pocket. He places these one, two, or three jacks on top of the packet. Then he transfers eight cards, one at a time, from the top to the bottom of the packet. The spectator removes the remaining jacks from his pocket and places then on top of the packet. Then he transfers eight cards, one at a tine, from the top to the bottom of the packet. The packet is dropped into the magician's jacket pocket. He says, “To find your card, I'll need to use a jack.” The magician reaches into his pocket, removes one card and shows it to be a jack. This is harder to do than I thought. I'll need another jack as back-up." The magician reaches into his pocket, removes another card and shows that it is a second jack. ‘The jacks should have no trouble finding your card.” The two jacks are placed into the pocket and withdrawn. There is a card between then and it is the signed card, There are no key cards, no glimpses. Nothing is set up ahead of time. The order of the cards cannot be predicted in advance. The magician does not know the identity of any card in the packet. - Method: The magician does, however, know the location of three cards. After the jacks have been randomly added to the packet and cards transferred from top to bottom, one jack will be fifth from the top of the packet, another Jack ninth from the top, and the signed card eighth from the top. When the packet is placed in the jacket pocket, grasp the packet in dealing grip. Thumb cards off the top until you get. to the Sth card. Pull fhat card out with the thumb. Release the other cards so that the packet is back in its original order (minus the card just removed). : Announce that you need a jack to find the card. Remove the card from the pocket and show it to be a jack. Toss it onto the table.L cS tc Fs “25 Reach into the pocket. Grasp the packet in dealing grip. Thumb off the top 6 cards. Stand the 7th card (signed card) on end so it is at right angles to the rest of the packet. Use the thumb to pull the next card (a jack) out of the packet. Say, "I'm going to need another jack to find your card.” Remove the card from the pocket and show it to be a second jack. Drop one jack on top of the other. Put the two jacks into the pocket. Slip then on either side of the upright card, preferably so the jacks are face-up and the signed card face-down. Remove the three cards from the pocket. Show that the jacks found the chosen card. It may appear that a mathematical principle underlies the handling, but the trick is a swindle. It can be done with the two one-eyed jacks, with handlings where cards are dealt rather than counted, where the cards are mixed via structured shuffles like the down-under or over-under shuffles. Using the approach described in “The Parallel Police,” the reader may wish to consider the problem of handling the case where the spectator places zero jacks onto the packet one time, four jacks the other. FACE VALUE Gamblers develop a high degre of skill in telling cards apart. They can even detect the difference between face-up and face-down cards by sense of touch. For example, half the deck is turned face-up and shuffled into the face-down balance of the deck. The spectator can give the deck any number of shuffles to further mix the cards. 7 To keep the demo short, he discards half the deck. The half he keeps is given further random shuffles. The magician turns his head aside. The spectator deals cards one at 2 time into the magician's hand. The magician calls stop. He says, "The number of face-up cards in the packet you've given me exactly matches the umber of face-up cards you have." This turns out to be correct. Method: There is a well known principle where 26 cards are turned face-up and shuffled into the balance of the deck. After the shuffles, 26 cards are counted off. This packet is turned over. The number of face-up cards in this group is equal to the number of face-up cards in the other half of the deck. This is the principle behind Hummer's “The Magic Separation” (found on pg. 9 of-26- Hummer's Collected Secrets) Concealed within this principle is an offbeat corollary. When the packet of 26 cards is counted off the shuffled deck, silently count the number of face-down cards. Say the number is 14. Put the packet aside. From the balance of the deck, have the spectator count cards into your palm-up hand. Turn your head aside when he does this. Call stop when the number of cards in your hand equals the number of face-down cards you counted earlier. In this example you would call stop when 14 cards have been dealt into your hand. Turn your hand paln-down and spread the packet on the table. The number of face-up cards in the packet will match the number of face-up cards in the group still held by the spectator. A worrisome point for analytically minded observers is that the face-down cards don't match. A trick fragment. Arrange the deck red-black-red-black-etc. Cut at 25/27. Ask the spectator to riffle shuffle the two halves together. As he does this, draw a large circle on a pad. Tap the center and say, “My Prediction goes here. Ask the spectator to cut off about half of the deck. Hold the cut-off Packet at one end and rapidly riffle the other end as if to glimpse the cards as they riffle by. Write a prediction in the circle (really write nothing; scratch the fingernail on the pad). Place the pad uriting-side down on the table. Turn the packet face-up. Grasp it from above with the RH. The left fingers sidejog the back card of the packet. Spread the packet face-up Gn the table so all indice corners (except the concealed back card) show. Viewing the cards two at a time from the top, the spectator counts the pumber of matching-color pairs. He might count 2 red pairs and. black pairs, for a total of 6. Square the packet side for side. Turn the pad over, Your prediction makes no sense. Ask the spectator to deals cards 2 at a time off the top to check the count. He comes up with zero. Your circle is now seen for what it really is- a zero. Assemble deck and follow with "A Martian Chronicle,” pg. 75.Ca) ca oe ee -27- PUSH THRU POKER The performer is dealt the start of an indifferent poker hand, con- sisting of a pair of deuces and an ace. Each deuce is pushed through the packet, the result being that each is transformed into an ace. The routine is more a question of handling than sleights. There are no gimmicks. Double lifts are not used; each deuce is a single card. Arrange the 2C-AH-2S a shown in Figure 1. Turn the three cards over as a unit end for end (not side for side). The situation is as shown in Figure 2. Place the AS on top of the spread so it lines up with the AH, Fig- ure 3. Place the AC on top of the spread so it lines up with the 2¢, Fig- ure 4. Place a paper clip on the packet to hold the cards in alignnent. @mae = ES me oo ~28- When ready to perform, remove the paper clip. Remark that you were once dealt an extra-lucky poker hand, and that you carry it around with you. Hold the packet as shown in Figure 5, between the left thumb and fingers. You can allow the 2S to ‘accidently’ fall, indirectly showing that it is @ single card. Catch it with the right hand and replace it in position. Remove the AH, Figure 5. This too is a single card. Say, "I was dealt the cards in this order.” Place the AH at the end of the spread, Figure 6. By making this adjustment, you are again showing that each card is a single card. Because the AH was taken out of position and relocated, the cards are Joosely spread at this point. Grasp the AH as shown in Figure 7, that is, with the four fingers in back of this card. Slide the AH to the left. At the same time contact the back of the 2S with the right fingertips aad! L Ea BS eo oes ~29- slide the 2S to the left until the 2S lines up with the hidden AS. This is of course accomplished by sense of touch; the fingertips can detect when the long edge of the 2S lines up with the long edge of the AS. The tightened spread is shown in Figure 7. Turn the left hand palm down, Figure 8, The right thumb pulls the apparent 2S to the right until it overlaps the AH, Figure 9. As you do this say, “The two of spades was a problem card.” The right fingertips then push the AH to the left until the AH lines up with the 2S. The right hand then pulls the apparent 28 to the right and free of the packet. Turn the left hand palm up. Insert the face-down apparent 2S between the Z two face-up cards, Figure 10. Keep sliding it to the right until the right ¢ end of this card protrudes at the right end of the spread 4 ~ Turn the left hand palm dovn again to show that the 2S has changed into the AS. Withdraw the AS and place it to the left of the 2¢, Figure 11. Repeat the action of Figures 8-9-10 XN Sap with the 2¢ to cause the 2C to change to the AC, giving you the three aces.mi ER ET co Ei Bet -30- The set-up of the cards has as its starting point a coin idea of Dr. E. G. Ervin. A variation of this can be found in “One From Two,” in Dover's Self Working Coin Magic (1989). An effect related to “Push Thru Poker” is this. The performer displays two black deuces and the AH. One by one, the deuces change, the first deuce into the KH, the second into the QH The performer has the AH-KH-QH at this point. When he deals these three cards onto the table, it is seen that he has five cards, and they form a royal flush in hearts. AKA "Police mugbooks existed before photography was invented. I have one here. Pictures not being available, people leafed through these books to find words that described the culprit." The magician flips through the pages of a dictionary, showing that a word has been circled on each page. “Pick a card to represent the culprit.” The spectator chooses, say, the king of diamonds. “Now pick @ group of cards to represent page numbers.” The spectator picks cards in groups of two and three. “Let's see which words you picked in the antique mugbook.” The first group of two cards chosen by the spectator is turned face up to reveal a 6 and a 7, Turning to page 67, the spectator finds that the circled word is BLUE. The next pair of cards show an 8 and a 4. Turning to page 84, the spectator finds that the circled word is BURGER. Similarly, the other two selected words turn out to be DAMOCLES and HOPE. “Let's see, BLUE, BURGER, DAMOCLES AND HOPE. Hmmm." Magician thinks for @ second, snaps his fingers and says, "Of course. It's all perfectly clear. DAMOCLES as in Sword Of. The culprit was carrying a sword; is he a member of royalty?” The spectator says yes. “Look at your card. Are the eyes BLUE?"r ~31- The spectator acknowledges. The rest is obvious. BURGER as in King, HOPE as in Diamond, did you pick the king of diamonds? Indeed. Method: No gimmicks, though it should not matter in a gag card trick. Decide ahead of time which card you are going to force, then pick several words in a dictionary that have bizarre and unlikely connections to the force card. Circle those words (For example, if the force card is the jack of clubs, force ILL and NIGHT. When you narrow in on the identity of the chosen card, say, ill as in Jack, night as in club, did you pick the Jack of Clubs?") Circle the force words in red ink so they stand out. Circle other random words in the dictionary as well. The page numbers must also be forced. Set up the deck to force these numbers. The X-force is as good as any. The trick then proceeds as described above. Remark that in an earlier eta people leafed through a different kind of police mugbook to describe what the culprit looked like. Force the king of diamonds, then force the necessary cards to lead the spectator to the force words. The rest is, as they say at Comedy Central, e matter of delivery. (Footnote to readers outside the U.S.A.: Burger King is a franchise fast food chain in the USA. Your presentation would be shaped by easily recognized businesses in your area. On US picture cards, the faces are usually printed in blue ink; hence the question- “Does he have blue eyes?") The police use i.d. kits which allow witnesses to construct a like~ ness of the culprit. the kit consists of transparent overlays which contain drawings of facial features. the witness picks out the hair style, eyes, nose, etc. of the culprit. these transparencies are placed on top of one another to build up a likeness of the culprit. Where police sketch artists are not available, the {.d. kit is 2 good substitute. I had planned to market @ routine using the i.d. kit. Of many possible effects, one went like this. The spectator was given a choice of features, and these to combined to construct a culprit. Though there are many combi- Rations of facial features, the face constructed by the spectator was- shown fe match a picture of the actual culprit. This picture was a photo already Snapped by an instant camera. The spectator himself peeled the photo off the backing to see that he matched the likeness of the culprit. The routine Proved to be too expensive to put on the market.mT f ~32- WIRE COPY The paper-clipped ace of spades, placed in the center of the deck, changes into a previously chosen card. The AC is on top of the deck, then any card (say the 3H), then the AS. Obtain a left little finger break under the top three cards. Display a jumbo paper clip, saying that it acts as a wire antenna tuned to mind rays. Slide the paper clip onto the three cards at the right long side of the deck. Run the paper clip around to the front of the deck. The situation looks like the drawing at the right. Push the triple clipped card to the right with the aid of the left thumb. Flip it over Side for side onto the top of the deck. The situation looks like Figure I below. Call attention to the fact that the clipped card is the ace of spades. Riffle down the left long side of the deck te ayeehe SPectator calls stop. The right hand grasps this packet and £1ips it over end for end onto the deck. Say, “Let's see which card is adjacent to the ace of spades.” spread phe face up cards into the right hand until you get to the clipped cards. Place the right-hand packet face-down on the table. Say, “Please remember the card under the ace of spades.” Use the right first finger to lift the top card of the left hand packet, This is supposed= 7 cS FS es -33+ to be the ace of spades. The right forefinger then lifts the next card, pulling or spreading it slightly away from the packet so the spectator can see the face of this card. The situation is depicted in Figure 2. The action harks back to the Ford Rogers glued-pair principle. The spectator sees the three of hearts. The reason you have the AC on fop of the 3H is that if the cards are allowed to spread slightly as in Figure 2, the spectator will get a glimpse of a black 'A” index be~ hind the 3H. It is a small point that adds convincing detail. The right hand grasps the tabled packet from above and éribbles it onto the packet in the left hand. The right hand then grasps the paper clip protruding from the near end of the deck and, using it as a handle, stides she triple card out of the deck. Show the face of the triple as you says ay Want to get the ace of spades avay from your card so 1 can show you an interesting phenomenon involving mental emanations.” The spectator shuffles the deck. Take it back, holding it in left hand fea EE SrtP: The triple card should be face down on the table. Grasp it from above with the right hand, thumb at the inner end, fingers at the outer end. AS you place it on top of the deck, re= lease one card off the right thumb. This card is the AS. Slide the left little finger into this break. The little finger clamps the AS in place while the right thumb slides the double card above the break forward until it is free of the AS. Open a break at the center of the deck with the left thumb. Insert the double card into the break. Say, "A homing signal picked up by the antenna tells the AS where to find your card.” Remove the paper clipped card from the center of the deck (it is really a double card) and show that the AS has changed to the three of hearts. Since the back of the chosen card is not work in the added s effect of a color changing back. The back of the AS is also 0 tine, suggesting other possibilities. A billet or small card fan be secreted between the clipped cards (ala Robert Brethen's “As In A Mirror Darkly,rm ka a 3 oT a BABY GRAND “The Piano Trick” is a good example of a clever idea elevated to a great commercial card trick by means of a simple presentation. The effect is one where an odd card placed in one packet seemingly jumps to another packet. A number of magician have suggested strengthening the effect so that a specific card like the ace of spades is the odd card that jumps from one packet to another. I had worked out a number of variations. In one the odd card changes from a red card to a black card. This is one handling. Place seven red cards in one face-up heap, seven black cards in another. Do not call attention to the number of cards. Ask a spectator to place her hands on the table so the fingertips touch the tabletop, as if she was playing the piano. Place a black card face-up in left hand dealing grip. Place a red card face-down on top of it. Say, "Two cards, an even number.” Place this pair of cards between the lady's right 3rd and th fingers, the long edge of the cards in contact with the tabletop, the pair of cards ‘caught’ between her fingers. Place the next pair of cards (red and black face-to-face) between the spectator's 2nd and 3rd fingers. As you do, say, “Even,” once again. Continue in this way until all pairs have been placed between the spec- fator's fingers, working from right to left. There will be one space left over, between the spectator's left 3rd and 4th fingers. Take a single black card fcom the deck, show the face of this card, and place it between the spectator's 3rd and 4th fingers. as you do, say, “Odd. Say, “On a piano there are white notes and black notes. I'm using the red cards to represent the white notes." Beginning at the spectator's far Tight, take the first pair of cards. Place then into left-hand dealing grip Se that the black card is face-up, the red card above it face-down. say, Even. Gather the next five pairs of cards in exactly the same way. Say, as you gather each pair. ‘Even’ You will have one pair of cards left, plus the single card. As you take the last pair into the left hand, get a left 4th finger break under this pair. Say, “Even.”fo 3 ~35- Take the face-up single card into the left hand. Say, "Odd." All of the cards have been gathered into the left hand. Say, “Here's how we transpose to an odd key.” You are holding three cards above the left little finger break. Grasp this packet by the ends with the right hand from above. Use the left long edge of the packet to flip the larger packet over into the left hand. Then flip the triple card over onto the left hand packet, but as you do, get a left little finger break under the triple card. Say, "Now we can play another melody.” Grip the top card of the packet by the ends with the right hand. Drop this face-down card on the table. Take the next card (really a double card above the break). Place it to the right of the first card. A red card shows. The audience thinks this is a single card. As you drop the double card onto the table, say, “Even. Take the next single card and drop it onto the face-down card. Drop the next card onto the face-up red. Say, “Even. Continue in the same way with the remaining cards. The audience sees that something unexpected has happened; the odd black card is gone. Say, "Now let's transpose back." Pick up the face-up red heap and drop it onto the face-down black heap. Do not flash the hidden black card as you do this. Turn the entire packet over into left-hand dealing grip. Push off the two top cards (they will be face-up blacks). Drop them on the table as you say, “Even.” repeat with the next three pairs of blacks. Say, “Even as you drop each pair into a common heap. Push off the top face-down pair, turn this pair of cards over ina slightly spread condition, and drop the pair of reds onto the heap as you say, “Even.” Repeat with the next two pairs of cards. You are left with a single card. Say, "Odd. By the way, do you know the color of the odd card?” The spectator says, “Black.” Reply, “When we transposed the tune, the odd card turned red. Isn't that odd?" Turn the odd card face-up to show it is red. Blue Note Oddly enough, there is one card whose back is never seen in the above trick. It is the single black card that served as the odd card. This canc Ce oe rt PS =36- be exploited to add another punch line. Use a red~backed deck. The odd black card is blue-backed. Keep it at the face of the deck. Perform the above trick, with the stranger card serving as the odd card. At the finish, show that the odd card turned from black to red. Turn the packet face-down and spread it to show the blue-backed card among the red-backers. Say, “That's what happens when you transpose a tune- you end up with a blue note.” RED SHIFT For this offbeat card revelation there is a simple stack: 2C-2H-Joker— Joker-19 cards-2D, then the rest of the deck. False shuffle and cut the deck. Place it in left hand dealing grip. Get a break under the top 4 cards. Lift off the 4-card block, turn it face-up and use the left thumb to slide the facemost joker to the left, exposing the second joker. "We won't need the jokers." Square the block, flip it facedown on top of the deck and carelessly toss the top 2 cards aside as if getting rid of the jokers. Place the deck on the table. Turn your head aside. Ask the spectator to cut the deck into thirds. Ask him to count the cards in the top third. When he has done this, place the middle third on top of the bottom third. "I want to be sure you have enough cards to work with." Deal a heap of 21 cards on the table. Whatever number of cards the spectator counted in the top heap, he counts the same number off the 2i-card heap, locks at the last card dealt, and places the undealt portion on top. He puts the 2l-card heap on top of the bottom third of the deck. Then he puts the top third on top of all. “The Jokers tell all." Turn up one apparent joker to reveal a red two. “You picked a red deuce.” Turn up the other card, another two-spot. “And it lies (tap the face of each face-up deuce) twenty-second from the top of the deck." Spectator counts to the 22nd card from the top and it is the chosen card.Ga =37- FUTURE GLIMPSED Here's a poker hand you will someday be dealt,” the performer says. “Pick two cards at random." The spectator chooses two cards. They are a pair of aces. “I knew you'd pick them," the performer says. “Here's the rest of your poker hand." He spreads the deck facedown on the table to reveal two face up cards, the other two aces. The top card of the deck is a face down ace. The next two cards are face-down X cards. The next three cards are face up aces. The set’ up {s shown in the drawing below. Hold the deck in left hand dealing grip. Riffle along the left long side of the deck with the left thumb until the spectator calls stop. The right hand lifts the upper packet, turns it over and places it gnto the balance of the deck. This is the action of the Henry Christ force. Push or spread the face-up cards to the right until you get to the iinet facedown card. The right hand holds a packet of facevup cards af this Point. Turn these cards face down and place then on the botton of the deck. Deal the top card of the deck face-down onto the table. Ritfle down the left side of the deck until the spectator calls stop. Turn the upper packet face-up onto the balance of the deck, Spread the face-up cards to the right until you come to the first ke the face-up cards into the right hand. The left P card of the left-hand packet onto the table. The S {ts packet face-down on top of the deck. thumb deals the to; right hand replace: ACE + TL 3 FACE UP aces~38- Place the deck face-down on the table. Turn up the two chosen cards to reveal a pair of aces. Say, “That's what you will one day get on the deal. Here's what you will get on the draw. Spread the deck face-down on the table. The other two aces are face up in the center. The technique is used here to produce the four aces. It can be done as a straight prediction, i.e., the spectator is shown two reversed cards in the middle of the deck. He picks two cards. They match the Teversed cards. The handling is as follows. Arrange the 4S on top of the déck, then two X cards, then the 4C, then the two red sixes. The 4C-6H-6D are face up. hen ready to perform, turn the deck face-up, cut the deck and complete the cut, but maintain a break between the packets. Spread the cards from left to right until you get to the first face-down card. Thumb it over with the left thumb to display the second face-down card. Remark that these are prediction cards, Square the cards side for side, maintaining the break. As you turn the deck face-down, perform a turnover pass. This brings the set-up to the top of the face-down deck. The important point is that you have planted the idea of the reversed cards being in the center of the deck. Now perform the handling described above. Instead of choosing two aces, the spectator will choose @ black four and a red six. All that reneine fe fo spread the deck to show that the reversed cards match the spectator's cards. There are many ways of achieving a similar result. One advantage of having the principle cards together at the top of the deck at the erart is that you can give the deck several false shuffles, maintaining the important stock. For related material, check Herb Zarrow's “Emerald Island Aces” in Vernon's Ultimate Card Secrets, the Jack Birnman material in Precursor, and the Curry material in Thompson's My Best.—™ CR on ~39- DIAMOND JACK JR. Story tricks tend to be remembered,not so much for the details of the tale, but for the premise or hook on which the story is based. The following story recounts how a detective named Diamond Jack got his man. When writing up tricks, I try to give a clear description of the effect first, so the reader knows what direction is being taken. "Diamond Jack Jr.” is one of the exceptions- effect, method and patter are interwoven too closely to be treated separately. Use any shuffled deck. There is no preparation. Give the spectator half the deck. He fans thru the cards, thinks of any card, shows it to the audience, signs his name on the face of the card, and drops it on top of the packet. Shuffle the other half of the deck while the spectator is picking a card. Remark that this is a story in which the thought card is traced by the thought police. Fan the cards from the face. Count eight cards. Push then to the right. Pick an ace or court card to the left of the 8-card group. Reverse it and position it in an upjogged condition directly to the left of the 8-card packet as shown in Figure 1. Square the packet fron side to side and flip it face-down into left hand dealing grip. Assume the jogged card is the JD. Say, “Diamond Jack was a famous detective. This is his story.” Slowly square the reversed JD into the packet. Place your packet on the table. Have the spectator place his packet. on top of yours. He then gives the deck several straight cuts. Glance at the sides of the deck to spot the location of the JD. If it isn't near the center che ne decks give the deck a cut to bring the JD closer to the center. spread the deck face-down on the table, Figure 2. ma —— 8 caros of vio 0| rc cS fe ES ED eT m0 Break the deck into two packets, with the JD at the face of the packet on the right. Place this packet into the left hand. Spread the cards, as if to show the JD, but use the opportunity to count eight cards above the JD. Get a left little finger break above these cards. Cut the packet at the break and complete the cut. The JD is now under eight cards in packet B. Square up packet A. Place packet B alongside it on the table. Unknown to the audience, the detective card is the same number down in packet B as the chosen card is in packet A. The traditional method of ending the trick is to count down in both packets. When the face-up detective card shows up, the corresponding card in the other packet is turned face-up to reveal the chosen card. I think the following is more entertaining. You are going to deal cards off the top of the two packets simultaneously. The detective packet is packet B. You will turn the cards from packet B face-up as you deal them off this packet, and as you do, you will improvise a story. The words will be slightly different each time, but the format is easy to recall. Say the top eight cards of the detective packet are the 4-Q-K-8-6-10- 7-4, It makes no difference what these eight cards are, but we have to use something as an example, so if the cards are as described above, the spiel goes as follows. The words in caps refer to the above card values, not to undue emphasis in speaking: “Diamond Jack was awakened at FOUR in the morning by a telephone call from Ellery QUEEN, who told him to take KING'S Highway to the corner of EIGHTH Street and SIXTH Avenue, where it would cost him TEN dollars to get into the Lucky SEVEN Club. Sure enough, there on the FOURTH floor, he found. . You have dealt eight cards from the tops of the two packets. The cards dealt from packet B were turned face-up one at a time. You followed the above patter story, plugging in the appropriate card values as they showed up. You are now at the point where the JD is face-up on top of one of the Packets. Take it with one hand, the top card of the other packet with the other hand. As you turn this card face-up, say, "...the man he had been looking for, number SEVEN (if that is the value of the chosen card) on. his most wanted list.” This last line is timed so you glimpse the face of the chosen card Just as you say “number” in the patter. State the value of the chosen card as the next word in the sentence and it will appear as if you knew all along that a Seven (or whatever card) would be chosen.i Rea oro 9s) En ea eae Background Thad heard the Diamond Jack patter story for a full deck of cards more than thirty years ago. It was told by a bartender and had become something of a tradmark with him. Joseph Schmidt provided the references in magical liter- ature to the Diamond Jack story. Glenn Gravatt published it in his Encyclopedia of Self Working Card Tricks (1936), volume two, pg. 17, where it is introduced with the words, “This one can be purchased from magical dealers for a dollar. It is a little story based on the deck of cards.” It then showed up in the Hugard version of the Encyclopedia, pg. 242, where it's credited to Namreh (Herman Weber). There are not many card tricks which justify the use of marked cards. “The Adventures of Diamond Jack” is one of them. The bartender who made a reputation with this trick would have the deck shuffled. He then went through the story, dealing cards off the top in the random order produced by the shuffle. The marks on the backs of the cards gave him the split second advantage needed to shape the story based on what he knew to be coming up. “Diamond Jack Jr." uses the premise, but is something of a condensed or short-story version of the Diamond Jack tale. The reader may wish to look up the original for added patter ideas. Overhand Shuffle Placement Overhand Shuffle Placement Another method of placing the JD under 8 cards is this. when you split the deck into two packets, Fig. 2, pick up packet B. Grasp this packet in the right hand in readiness for an overhand shuffle.Draw off the top and bottom card together into the left hand. Shuffle 7 more cards onto this pair of cards. Injog the next card and shuffle the rest on top. cut the cards below the injog and throw on top. The reversed JD is how 9th from the top of the packet.cry : lu _ ca Mm EI mo ~42- A TRAP CUT This is an easy method of performing the ‘future trap’ type of effect. A face-down card is placed between tuo face-up cards and this three-card packet cut into the deck. A card later chosen by the spectator turns out to be the trapped card. The method uses the interlock technique to steer the chosen card into trap position. Method: Deal the top card of the borrowed deck face-up to the table. Deal the next card face-down on top of it, then the next card face-up on top of that. Tap the face-down card, saying that it is invaluable to have a card like this to find the card you want. 2. Pick up the 3-card packet and drop it on top of the deck. The deck is in left-hand dealing grip. Grasp the deck from above with the right hand. lift up the top card with the right thumb, securing a break under this card. 3. Riffle along the upper left corner of the deck with the left thumb. Stop the riffle at 2 point a third of the way down from the top of the deck. Cut off the 2/3 of the deck below the break with the left hand. Place it on top of the deck. The deck is held deep in the left hand. 4, The right thumb has been maintaining a break. The right hand lifts the packet above the break and brings it to a position where it can be grasped between the left thumb and first finger, Figure 1. 5.The right hand grasps the upper packet in hindu shuffle position as shown in Figure 1. The left hand strips off small Packets of cards into the left hand. The left fingers and base of the left thumb keep the stripped-off cards above (and therefore iG clearly isolated from) the Packet that rests on the left palm. Continue stripping off cards until you have ten or twelve cards stripped ? off. 6. The right hand packet is Placed on the table. 7. You are now going to spread the small packet, that is, the Stripped out packet. It is spreadoa [aa St ca mm ~43— between the handa as shown in Figure 2. Keep it clearly outjogged from the packet in the left palm. Have the spectator choose a card from the spread packet. &. The right fingers under the spread lift up the top card of the injogged packet, Figure 2A. The break thus established is taken over by the left 4th finger. Once this break has been established, square the outjogged Packet side for side. (Fig. 2A action is credited to Herb Zerrou) 9, Take back the chosen card. Insert it from right-to-left into the break and square with the outjogged packet. It appears as if this card is being placed on the face or bottom of the outjogged packet. Lift up the two packets (by lifting the left hand) so the spectator can see his card on the face of the outjogged packet. 10. Lower the left hand so the packets are horizontal. The right hand moves forward with the upper packet. As it does, the left Ist finger pulls the chosen card flush with the lower packet Figure 3. This is of course the interlock action. Al. The right hand places the upper packet on the table. The right hand then places the packet still in the left hand onto the tabled packet. In thero re oo ma cot Bea me 4b same (repeat, same) action, the right hand lifts the top card of the combined packet off, places it on top of the packet that was placed on the table in Step 6, picks up this packet and slaps it on top of the rest of the deck. 12. Spread the deck face~down on the table. The 3-card packet is removed. Slide it along the deck so it drags against the deck and makes a clicking sound. Turn it over to reveal that the center card, placed there before the trick began, is the card later chosen by the spectator. ‘TRANSFER OF POWER 4 packet of four aces is cut into the center of the deck. A rubber band is snapped around the deck. The rubber band visibly disappears into the center of the deck and snaps around the ace packet. Inpronptu, any deck. Method: Give half the deck to the spectator. Take the other half. Each of you go thru your cards and toss out any aces. When you have done this, snap @ tubber band lengthwise around your packet. Hold the packet face-down in left-hand dealing grip. Drop the aces face-up on top of the packet. Use the left thumb to riffle to the midpoint of the packet. Open a break with the left thumb. Slip the right Ist and 2nd fingers into the break on either side of the rubber band, Figure 1. The fingers pull the upper packet back toward you. Holding this packet between the right fingers and thumb. slide it up to the top of the other packet, wo ACES Figure 2.rm r ase) The left thumb moves to a position at the base of the upjogged pac- ket and presses against the rubber band. Rotate the upjogged packet over onto the lower packet in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2. The situation will look like Figure 3. Move the left thumb out of the way as the upper packet moves square with the lower packet. “We'll cut the aces into the deck,” is the covering patter line. Grasp the entire packet at the lower right corner with the right hand. Lift the rubber band as shown in Figure 4. Say, “If I wanted to find the aces again, I could cut to them. But phere's an easier way. I use the hired help to find the aces.” Bring the band around the side of the packet, in the direction of the arro Figure 4. The result shown in Figure 5. win is that the rubber band will hang from the deck as4 t Sa me oom ro Ea ~46- Gently release right hand pressure on the packet. The result is that the aces will snap out of the packet, with the rubber band now around the aces, Figure 6. Yumpin' Yaks The red jacks are cut into a packet. A rubber band snapped around the packet visibly trav- els to the middle of the pac- ket and ends up around the Jacks. When the jacks are spread, a previously chosen card is found reversed be- tween the jacks. hod: Toss out the two red jacks face-down onto the table. Have a card chosen, returned to the deck and brought to the top. Cut off the top half of the deck. Place the bottom half to one side. Turn the top half face-up in left hand dealing grip. Buckle or pull down the back card (chosen card). Snap a rubber band lengthwise a~ round the packet, but slip it between the packet and the chosen card. The result is that the chosen card is free. prop the face-up packet on top of the two jacks. Remark that you think phe chosen card is somewhere in this half of the deck. Rather then look rac ie yalOu fill let the Jacks do the hard work. Press down on the packers Drag df back as shown in Figure 7. This causes the tuo jacks to spread « bic. mee chosen card will cling like glue to the rubber band and will resets concealed under the packet, an offhand gesture of fairness. Square the packet with the jacks. Pick up packet plus jacks and turn them end for end as you deposit the pac! ket into the left hand.L =. fa oo ES Fa ~47- Grasp the three cards above the rubber band by the ends with the right hand. Use the left thumb to peel the facemost jack onto the packet. The audience sees two red jacks. drop the other jack (really a double card) onto the packet. Now go thru the action depicted in Figs. 1 thru 6. The jacks will Pop cut of the packet, with the rubber band around them. Say, “The jacks find your card and the rubber band keeps the proceedings honest. Spread the rubber banded packet with the jacks face-up to show that a face-down card was caught between them. “That's what the rubber band was for. It acts like a fishing line. Looks like it caught a fish.” Turn the packet over to show the center card is the chosen card. The action depicted in Figure 7 is derived from “Like A Bandit" in Methods With Cards (1975), pg. 58. A-B~C-D Card problem. Cut the deck into four heaps, A-B-C-D. Pick up heap A. Deal it a card at a time to A-B-C-D until all cards are dealt. Do the sane thing with B, C, D. This is the format of a well-known trick (see "Cutting The Aces” in Self-Working Card Tricks, pg. 31) where the aces are produced. The intent here is different. If the number of“cards in A-B-C-D are known at the start, can the number of cards at each position after the deal be easily/quickly determined? If the deal is repeated, will the distri- bution enter a closed loop? A variation. Cut the deck into four heaps ‘arranged in a circle. Pick up A. deal the cards clockwise to A-B-C-D, beginning at A. Pick up B. Deal the cards clockwise to A-B-C-D, beginning at B. Continue this way with each heap, each time beginning the deal at the empty space (if the distribution is 20-15-11-6 at the start, this same distribution will repeat) We know the card originally at position 1 in the deck will end up at the face of heap A after the deal. What about the card originally at Position 267 Can the outcome be controlled with a different number of packets? A different dealing prodecure? Check the Nat Mendelsohn item in Ibiden #18 for a possible tie-in.Ea Err rs ore ~48- COUNTERFEIT It is well known that the ink in counterfeit dollar bills is different from the ink in legitimate bills. The skilled scientist can tell the differ- ence. The magician offers to demonstrate the technique with playing cards. There is more ink in high cards than low cards, Practice is all it takes to tell one from the other. He removes seven high red cards from the deck and one low black card. There are a total of eight cards. The counterfeit will be represented by the odd color card. It is openly placed in the packet. The packet is then shuffled by a volunteer. The performer takes four cards in each hand. He weighs them and discards one group of four. Of the remaining cards, he takes two in each hand, weighs them and dis- cards one group. Of the remaining two cards, he takes one in each hand. weighs them and discards one card. The card in hand is turned face up. It is red. The performer say, “Aha, Success!" The other seven cards are turned face-up. They are black. » you were correct. Beforehand arrange then the AC, then the 10D That's the extent of the preparation, that plus pencil-dotting the trek ofthe 10. The direction of the patter is indicated above. being more ink on high cards, turn the deck face right, and upjog the first six high-value red ca 4s you talk about there “up, run the cards from left to rds you come to. Then upjog the 10D, and then upjog the AC. You can keep the deck more or ines horizontal so the audience can see the faces of the cards. Spread or fan then bit after they have been upjogged. Point out that the AC will act as the counterfeit card. iter you upjog the AC, there will be six black cards in back of it. Keep this block of cards isolated from the balance of the Pack by curling the left little finger around this packet.Eo ~49- Use the Vernon add-on move to load the packet of 6 black cards in back of the eight upjogged cards as these eight cards are stripped out of the deck. Flip the deck face-down into left hand dealing grip. Then flip the cards in the right hand face down onto the deck. Push the top eight cards off the deck without disturbing their order. Take them with the right hand. Place the balance of the deck acide. Guerhend shuffle the 8-card packet, running the cards from hand to hand, Of the pecker ycrder, Actually, all you need do is bring the 10 to the top of the packet with the AC directly under it. Overhand shuffle again, running the top card then bunches of cards. The 10D will be on the bott the bottom. There is @ reason for the shuffles, an: next step. » then the next single card, ‘om with the AC second from id it comes about in the Say, "No matter how much I shuffle the cards, I can obviously keep track Of the odd card.” As you speak, buckle the bottom card, pull suc eho second card from the bottom, and show it to be the AC. Square the packet. card). Insert the AC into balance of the packet. Hold it so the audience can see the face card (a red the top of the packet and slowly square it with the Say, “But if you shuffle the cards, then I! d have to use more scientific methods to find the odd card." The spectator shuffles the packet. Take it back, divi de it into two equal heaps, keep the heap with the pencil. “dotted card and discard the other heap. Proceed in this way until Tt is red. Say, “It never fails!” odd card in the packet, the only you are left with one card. Turn it face-up. Then show that you did indeed find the only high red card in a packet of low black cards. ‘The method of loadind cards in on “Block of Eight” in Covenant (1987) upjogs the required cards, giving the back of the six reds that I use is based + It has the advantage that the spectator Proceedings an added degree of honesty,—_ Ex ee eS os ~50- BALANCING ACT If you intend to perform a trick like “Counterfeit,” which deals with colors, you may wish to perform a trick like this one as a preliminary. The spectator shuffles the deck. He takes a packet of cards which we shall call packet A. the balance of the deck will be called packet B. While the magician turns aside, the spectator sorts reds from blacks in packet A, and puts the blacks in his jacket pocket. The performer picks up part of packet B, removes some cards from this group and places then in the spectator's jacket pocket. The performer says, “I'm trying to achieve a color balance by a kind of psychic weighing process. The number of black cards in your jacket pocket should now equal the number of red cards in this packet.” ‘The performer counts the number of red cards in packet B. Say there are ten, The spectator removes the black cards from his pocket. For the first time he counts them.There are exactly ten. The Knower of All Things says, “It could be a psychic belancing act, or T could have peeked. Let's do it a little differently.” The spectator shuffles the deck and takes a group of cards which we will again call packet A. He places the entire packet in his jacket pocket. ‘The Tenainder of the deck is packet B. The performer takes part of packet B behind his back, removes several cards sight unseen, and-piaces them in the spectator's jacket pocket. He says, “Once again the colors should balance.” The reds in packet B packer rede There might be eight. For the first time the spectator removes packet A from his pocket and counts the number of black cards; thece oii be exactly eight. Method: 'Tis all a big time swindle. The thro only part of a packet; without knowledge of th how can the correct adjustment be made? The me deck, and requires no preparation. w-off is that the performer takes 1 make-up of the complete packet, thod is simple, uses any shuffled On the first round them in 2's and 3's, Precise number. : the spectator is given a packet of 22 cards. Count as 1f you want to give him a bunch of cards, but not any& a Este) While you turn aside, he sorts reds from blacks, and pockets the black cards. He does not count the blacks; you want to watch when he counts the cards to make sure the count is accurate, and at the moment you are looking the other way. Pick up packet B (the balance of the deck). Take part of it- say 15 cards~ and place the renainder on the table. Look over the faces of the cards, pretend your choice is crucial, and very carefully choose any four black cards. Place them into the spectator's jacket pocket to join the black cards already there. Assemble all the cards in packet B. Openly count the number of reds. There may be ten. Have the spectator remove the blacks from his pocket end count them. There will be ten. For phase two, assemble the deck. Let the spectator shuffle it. Hand him 22 cards. He does not sort the colors. Have him drop packet A inte his Jacket pocket. Pick up part of packet B~ say 15 cards and put this packet behind your back. Remove the top four cards. Drop them into the spectator's pocket. Count the red cards in packet B. they must match the number of black cards in the spectator's pocket. Second Approach Performance of a Mraskil-type effect is another good way to focus atten= tion on red/black tricks. In this version you perform the trick tuice wies the same group of cards. the outcome is different each time even though you don't change the make-up of the cards. The final effect is with the red/ black discard heaps you cause reds and blacks to magically separate, 1 Use a 52-card deck. Have 7 blacks & 2 reds on the bottom. Say, “To save finer We'll use only part of the deck.” Lift up all but the betters cards. Ask the spectator to shuffle the larger packet. 2. Take back the mixed packet. Cut a red card to the bottom. Split the parte ct about the midpoint so there is a red card on the face of ‘occh heap. ranueeggtZo heaps in front of the spectator. Say, “Give the eseds one nore shuffle for good luck." Indicate a riffle shuftie, 3. Write “Two more red pairs than blacks" on a piece of paper. The spec~“52- tator goes thru the Miraskil procedure, dealing cards off the top 2 at a time, pairs of reds in one heap, blacks in another, red/black pairs in a third heap. He will have one card left over; it goes into the discard heap. He counts red pairs and black pairs. The prediction is correct. 4. Gather the packet. Spectator mixes it. Cut a black to the bottom. Then split the packet at about the midpoint, with a black card at the face of each heap. The spectator riffle shuffles the two heaps together as you say, "Give the cards one more shuffle for good measure.” 5. Write, “Three more red pairs than black” on a piece of paper. The spectator goes thru the Miraskil procedure. The outcome will match the prediction. 5. Say, “Let's try it with the discard heap." Pick up the heap that con- tains the red/black pairs. Give it a false shuffle. Hand it to the spectator. He deals the cards into two heaps as follows. The first card is dealt face-down to you. The next card is dealt face-up to himself. The next card is dealt face-down to you, the next card face-up to himself, and so on. At the finish there will be one face-up heap and one face-down heap. 8. Each of you picks up your heap. He visibly separates his cards accord- ing to color, reds in one heap, blacks in a separate heap. You minic him card for card, dealing your cards into two face-down heaps. Thus, if his first 3 cards are red, he deals them into a heap. You deal your top 3 cards into a face-down heap. If his next 5 cards are black, he deals them into a separate heap; you deal your next 5 cards into a separate heap. 9. At the finish say, "You visibly separated jour cards into two heaps. te cards invisibly followed yours.” Pick up one of your heaps in each hand, furn then face-up and spread them on the table to show one heap all red and one all black. Steps 6 thru 9 constitute a trick independently devised by T.S. Ranson and JW. Sarles. See Ibiden #16 and The Pallbearers Review, (pg. 99). The small packet left behind in Step 1 can contain the stock for “Counter= felt,” t-e., 6 blacks, the AC, the 10D, plus any red card. Go thru the stone S-step routine exactly as written, then follow with “Counterfeit.” An anti-Miraskil card problen: arrange deck so colors alternate. Split deck at 25/27 and riffle-shuffle the two halves together. Deal 2 at a wire, There will of course be no matching pairs (which can be used as a gag pre- diction). But if red/black pairs are sorted from black/red pairs, the out~ come can be controlled.mm Ey fe cer oT ~53- BREAKAWAY PALM When first learning to palm cards, I tended to focus on ways of generating cover for the palm. This was a typical approach; instead of palming a card off the deck, the deck is taken away from the card to be palmed. It is described here in the context of a color change. Hold the deck in left hand deal- ing grip. You are going to palm the top card of the deck and want to isolate that card from the rest of the deck. One way is to secure a left little finger break under the top card. Another way is as follows. Bring the right hand over ®@ the deck, gripping it from above, thumb at the inner end, fingers at the outer end 4s this is done, push the top card a fraction of an inch to the right, just enough for the upper right cor- ner to clear the deck. The right outer corner of the top card is then levered up by the right little fin- ger. The outer right corner is then clipped between the right 3rd and 4th fingers. If you check Figure 1, you can See the position of the hands, and the action of the right 4th finger in raising the top card. The left hand then allows the deck to drop away from the top card. The deck Pivots around to a face-up condition, Figure 2.En Ea fa on rs ~54- The deck is actually pivoted around and onto the stationary card. an exposed view is also given in Figure 2. As the handling moves from Figure | to Figure 2, it can be seen that the top card of the deck is already in palm position in Figure 1. You have in effect moved the deck away from the palmed card. The palmed card is held in place by the clip at the outer right corner, and by the thumb at the inner left corner. 4s soon as the face-up deck has been replaced into the right hand, the right hand swing cuts the top half over to the left, Figure 3. The swing action is such that the right Ist finger moves away from the other fingers.The audience sees only the deck, not any palmed cards. This strengthens the idea that nothing is concealed fron audience view. The deck is held in place by the middle finger and the base of the thumb during the action of the swing cut. This isolates the deck from the palmed card so that there will be no fumbling during the sequence of the cut. The left hand takes the packet that was just pivoted off the deck. As this packet is replaced under the other packet, the left 2nd and 3rd fingers slide between the palmed card and the deck, but the left ist and 4th fingers slide under the palmed card, Figure 4. ‘The position with the right hand renoved is shown in Figure 5. The card is no longer in the right hand. It is gripped by the left fingers. This means that the right hand can relax. As thef L co om 2 Esl ti mt ot -55- deck is now held by the left thumb and first finger, the right hand can grip the deck lightly at the ends, and the right thumb can riffle the inner end of the deck. Gall attention to the face card of the deck. You will then load the palmed card into a right-hand classic palm position. To do this, curl the left fingers inward as shown in Figure 6. The card is then gently Placed in right-hand Palm position, To finish, bring the audience's attention back to the face card of the deck by moving the deck away from the right hand. Then slide the right hand over the face of the deck by moving diagonally from inner right to outer left corner of the deck. When the palmed card is aligned with the deck, release it and bring the right hand away, moving diagonally in a southeast direction. Background The little finger action shown Jack Miller for an unpublished met! the top of the deck. in Figure 1 is similar to one used by hod of palming one or more cards fron whe tip of Figure 4 is a variation of one described in “Repeat Under Spread Loading” in Methods With Cards (1975). “ethods With Cards, whe thought pursued in this palm is to break the deck away from the Paumed card. The card starts out in the right heed, chen ve hand-to-hand ee re visible action is a swing cut. The move takes place around cat cut, allowing for # relaxed, somewhat open handling.rf rc -56- WIRE SERVICE Remarking that the steel wire in a paper clip can be charged so as to store the identity of a playing card, the magician demonstrates that when the paper clip is transferred from the ace of spades to another card, that other card changes into the ace of spades. The AS is second from the top of the pack. Obtain a left little finger break under the top two cards. Slide a jumbo paper clip onto the double card and run the paper clip around to the front of the deck. Figure 1 shows the clipped double card resting on top of the deck. Grasp the paper clip and turn the double card end for end onto the deck so the double card is face up as shown in Figure 2.. Say, "I want you to pick a random card. We'll use the card that ends up under the ace of spades.” Riffle along the left side of the deck with the left thumb until the Abe Spectator calls stop, Figure 2. Grasp the upper packet with the right hand and turn it face-up onto the deck, Figure 3. As you place the facee up packet on the deck, establish a left little finger break between the Packets. This break i: $ of course directly under the paper-clipped cards.-57- 1 Push the face-up cards to the right until you get to the paper- clipped cards. Turn the face-up packet over with the right hand. Place it face-down on the table. Say, “we'll use the card under the ace." The right thumb lifts the top card of the clipped card and pushes it forward,Figure 4. The left little finger presses in on the ace of spades and clamps it in place on top of the packet; this is why you established the little finger break under the paper-clipped pair, so that the little finger would be in position to anchor the AS while the right thumb pushed the indifferent card forward. Hi The right hand grasps the paper clip and places the clipped card on the table. The audience thinks this is the clipped AS. f Out jog the top card of the left-hand packet. Pick up the packet from the table and place it on top of the deck. r Place the paper-clipped card (the alleged AS) on the bottom of the be deck, injogged as shown in Figure 5. Say, “The identity of the AS is stored in the paper clip. Here's what I mean.” Slowly transfer the clip to the outjogged card, Figure 6. Square the other card with the deck. u Ba oa em Ca Ss =aER OM FI Ce eT ~58- Say, “When the paper clip is transferred to another card, that card changes into the ace of spades.” Grasp the paper clip, Use it as if it was a handle attached to the outjogged card. Turn the paper-clipped card face-up to show it has changed into the ace of spades. SWITCHBLADE An unsolved problem. A card is chosen, signed across the face, and returned to the deck. The magician then assembles a switchblade from the deck and the cardbox. The flap of the cardbox is placed on top of the deck. A card is then placed on top of all so the flap is sandwiched between a card and the deck,Figure A. The cardbox can then be flippped onto the deck, Figure 1. “I'm going to take a stab at your card,” the magician says. He flips the cardbox off the deck, Figure 2, as if flipping the blade of a switchblade knife. Then he reaches inside the cardbox and removes the signed card. I have a solution which does not use gimmicks. Howard Wurst has a clever impromptu approach to this effect. an offbeat version of the Schulien method figures in one solution.L = ceo -59- BLINDFOLD ACES In this offbeat version of a four-ace poker deal, the spectator randomly arranges the aces in a packet of ten cards. The magician deals three poker hands and gets three aces on the deal, though he does not know the order of the aces in the packet. Method: Pencil dot or otherwise mark the back of one card so you can identify the card later. It does not matter which card this is. The card can remain in the deck until the time of performance. 1, To present the routine, turn the deck face-up and remove the four aces. Toss the aces into a face-up heap on the table. (All cards including the aces are face-up through step 4) 2. Deal separate heaps of one, two, three and four cards, all face-up. The backmost card of the 3-card heap is the pencil-dotted card (i.e., if this heap were turned face-down, the pencil-dotted card would be the top card). 3. “We're going to make a dealer's packet in the center of the table like this.” Put the 2-card heap in the center of the table. Place an ace onto the face of this heap. 4, Turn your head aside. Say, “Put another heap onto the dealer's packet, then an ace, then another heap, another ace, and so on until all cards have been gathered in a single heap.” For the sake of example, say the spectator puts the 4-card heap onto the dealer's packet, then an ace, then the 3-card heap, then another ace, then the l-card heap, and then the final ace. 5. Ask the spectator to turn the combined heap face-down. 6. Still keeping your head turned aside, take the packet into left hand dealing grip. Smile and say, “Thanks for giving me three aces. Let's cut and deal.” 7, Keep your head turned aside as you cut (or double cut) the top three cards to the bottom of the packet. S-A. Turn and glance at the packet. There are only two situations Epet cam occur. In the first, you don't see the pencil-dotted card on top of the packet. Say, “I want to be sure we have enough cards for threeEa =a 60 poker hands. Give me one more card from the deck.” Take the card and add it to the top of the packet. Deal three hands of poker in the usual way, from left to right, a card at a time to each player. The dealer will get three aces. 8-B. The other situation is that when you turn and glance at the packet, the pencil-dotted card is on top. Start to deal. When you have dealt three cards to each hand, stop and say, "To complete the deal, I'll need one more card.”Take the card handed to you by the spec tator and place it on top of the packet. Complete the deal. The dealer will get three aces. A card trick of this sort is somewhat like a detective story. The magician makes no claim to supernormal powers; he simply accepts the challenge of being able to stack the aces without knowing where they are in the packet. As in 2 detective story, the spectator deduces hidden action on the basis of what he sees. If he sees nothing being done except the visible handling, he will conclude a self-working method is at play. For this reason I will “stack” the cards as follows. When I get to Step 8, I will openly riffle the ace packet into the balance of the deck and perform the lace-thru action of a lace-thru shuffle, followed by a strip-out of the ace packet. then I will deal three poker hands, and reveal that I got three aces. The lace-thru shuffle looks like a manipulative technique, so the audience assumes the shuffle stacked the cards. They are still left with the larger issue; how does one stack the aces when the performer doesn't know where they are? On the other hand, if this is to be a demo of false deals used to deliver the goods, the marked card is marked for touch rather than sight. The eyes are averted throughout. Never looking at the cards, the per- former delivers three aces to the dealer's hand. Background The original routine was derived in part from a digital root prin~ ciple. These notes have not yet been published. The underlying technical idea was applied to riffle shuffle stack- ing. One application can be found in a 1984 manuscript, Riffle shuffle Technique, part three, in the section called The Restacking Problem beginning on pg. 192.L 1 6S Ea ia ~61- Second Method This is @ simple method. The difference is that the spectator combines the aces with each of the packets in any random order. Deal the four aces into a face-up heap on the table. Deal heaps of three, three, seven and eleven cards. Ask a spectator to indicate an ace. Place that ace on top of the deck. Say, “Put one of the packets on top of the ace. I won't look.” Turn your head aside while the spectator puts one of the heaps on top of the ace. Still keeping your gaze averted, have him put a second ace on top of the deck, then a second heap, a third ace followed by a third heap, then the last ace followed by the final heap. Square the deck and give it a false shuffle. Deal four hands of 7-card stud poker. You will get the aces on the deal. Third Method The heaps contain random numbers of cards in this method, and the shuffle is genuine. Deal the four aces into a face-up row on the table. Cut a packet of 24 cards off the top of the deck (exactly half the deck uhen the aces have been renoved, so you can split the deck as for a faro shuttle). The spectator cuts the 24-card packet into four heaps. He deals an ace face-down on top of each heap. Have him indicate any heap. Pick it up and double cut the top two cards to the bottom of the heap, He indicates another heap. Drop it on top of the cards you hold. Double cut the top two cards to the bottom of the combined heap. Repeat with each of the remaining heaps. cards in half and faro shuffle. Deal four hands o: aces will fall into one hand. Then split the packet of 28 f 7~card stud poker. The four fo my knowledge, Dave Ossip was the first to use a double cut procedure serie the aces (see his “Airborn Aces” in The Chronicles #32 for a’ supech gPettcation of the underlying technique). Martin Gardner hes also discesscd @ double-cut method for stacking the aces.E ~62- WRONG WAY WILLIAM Unwrapping several layers of paper from a package mailed to him, the performer says, “This was sent to me by a fellow nicknamed Wrong Way William. I don't know where William got his nickname from, but I under- stand the trick is a dandy. Name any ace.” Say the spectator names the ace of clubs. “With @ snap of the fingers I will cause the ace of clubs to turn face-up." The magician holds a packet of four face down cards. He counts the cards from hand to hand. The last card is indeed face up but it is a face up king. "wait. I think I'm supposed to snap my fingers twice.” Snap snap. The Packet of cards is counted from hand to hand again. Another card has turn= ed face up, but it is another king. “Now I remenber. I'm supposed to snap ny fingers three times. “Snap snap snap. The cards are counted from hand to hand again. A third card has turned face up, but it is a third king. The magician holds three face up kings and one face down card. The nagician says, "Of course. I got it wrong. Three cards were supposed to tura face up, but it's your card that stays face down.” The single (no kidding) remaining card is turned face up. It is the named ace, in this case the ace of clubs. Method: This is ay original solution to this card effect. It is not without amusing aspects since it is the method to another trick. You can mail the packet of cards to yourself. Gress can have W.W.W. listed as the name of the f trick. explain what the three W* the envelope. If you do, the return ad- ellow who sent you this S stand for as you remove the packet from The packet of cards contains the four aces on top in CHSD suit order. The aces are face down. Under them are three face up kings. Hold the packet face down in lef! from above with the right hand. enough to secure a left little £ t hand dealing grip. Grasp the packet Lift up the aces at the inner end, just inger break under the aces,lL 2 oT tc ~63- Pull back the top three aces in stepped formation. Ask the spectator to name an ace. Say, "I think it's this one,” as you place the tip of the right middle finger on the correct ace. Square the aces by pushing forward on the stepped cards with the right thumb, but in the process out- jog the named ace Remove the named ace without showing its face. Insert it into the break. The named ace is now fourth from the top of the packet. Any method that will achieve the same result can of course be used. The handling of the consecutive reversals now commences, and you will recognize an old friend: 1. With the packet face down in left hand dealing grip, use the left thumb to push the top card to the right. Take this card between the right thumb and forefinger. 2. Push the next card to the right. Take this card under the card that is already in the right hand. Use a buckle or block push-off to push to the right all but the bot- tom card od the packet. This block is taken under the cards in the right hand. 4; You have @ single face-up king in the left hand. Place it on top of the fanned cards in the right hand. Square the packet. 5. Repeat Steps 1 thru 4 to produce the second face-up king. Then repeat Steps 1 thru 4 to produce the third face-up king. 6. There are three face up kings on top of the packet at this point. bor the finish, take the top king into the right hand. Take the next king on top of it. Buckle or push-off to take the block of four cards as one into the right hand. 7, You are left with a single face-down card in the left hand. Say, “Which ace did you name?” When the ace is named, turn this card face up to reveal the named ace. Second Method Same trick, but at the finish the named ace has a blue back, uhereas the three kings have red backs. Put the four red-backed jacks face up on top of a face down blue backeda rm 7 2 fo ma ra = = ~64- deck, Place the four blue-backed aces face don on top of the deck. You will thus have the face-down aces, the four face-up stranger jacks, then the face-down balance of the blue-backed deck. Mail the deck to yourself. When ready for performance, remove the deck, lift off the top eight cards, and put the balance of the deck aside. Hold the packet face-down in left hand dealing grip. Get a left little finger break under the aces, then lift one more card so the break is under the top five cards. Have an ace named. You must place it into the break. The handling used with the first method can be applied here. Now perform the original handling, Steps 1 thru 7. Three jacks will turn face up, leaving you with one face down card.When this card is turned over, it is the named ace. Throughout, the spectator has seen blue backs. Hold the named ace in the right hand, the rest of the packet face up in the left hand. Say, “Willian included a note that I should return the other cards to him by mail since they don't belong in this deck anyway.” Turn the named ace face down so the audience sees the blue back. Then turn the fanned jacks face down so the red backs are seen. Background fhe handling of the consecutive reversals 1s Step 10 of Solo Flight Aces in Expert Card Technique (1940). I believe, but cannot prove, that the ides Of using Four Blue-backed kings with four red-backed aces was suggested by George Sands and later appeared in HMM as Super Optical Illusion” bat Wernon once said that he did Twisting The Aces for years using the Structure of Solo Flight Aces to achieve the effect (That is, severe! X cards sozging as face-down aces while he caused the aces to magically turn Gngerup. He was not satisfied with the method. When Alex Elnsley released his Ghost Count, Vernon saw it as the perfect solution of causing the sce ce turn over one at a time without the need for extra cards. meee artis point for Wrong Way Willian was a version of 4-Card Broinvave in which the named ace is the only reversed card, the only red-backed card, and the only ace in a packet of blue-backed jacks. One solution, called re cangiorms” appeared in Cards #1: Four Card Brainwave (1978), This seenise {8 combined with the Twisting The Aces plot Im the “absve roveine4 -65- LEGAL TENDER George Washington's wife Martha finds a chosen card even though she is not present in the room. Beforehand, remove a packet of 21 cards from the deck. Fold a dollar bill in half. Place it on top of the larger packet. on top of all. Case the deck until ready to perform. To do the trick, remove the deck from the case. Cut off all the cards above the dollar bill. Place this packet of 21 cards aside. Fold the bill around @ playing card so that “Legal Tender And Private” are visible, Figure 1. Remove the card. Then fold the bill horizontally just under "United States of Ame,” as shown in Figure 2. The folded bill is now slipped into the card case, Figure 3. Dur- ing the folding process, remark that George and his wife did mindreading tricks during his term in office. As the bill is tucked into the card box in Figure 3, say that George stayed in the card room while Martha was taken to an- ICAI Place the 2i-card packet3 EH ~66- other room in the White House. Hand the 2l-card packet to a spectator. Have him shuffle the packet. Place it at "A" on the table. Leave a blank space at "B". Put the balance of the deck at "C". Place the card box on top of packet “C” as shown in Figure 4. Remark that George liked to be right on top things as you place the card case on packet “George liked to do a trick in which the three branches of gov- ernment were represented by three groups of cards.” The spec tator is asked to take some cards from "A", shuffle them and place @ them at “B". When he has done this, put the card box on top of the cards at “B", Figure 5. The spectator shuffles packet “C", returns the packet to pos- ition "C", removes some cards from packet “C" and places them on top of the card box. The spectator looks at and signs his name to the card card of this packet, returns the card to the top of the middle heap and squares up this heap. “At Martha's instruction, the cards would be mixed around so no one knew where anything was. With government it has ever been thus.” The spectator shuffles the cards at “A” and puts them on top of the cards at “B,” thus burying the chosen card under an unknown number of cards. The situation is shown in Figure 6. "George felt he had seen enough." Pick up the card box plus the cards on top of it. Put this packet plus card box to the top of the packet at “C". Put the cards from "B" onto those at "C". “People asked George about his young bride. He said (here you point to the writing indi- cated by the arrow in Figure 1) his relationship with her wasom] o ke Ss ~67- private, legal and tender. In fact, that was how Martha found the card.” Spell L-E-G-A-L, T-E-N-D~E-R, A-N-D, P-R-I-V~A-T-E, dealing a card for each letter off the top of the assembled deck. Ask for the name of the chosen card. Deal the next card and it will be the signed selection. THE JORDAN DOUBLE CUT One of the key players in the development of the move known as the double cut was Charles Jordan. In “Mystery Aces” he used a form of the move to dou- ble cut the aces, one at a time, to the top of the deck. This is a slight reworking of Jordan's move. Place an ace face-down on the table. Drop the deck on top of the ace. Pick up the deck from above with the right hand, Figure A. As you do, glide back the ace. Cut off the top half with the left hand, using the hindu shuffle action shown in Figure B. Place this portion under the deck, but in line with the ace, Figure C. To finish, cut the injogged packet to the top of the deck. The ace is now on top. If the move is repeated with each of the remaining three aces, all four aces will have been brought to the top of the deck. 4n application I worked out for the Jordan double cut is this. Fan a Packet of ten cards face-down. Someone points to a card in the fan. Let himrc ca cee look at the card. As you square the fan from side to side, drag the chosen card down to a downjogged condition with the right 4th finger. Drop the deck on top of the packet, but so that it is lined up with the packet. Cut off the top half of che deck with the LH (Figure B). Place it on the bottom, but lined up with the noted card (Figure C). Cut the injogged packet plus the noted card to the top of the deck. The result is that the noted card has been stolen from the center of its original packet and brought to the top of the deck. The pac~ ket can consist of the four aces, a royal flush, etc. An application to a pop-out nove is as follows. BY PROXY A prediction card is cut into the deck. The spectator picks a card from a l0-card packet. The chosen card stays in the packet after the packet is cut in to the deck. The prediction card pops out of the center of the deck. It is the chosen card. Method: The spectator deals 10 cards off the face of the deck into a heap on the fable. Pretend to mull over possible futures. Take the deck, hold it so you alone gan see the faces, pull any card up and out of the middle of the fanned deck, and place it face-to-face with the face card of the deck. Hold the deck face-up in the left hand. The prediction card is face-down on the face of the deck. Double cut the prediction card to the back of the deck. Place the face-up deck on the table. Fen the l0-card packet face-down. Let the spectator point to any card in the fan. Break the fan at that point, so the indicated card 1s the botton ceed of the right-hand group. Hold that packet up so the spectator can note the face card. As you lower the fan, use the right 4th finger to pull the noved cae peowauard, Place this group of eards onto the cards in the left hand. Square fhe packet side-for-side into left hand dealing grip. The noted card ts dont jogged. Place the face-up deck onto the packet, but in line Carn he downdogged card (per the drawing at the right), Gut the top half of the deck to the table. Place the ro. pat et of the cards fron the left hand onto this packet, put $0 that the outJogged packet lines up with the sce Tee, Cn the table. To do this neatly, the packet tn the geft hand can't be grasped by the ends because of the Jogged packet of face-down cards. The and have to be grasped at the right top, fingers below, and placed onto cards in the left hi jong side, thumb onki 3 = ms oS the tabled packet. The two halves of the deck are in a stepped condition. The upper half is injogged. The lover half (with the face-down packet on top) is outjogged. Interestingly enough, the spectator's noted card is in Interlock condition. Grasp the two stepped packets from above with the right hand. Place the cards into the left hand. Say, “Let's see if I can find that prediction card Use the left forefinger to quickly push the outjogged packet square with the injogged packet. A flick of the wrist adds to the visual effect. as the deck ds Squared, one card pops out of the middle. The spectator names his card, say the AS. Say, “A black ace. If my card is a matching black ace, the prediction is correct.” Use the left thumb to lever the deck over. Pull the jogged card free of the deck as you say, “Not only a matching black ace, but the ace of spades, a perfect match. There is reversed packet in the middle of the deck and it still contains ten cards. SELF CUTTING DECK An unsolved problem. The self-cutting deck goes back at least to Charles Jordan's “Elasticity.” In published handlings, a rubber band is snapped around the deck and the deck tossed in the air. The deck apparently cuts it- self in the process. What actually happens is that the rubber band, given a twist as it is slipped onto the deck, untwists itself during the action of the simulated cut. Suppose though that one wanted the deck to actually cut itself; what rubber band arrangement will produce this result? What arrangement is need- ed to bring about the action of the half pass (that is, so that you end with the halves of the deck faced)?~10- ZODIAC SELL Any borrowed deck is used. “Each card in the deck tells its own story," the magician says.He spreads the deck face-up on the table. “Some cards have Power over others. Let me show you.” A card is chosen, signed and returned to the deck while the cards are in the spectator's hands. The magician does not know the card, its location, nor its position with regard to eny other card in the deck, “A card closely associated with the Fifth Configuration of the Zodiac is the eight of diamonds." The magician spreads the deck on the table. The eight of diamonds has turned face-up. “The link to your card is found by spelling the letters in Zodiac." The magician spells Z-O-D-I-A~C, dealing a card for each letter. As the last letter is spelled, the signed card turns up. Method: When the deck is handed to you, spread the face-down cards and obtain 2 left fourth finger break above the .3rdcard from the bottom of the deck. As the deck is squared into left hand dealing grip, obtain a right thumd break under the top card. Normally one would catch this break right at the aidpoint of the thumb. In this case the thumb will grip the deck as well, so the break should be secured closer to the base of the thumb. The right hand takes over the grip on the deck. The left hand pulls the botton 3 cards clear of the deck, turns them face-up and places then on top of the deck. In the same action, the left hand takes all cards below the right thumb break, turns them face-up and replaces them under the small packet retained in the right hand. The result is that you have turned the deck face-up, but at the sane tine Positioned one card in a reversed condition 4th from the face of the deck. Im- Rediately follow this cut-te-place by spreading the deck face-up on the table. Do not allow the reversed card to show. It is indicated by the arrow in 1 (an exposed view).g ne Turn the deck face down. Deliver the line about each card having its own story. Square the deck. Leave it on the table. Ask the spectator to cut it into three heaps. Fron his point of view the heaps look like Figure 2, that is, the original top third of the deck is on his right, the original bottom third of the deck on his left. Turn your back. Ask him to place his hands on two of the heaps, Figure 3. Ask him to pick up the heap under his right hand, shuffle it, note the top card, sign it, replace it on top of the heap, and put the heap back on the table. When he has done this, turn and face him. Say, “Of course I don't know which heap you chose.” (True, you don't; but you do know he didn't pick the heap on the far left). Say, "We engage in a bit of ritual." Deal the top card of the "top" heap onto the “middle” heap, then the top card of the “botton" heap onto the middle heap, then the top card of the “top heap. Put the "bottom" heap onto the middle heap, then the "top" heap on top of ail. It is a quick sequence, and an apparently random one since you truly do not know where his card lies. Spread the deck face-down on the table. As you do, time it so the reversed card shows up just as you name it in the sentence, "A card closely associated with the Fifth Configuration of the Zodiac is the __." Fill in the blank as you name the reversed card. This is the first magical effect in the routine, the mysterious appearance of a reversed card. Separate the deck into two packets such that the reversed card becomes the top card of the lower packet. square up each packet.Deal the reversed card onto the top of the other packet. You do not know the precise location of the signed card chosen by the JOO RO Sorrem mipoce @ ©spectator, but you appear to know exactly when it is going to turn up. L Say, "We spell Zodiac and deal a card for each letter.” Deal the cards according to the pattern of the drawing below. The cop card of the packet goes to position one as you spell “Z". The next card goes to position 2 as you spell "0", and so on. After you have spelled 2-0-D-I-A hesitate just as you are ready to deal the card corresponding to the letter "C". The reason is that the signed card might turn up at this point. Deal that card face up to the position shown by the dotted lines in the drawing. If this is the signed card, the trick is over. aaa If it is not the signed card, pause, say, "Z-0-D-I-A-C"as you tap each P card, turn up the next card and place it in the middle of the layout. This card will be the signed card. L poecony Gi it | t : [ LdYG rea -13- TURNOVER DRAW The spectator freely chooses (1.e., no force) two cards. The AH is placed between them in a reversed condition. Then the 3-card packet is cut into the deck so as to locate two other cards. When the deck is spread, the 3-card group plus the card on either side is removed. The AH is still reversed between the two random cards. All five cards are turned over to reveal a royal flush. The turnover action of the Henry Christ force is combined with a means of switching out the two random cards, while keeping the reversed ace in place. Method: Place the 10H face-down on top of the deck. Place the KH-QH-JH face~ up on top of the deck. Turn the deck over so the deck is face-up and the reversed cards concealed from audience view. Run thru the face-up deck, remove the AH and toss it out. Remark that this {s a crucial card in a particular game. As you deal cards off the face of the deck, ask the spectator to indicate two more cards that might be im- portant. He doesn't know the game, so he can only guess. Turn his two cards face-down on the table, one of top of the other. Buckle the bottom two cards of the deck (that is, the two cards at the back of the deck). Obtain a right thumb break above these two cards as the right hand grasps the deck from above. Place the deck onto the two chosen cards. Pick up these two cards under the deck as the right hand lifts the deck up and away from the table. The right thumb now holds a break above four cards. The switch comes into play as part of an apparent display. The left hand grasps the four cards below the break, holds them square and moves to the left, but at the same time the left fingertips brush against the card that is now at the back of the deck and pull it to the left about a half- inch. These cards are positioned on either side of the AH, as the AH is“7h Scooped up off the table, Figure 1. Thus the audience sees the AH being placed between the two cards chosen by the spectator. Square the deck. Turn it over end for end into the left hand. The spec- tator sees one of his cards face-up on top, so all looks fair. Say, “Cards and position are important in gambling. Say stop as I riffle the cards so we can pick a random position." Thumb riffle down the left side of fhe deck until stop is called. Grasp the packet above the stopped-at point between che right fingers and thumb, fingers at the face of the packet. thumb on top of the deck. Elip the packet over end-for-end onto the top-of the deck. Spread the cerds from hand to hand as you say, “Let's see where you stopped You ‘are going to take the 3-card packet with the ace in the middle, plus the card on either side. As you spread the face-up cards, the last of there will be one of the royal flush cards. break the spread at this point. Deal chat gard to the table with the left thumb, then the next group of three ina fenned condition, then the card to the left of the 3-card group. This lact card will be face-down. The situation now looks like Pigure 2. ® coL ~75- Put the rest of the deck aside. The AH is still between two face-down cards, Turn up the face-down card on the far left, then each of the other cards to reveal the royal flush. The idea of having a pre-set group of reversed cards at the back of the deck to be used in conjunction with the Henry Christ force is one I saw many years ago in NYC. I do not know who originated the idea. ‘A MARTIAN CHRONICLE “'People of Earth...’ the fax began. It was a Martian magician report- ing on the latest card trick to hit the Red Planet. Here's what it looked like." The spectator shuffles the deck & deals two equal heaps A and 8. The number is not important, and the magician need not know the number. From the remaining group of undealt cards, the spectator removes all of the red cards. He shuffles them, notes the face card and drops the red packet on top of either of the dealt heaps. Then he puts the other dealt heap on top. The red Packet is thus sandwiched between heaps A and B. “The Red Planet's favorite card," is how they describe any red card on Mars. The spectator spells T-H-E, dealing a card for each letter, R-E-D, dealing a card for each letter, and so on with the rest of the phrase. When he turns up the last dealt card, it is the chosen card. The above instructions may be recorded on tape and played back to direct the spectator's actions. But the trick, though self working, cannot be dupli- cated unless the following technique is used. Method: Arrange the deck so the colors alternate Red-Black-Red-Black, etc. Split the deck so there is a red card at the face of one packet, a black card at the face of the other. The spectator riffle shuffles the two packets together. He deals two equal heaps and may shuffle each heap. He removes all the red cards from the balance of the deck, notes the face card and drops this Packet on top of one of the dealt heaps. The other dealt heap is dropped on top. The chosen card is now 26th from the top. Remark that any red card is The Red Planet's favorite card. The specta-rc Ea ES FI Ea es ~76- tor spells "The Red Planet's Favorite Card” as follows. le spells T-H-E, dealing a card for each letter; R-f-D, dealing a card for each letter; P-L-A-N-E-T, dealing a card for each letter; he deals one card for the apostrophe (easier to deal one card than to figure out how to spell apos~ trophe); then one card for the S; F~A-V-O-R-I-T-E, dealing one card for each letter; and finally, C-A-R-D, dealing one card for each letter. The card at the last letter is the chosen card. Over the years I've devised veiations on the Miraskil effect. They are grouped under the title “Mira, Mira” (as in "...on the wall”). Some are just fragments: Hand the spectator 13 red cards and 13 blacks. He mixes them any way he likes. Glimpse the bottom card of the packet. Turn your back. He deals pairs off the top of the packet, placing red Pairs in one heap, black pairs in a separate heap, non-matching pairs in your hand. He does this until he has one pair left. you do not know the num- ber of cards in your hand, yet you are able to tell him whether the final Pair contains matching or non-matching cards, and further, the color of the matching cards. The method is simple. If the number of unmatched pairs in your hand is odd, the final pair must contain two cards of the same color. Since you know the bottom card of the 26-card heap, the matching pair is of that color. If the number of unmatched pairs is even, the final pair must contein one red and one black card. Since you know the color of the bottom card of the pair, you can reveal which card is red and which is black. Here is an unsolved problem that may be of interest. The spectator lifts oft Zbout 2/3 of the deck, mixes the cards and goes through the Miraskil dealing Procedure, forming separate heaps as described above, until he runs out of cards. Examining just the cards in the discard heap, is it possible to deter- mine how many matching pairs of reds (for example) he dealt? Suppose he deals thru the cards and arbitrarily stops dealing at sone point. Your back has been turned. You now turn and face him. Can you reveal which was the last pair dealt?I fe I -77- ETAOIN SHRDLU The spectator picks a card, a free choice as long as he picks the force card. The magician turns on an electric typewriter, goes into a trance, then moves his fingers around the board, typing random letters in a variation of the goings-on with an Ouija board. The words he types are: SIXTEEN-LOFT-0' LUBS A pained expression onhis face, he says, “Damned if I know what it means. Let's push the Neptune-to-Earth translation button." He pushes the button called Word Erase or Word Out, and the machine erases parts of the message. The new message reads: six OF c LUBS. Need it be said that this matches the 6C chosen by the spectator? jethod: Place a blank sheet of paper into the electric typewriter. Rotate the platen so that you will type at about the midpoint of the page. Type: SIX, leave six spaces (that is, hit the space bar six times), type OF, leave two spaces, type C, leave one space, type LUBS. It will look like the second message above. Rotate the platen two clicks so the writing is concealed below the field of view. The force of the 6C is left to the reader. When ready to perform, call attention to the typewriter. It appears as if there is a blank sheet of paper in the machine. Turn on the typewriter With the paper facing you, turn the platen two spaces so the partial message is visible to you. Position the cartridge (the part with the typing element and ribbon) just to the right of the X in SIX. Type TEEN-L, two dashes (not shown above, but they look like this; --), then T-0'. Show the message to the audience. It looks like the one shown at the beginning of this write-up, i.e., SIXTEEN-LOFT-O'LUBS. "This is either the mantra for world peace or a coded version of the card you took. Let's trans- late.” Push the button that erases a word; it {s called Word Erase, Quick Erase, Word Out, or something similar. It will erase TEEN-L, retreat two spaces, erase T-0', and leave you with SIX Of C LUBS. The C in Clubs may be faint because you will be erasing the 0 that you typed on top of the C, but spirit-world messages are sometimes less than marking-pen bold. If your type- writer has a boldface feature, you can type the C in boldface. After the 0 is erased, you will be left with a clear C. The Word Erase feature can even be used to produce multiple outs. Make sure you are familiar with the Word Erase feature on your typewriter becausewy 2 fa em Co Ss ~78- they do not all operate the same way. You may find it easier to alter words by using the dashed lines, i.e., FREIGHT becomes FREIGHT (if the card is an 8-spot), PHONE becomes PHONE (if the card is a one-spot) and so on. Similar ideas can be used to produce longer messages. Here is one pres- entation. You have a pair of earphones connected via tape to a typewriter. The earphones are introduced as psychic brainwave detectors. The spectator puts on the earphones. Turn on the typewriter, saying that it is the latest marvel, an elec- tronic Ouija board with call waiting. Activate the Print Text feature. The previously stored message begins with the space bar being hit tuenty times. The audience hears the rhythmic noise. Say, "It's tuning in on your hearts beat.” Then the machine begins typing (even the cheapest electronic type~ writers today have a text storage feature). The message coming in fron the SPectator's brainvaves can be amusing; "I confess to stealing that car... or something more direct if he is a friend. The message concludes with, "This guy wants me to think of the card 1 chose, but I'm not going to think of the four of hearts. Instead, I'm goiag to focus on that time in Las Vegas when I..." Ail of the above is of course aimed in the direction of autonating Norman Ashworth's “Before Your Eyes” in Jinx #32. WITNESS In this miniature version of a murder mystery, a spectator shuffles a deck of cards and distributes a card to each of six spectators. Six pens are nixed and handed out, one to each participant. Only one pen writes. Each Spettator pretends to mark an X on his card, but the spectator who has the EpEKing pen is the only one who can mark his card with an X. This person te the bank robber, and he alone knows who he is. The magician's back has been turned. he explains that he is going to con- duct '@ brief interrogation to reveal the identity of the culprit’ tomahe plesk eacnetts» those who got red cards must tell the truth. Those who got Dlack cards must lie. The magician asks each spectator if he is the culprit and jots down the answers.i ~79- Turning to the audience, the magician says, “One of these people robbed a bank of its most precious possession, a pen that actually works. Can you tell who did it?” Apart from luck, mo one can. first, no one apart from one of the par- ticipants knows who is holding 2 working pen. Second, no one in the audience knows who is lying and who is telling the truth. The magician asks the culprit to identify himself. The magician holds up the slate he has been writing on. There in large letters is the culprit's name. Method: Arrange a deck of cards so the colors alternate. Cut the deck near the midpoint so the face card of one packet is red, the face card of the other packet black. Let a spectator riffle shuffle the two halves together. He squares the deck and deals the top six cards, one to each of six specta~ tors. Step aside and turn away as this is done, but watch out of the corner of your idea that the procedure is followed correctly. With your back turned, have six pens mixed and distributed, one to each of the participants. Ask each to draw an X on the face of his card. Explain that only one pen works, but you want each person to perform the same outward action so no one knows whodunnit. The fellow with the working pen is the bank robber. Deliver the line about the bank being robbed of its most precious posses- sion, a pen that actually works. then ask each person, "Are you the bank robber?" Record the answers. They may look like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 No No Yes No No Yes Each pair of spectators is considered by itself. Because of the set-up deck coupled with the riffle shuffles, each pair of cards will consist of one zed and one black card. When asked if he is the culprit, the truth-telling spectator will answer No. The lying spectator will answer Yes. This means that each pair of answers will contain one Yes and one No answer, each, that is) except the pair of spectators that contain the culprit. This pair vill both answer the same way, either two Yes answers or two No answers. Spectators 1 and 2 constitute one pair of answers, 3 and 4 another pair, 3 and 6 another pair. If you look at the answers give above, you can see that 2 and 4 can be elimineted because one party answered Yes and one ancwered Nor For the same reason, 5 and 6 can be eliminated. The culprit is either 1 or 2, because they both gave the same answer.Li a oy UO Method: For the same of -80- You have recorded the answers on a large slate. Ask each person one or more gag questions. Pretend to jot down the answers, but really write #l’s name on the slate. Turn the slate over. Ask more gag questions. Pretend to take notes, but really write #2's name on this side of the slate. Hold the slate edge-on to the audience. Ask the audience if they know who did it. This gives then some idea of the enormity of the task; they have no clue as to the identity of the guilty party. Further, human nature being what it is, all of the participants look guilty anyway. Ask the culprit to identity himself to the audience. Then hold up the slate. the audience sees that you have written the culprit's name in large letters. your upraised hands are a natural signal for applause. Background “Witness” was devised around a game show theme involving winners and losers. The truth-lie angle was suggested by Jack Yates "Clue," a clever impromptu version of which was described by Keith Downs in Abra #2362. Sait Schwartz PARTNER IN CRIME Sam Schwartz has devised an ingenious version of the previous routine. Ta this handling, the culprit has a partner. Sam asks two questions of each Suspect, but with no other information, Sam reveals the identity of both the culprit and his partner. Further, in Sam's version the identity of each culprit is not known until the end of the routine. to say it another way, no one except the two guilty parties knows vho they are. This may seem a small point, but it has the important advantage of maintaining suspense right to the ead of the trick. 4 deck of cards and a pen are the only items of apparatus. They are ordinary and may be borrowed. There can be six suspects or six hundved, It makes mo difference; after the second question is answered, you know the guilty party and his partner. this example, we will assume six spectators will par- pictpate. Ask someone else to remove three red cards and three black card. (fom the deck. and him a pen. request that he write a large "J" on one card (for Jesse James), and a large "F” on another card (for Freak James). He cana ea ca om rt -81- write on any two cards out of the six. He can do it with the cards in front of him, or with the cards out of sight behind his back so that even he won't know which cards contain the writing. When he has completed the writing, ask him to turn all six cards face- down, mix them any way he likes, and hand one to each of the six participating spectators. Ask each person to look at his card. “We're going to enact a famous crime in which the James brothers robbed a train. One of you has the card with a “J” on it. You are Jesse James.One of you has a card with an "F" on it. You are Frank James. You alone know who you are. Give no clue as to your identity.” Now call attention to the color of the cards. “Some of you have red cards. If you have a red card, you must tell the truth during the interrogation. Some of you have black cards. You must lie during the interrogation; in other words, if I asked if you are rich and handsome, you must answer nov (Sam has suggested an added patter angle. Start the effect by explaining the significance of the red cards and black cards, and that Jesse and Frank were also very clever~ sometimes they would tell the truth and hope that you would not believe them; sometimes they would lie and hope that you would. You ag a Voice Print expert can determine the liars and fix upon the culprits. After the talk, have the cards marked. Before they are distributed the assisting spectators not to disclose who has which card.) » advise The interrogation now begins. You will record the answers on a pad. In the following example, "L" indicates Liar, "I" indicates Truthteller. The indication Lj means that a liar has the "J" cardjhe is Jesse James. Tg means that a truth-teller has the card; he is Frank James. It does not matter whether a liar or a truth-teller has the Jesse or Frank Janes card, We are using this combination only for the sake of example. The out- come is always interpreted the same way, no matter who has which card. The first question is, "Are you Jesse James?” Each spectator is asked this question. In our example the responses are recorded on the pad as follows: L L Ly Te, TO OT yes yes no no nono The second question is, “Are you Frank James?” Ask each spectator this question. Record the answers under the first set of answers. The result will look like this: L L ype tpe eT) (answer to yes yes no no n0—Ssnto first question) (answer to yes yes yes yes, «= nono second question)cao ~82- All suspects will answer the second question the same way they answer- ed the first, except two, and these two will always be the two culprits. Pick up a slate or large piece of posterboard. Write one sulprit's fame on one side, the other culprit's name on the other side. Hold the slate so it is edge-on to the audience.(This is the same technique suggest- ed in the previous routine.) Although you know who did it, you don't want it to look too easy. As you write, ask the innocent people gag questions, i.e. "What did you have for breakfast this morning?” or “Have you ever cheated on your income tax? What's that? Nevei Finally, ask the audience if they know who did it. They don't know who is lying and who is telling the truth. They have to go on hunches, and this can lead to lively guesswork. Ask Jesse James to step forward and announce his name to the audience. Hold up the slate so his name is visible to the audience. Ask Frank James to make himself known. Turn the slate around to reveal his name-on the other side. Added Not The answers given on each round can give you ‘@ lot of technical infor- mation. For example, when the first question is asked (“Are you Jesse James? if you get four "NO" answers, you know that a liar holds the Jesse James card. This means that he answers “No” to the first question. On the second round, this person's answer will change; asked if he is Frank James, he will answer “Yes.” You know he ts a liar, and you know he holds the Jesse James card. There is one situation where the answer to a third question will tell you who is Jesse and who is Frank, and further, who is lying and who is’ telling the truth. The situation occurs when a liar holds one of the marked cards and a truth teller holds the other marked card. Both participants will answer yes to one question and no to the other.rt Gm Ge ea = oS -83- ‘The third question is: "Do you hold one of the symbols?” ( you hold a card that has either Jesse's or Frank's name on it? liar will say "No." The truth teller will say "Yes." With this added question, there is no ambiguity. You know the identity of each culprit, and you know whether each is a liar or a truth teller. Free catalog upon request. For a copy, drop a line to Karl Fulves, Box 433, Teaneck, New Jersey 07666.~84- Supplement To DECEPTIVE PRACTT ‘These are added notes and new material related to ideas that appear in Deceptive Practices. Page numbers refer to page numbers in that text. GNOMENCLATURE (pg. 11) This trick is outwardly identical to "The Pairs Re-Paired in the Sense that the magic-wise spectator sees a pair of cards chosen from among ten pairs of cards, then the pairs placed ina layout on the table in a manner similar to the old Mutus Nomen pattern. In that sense the trick is the same. But for the same basic initial effort, you can achieve the added effect of allowing the cards to find the two thought-of selections. It is not necessary to use the four playing cards shown in Fig. 1 on pg. ll. You can write out on a piece of paper the words MAGIC IN LOST THOUGHTS. Tear the paper into four parts so there is a word on each piece. Place MAGIC over the first colum of cards in the layout, IN over the second column, and so on. Ask the spectator to identify which groups of cards contain the thought-of cards. Say the thought cards are in the first and second groups. Spell MAGIC IN for each group, transferring a card from top to bottom for each letter. The card that shows up on the last letter is one of the chosen cards. ‘The reason why a 5-letter word like MAGIC works for the first group of cards is that transferring five cards from the top to the bottom of the packet is the same as transferring one card. Thus the word MAGIC performs the same function as the ace. (HOCUS POCUS would work as well). ‘The words can tie in with the spectator for a personal touch. If, say, you are doing the trick for Nancy Jones, write NANCY IS MOST PUZZLING on a piece of Paper and proceed as described above. BALANCING ACT - second approach (pg. 51) In the routine that appears in Deceptive Practices the deck is split so there is a red card at the face of each pecker iD Step 2. ‘The reason is so that after the spectator riffle shuffles the two halves together, there must be a red card at the face of the combined packet. ‘The trick need not be handled in exactly this way to achieve the sane result. An alternative is to allow the spectator to shuffle the packet any way © 1992 by Karl Pulves~85- he likes, Wait until you glimpse a red card at the face of the packet. Then go into the first phase of the trick. when performing the second phase, let the spectator shuffle the packet until you spot a black card at the face of the packet. Then proceed with part two of the routine. Even the above is not strictly necessary. Let the spectator shuffle the packet any way he likes. If you spot a red card at the face of the packet after the shuffle, you know there will be two more red pairs than black. Write the prediction accordingly. If you spot a black card at the face, you know there will be three more red pairs than black. Write the prediction to reflect this information. when performing the repeat, just make sure a card of opposite color is at the face of the packet. "| In many of the Miraskil variations I have worked out, the goal was to achieve the necessary color imbalance without adding or taking away cards. Here was two previously unpublished routines that follow this line of thought. You Go First ‘The spectator shuffles his own deck and cuts it into two packets. The packets can be equal or unequal. It makes no difference. ‘The Miraskil sorting procedure is explained. The spectator is asked to guess, for example, how many black pairs he will deal. He picks up either packet and deals the cards off in pairs; red pairs go in one heap, black pairs in another, red/black pairs in a discard heap. Chances are the spectator's guess will not be correct. ttention is now directed to the other packet. The spectator is asked to guess how many more red pairs there will be than blacks. The magician also writes down a guess. ‘The spectator sorts the pairs in this heap. He may or may not be correct, but the magician is always correct. The method is simple. Whatever the color difference with the first packet, fbat same difference will show up with the second packet. for example, when the first packet has been sorted out, there are 3 pairs of reds and 7 pairs of blacks, fhe difference is 4. When you write your prediction, write, "There will be 4 more pairs of reds than blacks." This will turn out to be correct.c t a -86- Black List The spectator shuffles his own deck. He places it face up on the table and cuts it into two heaps, A and B. He picks up packet A and deals cards off the face two at a time, putting aside all black pairs. If packet A contains an odd number of cards, there will be one card left over. He places that card on packet B. Explain that black cards represent the forces of darkness and have an undue influence on other cards. You think for a moment, then write a predic- tion. ‘The spectator picks up the black pairs and shuffles them into packet B. It does not matter how he shuffles the cards. Then he deals cards off the face Of packet B two at a time, sorting red pairs from black pairs. He might find four more black pairs than red. The prediction correctly states this fact. ‘The method has nothing to do with the number of black pairs removed from Packet A and added to packet B. In fact, knowing the number of black pairs removed from packet A would aid you in no way in writing the prediction. When the spectator deals pairs ti cards off the face of packet A, silently count the number of red pairs. If there are four, this is the number you write in your prediction; “There will be four more black pairs than red." He shuffles the black pairs extracted from packet A into packet B and proceeds with the Miraskill sorting procedure. Your prediction will prove to be correct. after the conclusion of this trick, you can direct the spectator to pick up the black pairs he found in packet B and shuffle them into packet A. The difference between the number of black pairs he found in packet B and the number of red pairs in packet A is the number you write as your prediction. “Black List" can be used in conjunction with a typewriter technique called "Moving Marker", described later in these notes. The essential point is that s Brediction stored in the typewriter's memory before the trick begins will match the outcome of "Black List." The ativantage you have is that you know the outcome before the spectator starts dealing packet B. More to follow. yBlack List" is all I can remember from a kind of two-deck version of Baca kil, ‘The deck was cut into two packets. two spectators get the packets, Fach performs the Miraskil sorting procedure with his packet. The patter re- volved around the game of blackjack. Each blackjack hand consists bf teoma 2 Ta Ps TT cs -87- cards, thus fitting in with the Miraskil pattern of dealing cards in pairs. One spectator is called Red Dog Dave; he keeps track of the number of red pairs he deals from his packet. The other player is Blackjack Bill; he keeps track of the number of black pairs he deals. This is as much as 1 can recall. Mirage ‘The intent here is to present an effect where a group of unknown cards magically changes.The spectator shuffles the deck and deals cards off two at a Hime. Red pairs go into one heap, black pairs into another, red/black pairs anto a discard heap as before. However, when the spectator deals a matching pair, the next pair is placed aside sight unseen. The process continues with the entire deck. At the finish, the face-down cards ate turned over in two groups. Though these are random cards dealt off a shuffled deck, it turns out that one group is all red, the other group all black. Method: A riffle-shuffle set-up is used. Arrange the deck R-E-B-R, this same eettemn Tepeated from top to bottom. The deck can be spread face up, since no pattern will be apparent. Selit che deck at the midpoint between two red cards. Ask the spectator to The ee hutéle the two halves together. when he has done this, he desle cords ost the top of the deck two at a time. if fhe deals a matching pair of reds, he deals the next pair sight unseen en ront Of the black heap. If he deals a matching black pairs he deais che next eee oprgne unseen in front of the red heap. The process ‘continues through the rest of the pack. ° Place the discard heap aside. Tere will be four packets left, one red, one black, one face-down packet next to the red heap, and one face-down packet next to the black heap. Zick up the face-up black heap and flip it face-down onto the packet next £2 Gpet Bese: Similarly flip the red heap face-dow onto the face done heap next to the red heap. Remark that some random cards were dealt next to each heap, but that them — Gan P -88- colors exert a force on the random cards. Turn the red heap face-up and spread it on the table to reveal that all the cards are red. Spread the black heap on the table to reveal that all the cards are black. WIINESS (pg. 78) In both this trick and the Sam Schwartz routine which closes the manuscript ("Partner In Crime") you can deduce from the pattern of answers whether or not the culprit is a liar. For example, in "Witness" both of the two likely suspects will answer yes to the question, "Are you the bank robber?" if, in fact, the culprit is the truth teller. This is another way of saying that the truth telling culprit will answer yes, but so will the non-culprit liar. In the same way, both parties will answer no if (and only if) the culprit is the liar. Tf you knew who was lying, you would know who the guilty party was. How to find out in a simple way? One approach is to ask one of the two suspects a question to which you already know the answer. For example, ask, "Is your tie zed?" If the suspect's tie is red, and he is a truth-teller, he must answer yes. Otherwise he will answer no. As soon as you hear his answer, you know if he is the guilty party. Don't stop here. Move along to the next person and say, "Did you remember your wife's birthday this year?" or, "You are still on that diet, aren't you?" Framed this way, the innocuous question about. the red tie is forgotten amid humorous questions directed at other suspects. Furthermore, the audience hears the same information you do, and they are as much in the dark as ever, So they assume the questions are meant as funny asides empty of real content. ETAQIN SHRDLU (pg. 77) ‘The reason dashed lines are used is to furnish the Sass feature of the typewriter with a continuous string of characters to erase, ‘Te underline feature would work as well. In this case you would type TEEN-L_T-o' When the audience sees the typed message, it looks like this: SIXTEEN-LOFT-O'LUBS= ea -89- When the ERASE key is activated, it will erase TEEN-L_1 jeave you with the message that the SIX OF C LUBS was chosen. It is not necessary for the typing ribbon to be in the machine, since the genuine typing is all done ahead of time. Por example, you can type ACE OF SPADES ahead of time. Then you can type over it with tHe $ key, so it looks like this: ASSSOBSSPABES Leave the paper in the typewriter. Force the ace of spades. Remark that fhe information on the typewritten page is a prediction, but like chose nave co ceggeontests where an obscuring layer of paint has to be removed, you have to remove the excess ink. ‘The typewriter ribbon has been removed before the time of performance. ‘Type over ACE OF SPADES with the $ key. Then push the ERASE or WORD ERase button. ime machine obliges by removing the $'s it thinks you just applied, leaving you with the clearly worded prediction. This can be done as a multiple out trick. say the chosen card will be either the AS or AH. First type: ACEOFSPADES ‘Then, in the blank spaces between letters, type out ACE OF HEARTS: ANCCEEOOFFSHPEAADRETSS mien use the § key to type over all of the letters, obscuring the ready, TiS Completes the preparation. Remove the typewriter ribbos. ten peagy to Present the routine, explain that your typewiter produces scratch-off Predictions. Show the illegible message on the paper. Zi, the Spectator picks the AS, push the $ key so it types over all of She Jetters in ACE OF SPADES. Then activate the WORD EeaSe feature so each of the just-typed symbols is erased. The writing indicating AS clearly shows. A similar handling is used if AH is chosen.te i be ) ~90- TRANSFER OF POWER (Pg. 44) I was going to issue a ms. on the subject of this and other rubber-banded deck tricks, but have never found the time. ‘Two more ideas on the subject are the following. Please check J. K. Hartman's “Band in Boston” (Chronicles #26) for an ingenious routine that ties in perfectly. Transpo of Power This technique allows you to transfer a rubber band from one group of cards to another as a more or less secret action. The packets can contain cards that reflect a cannibals & missionaries theme (the rubber band being used to tie up the missionaries), a crime story (the rubber band serves as handcuffs), or a transformation (x cards change to’a royal flush.) Use a thin, flexible rubber band. The size of the packet does not matter in these applications; vary the size until the rubber band fits snugly. i, Hold a packet of about 26 cards in LH dealing grip. Drop the black aces face-up on top of the packet. 2. Snap a rubber band lengthwise around the packet. 3. Drop the red aces face-up on top of the packet. 4; Perform the “Transfer of Power"sequence: Open a break at the midpoint of the left long side of the packet with the left thumb. Slip the right Ist's ond fingers into the break on either side of the rubber band,Fig. 1. oe oe enarigers Pull the upper packet toward you. Slide this packet up to fhe top of the other packet with the RH, Fig. 2. Sree Left thurb moves to the base of the upjogged packet and presses the Toner earubber band to hold it steady. Rotate the upper packet over ones the lower packet in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2° You will scsi we aces| | E mm Ss ~91- the situation of Fig. 3. Move the left thumb out of the way as the upper packet moves square with the lower packet. 7. Grasp all of the cards firmly at the lower right corner with the right hand. Lift the rubber band as shown in Fig. 4. Slide the rubber band sround in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4 to the position of Fig. 3. 8. Release pressure with the right hand. A group of cards will snap part way out of the packet as shown in Fig. 6. 9. The LH lifts off all of the cards above the rubber-banded packet. The Li holds this packet vertically, faces to the audience, and slips this packet under the remaining cards (You want to hide the face-up black aces on the back of this packet, so you hold the cards vertically to perform the cutting action). 10. Place the cards on the table. Pinch the rubber band between right thumb and Ist finger and lift up the 2-card packet. ji. Spread the upper card of the banded pair about a half-inch to the Tight: Then turn the packet over end for end. The banded cards ace seen to be the red aces. A mysterious effect is to Place a signed card between the ted jacks. Drop this 3-card group on top of a packet of about 26 cards (3 cards face up, rest of cee ftom). Shap a rubber band lengthwise around the gecker’ Drop a pair of black aces on top of the packet. Perform the “Transfer of Power" sequence. The signed card vnaishes fran between the red jacks and ends up between the black aces, Done as follows: you use two pair of double face cards, the first jacks/aces, the second aces/jacksrc Fo Gea mo ect ~92- ‘The packet serves only as a platform for the principle cards. You can use two empty card cases instead, and a presentation that revolves around the Substitution Trunk done with cards (Stewart Judah- 10th Folio). The empty card cases are placed on top of one another. The four queens are placed face-up on top of the card cases and a rubber band snapped around the appar- atus to lock them in. The four kings are dropped on top of all. Perform the "Transfer of Power" sequence,Fig. 1 thru 6. A packet pops out into view. It is the four kings with the rubber band now around them. The cases are separ- ated to show no queens. Two are found in each card case. Reverse Power This approach has a different goal- to reverse one or more cards in a rubber banded packet. 1. Remove the four aces from the deck. Ask that an ace be named. Get the named ace to the back of the face-up packet. 2. Snap a rubber band lengthwise around the aces. Cut off about half the deck. Place this packet in Li dealing grip. Drop the banded aces face-up on top of the packet. Remark that you will send the aces thru the 4th dimension. 3, Cut about half the packet to the table. Drop the balance on top. This cut puts the aces in the center of the packet. Replace the packet in Li dealing grip. 4. ‘The technique from this point is not the same as "Transfer of Power." Riffle along the left long side of the packet with the left thumb. When you get to the aces, release the first three. Hold a break between these three aces and the named ace. 5 Curl the left first finger around the outer end of the packet to aid po keeping the cards in place (because the rubber band will be under tension from this point on ).The RH grasps the cards above the break and slides then up as in Fig. 1 @ 2. This packet is flipped over end for end onto the balance of the packet per the arrow in Fig. 2. S. Gently release pressure. a small packet of face-up cards will be pro- Derled out of the center. Catch them with the RH, turn them face-down and’ place them on the table. drop the rest of the packet on top. 7. The rubber banded aces are on top of the other cards. Pinch the rubber pend between the right thumb @ Ist finger. Lift the aces off the packet by lifting the rubber band upward. 8. Repeat the name of the chosen ace. Flip the packet over. spread the be cca tne index comers show. The named ace is reversed. This technique can be used to cause an ace to change to a chosen card ala hofzinser 4-ace ‘probien.a Ga rm -93- ‘TypecasT An electronic typewriter can be used as a handy vehicle to force cards, numbers, words, pictures and so on. The typewriter need not be expensive; any typewriter than can store about a page of text will work. The first such typewriter I purchased was a close-out at a local discount store. It cost $95. Tie technique is always the same. You store information into the machine's mem ory simply by typing it in. Once the information is locked in memory, it is not tampered with. ‘The trick in question might be a word test. The pitch would go something like this. "Locked inside this typewriter is a list of common words. The list is buried deep in electronic memory and cannot be tampered with or changed. In a moment I'm going to have you choose a word from the list. It will be a random word that no one could have known in advance. Nevertheless, I am going to write a prediction while this volunteer from the audience looks on. He will know the exact word I have predicted. then you will turn on the machine, press the print button and let the machine print the list of words. you will choose @ word from that list. If I am successful, I will have predicted the word you are going to choose." You place a fresh piece of paper into the machine, turn on the machine and step back. The spectator presses the PRINT button. When the machine has printed the list of words stored in memory, he chooses a word. Your prediction matches the word. No gimmicks. It helps to follow along with typewriter handy, but even if no typewriter is immediately available, you can easily grasp the idea in a quick reading of this description. If you have clients visit your office, you can ask your sec— retary to set up the machine to perform this or any of the tests described in the following pages. If you sell typewriters for a living, what better selling point than an inexpensive typewriter so smart it can do magic tricks? This description assumes no technical knowledge of the workings of such typewriters. It should be emphasized that apart fron the layout of the key- board there are no uniform standards regarding the working of electronic type writers. Your brand may work a little differently. Once the basic ideas are understood, it should be easy to make the necessary adjustments.c l Co ~94a- Set the left margin at 8, and the right margin at 70: Activate the button that says TEXT STORAGE, TEXT IN/OUT, etc. You then type in the following text. It consists of a series of four-letter words. The words are separated by four spaces. This means that you type word-4 spaces Rora-4 spaces, and so on. When you reach the end of a line, do not push the PEQURN button. Keep typing. The typewriter will return to the left margin of 2ts own accord. Continue typing until all 36 words have been entered into nem- ory. The list looks like this: . dem need rew such sock cost, copy deep dics Hie ‘eel Gum cy lock chm once cre uch Hed le deli Gump ood dim Gise leet feel peel week fre ven fefe fuel flew Hex i end's home, you can set the preparation. If you are at a fri y vp the trick openly with a borrowa typouriver, since there is no hidden procedure,= -948B- ‘The only other item of apparatus is a set of number cards bearing the numbers 1]-12-13-16-19-25-2. These can be part of a number deck; place this group of cards on top. False shuffle the deck. Lift off the top seven cards (or have the spectator do it). The spectator then mixes the seven cards and fans them so he can see the faces. Ask him to choose a card that seems to have par- ticular significance to him. If the cards are marked, you will know the chosen number the second the card is chosen. Explain to the audience that the words stored in the machine's memory are grouped in colums. whatever nunber the spectator chose, he will begin at the upper left, count down that colum, and continue through the other columns until he has counted to the chosen word. Though the spectator has a choice of numbers that range from 2 to 25, he wil always arrive at the force word SOCK. Hf the spectator picks the ll-card, no adjustment is necessary. Place a fresh piece of paper into the typew:iter. Turn on the machine. step back and ask the spectator to activate the PRINT function. The text will print out as shown in Figure A: ee roe occ erate, eee ee ee dire ride vend ine See, isch cane Ale aie see ca see else leer reel peel week = fuse. © even felt left fuel flew flex ihe -Seectator begins his count at the word at the upper left (CREW), counts foun the fizst column, continues the count down the second colum, and o> on. The Lith word will be sock. Tf the spectator chooses the card bearing the number 12, turn on the machine, ENE & fxesh piece of paper in, set the left margin at 16, and step away. When pope Spectator pushes or activates the PRINT function, the printece tit look Like this: crey Such sock cost copy deep deem, eed dire ride vend dune Core. loch BB simone cone rich © lied, « Sale| ani Gu yeod drm else lear reel Seal 5 eek fuse even felt left, «fuel «Fay flex Fy moving the left margin to 16, you have pushed the word list further along. 7 can't print out past the stationary right margin, so whet wectan 8-columlist in Figure A becomes a 7-colum list in Figure B. The 12th word will again be Sock. If the spectator chooses the card bearing the number 13, set the left margin at 24. The printout will look like this: crew such sock cost «copy deep deen meed dire ride vend dune core loch chum = once. «cone. rich lied idle deli dump = wood dum else leer reel peel © week fuse even felt left fuel flew flex f (Zt might be thought that the adjustment of the left margin is a tipoff as i fo the method. But whenever one is about to type, he will adjust one or both mar- gins, It's a natural part of setting up the typewriter. It is also true that - you do not appear to know the number chosen by the spectator. He knows he has a wide choice and he knows that no word is repeated, so there is no need to suspect anything underhanded in the simple act of setting the left margin of a typewriter.) HE the spectator picks the 16-card, set the left margin at 32. The printout L will look like this: crew such sock cost «copy x deep deen med dire ride vend dune core = loch = chum r once cone rich lied idle ) deli dump wood drm else jeer reel peel week fuse. even felt left fuel Flew flex if She spectator chooses the 19-card, set the left margin to 40. ‘The print- out will look like thi: & pe et ey : er tat) tact a 2 2s = ee Eee Sa fa t deli dump wood drum E Sho ow me week fuse even felt left fuel flew flex Cc oaL oe ~96- If the spectator chooses the number 25, set the left margin at 48.The printout looks like this: crew cost ride core once lied dump else peel fuel such copy vend och idle leer felt flew left flex If the spectator chooses the number 2, set the left margin at 56. The printout looks like thi: When placing the right “so that when they are prin crew such sock cost copy Seep Ges eet gine ride end ine core loch chum once cone Such Gis ise deli dine wood dam fise leer reel peel week Base oven felt left fuel flew flex the paper in the typewriter, you can position it somewhat to the columns of numbers are ted out. more or less centered on the paperkL ea cp ora E ~97- Someone in the audience might suspect that alternate word lists are stored in the machine's memory. But if they push the PRINT button, all that will happen is that the same list will appear in the printout. ‘The technique described above is one where the length of the print line is adjusted to produce controlled results. Sonewhat similar methods can be set up to control the length of the columns. Also, the above discussion dealt exclusively with the adjustment of the left margin. Interesting results can be achieved by adjusting the right colum, and by adjusting both the left and vight colums. There are many Clever tricks involving matrixes of words, num bers, etc. which can be adapted to the approach described here. On the subject of word tricks that can be adapted to the "Typecast" technique, be sure to check two of Stewart James' ingenious routines, "The Folk Test" in Jinx #35, and “Half @ Half" in Jinx #134. Both have been reprinted in SJ: The First 50 Years. Sam Schwartz has also devised superb material that can be adapted to the tech= nique described above. See, for example, his Incredi Book, a treasure trove of word tests. When setting up the word list for “Typecast,” I mentioned that you enter the words into the machine's memory so that when you reach the end of a line, you do not hit the RETURN key. The reason is that the machine would then re- member, for example, to return the carriage after typing DEEP, DUNE, RICH, and 50 on, But this can be useful. When the RETURN keep is hit twice at the end of each row of words, set the left margin at 40. The readout looks like this: crew such sock cost copy deep deen meed dire ride vend dune core loch chum — once. cone rich lied idle deli dump wood = drun else leer reel peel week fuse even felt left fuel flew flexnr a ee Ea ~98- Set up this way, the word list looks like lines of poetry. With the ap- propriate choice of words (they do not all have to be the same length), you in fact devise lines of doggerel, linmericks, and so on that can then be used to perform a word test. More on the subject of force techniques will be covered after the following two tests are discussed. White out You remove the typing ribbon from a typewriter. The spectator places a prece of Paper into the typewriter. he types in the first line of an imaginary story. Then he removes the paper. Without asking a question, you sit down at the typewriter, put the ribbon back, place a fresh piece of paper into the machine, and write a line of text that exactly duplicates the spectator's writing. Hethod: _ Place a small square of tape or opaque plastic over the TEXT light, so that the illumination is blocked. Remove the typing ribbon. ‘Turn on the typewriter and activate the TEXT IN feature. The spectator is of course unaware that you are doing this. Have the spectator place a piece of Raper into the typewriter and type a line from an imaginary book. If the specta- SOF 28 Rot @ good typist, he or she can limit their choice to a favorite word, a lucky number, their astrological sign, a telephone nunber, etc. When the spectator has completed the typing, the paper is removed from the machine, folded and hidden. Sit Gown at the typewriter. Put the ribbon back. Place a blank piece of Eeper nto the machine. You are facing the audience, so the keyboard is hidden from their view. Activate the PRINT function. At the same time pretend to be ‘yping. Remove the paper and show that your message matches the spectator's. The machine will print out the stored message faster than most people Efe; J tvPe at about 100 words a minute, a fairly fast rate that almct matches Eng Seed of the machine, so for me, the simulated typing is in content, Te you seerore fer at the typewriter but know someone who is a good typists you can Porfom “White Out" as a two-person trick. After the spectator types’ hic message, fe hands you the blank sheet of paper. You pretend to sean it wins mental laser, The medium sits down at the keyboard: You transac Psychic waves that actia ot ca 6 ~99- like an ESP dictation device. The medium pretends to type. The typed message matches the spectator's choice. Pitch Control Most electric typewriters have a pitch selector labeled 10/12. If 10 is selected, the machine will type 10 characters per inch. If 12 is selected, the letters are pushed closer together and the machine will type 12 characters per inch, If the letters A thru H are typed in 12-pitch, with a space between let~ ters, the result looks like this: (12 pitch) ABCDEFGH If the letters A thru H are typed in 10-pitch under the first row, the result looks like this: (12 pitch) ABCDEFGH (10 pitch) ABCDEFGH The H in the lower row has been shifted over, so it is to the right of the Hin the upper row. This information can be used in the following way. Scared Sacred There are numerous words where, if one letter shifted right or left one eonces a different word results. an example would be BARLEY/BARELY. If the L is fo, the left of the E, the word is BARLEY. If the L is to the right of the E, we get BARELY. Another example is SCARED/SACRED; the position of the letter C detor- mines whether the word is SCARED or SACRED. We can exploit this information in a prediction. The letters § AR ED are fyped on a piece of paper. It is explained to the spectator that the letter c (and nothing else) is stored in the typewriter's mamory. Aaepene letter C is placed to the left of the A, the word that is created +8 SCARED. But if the letter C is placed to the right of the A, a change takesA -100- place and an entirely different word is created- SACRED. The spectator Gecides which word he wants and writes it on the paper. Then he pushes the PRINT button on the typewriter. The machine delivers the C to exactly the right place in $A R ED to match the spectator's choice. Method: It does not matter if the audience sees you set up the trick, since all you do is enter the letter C into text memory. It is done as follows, Return the carriage to the left margin. Turn on the TEXT IN function. Hit the space bar eleven times. Type the letter C as a capital letter. ‘tun off the machine. 30 Bresent the trick, set the pitch control at 12, Return the carriage Roanne Left margin, Push the space bar ten times. Type SAR ED (all cape, with a space between the letters). If the spectator chooses SCARED, have him activate the print function. ‘The machine will deliver the letter C between the § and the A SCARED if ‘the spectator chooses the word SACRED, change the pitch to 10. The Spectator activates the print function. The letter C will be delivered to a Position between the A and the R: SAR ED (3f you have half-space adjustment on your machine, you can move the R over a half space, so the C is more clearly visible) cee ehhose who may wish to experiment, these are words where one-letter- shifts (tho not necessarily one-space-shifts) produce different words: PRIEST/RIPEST MISLED/SMILED _ SACRED/SCARED BEATER/BERATE BARLEY/BARELY POODLE/POOLED CASUAL/CAUSAL CARTER/CRATER —SALT/SLAT ‘These are words with two-letter shifts: BRUISE/BURIES UPWIND/WINDUP _ENLIST/LISTED ‘The pitch-selection technique allows the performer to control ‘the outcomea & EE me ma ro -101- if the choice is between two options. Suppose that you wanted to set up a series of questions to the spectator. On the first, he would choose between CASUAL and CAUSAL, on the second between CARTER and CRATER, and so on. Can the machine be programmed in such a way that once the PRINT function is acti- vated, it would produce all correct answers? Number Force ‘The "Typecast" technique can be used to force numbers. In this example, the machine will be set up to force any number fram 1 to 10. Set the left margin at 15, the right margin at about 87 (most typewriters have a "red zone" which affects characters that show up near the right margin. For this reason, you may have to adjust the right margin to suit the way your machine is set up). ‘Type the numbers: 2 9 8 6 3 8 7 6 5 4 3'°2 1 that is, digit-4 spaces-digit-4 spaces, etc. Once the above informaticn is stored into the machine's memory, you can turn off the machine. When ready to present the routine, remark that a group of lucky numbers has been stored in the typewriter's memory. You will turn on the typewriter, jet the spectator print out the numbers, and then ask the spectator to total the numbers that are in the leftmost colum. The number force works like this. If you want to force a total of 1, do tpuning. ‘The spectator turns on the PRINT key. The typewriter willprint out the row of numbers shown above. The total of the leftmost colum ic 1. sya Pou_want to force 2, set the left margin at 20. Ask the spectator to activate the PRINT function. The machine will print out: 2 9 8 6 3 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ‘The total of the digits in the leftmost column is 2.-102- If you want to force the total 3, set the left margin to 25 as you insert the paper and turn on the machine. Step back. Ask the spectator to push the PRINT button. The readout will look like this: 209 8 6 3 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 21 The numbers in the left colum are 1 + 2 3, the desired force number. In the same way, by advancing the left margin to 30, 35, 40, 45, and 80 on, you produce a force total that increases by 1 each time. In the case of the book test with dice, whatever number is thrown with the dice, adjust the machine so it forces a number that will bring the total to the force number. Moving Marker ‘The magician explains that he found an Aladdin's lamp in an antique shop. It contained a spirit that the magician transferred to the electronic memory in a typewriter. He illustrates the spirit's power with this effect. ‘The ace thru five of diamonds are dealt in a face-up row on the table. The spectator chooses any one of the five cards. There is no force. He sig nifies his choice by placing an xX on the face of the card. Say he chooses the 4D. The magician turns on the typewriter and puts a fresh piece of paper in place. He steps back. The spectator activates the PRINT function. the machine types this information out of memory: aD 2D 3D 4D sD x The spirit inside the machine typed out the row of cards and then placed an XX at exactly the card chosen by the spectator.co a ET 3 -103- Method: The typewriter is used here for a different purpose. Rather than force a word or a number, the machine duplicates a free choice made on the part of the spectator. ‘The idea is that you enter the five cards into the machine's memory, then a long line of empty spaces, than an xX. By adjusting the left margin, you split up the enpty space, so that some goes on the line with the cards, sone on the next line. This moves the xX along accordingly, allowing you to exactly place it under the chosen card. Set the left margin at 18. With the TEXT IN function activated, type AD, then 3 spaces, 2D, three spaces, 3D, 3 spaces, 4D, three spaces, SD, hie the space bar 34 times, then type XX. set the right margin at 85. This com pletes the preparation. When ready to present the routine, deal out the ace thru five of diamonds in a face-up row on the table. Ask the spectator to place an XX on the face of any card. If he chooses the AD, place a fresh piece of paper into the machine, fun on the machine and turn aside. Ask the spectator to activate the PRINT feature. The machine will print out: AD 2D 3D 4D 5D x ‘thus placing the xX under the chosen card. seine Chooses the 2D, turn on the machine, set ‘the left margin at 34. Step aside. When the PRINT function is activated, the machine will prints aD 2D 3D 4D «5D xx if the spectator chooses the 3D, set the left margin at 39. The machine will print: AD 2D 3D 40 5D x| saa ql ca -104- If the spectator chooses the 4D, set the left margin at 44. The machine will print: If the spectator chooses the 5D, set the left margin at 49. The machine will print: AD 2D 3D 4D 5D x I have used the basic principle with a Voodoo type effect, where the machine positions an X on the arm/leg/chest/nead area of a human outline Grawn on the paper. The location of the X matches the location chosen by the spectator. The placement of the X can also be used to indicate you knew which of several goblets contain the poison (Oscar Weigle's effect), which chair the Spectator would sit on (Aage Darling's effect), which card’ in a stand the spectator would think of (Dr. Jaks! effect). ‘The above effect is easily adapted to Vernon's mental force; the card af position 1 is the card most likely to be chosen by the spectator, the card at position 2 the next most likely, and so on. an any case, you are manipulating empty (and therefore invisible) space ‘0 position the X under the chosen card, color, number, coin, word, etc.oo E E -105- Smiley Faces Years ago one of my children mentioned a fad of creating faces with the aid of a typewriter. Using the characters on an ordinary typewriter keyboard, one could construct a simple face like this: (o (o When turned on its side, it looks like thi: 0) 0) These faces can be stored in a typewriter's manory. They have a strange appearance when printed out because at first it is not clear what information is being printed. when the paper is removed from the typewriter and turned on its side, the faces suddenly become clear. Smiley faces can be adapted to a number of offbeat tricks. Here are same. Fax To The Futurerf L 3 eo cal ~106- mitting the faces of five suspects in the theft of an antigue typewriter. Police reports list the suspect's name as Snith, Corona. The crime will happen in your presence (point to a spectator). Can you pick the culprit out of the line-up before the crime happens? Say FU is chosen. aos eat o,f ss AL Fu BO =D oR When the spectator has made his choice, place a fresh piece of paper in the machine. Push the PRINT button. The machine prints out the rest of the fax: Al Fu Bo Ba Jr xx The machine put the Xx under fu's name, thus correctly "predicting" from the future which name the spectator would choose. Hethod: | Store the faces in the machine's memory so they will print out under Rerumother, that is, in a colum rather than a row. After this, nit the RETURN key several times, then store in the information for "Moving Marker," Jims ete panstead of playing cards (you can store 3-letter nanes like Joe, vim, etc., rather than the 2-ietter names shown above) fy Bresent the routine, first allow the machine to print out the faces. fhe She Machine goes thru the RETURN cycle, shut off the PRIND featere: Let ths Spectator pick a face. Then use the Moving Marker mathed to place the xx under the correct name; in other words adjust the left margin correctly. Konark that the future police knew what the spectator's guess would be, no doubt because he was in on the heist. Now let the spectator activate theb a i -107- PRINT button. The machine will print out the suspects names, then put an XX under the same name as that chosen by the spectator Digital Dating The same trick can be presented from the angle of a dating game. Print out the five faces shown on the previous page. Write a name under each face, You might introduce Al as a sincere, honest guy who likes to travel, in other words a typical Aquarius type. Fu got his nickname from his Fu Manchu moustache he's a mysterious world travelerwith a Swiss bank account. Bo is a starry-eyed dreamer, Ed likes to wink at the ladies, JR is a tv star. Invite a lady from the audience to pick one of the contestants. what- ever her choice, digital dating anticipated her and picked the same guy. Other Possibilities ‘The reader may wish to explore ideas dealing with calendars, magic squares, nontransitive games, tic tac toe, and the challenging problem of placing an X on a clockface to match a time chosen by a spectator. ‘Though there are numerous other ways to accomplish the same thing, the technique of adjusting margin settings can be put to use in figuring out shuffle sequences- both for stacking via the riffle shuffle, and for placements by means of the faro shuffle. the technique of placing an x at a precise location as described in "Moving Marker" can be put to use as a secret means of signaling your medium, A simple presentation goes like this. Your assistant is in another room. a spectator chooses a card from a row of face-up cards dealt on the table. You explain that stored in the typewriter's meory is a single mysterious symbol. After the card is chosen, adjust the margins, then jet the spectator print out the symbol stored’ in the machine's mewory. It can be an X or any other symbol on the key |. The placement of the X on the paper tells the medium the chosen card, A suspicious spectator who thinks you have multiple outs stored in the machine's memory will be stopped cold if he pushes the PRINT button again, because it will print out the same X in the same location on the page. ‘The "Moving Marker" technique can be used to put an "xX" on a pre-drawn map ("X Spots The Mark")