Good Opener for the ACR
- Thread starter Enzo
- Start date
If you must have an opening to the trick (which I ,currently at least, dont) Try to warm them up with a story. Talk about synchronicity and how all spectators pick the same card, or how one card is the most special or you could go Manchurian candidate on them and say that one card actually allows you to control their mind. If you are looking for a trick opener, in my humble opinion, the ACR is an excellent opener, but if you must have an opener for it, I suggest something that would make a spectator sign that card, not an anniversary waltz because that is more of a big finisher, but perhaps a sandwich trick, and you could transition to the ACR routine by saying "But this card doesnt need the two red jacks to move around the deck, watch as it comes right back up to the top" Ta Dah! I hope to at least have given you something to think about I wish you all the best.
To open my ACR I ask the spectator to name any card they like, and then ask them to turn over the top card.
If it hits, then I stop right there, because there isn't a lot that can follow that up.
If it doesn't then I pause for a bit and just say "Boy, that would be cool, wouldnt it?"
It gets a laugh,and I go into the deck looking for the card they named for them to sign.
Might not fit your style, but I find it to work quite well, and it adds a bit of comedy.
And the immaculate feeling when you get a hit is pretty awesome too...
If it hits, then I stop right there, because there isn't a lot that can follow that up.
If it doesn't then I pause for a bit and just say "Boy, that would be cool, wouldnt it?"
It gets a laugh,and I go into the deck looking for the card they named for them to sign.
Might not fit your style, but I find it to work quite well, and it adds a bit of comedy.
And the immaculate feeling when you get a hit is pretty awesome too...
I know that you shouldn´t do a stronger effect in the beginning, but is it really?
Some tricks (such as an ACAAN or NCAT), and also the opening you have described are miracles if they happen, but they´re not magic to me because there is always a probability that the named card is on top (or at a named position). Unlikely, for sure, but not impossible. The same reason why I never use a shuffle in an ACR, because that way the card could be on top (or bottom or whatever), even in a spectator`s mind (that´s why I don´t consider an ACAAN a real magic effect).
Basically the most common effects in an ACR are transpositions/transformations that are (in the eye of a spectator) simply not possible or explainable. The probability that a card that is pushed in the middle of a deck is on top again while you apparently did nothing is zero.
Viewed in this light, the follow-up ACR is more magical and therefore always stronger, no ?
Unfortunately, not. That´s the discrepancy. I think some spectator`s are more impressed by the opening effect because they don´t consider you manipulated something and that it will always work. Other spectators will think it`s just coincidence and appreciate the ACR more. It´s what you make them think.
Generally I think you can continue with an ACR that builds up the climax.
I tried a similar opener, just more ACAAN-like, to reveal their card at their named position, and it didn´t play stronger than the follow up because I handled the deck and left the impression that I was just lucky (John Guastaferro has written a nice essay about 'Serendipity' in 'One Degree').
Last edited by a moderator: