Help Needed

[FormlessMars22]

Hey, guys! I need your help.

A few years ago Ellusionist gave away a few free effects to everyone who signed up to their site. One of those effects had to do with a spectator successfully selecting a few named playing cards from a mess of face-down playing cards. Needless to say, I had not performed it since.

Does anyone know the original name of this specific effect, sources where it was originally published as well as variations of it over the years?

Thanks in advance.

 

[RealityOne]

It is John Scarne's "Calling the Cards" which is the first effect in Scarne on Card Tricks, published in 1950. There is no crediting of the effect in the book. I suspect the effect isn't original to Scarne based on the simplicity of the method involving a glimpse and the use of the one ahead principle. The use of the one ahead principle to predict cards goes back to Professor Hoffman's Modern Magic which was published in 1876 where he uses that principle to name to top card of four packets of cards cut to by the spectator.

 

[FormlessMars22]

Thanks so much man! Finally, someone was able to help me. I recently re-worked the effect to a point where no cards are ever verbally spoken, everything is written down, and the last card that is selected from the mess is a card that the spectator thinks of. The effect now appears as a prediction-type effect. Just wanted to check if it hasn't been done before. Many thanks!

 

[RealityOne]

Also, check out this listing of effects -- many use other methods of revealing the selected cards:

http://www.conjuringarchive.com/show.php?cat=566

 

[FormlessMars22]

Thanks a lot man! This really helps a lot!