theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
New trick
- Thread starter Jack H1
- Start date
It sounds like a very old trick I know of, but without seeing a performance or a more thorough description of what happens I couldn't be sure.
Thanks and I can try and describe it a little more you start of with one card outjoged from the deck and then you ask the spectator to name any card and when they do you place it down and say try again you respeat this 4 times then you hold 4 cards in your hand and then you show them one by one every card they named. For a better detail I got the idea from a guy on Americans got talent so if I make the video I'll be sure to credit him.
This does sound like an old trick but I can't remember the name of it. The newest version (to my knowledge) that is close to this is Red Mango by Mark Calabrese.
This is one of those tricks that old enough that I'm not even sure it has its own name, though RealityOne will probably come in here and give six book references that teach it.
I don't wish to dampen your enthusiasm but the fact that you primary source of reference is 'a guy from America's got talent' suggests that this is unlikely to be original.
Even the DM routine is not that original. You'll often find that trick in beginners magic books, DM just added to Gambler's Cop which cleans the handling up a bit.
I don't think it's exposing too much to say It's basically a very simple use of what is known as the 'One Ahead' principle. According to Magicpedia the first written explanation of this principle is from 1723 and relates to a card trick....so yeah, it's pretty old!
Rev
The same can be said about Red Mango. I will do a more thorough review of this trick when I've done some performances of it but Mark Calabrese does add something to the trick that makes it look fairer than it actually is.
The only reason I actually bought that trick is because he admitted it himself in the magic cafe forum that the trick does NOT use the principle you mentioned. He lied though because he stated in the actual explanation that he IS using this principle.
Point being: Yeah it's an old trick that has many variations.
I was going to buy this until i read the magic cafe post. The first time i saw it his statement totally threw me off and i couldnt figure out what the method could be if not that. Dodged a bullet on this one. 9$ isnt worth something i already know.
His statement threw me off too. I had a suspicion regarding the other things he added to the trick that made it deceptive but it was that statement that really fried me, After buying it, it confirmed ALMOST what I already knew. There was one thing that I missed and that was what made it clean looking. I have my own methods now to this trick that eliminate some of those things and allow me to use a borrowed deck.
I don't feel like I was cheated but at the same time, I do. His statement on the cafe lured me in and I fell victim to a method I already knew. In one sense I am annoyed that he blatantly lied. BUT I did still learn something that made the trick look cleaner. Before buying, I had suspected a method and came up with alternate handlings of my own and that, in my opinion, was worth the whole experience.
Just six?
Yeah, I couldn't resist. The plot is the card version of the "triple prediction" using the principle that Rev mentioned. Here are some sources of similar routines:
1. Magician's Willpower, Art of Magic, p. 176 (1909) (Magician names cards and spectator correctly selects -- Attributed to David Devant's Magic Made Easy (1903))
2. Cards of Chance, Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, p. 21 (1937) (Written predictions match three named cards that were then selected from the deck).
3. Hummer Detection, Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, p. 159 (1937) (Magician finds three selected cards including the first one that is inserted to a deck and shuffled by the spectator).
4. Wizard's Will, Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, p. 224 (1937) (Magician calls cards that the spectator selects them using full deck stack).
5. Marlo's Think a Card, Early Marlo, p. 26 (1941) (Thought of cards predicted on billets).
6. Calling the Cards, Scarne on Card Tricks , p. 9 (1950) (Magician calls cards as spectator points to them).
7. Best Card Trick, Secret Ways of Al Baker, p.683 (2003 publication but Baker's original work is much older) (Using stack and billets)
8. Wonderful Four Cards and Pellet Mystery, Secret Ways of Al Baker, p.760 (2003 publication but Baker's original work is much older) (Using stack, Svengali and billets crumpled into pellets) (also in Lost Notebooks of John Norhern Hilliard, p. 53.
9. The Clairvoyant Spectator, Secret Ways of Al Baker, p. 205 (2003) (naming cards to be pulled out by the spectator and using a marked deck)
10. Any Cards Called For, Mnemonica, p. 211 (2004) (Spectator selects 3 cards, magician selects 1 - all cards named on open predictions and shown in order using unique Mexican Turnover within a packet)
11. Menage a Trois, Hidden in Plain Sight p.80 (2005) (Magician finds two cards thought by spectators after looking at deck and mate for selected card put into card box).
I didn't find anything in writing that was exactly what @Jack H1 said -- where the cards are used as the prediction placed down ahead of the spectator calling the card. However, it is close to Devant's / Down's Magician Willpower, Scarne's Calling the Cards and Al Baker's Clairvoyant Spectator except the roles are reversed in that the spectator selects the cards and the magician calls them out in those effects My sense is that the effect Jack is describing would have the magician look at the faces of the cards between each spectator naming the cards. That to me makes the effect potentially able to be reverse-engineered, especially in light of the need for a final phase. I'd prefer to do it using a stack or a marked deck.
My concern with those effects is with the final selection. There isn'at a good way to make it seem natural. I like the Menage a Trois and Hummer Detection effects because the first selection is done with the magician's hands off of the deck which can be accomplished using a stack, marked deck or a one-way deck. Heck, you could even use a force.
I'd be interested in a link to the AGT performance of the effect if you can find it.
Do you look through the books before answering? Or are you able to remember the contents of every single book you own?
My responses are a combination of memory and research. I did look up and read all of the effects except Marlo's Think a Card because that is the one book listed that I don't have.