An extremely cute match divination can be presented impromptu with the paper packages that are so common now. Hand a paper of them to a person and ask him to turn his back. First he is to remove several and pocket them so that the performer will not know how many are in the pack. Now he is to count those remaining and tear out enough more to represent that number. For instance, should there be fifteen left, he is to tear out one and lay it on the table, and then tear out five to lay alongside it, in order to represent fifteen. He then pockets these. At this time, the performer can have no idea about the numbers taken and asks no question. The person is told to remove from the pack any number of those left and hold them in his left hand. The performer turns and reveals the number of matches being held !
It is only necessary to use a new package of paper matches each time. There are twenty of them in each package. By following the above directions, one will find that there will always be nine matches left after the first two actions. When the performer turns around, he takes the mutilated package of matches from the spectator and lays them aside but notes at a glance the number of matches remaining. Subtracting this number from nine gives him the correct number of matches being held. This has been revamped from an old mathematical card effect and now becomes an effective little stunt for close up and impromptu presentation.
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