The magician hands the deck to a member of the audience asking him to
shuffle as he pleases. He then is told to either cut the deck somewhere and
look at a card; to pull one out, note it, and push back at another spot; or
merely to fan the cards in front of himself and THINK of just one of those
before him. This range of selections gives the FEAT a psychologically fair
start. Upon doing this, the spectator is told to thoroughly mix the cards
again, whereupon the performer takes the deck.
The spectator is asked separately to think of the color, then suit, and lastly
the value of his noted card. Between each question the performer looks
at the cards, mixes them around, and appears to be searching for actual
thoughts from spectator. Then, putting deck out of sight, the magician asks
that the name of card be revealed for the first time. And almost instantly
that very one card is successfully found.
When presented before large groups, this feat becomes quite spectacular
when spectator is asked to go to a far corner of room or theatre, turning his
back for the selection. The audience as a whole becomes acutely aware
of the impossibility of it all, and a location of the card makes a strong
impression. Furthermore, the feat may be introduced at any point in the
program, and thus kept ready as a filler-in when needed.
The secret embodies a principle which is hard to believe or enthuse over at
first reading. It doesn’t seem quite possible that people handling the cards
will not notice it. However, we can assure the reader that this was thought
of and considered before publication, and after ye editor was completely
fooled twice, he made up a deck and played with it for a month only to
find that it always worked.
The deck consist of but 48 cards. There are only 12 different cards in the
deck. These are repeated four times. Once the deck is made up, there is
never any stacking or preparation. Just let the 48 cards shuffle up as they
may.
The 12 different cards consist of 3 cards of each suit. There are no 9
spots in the pack. The other 12 consist of cards selected by the Eight King
stacking system, as later it will be seen how this makes the culmination of
the effect quicker and easier.
Here are the 12 cards used, repeated four times to make a deck of 48 cards.
8H – KH – 3H – 10D – 2D – 7D – 5C – QC – 4C – AS – 6S – JS
It will be seen that the first 6 are reds and the second 6 are blacks. Have
the deck ready. Give to a spectator and ask him to shuffle well. Then tell
him to select a card as detailed herein before. IT IS AN ESTABLISHED
FACT THAT A SPECTATOR CAN FAN CARDS AND LOOK AT THE
FACES; AND HE WILL NOT SEE A DUPLICATE AS HIS MIND IS
CONCENTRATING UPON NOTING BUT ONE CARD.
After the selection, take the deck back. As you take it from him, say
“You’ve your mind set on a red card ?” making a statement here but with
an inflection on the end. There will be some sort of reaction returned. It
will be a nod or a shake, a yes or no, but whatever it is, say “Whatever it
is, just keep the color in your mind very strongly, and visualize the shape
of the suit.”
At the outset you have learned the color, and need ask nothing more. If it
is red, you think of the first half of the Eight King lines. If black, the last
half. Because of this system, you need not bother with suits. They take
care of themselves.
There are two ways of presenting the next part. You either can do it in
front of everyone or walk around, setting things while your back is turned
a bit to the audience. We shall assume the card to be red. Fan through the
deck and, finding an 8, put it on top of the deck. Locate a King next and
put it second from top. Next is a 3 and this is put 13th from top. Next is a
10 and this is reversed about 26 from top. Then comes a 2 which is placed
on the bottom. Lastly is found a 7 and this goes on bottom too, making the
2 spot second card from bottom. You are set for finish.
Hold the deck face down and say you have finally decided upon a thought
which you are sure coincides with his. Ask for the name of his card, at the
same time putting deck behind your back and holding with both hands.
Pull the top and bottom cards a bit off end of pack to make getting at
second cards from top and bottom easier.
The moment spectator names his card you locate it in your mind
immediately because of the system.
If the card is the K or 2, produce it from behind back. If the 7, do the
same. If the 8, bring deck around and openly turn over top card. If the 3,
bring deck around and let spectator spell out the chosen pasteboard. If the
10, bring deck to front, fan or spread face down and the card shows up
reversed.
If, at the start, spectator had a black card, the same procedure applies, but
you only think of the last half of the system and everything takes care of
itself.
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