The Magic Change

The magic Change is an excellent trick, easy to perform, yet wholly puzzling.

Hand the pack of cards to someone-Dorothy, perhaps,-and say to her, "I shall leave the room. While I am gone, shuffle the pack and cut it. Then think of some number from 1 to 14. Count down to that number in the pack; note what card it is-if you think of 9, count down to the 9th card and look at it; if you think of 13, count down to the 13th card. Then replace the cards as

they were, so your card is still the 9th or the 13th-or whatever number you thought of."

You leave the room. Dorothy thinks of 6, say, and when she counts down she sees that the 6th card is the Jack of Spades. She leaves it in its position as the 6th card.

You return, take the pack and say to someone else, "While I am out of the room again, Richard, you write down some number from 15 to 20. When I return, I will make Dorothy's card magically change its place, from her number to yours."

Leave the room, taking the pack with you. Now rapidly but very carefully deal off, one by one, and face-down, the top sixteen cards, placing one on top of the other as you count them off. Then replace the pile of sixteen, in their new order, on top of the face-down pack. These sixteen cards will be exactly reversed. The card that was on top will now be the sixteenth, the former second card is now the fifteenth, and so on.

You return to the room and ask Richard what number he wrote down.

If he says 17, all right. If he says 16, you must slip one card from the top of the pack to the bottom; if 15, two cards from the top to the bottom. If he says 18, slip one card from the bottom of the pack to the top; if 19, two cards from the bottom to the top; if 20, three cards from the bottom to the top.

As your audience will see you do this, you can say, "For luck!" or, "To make it more confusing," or anything of the sort.

Now ask Dorothy what number she thought of.

If she says 6 (and Richard has said 19 and you have put two cards from the bottom on top ), give a few taps on top of the pack and say, "Card, I command you to skip from Dorothy's number to Richard's

Then to Dorothy: "Now I will count from 6 to 19, and there it will be!"

Count aloud, "Six"; then throw the first card face-up on the table as you say "Seven"; then the next card for "Eight"; then "Nine," and soon. (Be sure to say the number thought of, but begin your count with the next number after that; if Dorothy's number was 10, say

"Ten," and count the first card "Eleven.")

Count all the numbers aloud as you deal off the cards, and when you reach

"Eighteen"-the one before Richard's number-you can pause dramatically and say, "The next one, if it skipped down when I told it to, will be Dorothy's card." Turn it over as you say, "Nineteen" and lo, it is the Jack of Spades!

Dorothy and everyone else saw it as the 6th card. How could it become the 19th ? You could not have "placed" it when you had the pack out of the room, because you could not possibly know what card Dorothy saw, nor what number she thought of, nor what number Richard wrote down.

It is all very baffling !

Fool-Proof Reversed Card

Effect: A spectator chooses a card, replaces it, turn the deck over three times in their hands, snaps it, riffles it, shuffles it, whatever then they look through the deck to find it reversed.

The Method: All you need for this are two exactly alike cards in the same deck. Place one of the cards face down in a face down deck as the ninth card from the top. Place the other either 21^st or towards the extreme bottom of the deck REVERSED!! Be sure never to touch the cards yourself during this trick and don’t allow anyone to look through the cards for two of the same cards later, either. I find it works better if you use this deck for awhile because and extra card has unlimited uses and is hardly noticeable. Now set the deck on the table well squared and face down. Tell the spectator to choose a number between 10 and 20. (20 will not work) Tell them to count that many cards off the top of the deck, one at a time, (reversing the order) face down onto the table. Then have them add the digits together and count that many cards back off the top of the pile onto the deck. Have them flip over the next card. This is the preplaced card. Make sure everyone (including yourself) sees it. If you messed up and this isn’t the right card, they will discover the secret when they come to the wrong turned up card. Have them put this one the top of the deck and then put the others back on, too. Have them cut it however many times they want, and their card probably won’t turn up, but only cut it two or three times because if it turns up too early they get suspicious. The key move is to have them turn the deck over in their hands 3 times the make them think they turned it over afterwards. Make this movement seem very important, stare at their hands intently and make sure it’s three. This all adds to the effect. Now have them search through and find it. This trick is amazing to the spectator because you never touch it, and, every time I do a series of tricks.

49er Fools Gold

Effect: Spectator selects a card from among 49 lying on the table, and the magician is able to find it, and even bet some fools gold on it.

Card Trick: No preparation necessary. From an ordinary deck of card (without the jokers) have a spectator select any three cards. Throw these aside while explaining “those three cards we aren’t going to us.” Then deal the remaining 49 cards face up in seven rows of seven cards. Overlap the cards in each column so that they’re all visible and can be slid together without disarranging their order. Deal quickly so the audience knows you can’t memories them. Have the spectator mentally select one of the cards and show you the column it’s in. Scoop up the columns, keeping the mystery column in the middle of the group (column, column, column, mystery-card column, column, column, column,). Again do this quickly so that there is no time for memorization. Deal the cards again in seven rows of seven cards and again ask which column the mystery-card column so that it is the middle column.

Fools Gold ending: start dealing the cards face up, scattering them on the table. The 25th card will be the mystery card, but continue past it for about four more cards. I make it look as though I’ve completely screwed up the trick, I then challenge the spectator : “I’ll bet you 500 pounds of fools gold that the next card I turn over is the one you chose. “ Since the mystery card is already lying face up on the table, most people will jump at the bet and may even bet real money. Then reach into the mess on the table and turn the mystery card face down. A guaranteed jaw dropper.

Ending Variations:

1: Just turn over 24 cards, then issue the fools gold challenge. The 25^th card will be the mystery one.

2: After the second deal, the mystery column can be picked up first (mystery column, column, column, column, column, column, column), second or third. If the mystery column is first, count three cards off deck and the fourth card will be the mystery card. If it’s second, show the 18^th card .

3: After the second deal, pick up the mystery-card column first (so that it’s is on top of the deck). Put the deck behind your back and take the first three cards off the top of the deck and place them on the bottom. Take the mystery card and flip it over, face up, and insert into middle of the deck. Then bring out the deck, place it on the table, and tap your finger on deck, saying , “Roll over, roll over, red-rover, roll over.” Then pass the deck to the spectator and tell him (or her) that his card should be easy to find. The mystery-card has flipped over in the middle of the deck, to his astonishment.