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curtisG New user Great Falls, VA 35 Posts |
An interesting older article in Scientific American about the Psychology of Cards.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic......d-magic/ Some interesting facts: Which cards do people choose most often when asked to name a playing card? Four cards account for just over 50% of choices: Ace of Spades (25%) Queen of Hearts (14%) Ace of Hearts (6%) Which cards do people like the most? People like: Hearts Spades Aces Face cards Which cards are best to use in magic tricks? For tricks in which the spectator chooses a card by quickly glimpsing at one, consider using easily perceivable cards: Aces Twos (except Spades) Seven of Hearts Tens (except Spades) For tricks in which the spectator must remember a card, consider using memorable cards: Aces Twos Threes Face cards (but not the Jack of Hearts) Have you noticed some of these patterns when doing card magic? For me I know the AS seems to be picked very often, but I've never tracked it. |
curtisG New user Great Falls, VA 35 Posts |
Think of a version of Colossal Blizzard, where you only have three non-blank cards (AS, QH, AH), you would have a 50/50 chance to have the spectator pick one of those cards!
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James F Inner circle Atlanta 1096 Posts |
Yeah I think that's all pretty common knowledge through experience. That's why magicians often have to ask "think of a card, but not an obvious one like the ace of spades or the queen of hearts." Because we know these are chosen most often.
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davidpaul$ Inner circle Georgetown, South Carolina 3086 Posts |
Yes, Ace of spades very popular, especially from guys. Queen of Hearts, for the ladies and the sevens (7) I find are picked quite often by both men and women.
Guilt will betray you before technique betrays you!
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curtisG New user Great Falls, VA 35 Posts |
One interesting fact is that the article says that if you say "Think of a card" versus "Name a card", you get statistically different answers.
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curtisG New user Great Falls, VA 35 Posts |
Quote from the Scientific American article:
"Several other common beliefs were also disproven. For example, magicians often say that when asked to name a card, women choose the Queen of Hearts more than men do. In our sample, we found the opposite: men chose the Queen of Hearts more than women did, and women chose the King of Hearts more than men did." Men choose the Queen of Hearts more often than women! |
DaveGripenwaldt Elite user 487 Posts |
I had a friend who would use this kind of information to his advantage in a very simple, direct way.
He'd start a card set by holding up the QH up, with it's back to the audience. He'd say, to a spectator, "look, I found your card! Oh, wait, you didn't pick one yet. Sorry. Ok, name any card...". If they said QH, he'd slowly turn it over and take all the credit as a miracle worker. If they named some other card, he'd make a lame joke about the card he was holding, something like to old, "...And look, your card has changed to the QH!"....and then find the actual named card in his pocket. If he got a hit on the QH the first time, guess what trick they remembered? |
lynnef Inner circle 1407 Posts |
Just out of curiosity, how often is the joker named? It's not even mentioned in the Sc Am article! btw, It happened once to me using an ID! Lynn
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curtisG New user Great Falls, VA 35 Posts |
DaveGripenwaldt - I like that routine. Might try it, although Ace of Spades appears to be the best option statistically.
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curtisG New user Great Falls, VA 35 Posts |
Lynnef - I've never had the joker named. Wonder if anyone else has?
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lynnef Inner circle 1407 Posts |
Quote:
On Jul 17, 2017, curtisG wrote: It was a wise-ass who named it; but the funny thing was that (of course) it was on top of the ID! Lynn |
Chollet Regular user Don't be fooled by the fact I only have 191 Posts |
I have a friend who does something really similar. I've adopted it on a few occasions with great results. Same card, QH, and the card goes in your breast pocket or you can hold it. When approaching a girl (in a bar / on the street) he says, "I have a card in my pocket (hand) that I think best represents you, in fact if you were to have "a card", this would be it." He then asks her to think of the card that represents her best. The majority of the time, they say the QH and he has a small miracle on his hands in their eyes. If they don't say it, he looks at it and says "Well, turns out I was wrong" and puts it back into the pack and moves on to a different effect and uses it as an opportunity segue-wise to "get to know them a little better" by finding their card and doing something with it (ACR, etc).
Quote:
On Jul 17, 2017, DaveGripenwaldt wrote: |
chappy Special user 764 Posts |
The first and second cards of the full deck stack I use are QH and AS. What a stroke of luck!
FARO FUNDAMENTALS, DETAILS OF DECEPTION and THE DEVIL'S STAIRCASE at www.thedevilsstaircase.com
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James F Inner circle Atlanta 1096 Posts |
I always thought doing that with such "obvious" cards would lose the effectiveness of the miracle. I think most people would say "Yeah but he just guessed I would pick the ace of spades cause it's the most obvious one." I don't know if that's true, but that's what I assumed.
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Rupert Pupkin Inner circle 1452 Posts |
Quote:
On Jul 18, 2017, James F wrote: Definitely. |
tomd Special user 747 Posts |
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On Jul 18, 2017, James F wrote: Very true. Sometimes however, I'll say "but don't think of an obvious card like the QH!" And then they (they normally being female) will have a look of shock on their faces... I just missed building up to a miracle. So I'm thinking of reaping the benefits of this statistic while also guaranteeing no cheeky heckler will say "well she went for that card cos the all go for it".. this only works if you can legit gain the info of a thought of card through whatever method of your choosing.. "think of a card".. give them a brief moment to decide, then wait another couple of seconds.. "not the QH though". If they didn't go for it, all good. You can then explain why (too obvious). But this wording might give off the feel that you actually accessed their mind if they did go for it. That 2 second time delay is what makes it for me though.. not fishy if your wrong, and convincing if right. |
David Rhodes Loyal user 282 Posts |
I don't know why you would preface your question with not an obvious one like the queen of hearts. Just have the queen of harts in a known position and go from there
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Rupert Pupkin Inner circle 1452 Posts |
Quote:
On Jul 20, 2017, David Rhodes wrote: Because laymen aren't idiots and it IS obvious? |
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