Hi,

I am looking for a self-working trick I once came across but I can't remember the details nor the name of the author.

Perhaps someone can help as I remember it being a great selfworking trick.

Steps as far as I recall :
0. setup: the forced card is at a specific location in the deck (position X)
1. magician predicts a that a card Y (selected by the spectator) will be at a specific position (Z) at the end of the trick
2. spectator is asked to remember a number from 1 to 20 and take that many cards from the deck and put them aside (out of sight).
3. magician takes 20 cards and shows them all one-by-one to the spectator who must remember the card that corresponds to his selected number (from step 2).
4. magician puts his 20 cards back together with the cards that remained on the table
5. the spectator's "selected" card is now always at a position Z in the deck regardless of the number he had chosen in step 2.

As mentioned I'd appreciate if someone can point me to the origin of this trick.

Thanks,

Paul Gordon, I think. If I get a chance later I'll see if I can find it, can't remember the name off hand.

Hi magicthree,
Thanks in advance : looks promising
I am curious if you can find the reference.

Looks like "Where it has to go" from Rick Lax. Method is similar to Paul Gordon's Unfathomable Location. For more variations search for Automatic Placement here at the Café.

Hi Ferry,
Thanks for those pointers and the reference to the underlying principle.
Exactly what I was looking for.
Excellent.

Vietnam Card trick ?

You can find tricks like this in The Last Word on Cards by "Rufus" Steele also..