Ok so here's the bones of the trick. You have one spectator shuffle the deck and then start dealing cards one by one and stop anytime. You have him look at the card he stopped at and the put the rest of the cards on top. Then you have a second spectator do the same thing ..you can even be turned around this time. After that's done you turn around and take the deck. Deal the cards into two equal piles telling the spectator you need 2 equal piles for this experiment. Tell them for the experiment to work hopefully the 2 cards are in different piles and you ask them to verify that. With the piles face down yoi tell the that you are going to deal cards from both piles at the same time face up and have each of them tell stop when they see their card. Amazingly they will both say stop at the same time. How do you make a coincidence like this entertaining for laymem?

Sorry! You lost me after your second sentence. The only card trick that I usta do was the "21 card trick", and I never could get to the end of it.

I suggest that you move down a couple forums, to the cardician's corner.

A good story to accompany the procedure is needed. If you want something a bit different, try posting this in the 'Spooky and Bizarre' section. I'm sure that you would get the people there thinking about it.

The Black Hart

Some premises that come to mind...

Tell them this was one of the experiments in ESP at Duke University in the 1960s

Say this experiment let's us know if the two spectators are related/separated at birth.

It's a demonstration of Synchronicity.

Is it possible to have the spectators unknowingly use cards you want them to? If so, the cards used could also make a blackjack, so there is an extra layer of plot...maybe talk about how card cheats often work with a partner....this experiment will let the two see if they are suitable to embark on a life of breaking casinos...

I dunno, I'm one who believes that the patter serves the magic, not the other way around. I'm for a very straightforward script, that is efficient and has not one wasted word. With a trick like that, moving it along is going to be very important for making it entertaining.

Looks like Child's Play, number 24 from Fulves Self Working Card Tricks. Assuming it is the same trick, regardless of name or source, here are some thoughts:

First, this is a coincidence trick. Play to that. Theme your presentation around coincidence. Look at one person and ask "do you believe in coincidence?" If he says yes, you get an amazed look on your face and say "me too!" If no, get the amazed look and say "neither do I! Isn't that a... never mind." This is an old gag, but it communicates that you are just being fun, here. Then go on to say "let me show you something sort of strange about coincidences. Please mix up these cards so you know I didn't set this up ahead of time." And when it gets to the second participant, involve that person just as much. The first one is invested now, as he shuffled the cards, answered your question, even put up with your gag answer. For the second, you can say something like "now, these are my cards, so if some interesting coincidence happens, there's always the question of what I might have done to make it happen. But if we have Tom over here also shuffle the cards, there's no way I could be accused of setting things up." Now you have another person drawn in, ostensibly to keep the whole process honest. Keep it fairly brisk and show real interest in results, but not a lot of thinking about process.

Second, this can be presented as showing that even when people do different things (different numbers of cards, even different cards), they can still be in sympathy with one another. Do it for a couple. In this case, you make it all about them. "Susan, Bob, you guys look pretty happy together. This is a little test to see how well you are in sync with one another. It isn't anything serious and we don't need to connect the electrodes to your foreheads for the first part, so it should be totally painless. Susan, ladies first, please mix these cards up any way you like, as long as it doesn't destroy them. Bob, your turn. This way you've both had input into the situation, as is proper with any relationship. Susan, give me a number from one to ten. Bob, likewise. We add those numbers together and get 14. I'm going to deal a pile of cards for each of you and each pile will have 14 cards. The number you both created together." And so on. This can take a little longer, since every step is about how even if the two people in the couple do things differently ("Bob, I'm going to have you turn a pile face-up, just because I get the impression that you are a little more extroverted and would want to display things more than Susan. Susan, I'll leave yours face down because I think you would be more able to keep a secret. Qualities that complement each other, actually."), yet the result is that they come out matching at the end. In fact, play with that. "Bob, please tell me the name of your card. We'll deal through this pile of cards until we get to yours, at the same time, turning over cards from Susan's pile." But on the card that should match, don't turn over her card. Leave it face down. Show the rest of the cards in her pile, but leave that one face down for a moment longer. "Susan, you have been doing a great job of keeping your secret, here. Please go ahead and tell us all what card you were thinking of all this time. Seven of Hearts? Do you want to do the honors and turn over that card, please?" Put the whole focus on how well these two are in sync. They will remember how you made them feel.

In fact, that last thought deserves its own paragraph. People may not remember how amazing you were, but if you make them feel amazing, they will remember that. This is just a card trick, it isn't a life changing event. But if you make these people feel special when they participate in your tricks, they will want to be part of your performances in the future.

The presentation has to hide that this is essentially a mathematical trick. No matter which way you do it, make it about the people, not the cards. There are other ways to do it and I'm not claiming my ideas are even any good, but the principle of making it about them instead of about the cards, that's solid.

I have a personal quandary about a lot of self working card tricks. The mechanics become easy or even automatic, so it is easy to get complacent with them. However, the presentation becomes a real challenge. How do you make it look like something other than what it is? Justifying process is not trivial. With showy, flashy card tricks, the display of skill can be the whole point and it can be very entertaining. If you keep pulling fans of cards out of nowhere, you display the skills of card manipulation and that's cool in the same way as juggling is cool. But dealing cards on a table doesn't take any apparent skills. In fact, if you have your participants do the dealing, they know you are not bringing any skills in at all. At least not physical manipulation skills. So, the whole presentation has to be entertaining while you apparently do nothing! This takes a skill set that is harder to learn than the physical manipulation of the cards. It is the skill set of being interesting and entertaining to be with in the first place. To make these sorts of tricks interesting and entertaining YOU have to be interesting and entertaining.

Hope that helps.

-Patrick

Patrick, thanks a lot of the insightful answer. The trick I am reffering to comes from Rufus Steele - Last words on card and its working are a bit different but you advice certainly applies.

If you wanted to, you could also do it with a fortune telling theme. There's a process to selecting cards for most sorts of readings. If you ask for a number, give a brief numerological meaning for that number. Do a reading for each card and why they relate to one-another. The fact that they are at the same place in either pile emphasizes that there's no doubt about it, these cards are meant to relate to one-another today. (But keep this light. I do tell fortunes and it would be far too easy to turn this into a very fake reading that just reeks. However, as a light-hearted presentation, along the lines of the Anniversary Waltz sort of trick, it could be a lot of fun.)

Above all, my own view is that if you want a trick to entertain, relate it to the audience instead of to yourself. This isn't always true or possible, but when you are doing something up close with cards selected by the participants, that's the obvious focus.

-Patrick

This sounds like a perfect trick to do with a couple: a married couple, a couple dating, or a couple of good friends. Have each person think about what card the other person would stop at, etc.

KJ