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glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
Simple elementary formula type stack but face cards are not in the calculation.
I know that this simple type stack has been published by magicians before, but I did come up with this stack on my own before seeing any publications and mine is slightly different because I do not calculate the face cards and I use a constant of plus 3 in the super simple calculation. I believe this type of stack is so basic that it should be public domain. This stack cannot be fan displayed, but could be quickly riffled like a Svengali deck so they can see some different cards. Presentation (say something like this): "Everybody tends to pick face cards and the audience will think most people take say the Queen of Hearts and that makes this trick less impressive so make your choice more difficult, name any of the number cards from one to 10 such as the two of spades or the eight of diamonds but not those cards just name your own please". Next the magician asks a shill to name any number from 1 to 52 (of course they will mentally quickly calculate the position and then name the proper position number). The stack: 12 face cards in any order then 10S, AS, 2S, 3S, 4S, 5S, 6S, 7S, 8S, 9S, 10H, AH, 2H, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8H, 9H, 10C, AC, 2C 3C, 4C, 5C, 6C, 7C, 8C, 9C, 10D, AD, 2D, 3D, 4D, 5D, 6D, 7D, 8D, 9D This uses SHCD suit value ie: Spades = 1 (Spade pip has 1 point) Hearts = 2 (Heart pip has 2 lobes) Clubs = 3 (Club pip has 3 lobes) Diamonds = 4 (Diamond pip has 4 points) Card named to position number: The position of the non-face cards: Use the suit value for the tens position. Use the card number for the ones position. Add three to that two digit number. Example: The Four of Hearts's is named therefore hearts is 2 followed by card number of 4 gives us 24 and then add three is 27 therefore the four of hearts is at position 27. Example: The Ten of Clubs's is named therefore Clubs is 3 followed by card number 0 (tens are treated as digit 0") gives us 30 and then add three is 33 therefore the Ten of Clubs is at position 33. Position number to card name: Subtract 3 from the number and the result is staring you in the face. Example 17 is the number named then: Subtract 3 from 17 giving 14. The "1" and the "4" tells you everything: 1= Spades 4=the card value Thus at position 17 is the Four of Spades. The count: You cannot use a face up count because that would expose the organized deck therefore holding the deck face down just spread the deck from hand to hand counting as you go keeping the deck in order and face down and then when you arrive at the counted card you can have the spectator take it. |
glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
Note that you could do a face down count onto a pile but your stack is then messed up for future use of this stack (but after the trick is done you could reverse count the cards back onto the top of the deck but that would really look fishy therefore the spread count is a way to go for this type of stack).
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glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
If a table is available you could spread the deck face down on the table and then finger count from the top going across.
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glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
Of course after the named card is revealed it is returned to its proper position in the deck so this trick can be done again.
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glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
Note that instead of the shill doing the full calculation the magician can do the full calculation and then add 8 and use the instant shill technique and tell them before the show to subtract 8 from the last number that the magician mentions. For example let's say the spectator has named the Six of Hearts, the magician mentally quickly determines the position number is 29 and mentally adds eight giving 37 and then says to the shill "name any number from 1 to 52 like 12 or 37 but not those numbers, name your own number". The shill mentally subtracts 8 from 37 giving 29 so the shill says "twenty nine". If the named card is at a very high position IE the Two of Diamonds through the Nine of Diamonds then when the magician mentally adds eight the result will be higher than 52 therefore what the magician says to the shill will be a little different (the calculation is exactly the same it's just what the magician says must make sense to the audience). Let's say the spectator said Three of Diamonds then the magician mentally calculates 46 and then mentally adds 8 giving 54 and then says to the shill "name any number from one to 52 like 12 or 37 but not very high numbers like 78 or 54, name your own smaller number". The last number the shill hears is 54 so mentally subtracts 8 giving 46 and thus says "forty six".
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glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
Of course when having a spectator name a number and the shill name a card the magician must say to the spectator "name any number higher than 12 but not greater than 52". Then the magician says to the shill "name any card in the deck" but the shill Will quickly calculate and name the correct card to count to.
This seems a little strange for the magician to say "greater than 12" therefore I would recommend having a spectator name the non face card and a shill name the card position number and thus not do the variation where the spectator names the position number first. |
glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
A solution to letting the spectator name the position number first:
Have a Midas card: a blank card with a hodgepodge of two digit numbers through the number 52 but the numbers 1 through 12 will not be on there. Hand the Midas card to the spectator face down and as they grab it say "whichever number your thumb or finger is nearest that is the number we will use, please turn the card face up so we can see what number you are touching and say out loud the number you are touching the most". Once the position number is known the magician says to the shill "name any card you want" but of course the shill does the quick calculation and names the correct card. Then spreading the deck face down the spectator can count down to that number and turn the card over, and voila! ----------------------- |
glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
You could have a midas card that is blank on both sides and on one side have a hodgepodge of card names example: 3C 8S 5H AS 7D etc (all the cards except the court cards ie: the jacks the queens the kings are not on the Midas card).
Then on the other side have a hodgepodge of the permissible numbers ie: 13 thru 52 but not in any order. This way you could use the Midas card to have a spectator select the card name in an apparent random selection and doing it this way a magician does not have to make the restricting statement "Don't name a face card, just name a number card". Instead the magician hands the Midas card to the spectator and says "tell us the name of the card you are touching". ----------------------- |
glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
Or you could have two Midas cards (2 cards with regular backs but blank face).
One card will have all the card names written on the blank face (but no Jack's Queens or Kings). The other card will have all the numbers from 13 through 52 hodgepodge written on its blank face. The magician hands the appropriate midas card to the spectator when the time comes telling the spectator to turn the Midas card over and say out loud the selection they are touching. ----------------------- |
glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
A way to do a fan display of the deck before doing the trick: Use the thin phoenix double decker cards (hard to find/buy right now). Face down deck: have this super simple 52 card stack in the top half and a hodgepodge mix of 52 cards in the bottom half.
Note that the Phoenix double decker deck has 104 cards but they look like a normal size deck and fit in a normal size tuck case. This way when you fan spread you just show the bottom half and then when performing of course you are counting down through the top half. Beware that if the spectator named a diamond then the shill will say a very high number in the '40s and this will look strange when counting and you get up to perhaps 47 and you have a full deck remaining. Therefore if a diamond is named (and you are using a double-decker deck) then I recommend the magician do the counting by taking one card at a time off of the top of the deck and putting it on the bottom on each count of a card. That way when you get to the target card it will look normal for there to be a whole deck underneath. ----------------------- |
glowball Special user Nashville TN 831 Posts |
If you use the Phoenix double decker deck to do this trick: only spread and show it (hodgepodge portion) at the beginning of the trick, not at the end of the trick because there is the chance that the spectator's duplicate card could be near the very bottom and that would look really strange that their card is now suddenly at or near the bottom of the deck.
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