When out performing down at my local restaurant/pizzeria one night in the relatively recent past, I decided to try my hand at astounding one group of lads by performing a daring display of skill and dexterity more commonly known as 'The Biddle Trick'. I asked them to pick a card and show it to everyone, without me seeing. Three of Hearts (I make sure I know these things).
"Ok, don't tell him it's the Five of Clubs."
I continued in the usual manner; counting out the five cards, showing one to have vanished and spreading the pack to reveal the face up Three of Hearts. And then...
"That would have been bloody impressive if it had actually been the Five of Clubs."
I look up. Count the four cards again. There are five. Remove the middle one. Turn it over. The Five of Clubs.
How to: Yes, that's right. I'm going to tell you how I did this. I'm going to explain the basic principle behind this. No gimmicks. No dupes. Here's how.
My setup for pasteboard-based restaurant magic consists of the following. A deck of cards. The four Aces and the Five of Clubs removed and placed in my pocket, as these are the main setup cards I need for tricks. The method is simple. They named the card I had pocketed. Randomly. I took the chance. And BAM, it payed off. Big time.
Now this isn't at all helpful, is it? I beg to differ. This very simple coincidence immediately filled my head with ideas. Why not try it yourself? Remove a card from the deck and place it in your pocket. Ask the nearest passing Fred or Harry if he would like to see some magic. When his original surprise has worn off, and he has put down the red-hot poker, ask him to name a card. Theoretically, once every 52 times you try this, you are set up for a miracle. And for the other 51?
"Right, so could you take that card out of the deck and we'll try something strange..."
Cue 'different trick'.
Isn't this reliable enough? Two hits from a hundred too far off? Well I have actually had about 3/4 of a deck covered at one moment, by having various cards in various pockets, assorted 'prediction envelopes' and other such surprising locations. But why do we need this? Hasn't our very own Monsieur Daniel of the Madison family brought out a glorious device named The Advocate, which renders this obsolete? Well my friends, I am far from done explaining this beautiful concept to you.
You approach a group of strangers, and ask one of them to tap a card. You hand it to them, and ask them to sign it. They turn it over, and it has their name already signed across it. A miracle!
Impossible, I hear you cry! No, let's take another look at this.
You approach a group of strangers, and ask one of them to tap a card. You hand it to them, and ask them to sign it. They turn it over, and it has a random name scrawled across it. You apologize, as you had forgotten to remove it from the deck after your last performance, and ask them to tap a different card.
A simple force of a card with a reasonably common name (try Jess or Dave, for example) written on it is all this needs. And if the out is too fishy for you, you could ask their names to start off with (you should do this anyway). If an appropriately named humanoid presents itself to you, pray continue. Else, don't force the card. 'Nuff said.
Well I hope I have put some new ideas into your head here and got you thinking, as the aim was to do more than give you a few 'easy tricks'. There's so much that can be done with the beautiful thing called 'luck', and I am certainly not the first person to have tried things utilizing it. The important thing is to have an out for when it fails. But next time your friend is thinking of a number, take a guess. If it's right, it's a miracle. If it's wrong, nobody will think of it again. And, of course, you can always use psychology to help boost your odds a little.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it (my minds full of ideas right now) and I certainly do hope that your creative juices are flowing. Thanks for reading.
"Ok, don't tell him it's the Five of Clubs."
I continued in the usual manner; counting out the five cards, showing one to have vanished and spreading the pack to reveal the face up Three of Hearts. And then...
"That would have been bloody impressive if it had actually been the Five of Clubs."
I look up. Count the four cards again. There are five. Remove the middle one. Turn it over. The Five of Clubs.
How to: Yes, that's right. I'm going to tell you how I did this. I'm going to explain the basic principle behind this. No gimmicks. No dupes. Here's how.
My setup for pasteboard-based restaurant magic consists of the following. A deck of cards. The four Aces and the Five of Clubs removed and placed in my pocket, as these are the main setup cards I need for tricks. The method is simple. They named the card I had pocketed. Randomly. I took the chance. And BAM, it payed off. Big time.
Now this isn't at all helpful, is it? I beg to differ. This very simple coincidence immediately filled my head with ideas. Why not try it yourself? Remove a card from the deck and place it in your pocket. Ask the nearest passing Fred or Harry if he would like to see some magic. When his original surprise has worn off, and he has put down the red-hot poker, ask him to name a card. Theoretically, once every 52 times you try this, you are set up for a miracle. And for the other 51?
"Right, so could you take that card out of the deck and we'll try something strange..."
Cue 'different trick'.
Isn't this reliable enough? Two hits from a hundred too far off? Well I have actually had about 3/4 of a deck covered at one moment, by having various cards in various pockets, assorted 'prediction envelopes' and other such surprising locations. But why do we need this? Hasn't our very own Monsieur Daniel of the Madison family brought out a glorious device named The Advocate, which renders this obsolete? Well my friends, I am far from done explaining this beautiful concept to you.
You approach a group of strangers, and ask one of them to tap a card. You hand it to them, and ask them to sign it. They turn it over, and it has their name already signed across it. A miracle!
Impossible, I hear you cry! No, let's take another look at this.
You approach a group of strangers, and ask one of them to tap a card. You hand it to them, and ask them to sign it. They turn it over, and it has a random name scrawled across it. You apologize, as you had forgotten to remove it from the deck after your last performance, and ask them to tap a different card.
A simple force of a card with a reasonably common name (try Jess or Dave, for example) written on it is all this needs. And if the out is too fishy for you, you could ask their names to start off with (you should do this anyway). If an appropriately named humanoid presents itself to you, pray continue. Else, don't force the card. 'Nuff said.
Well I hope I have put some new ideas into your head here and got you thinking, as the aim was to do more than give you a few 'easy tricks'. There's so much that can be done with the beautiful thing called 'luck', and I am certainly not the first person to have tried things utilizing it. The important thing is to have an out for when it fails. But next time your friend is thinking of a number, take a guess. If it's right, it's a miracle. If it's wrong, nobody will think of it again. And, of course, you can always use psychology to help boost your odds a little.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it (my minds full of ideas right now) and I certainly do hope that your creative juices are flowing. Thanks for reading.
