Contents Introduction Finger Flicker Master of the Mess. Method and Style and The Performing Mode . . . Colour Sense High Noon. Cincinnati Pit ae Inducing Challenges Triple Countdown . Unforgettable ‘Acknowledgements lastWord Bibliography.Introduction Imagine You sense the colours of playing cards through a solid table. You stack four Poker hands in less than ten seconds. You kick any named number of cards off a tabled deck. You put chaos to order. You magically move cards to any positions in the pack at will. You transpose a card from between a spectator's hands to under his watch. You instantly memorize the order of a shuffled deck. This booklet will not enable you to do any of those things. Most of them are, after all, impossible. Fortunately, however, we can make our spectators experience these impossibilities anyway. We do that by creating fictions, In this case Card Fictions. It may sound obvious, but it is this simple realization that makes magic as a perfor- ming art possible in the first place: Evoking the feeling of impossibility does not require actually doing the impossible. However, it will always require a team-effort. ‘A fiction is created in somebody's mind. Equipped with those marvels called human perception and the human mind our spectators play a necessary and active part in the process. All that we performers do is to provide adequate input. Then we lean back and relax as the spectators themselves spontaneously and effortlessly complete the job and create fascinating, impossible ~ magical ~ fictions. The tricky part is: What exactly is “adequate input”? This booklet tries to answer that question. Its clear intention is not only to provide descriptions of bare technical procedure, but also to address some of the other elements that contribute to the creation of the seven Card Fictions sketched above. Throughout the text you will find thoughts on topics as diverse as the function of ma- gic gestures, the setting of mnemonic anchors, using ambiguous wording, “believing” in your own magical powers and many more. Those tools ate at least as important for the creation of convincing magical fictions as palms, shifts and forcing decks.In two cases either no suitable way was found to include the discussion of such a strategy into the explanation of a specific trick, or the topic was considered too substantial to be discussed en passant. As a result you will find two short essays. Finally, about the tricks themselves: There were two criteria for the inclusion of material in this booklet, one concerning method, the other, effect. First, every routine can be done with a regular deck. Second, the tricks cover quite a variety of phenomena and plots: From a demonstration of “colour-sense” to cheating at gambling, from supposedly superhuman speed to incredible memory and from impressive skill to downright impossibilities. It's time to get started: Grab a deck, turn the page and enjoy the ride! I wish you and your spectators a wonderful time whenever you play together again to create magical Card Fictions. Pit Hartling Frankfurt, June 2003Finger Flicker Effect A deck of cards is shuffled, squared and placed onto the table. Somebody names a number. With a “flick” of just one finger, the performer kicks exactly that number of cards off the tabled deck. The deck is shuffled again and another number is nated. A spectator covers the performer's eyes with her hands. Blindfolded like this, the performer again kicks off a packet with one finger. The spectator counts and once more the absolute precision of the flick is confirmed. For a final demonstration, a card is selec- ted and shuffled back into the deck by a spectator. Aiter briefly riffling through the cards, the performer places the deck squarely onto the table. The selection is named. Remembering its position in the shuffled pack the performer “flicks” directly to the named card! Method Overview This makes somewhat unorthodox use of the breather crimp '. With such a crimp in the deck, it becomes possible to “flick off” exactly all the cards above it. Set-Up Put a breather crimp into the King of Hearts. For this routine, the card is held face-up as the work is applied (Photo 1). 1 A breather crimp is put into a card by pinching the card between the thumb {above} and second and third finger {below} at one corner, squeezing rather tightly and pulling the fingers actoss zo the diagonally opposite comer. This process is repeated along the other diagonal, resulting in a crosswise crimp. A very good descrigtion can be found in the fist volume of the "Vernon Chtonicies": Minch, Stephen, The Lost Inner Secrets, Vol. , “The Breather Crimp”, pp, 96., 1987, Lal Publishing. 10That way, the resulting slight bump will be towards the back of the card. When the deck is cut face-down, the crimped King will be the top (face-down) card of the lower half of the deck. To facili- tate locating the crimped card in the squared deck it is also edge marked. For impromptu use, a nail nick will do just fine, To perform, position the crimped card eighteenth from the top of the deck. The “Flick” Place your right hand in front of the deck, your first finger almost touching the deck’s inner long side (Photo 2). By kicking the first finger against the edge of the cards and upwards, you can cut off part of the deck: The top packet will turn face-up and land in front of the bottom half (Photo 3), With a minimum of practice, you will be able to flick off exactly all cards above the crimp.Performance I - THE FLICK Positioning the crimp Start with seventeen cards above the crimp. You will have somebody name a number between ten and twenty. During a short shuffle, the crimp is positioned to end with exactly the named number of cards above it. Here’s the procedure: Hold the deck in the right hand in posi- tion for an overhand-shuffle. Start this shuffle by taking a block of at least eigh- teen cards with the left thumb. Run the next card singly, injogging it in the process, and shuffle off the rest of the deck. Take a break under the injog and start shuffling off to the break. As you start this second shuffle, ask a spectator to name a number between ten and twenty. Time this request in a way that she answers before your shuffle reaches the break. {Of course, you can always imperceptibly slow down the shuffle in case it takes her unusually long to decide on a number}. There were seventeen cards above the crimp, so if she names that number, just throw to the break and then throw the remaining packet on top. You have, in effect, done a simple jogshuffle, keeping the crimped card in place. Ifa lower number is named, subtract that number from seventeen. Throw to the break, run the necessary small number of cards and then throw the remaining packet on top. For example, if she names fourteen, throw to the break, run three cards and throw the rest on top. There will be fourteen cards left above the crimp. If eighteen or nineteen is named, do not throw to the break, but instead stop the shuffle with one, respectively two cards still on top of the packet before thro wing it on top. Either way, you end with the named number of cards above the crimp. Place the deck onto the table in front of you with a long side parallel to the table edge in position for the “Flick”. Get ready with your hand in front of the deck. After a short dramatic pause, kick off all the cards above the crimp with your right first finger. Very clearly and slowly count those cards to show you actually flicked off exactly the correct number. Il - THE REPEAT Once the premise is clear, Finger Flicker cries for a repeat. For this, position the crimp twenty-eighth from the top. There are several ways to achieve this: You might run the required number of cards on top during an overhand shuffle. Or do a faro shuffle followed by running a few single cards. Have a spectator name another number, this time between twenty and thirty, and repeat the above jogshuffle-handling exactly as before to end with the named number of cards above the crimp. In order to have some progression, four things are different this second time: First, you ask for a higher number. Even though this doesn’t make muchdifference, emotionally, it might seem more interesting. Also, counting to a higher number will take just a little bit longer, leaving a bit more time for some tension to build. Second, announce you will do the “Flick” with your left hand. With a little bit of practice you will find that this hardly makes any difference. Third, before you flick off the packet, have a spectator stand behind you and cover your eyes with her hands: Not only do you repeat the stunt left-han ded, but also “blindfolded” (Photo 4). To the spectators, this seems almost otherworldly.2. Finally, instead of coun- ting the cards yourself as you did before, have a spectator pick up the flicked-off packet and clearly instruct her to count the cards onto the table one by one. This handling adds an element of openness and fairness that really helps to “sell” the repeat. Il — FINALE! For the finale, have a card selected for- cing the crimped King of Hearts. Have the spectator replace her selection and thoroughly shuffle the deck. Retrieve the cards and, if necessary, cut to leave the breather near the centre, (You can tell the card’s position by glancing at the edge of the deck.) Pause a beat and without comment riffle up the inner end of the deck pretending to remember the order as the cards fly by. In fact, remember the card above the selection. Have the spectator name her card. She will, of course, name the King. of Hearts. Concentrate and say, almost to yourself, “King of Hearts..., ah yes: next to the Nine of Clubs”, naming the card you just remembered. After a suit- able dramatic pause, do the “Flick”. The card that comes into view on the face of the cut-off packet is the card you mentioned. 2 This strong dramatization can be found in Darwin Ortiz’ wonderful book “Cardshark": Ortiz, Darwin, Cardshark, “Blind Aces, pp-06, USA 1005.Dramatically turn over the next card, the King of Hearts. Climax! (Photo 5) Credits and Comments Finger Flicker bears some resemblance to the classic salt-location. In that trick, some grains of salt are secretly transfer- red to the back of a selected card. Traditionally, the deck is then placed on the floor and slightly kicked with the foot, causing the deck to slide open exactly at the selection. Two versions of that can be found in John Scarne’s Scarne on Card Tricks: “Hands-Off Miracle”, pp.61 and “The Spirit Card Trick”, pp.237, USA 1950. A version of the above that uses a crimp instead of salt is Harry Lorayne’s “Salt-Less” from Close-Up Card Magic {Lorayne, Harry, Close-Up Card Magic, “Salt Less”, pp.31, Tannen Magic Inc, New York, 1976) The method to position of the named number of cards above the crimp using an overhand shuffle (also used in Triple Countdown page 68) was inspired by a force I came across in Annemann’s use- ful compilation (Annemann, Theodore, “202 Methods Of Forcing”, Max Holden, New York, 1933). lonly added the Jog Shuffle. The Ambidextrous “Flick” For this idea you need an additional deck in memorized order. This deck also contains a breather. After having a number named position the breather in the shuffled deck as described. Have a second spectator name another num- ber from one to fifty-two. As the second deck is in memorized order, it is an easy matter to position the crimped card under the named number of cards. Place both decks in front of you in position for the “Flick”. Hold out both first fingers and after a short pause, cross your arms (Photo 6). Do the “Flick” with both decks simultaneously. Have both specta tors pick up the flicked-off packets and count the cards in sync. After the firstnumber is reached and verified, have the second spectator continue. You flicked off exactly the named number of cards in both decks!Master of the Mess Effects ‘The performer challenges himself to perform something with the deck in a complete mess: All fifty-two cards are splashed onto the table and thrown all over the place, forming a haphazard mix of face-up and face-down cards. The audience concentrates on one card. Without asking a single question the performer removes one card after the other from the big heap, gradually elimi- nating all but a single card. Incredibly, he managed to pinpoint the selection! A new card is selected and lost in the mess. The performer carefully squeezes the deck at the fingertips. At his touch, chaos turns into order: Every card lies face-down again - except the selection! Comments The two tricks are methodologically linked. The first effect contains a large part of the second effect’s method. If you can make your spectators perceive the two as separate and independent, you will have two strong pieces of magic. If not, I am afraid the result will be an ugly Faro-Monster. As they share the plot of returning chaos to order, Master of the Mess could be 1 Vernon, Dai, “Trlumph”, Stars of Magic, pp.23, USA, considered a handling of “Triumph” '. In Dai Vernon’s incredible classic, how- ever, chaos is produced in quite a clean way by neatly riffle-shuffling two packets together. Here the image of chaos is much more memorable, giving the effect a somewhat different feel. Method-Overview The deck starts in a random mix of face-up and face-down cards. For the first effect, one card is forced. During the gradual elimination, the cards are secretly arranged into a certain face-up/ face-down sequence. The faro shuffle is then used to group together all face-up cards. Once together they are turned over as a block straightening the deck. Set-Up Use a complete deck of fifty-two cards in good condition. Performance Prologue “Sometimes, to surprise myself, 1 do something in a very different way than usual. Recently, I wondered whether I could still perform magic with the deck in a complete mess, like this...” Chaos Tur about half the deck face-up and faro- shuffle this packet into the face-down rest As true for so many of the concepts mentioned in this booklet, ! have learned much about mnemonic anchors from Juan Tamari2, Discussion and applications ofthe principle also can be found throughout the work of Arturo de Ascanio and Roberto Giobbl, among others.of the deck without pushing the halves together yet. The shuffle does not have to be perfect; for now it just serves to fa- miliarize the audience with this unusual handling. Place the deck onto the table in its incomplete-faro condition and give it a twist, letting the cards spin on each other (Photo 1). This little flourish is a pretty and rather unusual sight - qualities that make it a very memorable “anchor”: When the same handling is used again later in a very different situation, it will serve to bring back the image of chaos it has been associated with. This can be reinforced by always referring to this handling as the “Chaos Shuffle” *. Keep turning and twisting everything and spread out the deck until the cards are distributed haphazardly across the table in a complete mess. Have two or three spectators join in, mixing everything around with both hands (Photo 2}.Throw big lumps of cards into the air, letting them scatter all across the table (Photo 3). Take your time here; this clear and extremely memorable picture of utter chaos is the routine’s main benefit. You will have to pay a price for it in a second, so make sure to get the most out of it now. 1- DIVINATION The first effect is the divination of a card, It uses a dramatization that almost automatically generates interest and suspense. The selection Push the cards together in one big heap and square the deck. You will find it easy to end up with the bottom card of the deck face-down. Look at and remember this card. Let’s say it’s the Eight of Hearts, You will now forcea this card with a peek force: With the right hand swing cut about half the deck into the left hand. A second before com- pleting the cut, pull the top card of the left hand packet a little towards yourself with your left thumb (Photo 4). Drop the right hand half on top and push the protruding card into the deck until it remains injogged only a fraction of an inch. The Eight of Hearts should be directly above this injog. Hold the deck in the left hand at the lower left corner, ready for a fingertip peek. Run your right first finger across the upper right corner of the deck and ask a spectator sitting directly opposite you to say stop. Timing your riffle with her words, stop at the position marked by the injog {you will feel a slight “click”). Show the card to the spectator and ask her to remember it (Photo 5) >. Briefly repeat the “Chaos Shuffle” pushing the cards together as in a faro and giving the telescoped deck a twist on the table exactly as before. Again, let the cards spread out and cover a big space. The selection should fall face-up and be clearly exposed. Suddenly, it occurs to you that it would be better if everybody knew the card. Announce that you will turn your back and if the spectator can see her card in the mess, she is to point to it silently to inform the others. In case she does not see her card, you add, she doesn’t have to search for it but simply point to any other card and everybody thinks of that one instead. This last statement is, of course, a pure bluff: You know she can see her selection (make sure she does) and she will point to it. In a way, this handling is similar to pre-show work: You will find a “super practice” shot ofthis fingertip peek force on the Flicking Fingers’ DVD “The Movie”. Many more Fingertip-Peek handlings can be found in Ed Mario's booklet on the subject (Marlo, Ed, “Fingertip Control", Chicago, 1956)The real selection-process (the peek force} is not given much importance. In contrast, the image of the spectator silently pointing to a card while the performer has turned his back is much more memorable. Later some spectators might have forgotten about the peek, being left with the impression that a card was agreed on by a spectator simp- ly pointing to any card she wanted *. Face your audience again and immedia- tely shuffle everything around, turning over several lumps of indifferent cards ‘if you do not feel confident with this kind of strategy, @ good way to insure success is to turn your back, wait a second and make the additional comment only when you know she has already pointed to her original selection. Given a ‘minimum of spectatormanagement and acting however, you will ind this safety measure hardly necessary. (the selection is left face-up). The card they have in mind clearly seems to be any one of fifty-two. Elimination Explain that under these conditions, with the deck chaos-shuffled before and after and by the spectators themselves, it is very difficult to pinpoint the one single card they have in mind. So, you are using a process of “intuitive elimina- tion”. Hesitatingly start removing cards from the centre and dropping them to the side. You remove face-up cards and face-down cards, singly and in small groups, discarding them onto a pile (Photo 6). All the time avoid the Eight of Hearts. After you have eliminated about half the deck, pause and remix the remaining cards. Again, turn over some of the cards, this time including the selection. Keep a finger on that card as you mix everything around and finally end with the face-down selection at a known po- sition on the table. Like this, during the last part of the elimination-procedure, the selection is nowhere to be seen and the spectators are left in doubt as to the trick’s success. Continue eliminating indifferent cards until you are down to the last five. Turn all five remaining cards face-up in a line with the selection second from the right. The spectators see that the23 selection is still there. For some this might be a relief, others might have secretly hoped to see you get into trouble. Whatever their feelings, they will now make an emotional U-Turn: Take the card from the right end of the Tow and use it to scoop up the thought- of Eight of Hearts. Turning your wrist, turn both cards face-down and appa- rently place the Eight onto the discards face-down. In fact, push the indifferent card from the back of the two onto the discards and immediately place the Eight back face-down to the right end of the row. Apparently, you have just eliminated the selection! Without pau- sing take the next card with the right hand and clearly throw it onto the discards face-down, following by using the next card to scoop up the last and eliminating these two face-down as well. As you do all that in an unhurried but flowing rhythm, say: “It’s not the Eight, not the Ten, and none of these two either!” Square the discard pile and take the deck in dealing position. One single card is left on the table. Confidently ask which card they have been thinking of. When they tell you, appear irritated, look at the deck, back to the spectators and after suitable build-up finally turn the card on the table face-up to reveal the selection! Under the surface Even though it is a rather strong piece of magic in its own right, there is more to this effect than meets the spectators’ eyes. Specifically, the elimination of cards is not quite as random as it appears. Here’s what really happens: As you remove cards and throw them onto the discard pile, you build the sequence shown in (Photo 7). If at first sight this looks pretty mixed, that’s good. On closer inspection, however, it can easily be seen that the face-up/ face-down pattern follows the formula: 22 121| SSR sesSutcatesnesoatueiasscatncisasssnsstnatstnesicarstnsszcusssnasscerstnassetnasnassetnasasbssinatstssicetstezsiceassastserstactateetiactateetaietetastateietsetaieiataeiin, That is, the cards alternate face-up/ face-down in groups of 2 cards, 2 cards, 1 card, 2 cards, 1 card, and so on. The sequence is symmetrical, so it doesn’t matter which side of the deck is up. Arranging the cards When removing cards to form the sequence it helps to think in groups of four, Alternate between saying to your self “2 2” and “1 2 1”. That is, the first group is two cards face-down, then two cards face-up. The next group is one face-down, two face-up and another one face-down. Next comes two face-up and two face-down (the opposite of the first four). Always alternate between face-up and face-down, taking groups of 22,121, 22, 121, ete. Your attention should be on the cards in the middle of the table and on the spec- tators. The discard pile is just that: ‘Those cards are out of play and of no importance anymore. This impression is enhanced by leaning somewhat to one side, establishing this part of the table as centre stage. Building the discard pile on the other side all but makes it disappear in the shadow zone. The first few times you try arranging the cards as described your rhythm will probably be less than perfect. If you practice this pick-up stack a few times, however, it will soon become quite easy. When you are familiar with it, you will be openly arranging a whole deck of cards right under your spectators’ noses (in fact inviting them to watch) without anybody being aware of what they are looking at. Il - FROM CHAOS TO ORDER If you followed the description exactly as described, the top few cards of the deck will be not quite in sequence: The last cards you removed were all placed onto the discards face-down. This is cor- rected quite openly near the end of the effect: When the spectator names the selection you are slightly taken aback. Apparently, you have eliminated this card a second ago. Hesitatingly look through the top few cards of the deck. As you do that, openly turn the top card and the fourth card from the top face- up. The selection is still on the table, so one card is missing at the beginning of the sequence, but other than that the deck is now in perfect 22121 order. For the spectators, the trick has just finished. The selection has made its surprise-appearance, and in the best of all worlds, the built-up tension and the apparent mistake at the end should trigger laughter and applause. This relaxation is used to cover the first faro: Just before the applause reaches its peak and with the selection still face-up in the middle of the table, calmly give the deck one straddle faro by cutting off 25 cards and shuffling them into the remai- ning 26. (For easy orientation: In this routine all cuts to the centre in prepara- tion for a faro shuffle are between two face to face cards). Still chaos Unhurriedly give the deck a second faro, this time without pushing the halves together. Instead, place the selec- tion on top of the deck face-down (!) 24 eeand repeat the “Chaos Shuffle”: Place the deck onto the table in its incomplete faro position and carefully give the con- figuration a twist as described. You will find that you can spread-out the deck surprisingly far without any card chan- ging position (Photo 8). Although this time the shuffle is a perfect faro and the cards do not really get mixed around, the handling looks very similar to the actual random version established twice before. It should strongly confirm the spectators’ belief that the deck is still a complete mess. Give the spectators all the time they need to talk about the previous effect, wait, have a drink and enjoy yourself. To resume your performance, square the apparent mess at great length and hold the deck in right hand Biddle grip. The top card should be face-down. Dribble the cards into your left hand and ask a spectator to call out stop. There is a small group of face-down cards just above centre. When he calls out stop, stop anywhere in that group (the timing is not overly difficult], With your left thumb, push the card he stopped you towards the right and raise your left hand, giving the spectator a good look at his selection. Ask him to remember the card. Replace the top half, holding a break above the selection. You will now exchange the selection with the top card of the deck: Hold the cards in position for an overhand shuf- fle, taking over the break with the right thumb. To start the shuffle, peel off only the top card with the left hand. On top of it throw all cards above the break. Again run one single card (this is the selection). Continue running a small number of single cards, say five. Then throw the rest of the deck on top slightly outjogged. Start a second shuffle by taking the top half with the left hand. On top of it, run the same five single cards and finish by throwing the rest on top. Finally turn the whole deck over(the selection ends face-up on the four distinct sections (Photo 10). One bottom of the deck). more faro would separate the face-up | from the face-down cards. There is, Openly give the deck one last out faro. however, a shortcut: Letting the cards “sink” together, in- stead of springing them gives the shuffle Aided by the natural breaks, take out a somewhat sloppy touch that fits quite the centre block of twenty-six cards ‘well at this point (Photo 9). The four with your right hand and place it quarters of the deck now alternate ‘on top of the deck, keeping a break face-up and face-down. If you look at between the other two quarters as the edge of the deck you should see they coalesce (Photo 11), Follow 26by cutting the deck at that break, bringing the bottom quarter to the top. The face-up and face-down cards are separate, All that remains is secretly to reverse the bottom half of the deck. A half pass could be used, but | usually simply reverse the half more or less openly as part of a short display after the cuts. Magic Briefly remind your spectators of all the crazy shuffling and mixing. To them, everything is still a hopeless face up/ face down chaos and the selection is lost anywhere in that mess. To make the magic happen, hold the deck at the fingertips and very delicately and ever so slowly square the edges (Photo 12).Dramatically crack the deck between Bare Bones { your fingers (Photo 13). At first glance, this description might { read like a course in quantum physics. Very slowly spread the deck on the To make the routine easier to follow, table. Card after card comes in sight here’s the procedure again step by step: i face-down, giving the spectators time \ fully to appreciate what happened Chaos before one single face-up card appears - Real face-up/face-down shuffe, faro-style. near the right end of the spread: the - Twisting of telescoped deck. selection! (Photo 14). (“Chaos Shuffle”) - Complete mess 282 First effect: Divination - Peek-force. Spectator points to her card in the mess. - “Chaos Shuffle” again - Elimination of cards. Forming of 22121-sequence in discard-pile. - More mixing, selection turned face-down. Further elimination down to the last five cards. - Apparent elimination of selection and surprise appearance. Climax! - Faro shuffle during spectators reaction. - Selection is placed on top of deck face-down - Second faro and twist-flourish-handling that simulates established “Chaos Shuffle” - Pause. Deck ieft spread-out on table. Apparently still complete mess. Second effect: Order - Dribble to have card selected from small face-down block above center. Break above selection. - Short overhand shuffle to exchange selection with top card of the deck. - Turn deck over - Third faro, letting cards “sink” together. - Cuts in hands, completing separation of face-up and face-down cards. - Turnover of bottom half - Magic Moment - Slow and wide Spread. Climax! Credits and Comments Although the basic idea for Master of the Mess has mysteriously popped into my head from wherever it is that those things pop into our heads from, it was not surprising to find that others had the same thing happen to them long before me, Even less surprising is the fact that one of those others was Ed Marlo. I hereby officially suggest anice trophy to be given to any card worker who has never accidentally reinvented a Marlo-idea. (Johann. Hofzinser comes to mind but recent historical studies have given cause for serious doubt). The entry in question is named “76-76-67-67” and can be found in Marlo, Ed, Faro Notes, Chicago, 1958, p.29. The second great collegue [ had the honour to share some neuronal firing with is Camilo Vézquez from Madrid (jHola Don Camilo). His effect “Un Gran Triunfo” uses the same basic idea of grouping together reversed cards with the faro-shuffle. It can be found in Juan Tamariz’ seminal work on memo- rized deck magic. (Tamariz, Juan, Sinfonfa En Mneménica Mayor Vol I, Madrid, 2000, p.176). As Dai Vernon has already been mentioned in the introductory comments and mentio- ning Dai Vernon one more time would be redundant I shall not mention Dai Vernon again. Master of the Mess went through quite anumber of different versions. | want to thank Denis Behr for his invaluable input during every stage of the routine’s evolution.Method and Style aw The Performing Mode On Method and Style In addition to the many different styles of presentation, there are also different styles of method. Over the last few decades, the technical repertoire of Card Magic has evolved quite rapidly: Where only a century ago, performers had a more limited number of moves and strategies at their disposal, we can now choose from literally thousands of sleights and principles to reach our magical goals. With this liberty comes the burden of choice. In magic, one effect can often be reached by a multi- tude of methods. Theorists have long been looking for criteria that would allow clearly saying which methods are “better” than others. Even though there might actually be a few such criteria, sooner or later, somebody will come along, break all the carefully established rules, do everything “wrong” and the result will be not only deceptive but also beautiful, artistic and highly individual. There are two points to this: First, what might be a highly deceptive method for one performer might not fool a five-year old when done by somebody else. And second, the more experienced we become, the more we know and the more methods we assimilate, the more personal our choices will be and the more these choices will be part of whatever it is that constitutes our style. Given a certain minimum of artistic experience, there is no “good” or “bad” anymore, “Right” and “wrong” have been replaced by “you” and “me”. In practice, this can be seen constantly: How would you personally approach the effect of a shuffled deck being magically put into New-Deck order? Are you part of the deck switch-faction or do you consider yourself a member of the false shuffle- club? Or how about mind reading: Would you opt for a force followed by a clean divination? Or would you choose a higher degree of freedom of choice, followed by some fishing? Of course, these decisions may be influenced by many factors like performing situation, practicality, technical ability, etc. But ultimately, those choices will be the result of -and at the same time a constitutive element of- your own personal style. That said I want to mention a certain methodological tool that might or might not fit your style. The concept is not mine; in fact I think nobody can claim having “invented” it and I am sure many of you are already using it to a certain degree without even realizing it. At least, this is what happened to me: Even though I had been using the strategy quite a bit, I was hardly aware of the fact (and certainly did not consider it a “concept”) until I came across an eye-opening article Rafael Benatar 30published in MAGIC Magazine in January 2001. As the psychological technique that Rafael described in his article is quite an important element of my performances I felt some of the descriptions in this booklet could be more deeply understood if this was explicitly addressed. So, with Rafael Benatar's friendly permission, and under his excellent title, let me offer a few thoughts on: The Performing Mode In most silent performances of stage magic, almost every move the performer makes, every gesture and every gaze are seen as part of the performance. The “act” is just that: A carefully studied sequence of actions that runs like a clockwork. That is part of its beauty. The unique quality of a typical close-up performance on the other hand is a much higher degree of interaction between the performer and the spectators: Before and after the performance of individual tricks people ask questions, tell little stories, joke, laugh and talk about what they have seen, During these moments there is no “performance”. it’s like an intermission between acts. After a while, the performer strikes the gong, everybody re-enters the theatre and the performance is resumed “Striking the gong” is switching back to Performing Mode and it is clearly marked by a change of attitude: The performer sits up straight, pulls back his sleeves and gets ready for the next effect. The spectators focus on the performer again, clear their minds, stop talking and lean in to watch whatever miracles are awaiting them next. All of this is well known and I guess there are few close-up performers who have never set-up some cards in preparation for the next effect while “toying with the deck”. What opens up a whole area of possibilities is the realization that we can create those “intermissions” almost at will not only before and after but also during the course of a trick, This allows us to do all sorts of method-related business quite openly without it being perceived as part of the show. A good illustration of the principle is the following gag: You bet a friend that you have full control over his body. You claim you can make him move at your command and that he will have no chance whatsoever to resist your powers. To prove your point, suggest you will make him turn over his hand against his will and without touching him. When he agrees officially start the demonstration: Hold out your hands horizontally, and carefully position one above the other a few inches apart with the palms “facing” each other. Take your time, as if everything had to be adjusted just right. Have him place his hand flat between yours. As soon as he does so, add: “No, the other way round”. He turns over his hand and - Tadaaa! - you have made your point! This gag is not as silly as it seems. Think about it: You tell your friend you are going to make him turn over his hand. He tries to work against you. Yet, one second later‘he voluntarily turns over his hand. Why does this work? It works because he did not take your instruction to turn over his hand as part of the test; for him, the actual demonstration had not yet started. This is remarkable: Even though you have offici- ally announced the performance to begin just a second ago, just with a slight change of attitude and slightly different inflection of your voice you have made him perceive the crucial instruction as an irrelevant formality. There's one difference to this gag-example and the application of this principle to magic: In the above gag your friend will realize what happened as soon as you say “Tadaaa”. In magic, instead of revealing that your spectators misjudged the impor- tance of a certain moment, you confirm their (mistaken) intuition that the little spontaneous “intermission” really was just that by officially switching back to Performing Mode and officially resuming the performance. In short: By changing the inflection of your voice, your posture and your overall attitude it is possible to put actions “in parenthesis”, to make certain moments during your performance seem unplanned, and not part of the show. Your spectators will still see what you are doing (just like your friend heard you say “no, the other way round”) but done correctly, they will tend to dismiss those moments as unim- portant asides and forget about them the moment you “switch back” and continue the show. Unlike in “misdirection”, you don’t try to hide anything or make anybody look elsewhere; you are happy to have your spectators watch everything you do, assuring that it is perceived as nothing of importance and forgotten a second later. Using this idea of planting a few “mini-intermissions” in your performance is a double-edged sword: On one hand it allows you to make some “tricky” actions pass more or less unperceived without leaving your spectators with the feeling of having been “misdirected” or having missed anything. On the other hand it interrupts the flow of your show. The more often you apparently leave Performing Mode, the more spontaneous, unplanned and “loose” your performance will appear. That might ot might not suit you very well, depending on your style. I for one believe when Dai Vernon talked about clarity of effect he was right in saying “Confusion is not magic”. When talking about method, however, I tend to add “...but it helps”. The next trick shows the concept of “Performing Mode” in action. 32Colour-Sense Effect A deck of cards is thoroughly shuffled by a spectator. He takes a packet and holds it under the table face-up. The performer touches the table surface with his palm directly above the hidden packet and feels for the colours. One by one he actually names the colour of each and every card before the spectator places it onto the table. The performer can identify picture cards, tell the num- ber of cards in the packet and finally even sense the exact suit and value. Method Overview When the shuffled deck is retrieved, the performer briefly spreads the cards from hand to hand and memorizes the colours of the first thirteen cards. The deck is roughly divided into quarters and the memorized packet “forced” on a spectator to be taken under the table. Performance Prologue Have somebody thoroughly shuffle the deck. Meanwhile, introduce the pheno- menon, preferably starting with a strong and fascinating statement: “At the mo- ment I practice seeing through walls. I have only just begun and it’s more feeling than actually seeing, but I can already make out shadowy outlines and even slight hints of colour. It’s actually quite nice”. Spontaneously offer to show whatever progress you already made by using the table instead of a wall and retrieve the deck. You will now memorize the coloursequence of the first thirteen cards from the face. Lewis Jones’ “Pattern Principle” There are but a few practical ways to memorize the colours of a sequence of cards. One is to look at the size of colour-groups. That is, if there are three red cards, followed by one black, two red, five black and finally one more card of each colour, you’d translate this to 312511, remembering it like a phone number (three, twelve, five, eleven). Another method was published by Karl Fulves in 1998 under the title of “Combo”. Unfortunately, | am not at liberty to explain it here. 1 do recom- mend you check out his original manuscript. Finally, an ingenious and wonderfully practical method is Lewis Jones’ “Pattern Principle”. Briefly (and with Mr, Jones’ friendly permission): You mentally divide the sequence in triplets. ‘There are eight possible red/black combinations for a group of three cards. Every one of these eight possibilities is given a unique and easily remembered name. Photo | shows the eight possible triplets with their labels (The labels are easily remembered, when you take the colour red as orientation) For example, the twelve-card sequence RBB BRR BRB RRR translates into “Bottom/ Upper/ Middle/ All”.a7 Lewis Jones’ Pattern Principle This is condensed even further by remembering only the first letter of each triplet, forming a short word that is easy to remember. (In our example this word would be BUMA). If the first letters do not form an easily remembered expres- sion, simply insert an extra i or e. Thus, UMITN becomes UMTIN or MBLT beco- mes MiBLeT, Amazing as it may seem, remembering only two of those words you have securely stored the colour sequence of twenty-four cards; about twice as many as needed for Colour Sense. Memorizing the colours If the performer simply retrieved the shuffled deck, looked at the cards and later named the colours, the result would hardly be deceptive. This is where the concept of “Performing, Mode” comes in. | will try to describe Colour Sense exactly as | perform it at the moment. The situation is seated ata table together with the spectators. When the spectator has finished shuf- fling, retrieve the deck and hold the cards face-up in left-hand dealing posi- tion. Instead of directing attention to the deck, look around the table and say “Ok, let’s see, we need some space here...” As you say that and gesture with your right hand, your left thumb pushes over the top two cards, allowing you to see and remember the first triplet. Spectators usually start moving a few glasses, napkins or the card caseout of the way. Apparently you are set: ting the stage for the demonstration. Say something along the lines of: “Hm, well...[ don’t know...how shall we do it...” apparently thinking about exactly how to continue. During this, absent: mindedly spread the deck face-up between your hands and look at the cards without really paying attention to them. You know the feeling: You do not really look at the cards, but almost. through them. Your gaze simply hap pens to fall onto your hands and the deck as you are momentarily Jost in thought. In fact, of course, you look at the cards in triplets and form and remember the short code-word as described above. Finally, remember the next (thirteenth) card — suit and value. Four packets As soon as you know all you need, sud: denly square the deck, taking a break under the thirteenth card from the face, sit up, look directly at the spectators and say “Ah, I know!”, as if something had suddenly occurred to you. Immedia- tely take the memorized packet above the break and place it onto the table face-down. Follow by placing another quarter of the deck face-down to the left of the first and then two more packets, one to the right and one to the left of the first two. You have made four piles with the memorized packet second from the right. Done a bit sloppy, this division into packets appears arbitrary. A Force With your left hand resting behind the second packet from the left, ask the spectator to your right to “take one packet and hold it under the table” (Photo 2). If you give this direction no importance whatsoever you will find that he will almost always take the second packet from your right. (You will find a few words on this age-old psychological force and a very simple Out in case the spectator takes any other pile in the comments.) As soon as he takes the cards under the table, push the other packets out of the way to the side. This sequence should give the impression that you spontaneously came up with a handling for having the spectator take only about a quarter ofthe deck under the table in order to speed up the demonstration. Now switch back to Performing Mode by officially recapping what happened and getting ready for work: “Ok, you shuffled the deck and took some cards under the table. Very good.” Announce that you will try to feel the colours of the cards. Feeling colours ...and more Place your right hand onto the table, directly above the spectator’s packet, With your palm touching the table top, slowly move your hand around faith-healer-style, supposedly starting to feel through the table (Photo 3, which shows a moment in the middle of the routine with some correctly felt cards already on the table). Look at your hand intently. After a little while, the “connection” is there, and you stop short: “Oh,” you say to your spectator, “can you turn the packet face-up, please!?” Apart from bringing a smile, playful little interludes like this help letting some time pass before the beginning of the actual demonstration, further separating the method from the effect. The spectator turns over the packet. Gaze at the table, feel some more, and finally say: “Ah, yes! Very good! The first card is red!” Have him reach under the table with his other hand and remove the top card of the packet to place it onto the table. It is indeed a red card. Look around expectantly. As the chance of success was fifty/fifty, there will be no big reaction except maybe for some mock applause. “Shall I try one more?” you offer and repeat fee- ling the table-surface above the packet. Name the colour of the next card and have the spectator place it onto the table as well. Now, you really get going: Naming the colour of card after card, have him place the cards onto the table face-up. You will find that the procedure holds interest for quite a while: For the first few cards people are not sure what to think - after all you might just be lucky. The more cards you identify correctly, however, the spookier your demonstration gets. Some spectators might desperately wait for a first mistake. To keep things even more interesting try to vary the rhythm, maybe having somedifficulty with one card or naming the next one immediately as the spectator places the last one onto the table, etc. ‘Another idea that creates a very memor- able moment during this naming of the colours is described in the comments. When you have named the colours of the first nine cards (as you remembered the colours in triplets you will not have to count to know when that point is reached) you know that the spectator has exactly four cards left, At that point I try to induce a challenge by conti- dently stating: “I can see everything! All the cards under the table. Very easy! Do you still have some!? Yes? How many?” I am not sure whether this works on paper, but the combination of claiming to “see everything” imme- diately followed by asking whether the spectator still has some cards and how many, more often than not causes somebody half-jokingly to challenge the performer to feel for himself. If your little gamble does not work, nothing is lost; simply get the idea yourself before the spectator has a chance to answer and feel for the number of cards. If it works, however, it gives you an oppor- tunity to milk the situation, creating a very strong moment by accepting the challenge (see Inducing Challenges page 60.) Have the spectator carefully spread the cards into a little fan and pretend to count the cards through the table “Ah yes, that’s one, two, three...four...four more cards! Very good.” Continue naming the colour of the next three cards, having the spectator place them onto the table as before. For the last card, you get the idea to try and go “all the way”: Have the spectator press the card against the table from below. Feel through the table and name first the colour and then hesitantly also its suit and value. The spectator brings up the card and shows your sensation was accurate, bringing this unusual demonstration to a nicely pointed finish. Credits and Comments I want to thank Michael Weber for let ting me describe Colour Sense in this booklet. Among other wonderful things he showed me a similar routine during a late-night session at a convention in Japan a few years ago. The changes I made are the exact handling of memori- zing the cards (using the “Performing Mode”-concept as main cover), the induced challenge near the end, the additional detail described below and the notion of feeling the cards through a table. This last point directs the spec- tators’ attention towards sight or maybe even touch, effectively dissociating it from the actual method (memory). ‘Many thanks go to Lewis Jones from London who generously agreed to let me include his clever and very useful “Pattern Principle”. On Forcing When forcing one of four identical objects as described, placing the left hand behind the second packet from the left seems to increase the chance of success: The left hand effectively blocks the packet at the far left, all but elimina- 40ting it from being chosen, and visually emphasizes the force-packet as the centre packet of the first three (Photo 1 again). This detail was first pointed out to me by Helge Thun. Hossa! Also note that you do not say “choose any packet...” but “take one packet...”, this phrase being less likely to make the spectator think too much about his “choice”. Finally, the instructions are immediately continued (“...and hold it under the table”) letting the spectator little time to make a conscious decision. More on this and other linguistic strategies can be found (among others} in Kenton Knepper’s “Wonder Words” audio-tapes and just about everywhere in the work of Juan Tamariz. The Out What happens, if the spectator takes any other packet under the table? After all, you have no idea about the colour of any of his cards. Easy: Just ask a second spec- tator also to take a packet. If he doesn’t take the memorized packet either, conti- nue with a third spectator. If the force- packet is left on the table — perfect: Say “Ok, and I need one of you to help me for this...” Having established one spec- tator who does not yet have a packet as your helper hand him the remaining pile. Let each of the three other specta- tors guess the colour of the top card of their packets. Have them check and com- ment on their success or failure. Then collect their cards and place them aside. Do the routine with your “helper” as de- scribed. Exactly the same happens in any of the other cases: The non-memorized packets are simply used as demo-piles. Implications Here is one additional touch that can greatly contribute to the fiction of “feeling colours through a table”: When retrieving the shuffled deck, cut the cards so that the sixth card from the face is the first picture card. Then remember the colours as described. During performance, you name the colour of the first card: It is correct. Second card: Correct. Continue like this until you come to the sixth card. Here, name the wrong colour and im: mediately correct yourself: “The next one is...black, ah no, red!” A second before the spectator brings the card up, turn to the spectators towards your left and apologize: “I still have trouble with those picture cards.” Everybody will see that the card is indeed the first picture card, making this underplayed moment a very strong one.High Noon Effect Ina dramatic duel, the performer ma- nages to snatch a selected card from an assistant's hand. Not only does the performer achieve this in lightning speed, he also finds time to fold the card neatly in quarters and sneak it under the spectator's watch. Method Overview A duplicate card is loaded under the spectator’s watch before the “duel” begins. Preparation Neatly fold one duplicate card in quar: ters face outwards (Photo 1). Keep the folded duplicate in a pocket and cut the corresponding card to the top of the deck. Performance Secretly obtain the folded duplicate in your right hand and clip it between your first and second fingers (Photo 2). Ann- ounce that you will stage a “duel” with one of the spectators. Ask one spectator to hold out his hand and all the other spectators to stand in a circle around the two of you, forming kind of an impromptu arena. As you pull your op: ponent a bit closer towards yourself secretly load the card under his watch. To do that, simply slide the clipped card under the watch as you pull the specta- tor towards you (Photo 3). The load itself is not overly difficult, the main cover being that you have not yet swit: ched to Performing Mode. You are just organizing the contest, arranging the spectators in a circle, asking one of them to hold out his hand, etc. The actual duel has not yet started. Try to create an atmosphere of expectation,} | at the same time implying, that for now, you are simply setting the stage. With the audience more or less surroun- ding you, the folded duplicate safely loa- ded and your assisting spectator holding out his hand, cut the deck and establish an angle jog (or simply a break} above the former top card in preparation for a dribble force. Execute this force, dribb ling the cards onto the spectator's hand, 45, asking him to stop you whenever he likes. To make sure the cards do not spill all across his hand and to the floor, you can use your left hand to support and steady his (Photo 4). At the moment he stops you, let all the cards below the jog (or break) drop onto his hand. Hand the rest of the cards to another specta~ tor. Show the top card of your assistant’s pile around, emphasizing that you will not peek at the card, then put it backon top of the pile and briefly pick up all the cards from his hand. Ask him to keep his hand there as a table for a second. This prevents him from drop: ping his hand to the side, prematurely revealing the folded c who might happen to look there. You will apparently lose the selection anywhere in the packet, actually justadding five cards on top of it using a jog shuffle as follows: Undercut half the packet, run five cards on top of the selection, injog the next card and shuf- fle off. Establish a break under the Injog, shuffle off to this break and throw the rest on top. The selection ends up sixth from the top. Briefly and clearly explain the “duel”: You are going to show your spectator one card after the other and place them onto his hand. As soon as his selection is on his hand, he is to slap his other hand on top of it as quickly as he can. You try to sneak the card away before he can get it. He has the advantage of knowing the card while you have to watch him closely in order to know when to strike, But of course, you have years of training. Asa trial-run, place the first card onto the spectator’s hand very delicately and ask him to quickly slam his other hand on top. This rehearsal serves a triple purpose: First and most importantly, the spectator overcomes any possible inhibi tions he might have really to hit his hand and the card very quickly. If he is overly hesitant, do it again, coaching him to really go for it! Secondly, the other spectators can easily see what this is all about, And finally, you can make some amusing comments along the lines of: “Oh, you're fast! Let me try this with someone else!” further building the conflict. Also, tell him to keep the card covered with his hand in case he gets it. Otherwise, you explain, you could wait until he let’s go of his card and quickly sneak it away afterwards. In fact, this is to ensure he doesn’t look at the card too early. As long as he holds his supposed selection between his hands, it will be you who controls the timing. Then the game starts for real. You give the signal and start to clearly show card after card and place them onto his hand. For the fourth card do a double turn- over. Make sure to mention the name of this card: "The Two of Diamonds, maybe?” Turn the double card face- down again and place the top card onto his hand. The next card is a double again and the selection will show. Place the top card onto his hand and -WHAM! his hand crashes down on top of it. After a short pause, say: "Ah, that was close... am glad I got it at all!” To your spectators, the first part of this sounds like a weak excuse. The second sentence should cause some irritation. Pause meaningfully to give your specta- tors time to suspect the unbelievable. Point to his hands and say: “Ten of Spa des, right?” '. “Take a look.” He will look at the top card in his hand, fully expecting his Ten of Spades. Instead, he will find the card that has been put there before — the Two of Diamonds. ' Pointing to his hands as you name the card is purposely ambiguous. The sentence and the gesture in effect say two different things: “Your card was the Ten of Spades” and "The Ten of Spades is between your hands”, By confirming, that his card was indeed the Ten, he cannot help aso confirming that the card is stil between his hands. This effectively dramatizes the moment he discovers his card missing: after all it was stil there a moment ago — hasn’t he said so himset!?‘As you named this card earlier most spectators will realize this actually is the card that came before the Ten of Spades. Most of the time, the spectator checks all the cards in his hands. As he holds only five cards, pacing remains mostly under your control. This, of course, is the first climax, ‘As those of you who regularly perform “Reflex” know, the reaction at that point can be quite strong and last a while. I think it is important to let the spectators fully appreciate this moment before revealing the second climax. Given enough time, some spectators might even inquire about the selected card themselves. Only when you have all their attention again, explain: “1 | sneaked your card out there just before you could get it, and then I folded it | exactly in half. Then, I folded it in half again. It took me about twenty milli- seconds. Did you look at your watch?" Usually, you will get some irritated laughs, as some of your spectators might not be sure what to believe anymore. After a final pause simply say: “Look at your watch.” (Photo 5). Credits and Comments Credit obviously goes to Paul Harris, whose modern classic “Reflex” was first described by Michael Ammar for the ‘Magical Arts Journal. A very complete description can be found in Paul Harris’, The Art of Astonishment Vol.3, “Whack Your Pack” pp.207, USA 1996. A big Thank-You goes to Andreas Buchty from Freiburg, together with whom the idea of combining “The Card Under the Spectator's Watch” with Paul Harris’ “Reflex” was developed. Mare Kanert from Frankfurt also experimented along the same lines. As this ending uses a duplicate card, the selection cannot be freely thought-of as in the original handling, On the other hand, this allows you to control the exact moment the selection appears. For me, the timing works best with the card being the fifth one shown as described.Furthermore, the fact that the selection is controlled to a known position allows you to take single cards very clearly before doing the two double turnovers. This of course helps to cancel the idea of a switch. A similar handling is also used by Christian Scherer from Switzer- land who published his version of “Reflex” in Scherer, Christian, Karten ala carte, ,Reflexartig“, pp. 172, Thun, 1997, The effect of a folded card appearing under a spectator’s wristwatch has seen print before in an effect by Norman Beck, which can be found in Genii Magazine, vol. 58 No 7, p. 513, May 1995. This routine is all about conflict (and you may want to have a very tall or strong spectator assist you for this effect, silently emphasizing this aspect.) How- ever, this conflict is about the situation, not about the spectator. Dramatize the “duel” as much as you can but at the same time make it very clear, that it has nothing to do with your helper as a per- son. You may talk about your “years of practise” and that nobody has ever bea- ten you, etc. This way, without losing the necessary tension, you take the sting out of the personal aspect, and your as- sistant will be happy having played with a professional, instead of feeling foolish because he “lost”. For me, the most difficult aspect of “Reflex” always was the reproduction of the missing card. The spectator’s reaction to finding the selection missing from his hands often creates a huge off-beat. If this relaxation lasts a while, pulling the card out of the pocket or even the wallet afterwards is hardly surprising anymore; after all you could have placed the card anywhere while everybody was distracted. Having the card appear under the spectator’s watch, however, does not suffer from that pro- blem. The reaction from the “vanish” of the card, as strong and lasting as it may be does not weaken the final revelation of the card. The other small contributions High Noon may have to offer are placing the cards onto the spectator’s hand instead of onto the table and the brief rehearsal with the spectator before starting the actual contest. Apart from making it possible to perform the routine without a table, which in turn allows for a group to gather around, giving the conflict kind of an “arena” or “street-fight”-feel, placing the cards onto the spectator’s hand usually makes for a better WHACK! Whereas most spectators hesitate to slap a table set with full wine-glasses and silverware, few have any trouble hitting cards on their hand. The rehearsal with the spectator makes sure you really get a strong, dramatic moment.