Spectator’s Card Trick

Sooner or later you will meet the man who insists upon taking the pack in his own hands and then challenges you to do a trick. The following feat is useful on such occasions:

1. Secretly glimpse the top card of the pack , which we will say is the four of hearts. False shuffle the cards, retaining the four of hearts at the top.

2. Hand the pack to a spectator, saying, "It is curious that so many people suspect a magician of conniving and subterfuge. I assure you that the things I do simply happen–I have no control over the cards. To show you what I mean, let's pretend that you are the magician and I am the spectator. First of all, you must spread the cards and invite me to remove one."

3. Remove a card and glance at the card guardedly. You do not care what card it is since it plays no part in the trick, but a good satiric impersonation of a canny spectator can be amusing. "Now," you say, "tell me to replace my card." When he does so, cautiously insert the card about halfway down in the pack and push it flush. Have him square the cards. "You see how simple it is? Now all you have to do is find my card and produce it in some surprising manner."

4. Your assistant will be forced to admit that he cannot do this. "Then you must appeal to others," you say. "Ask this gentleman. Have him name some number, say between ten and twenty, and no doubt my card will be at this number."

5. Someone names a number, say fourteen. Have your assistant deal fourteen cards face downwards, reversing their order. "My card was the four of hearts," you say, naming the card you glimpsed in step No. 1. "Look at the next card." He looks at the card at the top of the rest of the pack, but it is not your four of hearts. Have him turn it face downwards and replace the dealt cards on the pack.

6. "Horrible experience, wasn't it?" you say sympathetically. "It has happened to me, too. But when something goes wrong, always blame it on the spectator. Tell him he wasn't concentrating. Then ask someone else to name a number, say a number between twenty and thirty."

7. Have a second spectator name such a number. Let us say it is twenty-five. Have your assistant deal twenty-five cards face downwards, thus reversing their order, and look at the next card on the pack. It still is not your four of hearts. Have it turned face downwards and the dealt packet replaced.

8. "Well," you say, "you've not done very well, have you? I'm afraid I'll have to take over." Take the pack from him and give it a little shake. "I think that will do it," you comment. "Now, I believe in the happy medium. The first number was fourteen and the second was twenty-five, and the difference between the two is eleven. To find my card, I will deal eleven cards, like this–" (here you deal off eleven cards) "–and the next card is my card, the four of hearts!" Turn this card face upwards and show that it actually is the four of hearts.

The trick is entirely automatic if the above procedure is followed. It is only necessary to have the first spectator name a number between ten and twenty, the second a number between twenty and thirty.