A Tipsy Trick

A chosen card is found reversed in the deck under peculiar circumstances. The trick is an amusing one and is used by many of the best card conjurers in their intimate performances.

1. "Magicians often have disconcerting adventures. I would like to show you something that happened to me the other night. To illustrate the mishap exactly, will you select a card?" Offer the deck to a spectator and have a card chosen.

2. "Remember that card, please. Better show it to the others so that they can enjoy the fun. Right? Replace the card, please." Control the chosen card to the top by the overhand shuffle control .

3. "At this point I always hand the cards out to a spectator to be shuffled. Generally they shuffle like this." Shuffle overhand, running the chosen card to the bottom and back to the top. Then make another overhand shuffle , retaining the card there. "That is called the overhand shuffle, and with long practice it is easy to follow the movements of the chosen card among the others.

4. "Sometimes the cards are shuffled like this." Split the deck and execute an end-to-end riffle shuffle , finishing with the waterfall flourish retaining the chosen card at the bottom. "That is somewhat more confusing, but with a keen eye the gyrations of the card can still be followed.

5. "On rare occasions someone will use the Chinese shuffle, like this." Spring the cards from hand to hand and bring the hands together with a loud slap. "That really is confusing, but nothing to what happened to me the other night. I offered the deck to a lady to shuffle, and a man just behind her reached out and grabbed the cards. 'Here, I'll migsh 'em up for you,' he said. He'd evidently had

several drops too many, so I knew I was in for it. This is what he did."

6. Holding the deck face downwards in your left hand in dealing position, with the left thumb push off a small packet of cards, say half a dozen, over the side of the deck. Turn your right hand with its back upwards, and take the packet with the thumb underneath and the fingers above; then turn that hand palm upwards, bringing the cards it holds face upwards.

7. Push off another small packet with the left thumb, and take them with the fingers of the right hand underneath the face-up packet it holds. Turn the right hand with its back upwards, and take another packet with the right thumb. Again turn the hand, this time palm upwards, and take some more cards with the fingers. Do this rather rapidly.

8. Continue these actions until one card only, the chosen card, remains in the left hand. Slap this card face down on the top card in the right hand, which will be face upwards. Throughout these movements simulate the actions of a slightly tipsy individual. Handle the cards sloppily and keep talking: "I'll migsh 'em up. Fash up, fash down, fash up, fash down, thash the way to migsh the cards," and so on.

9. "Finally he tried to square the deck." Do so, holding it in your left hand, the outer end between the thumb and middle finger toward the onlookers. The result of all the apparently higgledy-piggledy mixing has been simply to divide the deck into two portions, one face upwards and one face downwards; thanks to the bend given to the cards by the spring flourish, there will be a break between them at the inner end of the deck.

10. Seize the lower half by the end with your right hand, between the thumb and middle finger; draw it out with a little upward flourish and hold it face downwards against the table top. Follow this action with your gaze. Immediately move the left hand toward the right, turning it back upwards in the action, and place it beside the right hand in position for making a riffle shuffle . Both packets are now face downwards, whereas the chosen card is face upwards at the bottom of the left-hand packet. Riffle shuffle, dropping the chosen card first, and cover the shuffle with your hands so that no one can

see that the cards are all turned one way.

11. Square the deck, turn it over so that the single face-down card is uppermost, then cut at about the middle and complete the cut. The audience will be convinced that the cards are really face up or face down indiscriminately. "'There,' he said as he handed the deck back. 'The cards are migshed. Lash shee what you can do with 'em.' Well, he had me in a fix. The most skilful card conjurer living could not have followed the movements of the chosen card. Luckily I called to mind an emergency spell. 'Arbadacarba,' I muttered. That's abracadabra backwards and the most powerful incantation we have. Be very careful how you use it. If it has worked for me, all the cards will have righted themselves, face upwards, while the chosen card will remain face downwards. What was your card? The seven of diamonds? Let's see."

12. Spread the cards ribbonwise with a flourish, and they are seen to be all face upwards except one card in the middle, which is face downwards. With the tip of your right forefinger push this card forward out of line. Turn it slowly face upwards. It is the selected card!

The feat is one of the most amusingly effective tricks that can be performed for an intimate group.