n mfiGnzine OF innovnTion LXXXV
PRECURSOR
LXXXV
This is PRECURSOR LXXXV and is published in February 2003. PRECURSOR is edited by William P. Miesel and is published by unikorn magik. The editorial offices are at 2215 Myrtle Street, Erie, Pennsylvania, 16502-2643 (phone 1-814-454-8802). unikorn magik can be reached through Ed Eckl, "Clutter Cottage," 3 Gregg Street, Beverly, Massachusetts, 01915-2913 (phone 1-978-927-9388). PRECURSOR will be published more than three times a year, and it will be sold for $21.00 (U.S.) for three issues. Outside the United States, Canada, and Mexico, three issues are sent Air Mail for $25.00 (U.S.). Bob King provides us with "Matching Wits," which is an extremely entertaining routine that is built upon the principles that make up Karl Fulves' "Omega Bet" from More Self-Working Card Tricks. "Weekling" is a routine with a "punny title" from Phil Goldstein. This effect involves a prediction of a playing card that revolves around the spelling of one of the seven days of the week. Paul Cummins does not care for "pencil-dotted" cards and prearrangement, so he sent me "The Trick That NEVER Fails." This is a technical variation of "Bob's Delusion" by Bob King from Precursor LXXXIII. He finds this routine very satisfying for himself although somewhat more technically demanding than Bob's routine. Lou Gallo once told Dan Block that when guys do Riffle Shuffle work it looks like the Cardician is doing more work that they probably are. In Dan Block's "Shiffle-Shuffle," you are actually doing much less work than what could possibly be imagined. I received a note from Karl Fulves who was delighted with the "Treatise on 'A Study In Stud,'" which appeared in Precursor LXXXIII. When he was researching the subject, his exploration took him back to "Telephone Stud" in Math Miracles by Wallace Lee. There were a number of editions of this manuscript in the 1950's. Along these lines, Karl Fulves contributes "Thot By Wire" and "Source Code." What is interesting is that you can perform "Thot By Wire" and immediately repeat what appears to be the same trick performing "Source Code," which uses a completely different code. Sticking with the theme of codes, Hideo Kato gives us "Split Group Coding," which is another coding system that upon first reading seemed impossibly difficult. As I was editing it to make his translation perfectly clear, I realized that it was not near as difficult as it seemed on first reading. Still a bit of memory work is required. The strong point of this technique is that the spectators shuffle the cards just seconds before they are sent out to the medium. Marty Kane loves tricks that have an interesting patter story. In his "Double - Double Agent," two spectators acting as CIA agents select two new agents. They make a very poor choice because both of them turn out to be "double agents." "The Texas Spread" from Gary Ward gives us his handling of the "D'Amico Spread" along with a sample application. The important point of Gary's handling is a version that brings the secretly hidden card between the two spread face-up cards. William P. Miesel
MATCHING WITS The following is an entertaining routine based on Karl Fulves' "Omega Bet" in More SelfWorking Card Tricks, guaranteed to cause any audience to credit you with skill way out of proportion to the effort on your part. In this effect, your helper pushes a card face up into the deck. You are always able to tell him whether or not the card next to his will match it in color. This is repeated a few more times, each time, seemingly becoming more and more under his control. Finally, the deck is cut into several packets, and that many people push cards into their packet; someone does the same for you. The surprise ending comes when it is shown that none of the spectators has managed to match the color of their inserted card. However, when your pair is turned over, it is seen that yours is the only match. To prepare for this effect, set up the cards for the "Gilbreath Principle" by alternating the colors with a red card on the back of the deck, followed by a black card, then a red, and another black, etc. To understand this principle, take the top two cards, a red on top of a black, off the deck and lay them face up off to the side. To illustrate the secret to this effect, take the face-up red card and push it face up into the deck. Now, pick up the deck and push off the top two cards, keeping them in the same order. Drop these two cards face down onto the table. Push off two more and drop them onto the first two. Continue until you get to the face-up red card and the card, which is paired with it. Turn the face-down card face up and it will be seen that the two cards match in color. Replace the original (pushed in) card with the black face-up card that is off to the side. Flip the matched card face down onto the cards in your hand, and drop these cards on top of the dealt pairs. The deck is back in order. If you would have taken the black face-up card and pushed it into the deck, the pair arrived at by dealing would not have matched. That's the whole secret: if the pushed-in card matches the top card of the deck, the arrived-at pair will always match and vice versa. Begin the performance by bringing out the deck with a red card on top. Take off the top two cards, turn them face up and place them in front of your helper. Ask him to pick up one of the cards and push it face up into the deck. The minute he picks up a card, you know whether or not it will cause a match; i.e., if he picks up the red card, the pair arrived at will match; if he picks up the black card, they will not match. Announce your prediction and go through the process of dealing pairs of cards. After showing that you were correct, restore the order of the deck as explained above. At this point, I repeat the above, but I cut one card from the top to the bottom so that the top card is now black. This way, if he picks up the red card again, I can announce that the two cards will not match. During the third stage, I claim, "Maybe, you think that I am able to calculate the result by watching where you push the card into the deck. " For that reason, I tell him, "/ will attempt to do it with my back turned. " Have him pick up one of the face-up cards and you immediately know whether or not there will be a match. Turn your head away and have him push the card into the deck. While your head is turned, announce your prediction. Turn around, take the deck and go through the dealing process. Return the deck to its proper order.
Now announce the outcome before he even picks up one of the two face-up cards. Tell him that no matter which card he uses and no matter where he places that card, the outcome will be a match. Let him pick up a card. If he picks up the card you know will cause a match, do nothing - let him go through the procedure. If he picks up the wrong card, pick up the other one and place it on top of the deck. Now, let him go through the procedure. Either case results in a match. In both cases see below before reassembling the cards. To set up for the climax, do one of two things depending upon what has just transpired. If he picked the correct card, clean up the deck as you did each previous time and drop the face-up card onto the other one on the table. Pick up both cards, as they lay, and flip them face down onto the deck. Notice that the top two cards are transposed - this is correct. If, on the other hand he picked up the wrong card in the last stage, perform the following action: Table the two face-up cards off to the side. Double Cut the top card of those in your hand to the bottom and drop this packet onto the face-down tabled packet. Turn the two face-up cards face down and drop them on top, making sure that they are transposed as above. The deck is now back in the proper order; i.e., the entire deck will be alternated except for the top two cards. Take out a One Hundred-Dollar Bill and propose a challenge. Several people including yourself try to make a match. The first one to do so will win the $100. Have one helper cut off about a quarter of the deck and place it in front of you. From the remainder of the deck, have each of three persons cut off packets for themselves. All four of you now take the top card of your packet, turn it face up and push it into the packet. In fact, I always have another spectator do mine so that I'm not accused of cheating. All four of you now do the dealing of pairs until coming to the face-up card and its mate. You'll find that none of the other three helpers have a match, but you do. Pick up the $100 bill and pocket it. If you stop and analyze this you'll see why it works. When they take the top card off their packet, it will be a different color than the one now on top of the packet; and therefore, cannot match its mate. Since you were given the top quarter of the deck, your top two cards were reversed and will automatically create a match. Bob King
Bob King can be counted on to come up with these sneaky little bits like "Matching Wits". Thanks, Bob. How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterward. Spanish proverb
I told my doctor that I thought I was suffering from CFS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. He looked at me and said, "Hell, you're just lazy!" After my retirement, my years of latent laziness syndrome surfaced with a passion, so I embraced idleness with the same passion. My doctor was right! Ed Eckl