Card Tricks
Duel Match
£12.00 from ://
www.alakazam.co.uk
http://www.alakazam.co.uk/acatalog/Alak ... .html#a716
The Effect.
You explain that you bought a deck of cards recently from a car boot sale for the bargain price of 10p, but unfortunately when you got them home you found out that you had been ripped off.
You take the cards out of the box, and show that although there are 52 different cards (at this point you can spread the faces), that unfortunately there are also 52 different backs. Turning the cards over you now spread them ad show that indeed all the backs are different.
You now explain that you were going to throw them away, but decided that you could actually do some magic with them, and so decided to keep them.
So the scene is set.
You take out a small brown envelope, and explain that you have a prediction in it. You place it on the table and tell the spectators to keep track of it. You could even ask them to put it in their pocket, or just cover it with a hand.
You then show the deck face down again, and ask the spectator to freely select one of the backs. When they are happy with the selection, take it out and place it on the table face down. You then turn the cards face up and again ask a spectator to choose one of the cards. When done again removing it and placing it on the table face up.
You now say that that was strange, and ask for the envelope to be returned.
You open the envelope, and remove the card. Unfortunately it is obvious that the prediction card has neither the back nor the face of the two selected cards.
Has the trick gone horribly wrong? Are the spectators already starting to snigger? No!
You explain that as you saw the back that was chosen, and the face card that was chosen, you didn’t want to be accused of somehow slipping the prediction card in the envelope afterwards, so instead – you predicted the face of the chosen back card, and the back of the chosen face card – and with a flourish – you flip over the two freely chosen spectators card.
Got em!!!
Difficulty. 1/5
1=Even I can do it, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Very easy. If there was a rating less than one. This would be it.
Review.
This is one of the tricks I saw Peter Nardi demonstrate at the convention, and it was getting some very good reactions. It may not be rocket science, but it is probably one of the easiest card tricks to do. Ever. There really is nothing to go wrong.
I have shown it several times now, and I love that smug look you get on some people as the trick seems not to have worked. Also the patter about the car boot sale seems to go down fairly well as it not only explains why you have such a deck, but it makes the trick a little different from other card tricks.
Rating. Effect/item: 9/10, Quality of goods: 10/10, Value for money: 9/10
Bottom Line.
I have been diligently practicing my sleights, passes, counts, forces etc. and bit by bit – very slowly I am getting better each day.
However I still think it’s nice to do the odd trick every now and again that requires absolutely no work whatsoever from the magician. With this trick I can just have fun with the patter. I can concentrate 100% on the performance and presentation and not have to worry about anyone getting suspicious with a dubious DL, or an erroneous elmsley count.
In short this trick is good for practicing the non sleight skills, and frankly from a spectators point of view is just as powerful as a trick that takes great skill and dedication to perform.
So make life easy for yourself, and give it a go.