talkmagic.co.uk

perusing a recent article in Genii by Jon Rachabaumer . he mentioned a principle that seems not to have been used before. Well i tried it out last night and think he could be on to something. great re action...he didnt invent this , its out of some obscure maths book i think.

You shuffle the cards and and mention that Red cards will be Girls and black card will be boys ( or cats and dogs etc). Cut the pack approx in half and give Alice and Bob half each to re shuffle again.

This is as fair as it gets folks for an audience.

First effect
Choose a half and deal each player ( put the other half aside) until the half is exausted. You state that now Bob will have the same number of Boys as Alice has girls. After they count out thier cards Bob indeed has the same number of black cards ( Boys) as Alice has Reds ( Girls)

Second effect
Now tell them to re shuffle their piles and put them down. Tell Bob to take any amount of cards from his pile ( say 5 cards) and put them onto Alices pile and then tell Alice to shuffle her pile. Then tell Alice to put any 5 cards back onto Bobs pile. When they re count both still have the same amount of Boys and Girls

Third
Take both piles and shuffle them together so you have the original half of the pack again. Insist that the spec shuffles not the magi.

and deal down 4 cards into s small heap and put aside for the finale

Say , look we will deal out all the cards and leave the 4 cards until last. Alice and Bob are then dealt down another hand each and are told only to keep the boy or girl cards and put all remaining cards back on the half that hasnt been used as they wont be required. There are now just Boy and Girls cards on the table ( for a cleaner finish) other than the remaining 4 cards.

Alice and Bob now have a pile of Girls and Boys in front of them and neither knows how many the other has. The 4 remaining cards are now dealt. Bob is told to take any card and push it into his pile and then Alice does the same and then repeat again so the 4 cards are dealt out.

They then both turn the piles face up and discard any unrequired reds of Blacks from their piles. Bob still has the same number of Boys ( blacks) as Alice has Reds ( Girls)

Its pretty amazing and you could do this with a pack of say Dogs ,Cats and Mice and one side will always get the same amount of Dogs as say Cats.. and they shuffle

Thanks Jon, im sure this principle will be usefull. The above effect was invented after five minutes so im sure others will prosper with it