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I came across a card trick that requires me to dispose of 10 unnecessary cards. In the tutorial they simply counted off the 10 cards without any comment. I, of course, am more creative than that, so I invented a different approach and tried it on my wife.

I told here i had a new trick called "Green Bottles--you know the ones that were hanging on the wall". I presented the trick and when I reached this point I asked if she remembered the name of the trick. She did, and I asked how many bottles were on the wall to start; "Seven!" she announced. "No!" She recovered and announced "One hundred!" My intention was to post here and ask for a suggestion that would be more likely to get the right answer. However, as I thought about it, I realized that I was totally off base.

The mystery is best when the discarding of the 10 cards is almost incidental--much like they did in the tutorial. So, I wonder if anyone knows a way to drop 10 cards (out of about 20-25) without drawing attention to it.

I should mention that cutting to exactly 10 cards is not within my skill level (I'm just a hobbyist)--but the trick is simple to perform, and had a stunning effect of my good lady.

Could you put a breather crimp in so you can cut to the cards easily?

I was going to suggest a short card to help with the cut. Personally, I'd probably keep things nice and simple, a false shuffle, cut the deck to loose the unneeded cards and then just get on with the effect.

artychris wrote:Could you put a breather crimp in so you can cut to the cards easily?

Good suggestion, but the 20-25 cards consist of five or six small piles gathered up. so putting a crimp at card # 10 would require counting again. But you have given me an idea.

When I pick up the cards I could start to count them out. "Accidentally" stop at 10 and replace them--keeping a pinky break--announcing, "No, let's do it the hard way!" Pause "We'll just use half of these cards, and discard half" Of course, dropping the 10 cards and then continuing.

Appreciate you help.

Glad to be of help!

And I like the casual style solution you've come up with! (For some reason, it makes me think of some of Joe Barry's stuff!)