talkmagic.co.uk

As stated elsewhere on the forum, I've recently acquired a glorpy. The thing I want it for isn't ready yet, but I wanted to get some practice with the glorpy up front, so devised the following quick, simple and direct card effect to practice my gerkulations on.

Lay the hank out and have a card freely selected. While the card is being looked at and remembered, get ready for tilt, but with two cards instead of just one. Take the selection and complete the tilt, placing the selection third from the top.

Push off the top five cards while saying "we need a few cards for this... how many do we have..." or something similar.

Ghost count the five as four face up and drop them face down into the hank. I feel the ghost count works better when it's used as a count (logical) instead of a display (illogical). The display should be incidental; this makes more sense and takes a little heat off the repeated cards. Give the spectator the rest of the deck to look after.

Maybe as an afterthought, make sure with the spec that the selection wasn't among the four cards. Don't forget, though, that you've just pushed the card into the middle of the deck, so there's no way it should be in the top four cards. Overproof? Overproof. If you like, you can save this question for before the reveal.

Gerkulate away, then gingerly unfold the hank and ask the spec to remove the cards and count them face down back into it. They will find an extra card. Ask them to name their selection, then get them to turn the cards face up.

Za zoo za.

Alternatively, don't treat the card as a secret. Have it returned to the deck face up. Once you've glorpied about, have the spec spread the deck to find no face up card. Ask spec to fan the cards in the hanky to find their selection.

A very nice idea, Mr Grue.

I don't think asking the spectator if their card was among the four is overproving, but there is a slight tension between that request and casually showing the cards a bit earlier. They might not have been paying attention, if you were too casual, but then want to go back and check.

Obviously, I would like to think most people are savvy enough to make sure that their card isn't among those few when you show them, but you never know. Perhaps name them, as you go through the display:

"We've the four of Hearts, the two of Clubs, the Jack of Clubs and the nine of Diamonds. Yes, those four cards should be fine."

Of course, you never say why those four should be fine. Then again, maybe I am over-thinking this; the original idea sounds pretty much perfect.

Thanks. It's a bit Hilford, but if you unfold the hank and then ask them to confirm that their card was not there initially, whether they saw it or not, they will be glad to. Maybe.