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EDIT:

ok. i performed my tossed out deck routine this morning in school and it went fantastic
a deck was shuffled and examined before hand, rapped up and thrown out. four different people got to look at a card and after a few jokes i went through naming their cards. i asked them to sit down if their card had been called and all sat down. i was quite shocked at the applause i got at the end but I'm not complaining

as a side note: this routine is very good! i would reccommend anybody to try it out. i don't do stage but i gave this a shot and it teachers you a lot.

so thanks to everybody who helped

If you're sitting done, furtively lap the deck but pretend to still be holding onto it. Then you say something like this: "Well, that's all I the tricks I can use with cards right now, how about I throw this deck out?" Then throw the deck into the air and it magically "disappears". Probably not the best idea, but I think it would get some good reactions.

that's not bad

unfortunately...it is quite a big crowd...and i wont be sitting down during any part of it... i will be following the deck up and down the isle...amking sure everything is going well! lol

Urg. I'm not really good with big crowds and doing magic. Like I've said before, I'm more of a one on one or one on small group kind of person. But if you're doing a big crowd, maybe after naming the five cards the specs picked, you could do a production of the five cards, only the cards are jumbo-sized. Or you could produce the jumbo cards when you call out the cards.

Mikey.666 wrote:that's not bad

unfortunately...it is quite a big crowd...and i wont be sitting down during any part of it... i will be following the deck up and down the isle...amking sure everything is going well! lol

Doesn't seem like there's really enough time if you're not familiar with a Topit, but it would make for a very visual and direct, standing disappearance of the deck; it seems you're taking the mental magic approach, so with monker's patter line I can imagine that playing well.

With a suitable build-up, naming five cards that have been merely thought of is a pretty damned good finish. Anything further would be anti-climatic, don't you think?

Like I asked earlier, do you use a rotating stack or a straight three way deck with the cards together? You could put together a four way deck, use four specs, and tell them to take from different parts of the deck "to make things more random." Just fan out a quarter of the deck and have the first spec choose one. Do the second quarter with the second spec and so on. Then you can name each card each individual is thinking of, going through a good bit of build-up. A switch can be done in the pocket after the routine for a deck missing the four cards held by the spectators. Return them to the real deck and move on.

Just some thoughts,
Rob

Rob

sounds like a plan.

do you think that a prediction at the end of everything would be good.

for example "now, i new that you guys were going to pick those cards. i had a premonition while i was eating my weetabix this morning. so, just incase i forgot, i wrote them down." then i could turn a big whiteboard or something around and reveal four cards written down.

just a thought

what do you think?

I think a prediction as climax in this situation is ill-advised. The whole premise of the Tossed Out Deck is how fair everything looks. You hardly touch the cards (and you can finish the routine without ever touching them again) at all, so all of the heat is off the deck. With the right presentation, it will look like genuine mind reading.

Pulling out a prediction afterwards will put suspicion back on the deck. As Rob said - and you'll see it when you go out and perform it. This routine will get strong reactions.

However, if you're looking for a way to lengthen the routine and make the revelations seem more "personal" check out Wayne Dobson's TOD.

I agree with Demitri. Another outstanding effect of the same genre is Richard Osterlind's (I believe) Radar Deck. If you're comfortable with a bit of fishing, it'll be a piece of cake and get some kick-ass (can I say that?) reactions.

EDIT: Come to think of it, the idea of a tossed out deck is for it to be "tossed out." After all, it's not called the "walk along beside of the" deck!

you're over complicating it!

no need to stack a 3, 4 way deck at all...

just keep it simple - a 3 way deck or whatever...but increase the size of people looking at a card...six people or more...

you dont have to point to people and name their particular card do you! - you can just name "some" cards and then say "if i've said your card - please sit down/raise your arm" or whatever is suitable...

As an alternative suggestion, instead of having the specs all sit down, at the end of your card-naming, why not keep them sitting to begin with, and have them all stand at the climax?

Seems a great way to prompt a full standing-ovation to me?

Max Maven does an excellent version of this on his Videomind series

robstanley1 wrote:Seems a great way to prompt a full standing-ovation to me?

Actually, that would be a great little test of mob psychology. Get a few people standing up, and everyone would do the same. And if all goes according to plan they'll clap, too.

abraxus wrote:you're over complicating it!

no need to stack a 3, 4 way deck at all...

just keep it simple - a 3 way deck or whatever...but increase the size of people looking at a card...six people or more...

you dont have to point to people and name their particular card do you! - you can just name "some" cards and then say "if i've said your card - please sit down/raise your arm" or whatever is suitable...

I've performed two versions of the "tossed out deck" in front of real live spectators: Gazzo's version (the "point to a spec" version) and Osterlind's Radar deck. The latter has earned me much stronger reactions.

With the Gazzo-esque version, the specs take a look at a card and are likely to riffle through the pack to find one. With a straight 3-way deck, that's a risk I wouldn't want to take. In Osterlind's version, you openly and freely show the cards and have several simply thought of. Given the choice, I'd perform Radar deck in a heartbeat, followed by the repeated stack.

It's a personal preference, I suppose. I choose never to settle for something that is susceptible to failure or exposure in an effect of this sort!

Ciao,
Rob

In Kenton Knepper's "Little Book of Wonders", he has the classic handling, but adds a reading to it. If doing a short reading suits your style, you might want to check it out.