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I am doing the Clock Miracle from Andrew Murray's DVD. Without giving away the secret, let me say that the 13th card down is red backed in a blue back deck.

I ask the spectator to think of a number between 1 and 12 and to remove that many cards from the top of the deck. Forget that their picking 12 creates a unique problem for the moment. It is not easy to remove cards from the deck without accidentally spreading a few cards. As you can see this puts the risk of the red backed card being exposed while I have my back turned. Indeed, when I tried it with my wife the cards slid to the side and the red card boldy announced itself.

I can't ask them for their number and deal myself; the number is supposed to be a secret. Clearly, I can't hold the cards--the spectator would say that's how I knew how many cards they had taken.

Can any creative mind come up with a solution to my dilemma. This is a nice trick for amateurs, with three different climax points, so I would like to perform it without having this potential pitffall always present.

Hmm, that does indeed seem like a fairly serious pitfall!

I would demonstrate how to do it, then give the packet to them. They might just try to do it their own way, but more than likely they will want to cooperate and will mimic the way you held the deck etc.

When you demonstrate you could therefore hold the deck in a sort of palm-up grip (a bit like mechanics but lower, perhaps with the left index finger over the top of the deck) and pull of the cards from the lower short end of the deck towards you one by one. Does that make sense?

In short - figure out the best way to do it yourself, then demonstrate this method to them, even if only casually. Chances are they'll follow suit (so to speak )

Failing that, dealing cards one at a time off a tabled deck is likely to keep them in reasonable alignment, because it almost inevitably involves a sort of "self-squaring" motion of the thumb, otherwise the pack would start to slide all over the place.

Hope some of that helps.

Thank you for the prompt response. It may not be the perfect solution, but it's loads better than just letting them pick cards off a face down deck. I might even add "Please hold onto the deck until I turn around ... " + some magic waffle reason!

an envelope or a card box?

as for the twelve problem - cant you cover that with "pick any number you like, so for example, if you take 12, deal 12 out like this...please now do not use twelve as i dont want to influence just now..."

by saying that, you are indirectly saying "i will influence you at some point this evening, just not at the moment..."

Hmmm. Nice idea. It wouldn't work to deal off 12 cards because that would expose the red backed card. However, if I were to put 24 cards on top of the red card; then demonstrate how to deal--using the first 12 cards--then I could casually slip these 12 cards on the bottom, and everything is set.

By George! I think we've got it!

Thank you both for your help .

Hi George -
Glad to be of service. I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong) Abraxus meant that you have to actually demonstrate using 12 cards, but it's a well known way to narrow a "free choice" down to within the bounds of what you are prepared for. You can ask them directly not to choose it, "choose any card, but not something obvious like an ace..."


...or simply by mentioning it you eliminate it for them. "Choose a coloured shape, something like a blue square..."





...anyone thinking of a red triangle?!
So in your case, even if you only peel off 3 cards and lay them down, if you say "for instance, if you choose 12..." as you're demonstrating, they're far less likely to choose 12. Probably less likely to choose 3 too...

I'm not sure exactly what the effect is, but it sounds similar to one called 'Magic Time' in one of Nicholas Einhorn's books - The Art of Magic and Sleight of Hand'.

In one of his workings, he suggests the use of a marked 13th card (the same colour as all the rest though). Therefore, you can get your spectator to move the appropriate number of cards from the top to the bottom without fear that they will notice anything amiss. If they do get a glimpse of it, they'll not register anything amiss.

Then, you can take the cards back, deal them face down in a clock pattern, and immediately know their thought-of hour before any cards are turned over, just by looking for the marked card.

Obviously, when they are turned over, you can reveal your prediction - whatever the 13th card was. Perhaps you could build your clock around a face-down duplicate card in the middle?

If you're talking about another effect entirely, apologies.

TerryC wrote:It is not easy to remove cards from the deck without accidentally spreading a few cards. As you can see this puts the risk of the red backed card being exposed while I have my back turned. Indeed, when I tried it with my wife the cards slid to the side and the red card boldy announced itself.

Other people have come up with some good ideas already, but I thought I'd just stick my nose in anyway.

How about, instead of turning your back while they deal off, tell them to place their hands under the table or behind their back as they deal, with the excuse being you don't want to see how many they've picked?

You may also be able to solve the problem by applying the Rough/Smooth principle to the odd backed card and one other.

queen of clubs wrote:

TerryC wrote:It is not easy to remove cards from the deck without accidentally spreading a few cards. As you can see this puts the risk of the red backed card being exposed while I have my back turned. Indeed, when I tried it with my wife the cards slid to the side and the red card boldy announced itself.

Other people have come up with some good ideas already, but I thought I'd just stick my nose in anyway.

How about, instead of turning your back while they deal off, tell them to place their hands under the table or behind their back as they deal, with the excuse being you don't want to see how many they've picked?

I like this idea. I really don't like turning my back on a spectator. Rather then put their hands behind their back where another might spot the problem why not under a large handkerchief? Also although this is lame you can enforce choosing a number between 1 and 12 with a follow up story about a previous experience who you asked somebody to choose BETWEEN 1 and 12 and they chose 12, I don't know where they grew up but where I grew up between meant exactly that, BETWEEN 1 and 12! Okay its a technique I've never used becuase I don't put myself in those situations but thats just me.

But I do like the idea of having them do the counting undercover.