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Discoverie

© 1C I(arl Issue No. 1


Use any deck. Explain to the specta-
•• John Scarne tor that you want to use two royal
flushes of the same color. Ask him to
•• Power Play name either red or black. Say he

• chooses black. Remove the royal flush


in spades. Don't concern yourself
• This is a version of a classic match- with the order of the cards in the roy-
• ing effect with cards. The trick is al flush. Just remove the five cards as
• something of a curiosity in that the you get to them and drop them into a
• magician doesn't know how the face-down heap on the table.
• trick is done until the spectator tells
• him how it's done.Two royal flushes Then remove the other same-color
• are removed from the deck. The royal flush, in this example clubs.
• magician arranges one poker hand Drop them into a face-up heap on the
• in a certain order. The spectator ar- table but here you must remember
• ranges the other in a random order. the order of the cards. Just remember
• As the cards in the two hands are the values as you drop them to the
• turned up, it is seen that they match table. Say the order is A J-10-Q K
• card for card all the way through. from back to face. Turn this heap
• face-down.
• Tricks of this kind are usually pat-
• terned after Hen Fetch's "Symbo- Remark that good poker players de-
• logic," and almost always make use velop the skill of anticipating how the
• of an extra card and the one-ahead other fellow is going to act. As you
• (or one-behind) principle. The fol- say this, pick up the royal flush in
lowing trick does not use extra cards spades and arrange these cards in

• or the one-ahead principle. identically the same order as the club
• group, in this case A J-10-Q K from
• Here, the only cards in play are the top to bottom. Square the spade
• two poker hands. There are no extra flush, turn it face-down and drop it
• cards, no one-ahead, and no gim- on the table in front of you.
• micks or preparation. All cards are
• in view at all times. As yet you don't know how the trick
is going to proceed, but the spectator is a- There are now two rows of cards on the
bout to inform you of the procedure. Pick table, a row of face-up clubs and a row of
up the club flush. Hold it from above with face-down spades.
the left hand in Biddle grip. Explain that you
are going to deal his cards into a row on the Point to the leftmost face-up card. It is an
table in a sequence that he dictates. ace. Turn up the leftmost card in the mag-
ician's row. It is a matching ace. Repeat this
Ask him if he wants the top or bottom card. procedure from left to right, showing a per-
If he says top, deal the top card to the table, fect match on every card.
face-up, at your far left. For his second
choice, ask him if he wants the top or bot- Scarne ' s bottom deal for a small packet is de-
tom card. Say he wants the bottom card. scribed in Swindle Sheet #8 (1991). An ultra-
Openly remove this card and place it face-up simple bottom deal for a small packet was in-
on the table to the right of the first card. vented by Neal Elias and will be described in
the next issue of Discoverie.
Proceed in like manner with each of the re-
maining three cards. Say the spectator picks
top-bottom-top. Simply remember the se-
quence that the spectator chose for the five
cards, in this case top-bottom-top-bottom-
top. Of course the last is always `top ' since it
is a single card.

There are now five club cards in a face-up


row on the table. Martin Gardner
Pick up the spade flush. Hold it in left hand Short Armed
dealing grip. Deal these cards from left to
'
right under the spectator s cards, but in do-
ing so, follow the instruction the spectator (This strange little stunt has seen print in a
non-magic book, but is not well-known
j ust gave you. In this case, deal a top, then a among magicians. It is ideal for those occa-
bottom, then a top, then a bottom, and then
the last card. Of course, from the audience sions when the goal is to put someone in a
view, you are merely dealing the five cards in temporary trance state for the performance
order from the top of the packet. Deal your of an offbeat magical effect. While in the
cards from left to right directly under the trance state, the person ' s arms are shorter! )
spectator ' s cards.
Tell a person to stand in front of a wall and
stretch out both arms until the fingertips
touch the wall. Say you will now shorten his
arms. Ask him to put his arms behind his
back for about a minute, then reach out to
touch the wall again. His fingertips are now '
a
few inches away from the wall. I think it s a
matter of suggestion. At the start he stretches'
his arms hard. The second time he doesn t
'
stretch so hard. Anyway, it s a strange effect.

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Karl Fulves

F0fl0i Ordeca
This is a Follow The Leader effect which is packet in the left hand. The right hand takes
easy to perform. The only move is a virtually the top card by the ends. turns palm-up to
automatic double lift early on. Thereafter the show the face (deuce), and turns palm-down
routine is self-working. A novel angle in this again. The right hand moves to a position
approach is that reds and blacks are in ran- over the left-hand packet again. The right
dom order at the start, but when they follow thumb picks up the next card and adds it un-
the leader cards, they do so in numerical or- der the deuce. There are two cards in the
der. This does not necessarily add to the right hand at this point. Turn the right hand
magical content, but the strict numerical or- palm-up to show the ace. Then turn the
der lends an air of inevitability to the effect right hand palm-down again.
seen by the audience.
The right hand picks up the 3-spot and dis-
With the faces of the cards toward you, re- plays it. Then the right hand turns palm-
move any red ace thru five in mixed suits. down.
Arrange them in the order 2-A-3-5-4 from
the top down. Place this packet face-down The handling changes at this point. The
on the table. right hand picks up both cards above the
break, turns palm-up to show the face of the
Arrange five blacks in the same 2-A-3-5-4 or- 4-spot, and turns palm-down again.
der.
The right hand returns to the left-hand pack-
et, drops the four-spot on the packet and im-
mediately turns palm-up to show the five-
spot.

The right hand, now holding four cards,


turns palm-down and drops this packet on
the table in front of you.

Flip the left-hand packet face-up. Spread the


four face cards to the right to show five
blacks. Square this packet and drop it face-
Turn the black packet face-down and place it down onto the tabled packet of reds. The or-
in left hand dealing grip. der of the cards from the to down is red 4 -
five blacks- four reds. From this point the
Drop the red packet on top of the black pac- handling of the trick is automatic.
ket but establish a left fourth finger break
under the red packet. Deal the top five cards in a heap to the right.
Deal the remaining five cards in a heap to
You will now do a variation of a Horowitz the left.
display to show each of the five red cards.
The right hand moves to a position over the Turn up the top card of each packet. Each

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of these cards is a five-spot. Place them above Exchange the packets. Take the top card of
their respective heaps. each heap. Touch them to their respective
indicators. Shake your head. "These aren ' t
ready to go yet." Place the left-hand card to
the left side, the right-hand card to the right
side.
5 51 The face-down heaps have been reduced to a
single card in each. Openly exchange them.
Touch them to the indicator heap and turn
them face-up to reveal the twos.

Pick up the cards placed aside. Exchange


them. Touch them to the indicators and turn
Pick up a four-card packet in each hand. them face-up to reveal the aces.
Openly exchange them. Slide out the bottom
card of each packet. Touch them to their re-
spective indicators and turn them face-up.
The card on the left is the red four. Place it
on the red five. The card on the right is the
black four. Place it on the black five.

The starting point for the move described at


the beginning of this routine is the Horowitz
"Put Back Move" in The Pallbearers Review,
Exchange the packets. Take the top card of pg. 456. At the end of that write-up is a note
each. Touch these cards to their respective on an application to a Follow The Leader
indicators and turn them face-up. Place the routine, and "Following Orders" is the rou-
red three on the face-up reds, the black three tine in question. My application is to a dis-
on the face-up blacks. placement of a single card during a one-at-a-
ti me display, though it should be obvious
that the idea can be expanded into other ar-
eas.

Ed Marlo had a switchless switch that ac-


complished a swithout of cards. Ken Beale
had a one-at-a-time display that used a relat-
ed technique to conceal the fact that one
card in a group was double-faced, or that one
card in a group had a stranger back.

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screen. The left forefinger pushes the lower
of the two outjogged cards flush with the
Darren Bradley deck. At the same time, the right thumb
pulls the top card of the deck straight for-
Quick Predict ward, off the deck, and turns this card face-
up. Drop it to the table.

Somewhere along the way Mr. Bradley must Only one outjogged card shows, reinforcing
have won a Nerves of Steel contest because it the idea that the first outjogged card was
takes a certain deep courage to get away with honestly taken. Repeat the above action to
something like this. You must know the simulate the take of the other outjogged
spectator's date of birth before you start. card. Arrange them in proper order and ask
Without revealing this knowledge, ask for the spectator if this perchance corresponds to
the month he was born. He says March. his date of birth.
March is the third month, so a three spot is
removed from the deck and placed face-up DB credits the basic idea to Victor Comello.
on the table. The above write-up is from notes of 1979.

The deck is then spread face-down between


the hands. The spectator indicates two more
cards. These are outjogged. When turned
face-up, they may be a one and a nine. He
should be nonplused because he was indeed
born on the 19th of March.

You know the spectator was born on the Cold Cash


19th, so beforehand remove any ace and any For this little known bet a spectator is
9, and place them on top of the deck. That is asked to close his eyes and hold his
the preparation. hands palm up. A coin is balanced on
his right forefinger and another on his
To present the trick, spread the cards face- left. He is asked to guess which coin is
up, keeping the top two cards concealed heavier. After he makes his guess, he
from view. Ask him to indicate which month opens his eyes and discovers that al-
he was born in. Remove a card whose value though one coin appears to be decided-
corresponds to the month, i.e., any 3-spot if ly heavier, the coins are in fact identi-
he was born in the third month of the year. cal in weight.
Square the deck, turn it face-down and Beforehand, put a quarter on an ice
spread the cards between the hands. Have cube so as to make the coin cold. Have
him indicate two cards. Outjog them for the spectator close his eyes and extend
about a third of their length. Square the deck his hands. Balance this coin on the
side for side and place it in left hand dealing spectator's forefinger, and another
grip. quarter on his other forefinger.
Now then. Start to remove one of the out- The cold coin appears to be much
jogged cards by bringing the right hand ar- heavier.
ound to the front of the deck. The back of
the hand is toward the audience and acts as a

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WaltRolbne &Howazd Wiast

Han Pink Cheat


According to Bobo 's Coin Magic, the Han The left hand lifts its cup, Figure 1. The left
Ping Chien move was introduced to the ma- hand then dumps its coins onto the table at
gic fraternity in 1914 (though it is said that the exact, spot occupied by the right-hand
the move dates back to an earlier era.) The cup. Just as the coins and ring leave the left-
following trick is a nearly self-working ver- hand cup, the right hand lifts its cup out of
sion. the way, Figure 2.

Needed are two paper cups, six coins and a Place the left hand cup on the table. Drop
ring. It adds to the atmosphere if coins and the three visible coins back into the left hand
ring are exotic in appearance, though neither cup. Drop the ring into the right-hand cup.
coins nor ring are gimmicked. Pick up the right-hand cup with the right
hand. You are now at the position of Fig. 3.
One of the paper cups is gimmicked. The
bottom has been removed. Nest this cup into The right fingers squeeze the cup. This will
the other cup. Drop the coins inside and keep the three coins in place inside the cup.
drop the ring on top of all. Pretend to dump the coins and ring onto the
table at the exact spot occupied by the left-
Remark that you found a strange ring in an hand cup. As this is done, the left hand lifts
antique shop. Pour coins and ring onto the its cup out of the way, Figure 4.
table. Lift out the inner (bottomless) cup and
hold it in the left hand. The left little finger Place the right-hand cup on the table. Gath-
is curled under the cup. Put the other cup on er the three coins and drop them into the
the table. cup.

Drop three coins into the ungaffed cup. Slip the ring onto the right forefinger. "The
Drop the other three coins into the bottom- coins follow the ring. Watch." Wave the fin-
less cup. Drop the ring on top of all. The ger over the left-hand cup. Then drop the
coins and ring stay put because the little fin- ring into the right-hand cup.
ger acts as a stop.
Pause for dramatic effect. Then crumple the
"The coins follow the ring." Grasp the un- left-hand cup. At the same time dump all six
gaffed cup with the right hand. coins and the ring out of the right-hand cup.

This is a gag that can be used to open a close-up performance with a group of
laymen. Needed is a blank card about the size of a business card. If none is
available, one can use a piece of paper. The card is placed before a lady who is
seated at the table. The writing on the top of the card says, "Please turn me
over." She does. The writing on the other side says, "Thank you." It's just silly
enough to guarantee a laugh.

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. Karl Fulves

ATheoryof Space
(When The Book of Numbers was in prepara- The left thumb riffles to the midpoint of the
tion, several of the tricks were demonstrated deck. Lift this packet off with the right hand
for Harvey Rosenthal. He remarked that the and place it on the table.
move associated with "A Theory of Space"
and related material was similar to something Ask for a number from 1 to 10. Say that 5 is
Tom Ellis had worked out. Since the Ellis named. Grip the cards from above with the
move wasn't yet in print, I delayed publica- right hand. The right thumb takes over the
tion of this trick. The Ellis move was de- break. The left thumb pulls 4 cards off into
scribed in "Super Rise " in The Pallbearers Re- the left palm. The 5th card is flipped face-up
view, pg. 721.) and outjogged, Figure. 1. The right hand
moves to a position over the chosen card.
"The theory of space says that two objects The right middle finger pushes the chosen
can't occupy the same space at the same card out a bit more, Fig. 2A. At the same
ti me. If you have had the experience of hav- time, release the two cards below the break.
ing your mother-in-law move in with you,
I' m sure you will agree that there are excep- The left hand turns palm-down, a kind of
tions to the theory. This is another excep- wrist-turn action below the right-hand pack-
tion. " et. The left first finger pulls the chosen card
flush with the packet, Figure 2B. The sup-
You then do the trick where your prediction posed chosen card is then thumbed off onto
card, placed at a precise location in the deck, the table, Figure 2C.
turns out to be a card later chosen by the
spectator at that same location. This next adds to the deception. Turn bath
hands palm-up as you say, "You chose the
Use any deck. Take a card from the deck,but number five and the two of hearts." Turn the
don't show its face. "This is a prediction of right hand palm-down and drop its packet
sorts. I'm going to reverse it and place it at a face-down onto the left-hand packet.
precise location in the deck." Place the deck
and the prediction card below the level of the There is a packet of cards sitting on the table
tabletop. that you placed there at the beginning of the
trick. Drop this packet onto the supposed
With the cards out of the view of the audi- chosen card.
ence, turn the prediction card face-up and
insert it just above the bottom card of the "I too chose a number. My number also hap-
deck. pened to be five." Turn the packet in hand
face-up. Count four cards to the table. The
As you square it into the deck, obtain a break 5th card is seen to be face-down.
above this card. Thus, you are holding a left
little finger break above the bottom two "And I too picked a card. I chose my card
cards as the deck is brought into view. before you chose yours, but it turns out that

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I too chose the two of hearts." Turn the A transposition can be achieved with no
face-down card over to reveal the 2H. change in handling. Pick a prominent card
like the ace of spades. Show it and remark
Of course the audience suspects there is that you will place it in a precise location
another 2H at the bottom of the half-deck in the deck.Lower the deck below the level
on the table. If they don't grab those cards, of the tabletop. Insert the AS face-up above
the clean-up will nullify suspicion. Drop the bottom card. Bring the deck into view.
the face-up packet in hand onto the face-
up cards on the table. Then pick up the Go thru the handling of "A Theory of
other half deck, turn it face-up and drop it Space" just as written. The transposition is
on top of all. automatic.

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Torn Sellers

The Finder Pencil


(One of the challenging problems in magic is You can now make the pencil point to a
to cause mysterious movement of an inani- forced card, or any card named. If you raise
mate object. Tom Sellers invented a method the thumb slightly the pencil will sway to the
that is impromptu, uses borrowed objects, right; if you raise the forefinger slightly, the
and gets the job done in a most convincing pencil will swing to the left. With practice
manner.) you will be able to make the pencil move to
any point desired with accuracy that seems
This is designed to pick out a certain card, or uncanny. The slightest movement of the fin-
a number, from a row placed on the table. ger and thumb causes the pencil to sway
This pencil makes the discovery in a mysteri- backwards and forwards.
ous manner.
(Joseph Schmidt adds that the trick works
Required: A pencil and a ring, the ring being perfectly with a round pencil and a wedding
about one inch in diameter. band. The direction of movement can be
changed by gently blowing on the pencil.
Method: Lay out the cards in a row on the Try it with other objects, i.e., three padlocks
table. Now slip the pencil through the ring and a skeleton key that opens only one lock,
in such a manner that the pencil is supported or three pieces of paper and a pen that picks
near one end by leverage. Hold the ring by out the dead-name paper. It takes a minute
the first finger and thumb as shown in the to get the knack, but the spooky effect thus
drawing. created is well worth the effort. KF)

-1a
The Black Sox
Scandal
Baseball's Black Sox achieved fame through The new situation is shown in the second il-
superior play, and notoriety through the rev- lustration. Pick up heap #3 and count only
elation that some games were fixed. the number of red cards. Say this number is
three. "The Red Sox scored three runs. " Pick
As you provide background on the scandal, up heap #4. Count the number of blacks.
remove 12 reds and 11 blacks from the deck. "The Black Sox scored four runs, so they
The balance of the deck is not used. Don't won by one run."
call attention to the number of cards taken.
Ask a spectator to shuffle the packet. Use a black marker to write on a piece of pa-
per that the Black Sox won the first game by
Take back the packet. Deal 10 cards off the one run. Make the writing large and clear so
top (again, without calling attention to the it is easily seen by the audience. This com-
exact number). Ask the spectator to sort reds pletes the first round of play between the two
from blacks. Say there are 6 reds. teams.

The two heaps are shown in the first illustra-


tion. "The number of cards in each heap in-
dicate the number of hits each team got. In
this case the Red Sox got six hits. The more
hits a team gets, the more chances they have
to score runs."

Deal a heap below heap #1 that contains as


many cards as are in heap #1.In this case, the
new heap will contain six face-down cards.
Put the balance of the cards below heap #2.

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The Second Round of Play
Have the 21 cards shuffled by the spectator. HowardAdams
Deal eleven cards to the table without calling
attention to the number of cards dealt. Nu Triple Basic
Follow the format of the first round exactly
as written. All is the same except the out- (This clever trick appears in Mr. Adams' ex-
come: the second game will have been played cellent series, Mindespa.)
to a draw, both teams scoring the same num-
ber of runs. Arrange a packet of mixed suits in the order
6-A-4-7-3-8-5-2. The ace will count as one
The Third Round of Play in the following trick.
Have the 21 cards gathered and shuffled.
This time deal a heap of twelve cards. The The Lady cuts the packet, completes the cut,
procedure is the same, but the outcome is picks packet up and holds it face down. She
different. This time the Red Sox will have turns the top two cards face up as a unit and
won by one run. leaves them face up on top of the packet.

TheScandal Since card values will be added, the Lady


Everything appears to be fair. Each team has programs the word ADD into the packet by
won a game, and one game was played to a spelling A-D-D aloud, moving a card from
tie. This is about what one would expect in a top to bottom of packet as each letter is recit-
situation involving approximately the same ed. The Lady then does the Down Under
number of reds and blacks- a fifty-fifty split Deal to 2 cards which she retains sight un-
in the outcome. seen.

"But a piece of paper was found in the pos- Man picks up the `Down ' pile, holds it face
session of a bookie who bet heavily on the down, and does the Down Under Deal to 2
series. That piece of paper is what brought cards which he retains.
about the scandal because every game was
fixed." Remove a piece of paper from the A Third Party picks up the `Down' pile,
card case. The wording is shown below and holds it face down, and does the Down Un-
is always the same. (KF) der Deal to 2 cards, which he retains.

You now pick up the `Down ' pile (2 cards),


turn the pair face up and show that they total
9. Each pair of Lady' s, Man 's and Third Par-
"Bet the Black Sox +0 win ty 's cards will also total to 9.
the first gable. The second
galr►e is a tie. Red Sox win (In this trick, where the spectator "does the
9arie num6er three." Down Under Deal to 2 cards," what is
meant is that the spectator eliminates cards
via the down/under deal until just two cards
remain in the hand. KF)

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In its ten-issue run, Discoverie will feature dual nature of the investigative process. He
cards, coins, mentalism and close-up magic. favors supernatural causes, while she looks
On this go-round I had hoped to make use for more rational explanations. In a review of
of color and graphics in different ways, but Anne Simon's book on the science behind
the balance sheet still dictates otherwise: For The X Files, Jerry Coyne wrote in the 10-10-
a publication that does not take advertising, 99 NY Times, " I worry that the show ' s pref-
the cost is prohibitive. erence for the supernatural will feed the pub-
lic penchant for the occult at the expense of
The larger magazines attract numerous read- science. Simon rejects this notion, claiming
ers who are drawn to non-trick material like that The X Files attracts students to science.
convention coverage, advertisements and Well, maybe, but how many budding Uri
trick reviews. Publications like Discoverie Gellers must we endure for each young
stand or fail solely on the basis of the quality Pasteur?" Geller was interviewed on the 10-
of the tricks they are able to deliver. For this 19-99 tv show Entertainment Tonight. He
reason, contributions from readers are wel- blames his loss of fame on his failure to bend
come and necessary. spoons on the Johnny Carson show 25 years
■ ago. A new sensation comes along every
twenty years or so. Who will be next?
Before there were teaching videotapes in ma- ■
gic, there were teaching films. Commenting
on the subject in the April 1949 issue of The
Sphinx Wilfrid Jonson wrote, "Instructional As we enter the new millennium, it might
films will, at least, be a boon to those unable be appropriate to point out that some-
to read. " Watching youngsters seated at a thing is happening to Magic, that it is
computer, their eyes fastened to the monitor changing from within, in directions never
screen, one is inclined to ask if what they are anticipated, toward ends as yet undefined.
learning is mainly how to play solitaire. It is
the same with instructional videos; whatever
the merits of teaching tapes, they cannot
match the interaction one achieves with per- Karl Fulves
sonal instruction.
Box 433
Two NJ
The two agents on The X-Files charged with 07666
investigating strange doings represent the

-13-
Don Nielen Mich e1 Esposito
Drop Ceiling Two of You

A card is chosen and returned to the deck. You need two pocket dictionaries and two
The magician says that he ' s been practicing shuffled decks of number cards. Ask Debbie
the famous trick where the deck is thrown to pick three cards from one of the number
upward and the chosen card ends up on the decks. Look over the cards, decide that two
ceiling. He still has a way to go, but he will of them are not likely choices, and discard
give it a try. So saying, he performs the wa- them by putting them into an envelope. Say
terfall shuffle, except that the palm-up hand to Debbie, "I think your friend is going to
springs the deck upwards in a vertical shower pick this card. Please remember the num-
about a foot in the air. The cards flutter to ber." Say the number is 23. This card also
the floor without touching the ceiling. goes into the envelope.

"That's what I mean. I have a ways to go, Lisa looks at the top card of the other shuf-
an-other few feet as a matter of fact." So say- fled deck and opens a dictionary to that
ing, he raises his hand and removes the cho- page. Debbie picks up the other dictionary
sen card from the top of his head! and opens it to the randomly chosen page, in
this case page 23.
Method: Although a gag, the effect is puz-
zling. What it comes down to is a force of, Lisa reads aloud the first word on her chosen
say, the ace of spades. There is a duplicate page. Debbie reads aloud the first word on
ace of spades on top of the head from the hu chosen page. Both words are the same.
start. It is held in place with double-sided
tape or other stickum. The rest is build-up Method: Have both number decks shuffled
and presentation. and placed on the table alongside one anoth-
er. Pick up deck #1 and ask Debbie to chose
A friend wanted to do this trick but was hes- three cards. Return the deck to the table.
itant about the fact that one of the cards on
the floor was a duplicate of the card produc- Take the three cards, pretend to study them,
ed from the top of the head. I suggested that and put two of them into the envelope. The
he spring the deck, look ceilingward, shake third card might bear the number 23. Slide
his head, then say, "I carry a back-up for sit- this card face-down into the envelope. Un-
uations like this. " known to all but you is the fact that the en-
velope is a slit envelope. The chosen card
A second deck is taken from the pocket (the goes into the envelope and outside the slit,
duplicate ace of spades from this deck is the where it is dropped onto deck #2.
card on top of the magician's head). Spring
this deck into the air. Still no luck, but all is Hand Debbie one of the dictionaries. Have
not lost. Pluck the ace of spades from the top her open it to the page indicated by her
of the head. number card. Ask Lisa to look at the top card
of the second deck and open her dictionary
Examination of the cards scattered about the to that page. Each calls out the first word on
floor reveal no clue as to method. the page. They call out the same word.

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