Handy Ring Transpo

by Oliver Meech

No, not a trick requiring major surgery, but a quick and logical transposition using business cards
which occurs in their hands.

EFFECT
Two cards change places in the spectators hands.

REQUIREMENTS
Business cards.
A pen.

PREPARATION
Draw a quick sketch of a finger ring on the face of the top business card and place this card face-
down second from top in a face-down pack.

METHOD & PRESENTATION

Give the top business card to a spectator and have them draw a quick sketch of a hand on the
card. Take back this card as you ask them to cap the marker, then take back the marker and
place it on the table or in your breast pocket for a moment.

Take back the card with your right hand. Blow on the card to dry the ink then ask the spectator to
hold out both hands "like an open crocodile's mouth". This instruction should cause the spectator
to stop and think for a moment and/or look at you for clarification. Use this moment to top change
the face-down 'hand' card for the face-down 'ring' card on top of the pack, and then place the ring
card face-down between the spectators palms. Have the spectator close their hands and say that
since their hands are now out of action say you will draw the second picture.

Perform a double turnover with the top two cards to display a blank face and draw a picture of a
ring which duplicates the picture which you drew earlier (which is currently between their palms).
Perform a second double turnover to turn the top two cards face-down again, and then remove
the top card (their 'hand' card) with your right hand. Whilst keeping the face of the card hidden
from the audience, fold the card in half width-wise so that the drawing is on the inside and you
end up with a long strip. Curl this card into a circle and insert one end of the card into the v-fold of
the end, forming a ring.

Place the ring on one of the spectators fingers, whilst making as few unfunny marriage proposal
jokes as possible! To the audience it should seem that they have the 'hand' card between their
hands and are wearing the 'ring' card as, you guessed it, a ring. In fact, the opposite is the case.
Pocket the remaining business cards to get rid of the evidence as you build to the climax.

All that is left to do is to have them magically change places and reveal that this has occurred. I
do this as follows. Have the spectator rub the ring against the other card and ask if they felt
anything happen. If they say "yes, I felt the two cards change places" then hire them as your
psychic assistant. If not, then tell them to separate their hands and turn over the card that was
between their palms. They should be surprised to find that it is now the 'ring' card. Have them
open the card shaped into a ring and they will find it has become the 'hand' card which they drew.

NOTES
This effect is pretty visually self-explanatory so there is no need to overburden it with too much
patter.

The use of logical drawings could be applied to many other transposition effects. You could, for
example, do a transposition of two cards marked 'left' and 'right' between the spectator's left and
right hands. I believe Gary Kurtz uses a similar concept in his book "Unexplainable Acts", with the
words 'inside' and 'outside' changing positions.

It might make for a more logical ending if you openly placed the 'ring' card between their hands
and then used the 'hand' card to form the ring, and then had them change places into a more
logical state. However, this makes the first part of the trick more confusing, which is not a good
thing as transpositions can be confusing if not handled carefully.