BROUGHT TO YOU BY © MagicLabMEXICAN REVOLUTION The Mexican Revolution by Fenik EFFECT: Four jacks turn face down and then face up, and then their backs change from blue to red. METHOD: You are supplied with a card where one side has a red back and the other has printed lines giving the impression of three overlapping blue backs. You are also supplied with a Jack of Hearts with a blue back and a Jack of Clubs, a Jack of Spades, and a Jack of Diamonds, all with red backs. The opening set-up is (Fig. 1), reading actin from the face of the packet: the face-up Jack of Diamonds, the face-up Jack of Clubs, the face-down Jack of Hearts, the gimmick card with its blue side up and non-overlapping end pointing away from you, the face-up Jack of Spades. Bring out the packet squared and face up in your left hand. Perform an Elmsley Count to apparently show four jacks. (See the end of the routine for a description. If you wish ta skip the count altogether, begin with the cards set up as in Fig. 2) “In a deck of cards, every group of friends has its leader, the one who sets the trends, the one all the others follow. With the jacks, it’s the Jack of Hearts. If it starts face down...” Figure 2 Grasp the packet from above—in Biddle Grig—with your right hand, your thumb at the inner right corner and your second finger at the upper right corner. With your left thumb, hold the Jack of Diamonds: in place as you pull the rest of the packet out from beneath it (Fig. 3) Figure 3 Bring the packet back over the Jack of Diamonds such that the packet's lower edge is lined up to bisect the small diamond on the index (Fig. 4, right hand removed for clarity), then peel ‘the Jack of Spades onto the Jack of Diamonds (Fig. 5). eticMEXICAN REVOLUTION Figure 5 Bring the packet back again, placing it a little higher than before so that its lower edge is flush with the base of the spade pip. (Fig. 6) Push the top, face-up card just above the upper elbow of the exposed cherub (Fig. 7), to show that the Jack of Hearts reed has magically turned face down. Place your right thumb in the portion of back that has been exposed, then slide the upper two cards down as a unit until the lower edge of the exposed back has bisected the small soade on the Jack of Spades index (Fig. 8). Figure 8 “..the rest are sure to follow suit.” As your right hand covers the packet for a moment (Fig. 9), are l em) your left index finger engages the outer end of the gimmick card (Fig. 10) and pushes down until it feels the hidden outer edge of the Jack of Spades. When the right hand is taken away, the Jack of Clubs will appear to have turned face down (Fig. 11)MEXICAN REVOLUTION Figure 14 For the last magical reversal, don’t cover the packet. Simply shake it as you make the final push. The larger action of the shake will hide the srnaller action of ae ea Again bring your right hand over the packet, this time pushing down the gimmick card to apparently make the Jack of Diamonds turn over (Fig. 12). ‘the push, making the Jack of Clubs seem to visually turn face down (Fig. 15). “And if decides to be face up. Finally, take the Jack of Clubs from the top of the packet (Fig. 13) You are now going to turn the Jack of Hearts face up without revealing the nature of the gimmick card. Grasp the outer end of the Jack of Hearts and turn it end-for-end towards yourself, at the same time slightly dipping your left hand (Figs. 16 & 17). Figure 13 i and slide it under the others, leaving it protruding enough so that the small. club in the index is bisected by the card above (Fig. 14), Figure 16 wMEXICAN REVOLUTION Figure 20 Gericnra Turn your left hand back to meet the Jack of Hearts as it completes its turn (Fig. 18). Geter Figure 18 If you practice with a mirror, you'll Figure 22 see that it’s possible for the gimmick section to be hidden from all angles during this action The more slowly you square, the better the illusion of separate biue-backed cards. (Sometimes, in order to to avoid turing Grasp the packet from above with the Jack of Hearts over in full view, Fenik your right hand, slowly squaring the will leave it face down as he squares the packet (Figs. 19-22) packet and hands the cards to a spectator to put behind her back. He instructs the spectator to turn over the top card of the unseen packet and then hand back the cards.) “...then the rest will be face up, too.” Give the packet a shake, then spread out the lower three jacks with your left fingers, keeping the upper Jack of Hearts Sever) and the gimmick squared (Figs. 23-25).MEXICAN REVOLUTION ete i es A eters “And if it decides to switch from a blue coat to a red one, the others will, too.” Revolve the fan to show the red backs (Fig. 26). At this point you can deal the cards hand to hand, or onto the table, taking care to not let the double card split. (Roughing fluid, wax, and non-permanent glue are also options here). You may also simply square up aed the cards and put them away. Just before these instructions went to press, Fenik developed an alternate handling for getting into the opening position. Begin as in Fig. 2, with the three face-up, red-backed jacks followed by the face-down Jack of Hearts and the gimmick card. Using the same tech- nique as in the standard version, peel off the top two cards into your left palm. This time, however, do not stagger the cards; allow the second to land squarely on the first. Once again bring cover the cards held in your palm-down right hand. as if to peel off another card. Once the right-hand cards are ‘over the cards in the left hand, though, take a left-little-finger break between the two squared packets of cards and leave behind the cards held in your right hand. (It’s preferable that the left- little-finger break between the packets be hidden, but this will still work if you simply stick your little finger between the packets.) Move your palm-down right hand to the inner short end of the packet and grasp the upper three cards in preparation for performing the Paintbrush Change. Maintaining the break, pull the upper three squared cards back and forth twice, both times exposing the face-up jack below. When the three cards held by the right fingers have—still separated by the break—become squared with the packet for a second time, immediately pinch off the top card, pulling it back with the same action as before. The back of the Jack of Hearts will come into view, giving the impression that a card has magically turned over. Place the face-up jack held in your right fingersMEXICAN REVOLUTION onto the left-hand packet so that it's the packet projecting out toward the spectators is held on about half an inch. With your right either side fingers, grab the two face-up jacks by both sets below the break you've been main- of fingers taining. Spread them to end up as in (Fig. 2). This Fig. 7, then, as in the original handling, allows your slide down the top two cards as a unit _ left fingers z Figure as in Fig. 8, secretly separating the to “pinch” gimmick card to facilitate its secret off the top engagement by your left forefinger. card —with- (An alternate way to achieve this position out acciden- is by using your right fingers to grab the tally getting cards above the break, spread the two another one face-up jacks with your left fingers, —and come then place back the right-hand cards.) away with it Finish the effect as before.) (Fig. 3). The escalating conditions of the reversals are similar to those used by Guy Hollingworth in his fine sleight- of-hand effect Waving the Aces, available both in his book Drawing Room Deceptions and on his video The London Collection This effect was first released at ‘the Magic Castle Swap Meet in Figure 3 April, 2002 ss Push your right thumb to the left, ELMSLEY retaining the bottom card with your fingers as your thumb automatically pushes off the top two squared cards COUNT te There are many variations for performing this procedure. The one described has been selected for its ease of operation with even a well-worn packet. Begin with the packet at your right fingertips (Fig. 1). Bring your left hand over to take the top card. For a moment aleeMEXICAN REVOLUTION Bring your left hand back as if to take off the next card, while letting the card it holds line up under the lower- most of the cards held in the right hand (Fig. 5) ae) Secretly leave that lined-up card under the packet as your left fingers come eet away with the pushed-off top two. squared cards (Fig. 6) Figure 9 Finally, take the fourth card (Fig. 10). Apparently, all four cards have been shown as they've been counted from hand to hand. aeteks (To aid the procedure’s illusion, it’s essential that the right hand always stays fixed and the left hand is always the one that moves.) Take the third card in the same manner (Figs. 7, 8, & 9). Figure 10JAYWALK JAYWALK By Gordon Bean For this variation of The Mexican Revolution, you are supplied with a card that on one side has a Jack of Hearts, and on the other side has three printed overlapping jokers and a section of a red back. You may use the three rec-backed jacks from The Mexican Revolution, or if these begin to wear out or stick together, you can obviously use three jacks from a matching deck. (Having all three being the Jack of Hearts can also be effective.) To set up, place the gimmick beneath the red-backed jacks of clubs, spades, and diamonds as in Fig. 1 Figure 1 Bring out the face-down packet “There's a new gambling game being played on the street called Jaywalk. It uses four cards that all begin with the letter ‘I’ One's a jack, and three are jokers.” Spread the packet ‘toward yourself (Fig. 2). ae ‘Take the top card in your right hand and show it’s a jack (Fig.3) Figure 3 “Here's the jack.” Replace the jack face down and square the packet (Fig. 4). Geter) "Right now the odds of finding it are one out of four...” (If you begin with the gimmick card in the third position, it’s possible to perform an Elmsley Count to appar- ently mix the cards here. In this case, the hands are moved in and out to simulate a mixing action.) *...but since this is your first time playing, I'll show you where one of the jokers is, so your odds will be one out of...” Grasping the packet from above with your right hand, hold back the topJAYWALK card with your left thumb as you slide out the others from beneath it (Fig. 5) Figure 5 ier This isn’t supposed to be @ secret: the spectators should know that those two cards are being held together. Place the packet onto the left hand card as in Fig. 6: the lower end of the packet just above the lower edge of the left-hand card's lower circle. “three.” Push up the top face down card to just below the first joker index (Figs. 9 & 10) Figure 6 Once again pull the packet to the right, holding back the top card in place (Fig. 7) Figure 7 Let the spectators have a good look at that reversed joker, since the next two reversed jokers won't be able to be shown with quite the same lack of guilt Place the remaining two-card packet ‘on the uppermost of the staggered cards as before (Fig. 8).JAYWALK “Well, actually, how about one out of...” Cover the packet with your right hand (Fig. 11), as your left forefinger secretly engages the outermost short end of the gimmick card (Fig. 12). Figure 12 (from below) Push down the gimmick until stopped by the next card down. Lift your right hand to show another joker has reversed itself, this time without being touched by you (Fig. 13) Figure 13 “...two. Of course, if | showed you the last joker, the odds would be one out of.” Repeat the covering of the packet and the pushing down of the gimmick card, causing the third joker to make its appearance (Fig. 14). ..one. And that isn’t much of a game. is it? So let's reset the cards and try again.” Getiene) Using that last line as an excuse to make a smooth transition over actually showing the supposed jack, square up the packet, pausing at each supposed joker (Figs. 15-17)JAYWALK Snap/buckle the packet three times (Fig. 18), Figure 18 then spread them back toward your- self as you had at the beginning of the effect (Fig. 19), Figure 19 showing that the three jokers have magically turned back face down. “This time, we'll keep the cards all face down, but since | want you all to play again, I'm still going to make sure we have a winner.” Have four spectators make four different choices, by either tapping them or calling out their positions as you tap them (‘Do you want one, two, three, or four?”) If there aren't enough spectators, allow multiple guesses. “So now we know that someone has to be a winner. [Address the nearest spectator] Would you put out your right hand, please?” The spectator does so. “Actually, instead of someone being @ winner, it'd be even better if everyone were a winner. So, front and back, this single card is a jack.” Snap the outer corner of the uppermost card to affirm its singularity (Fig. 20), then grasp it at its outer edge and revolve it face up onto the spectator’s hand (Fig. 21)JAYWALK Figure 21 Repeat this process with the other three cards—snapping each one and verbally emphasizing that it’s being shown front and back (Figs. 22-24). acters Done correctly, the averlapping-joker section of the gimmick will remain hidden during its turn. (If you use the alternative display described later, the gimmick will be in the first position, allowing you to then show an increas- ingly larger area of backs.) As indicated above, time the turning over of the jacks to the words in the patter, until all four have been shown. “Congratulations! Come back and play again.” With your eyes, extend the congratulations to everyone who had made a selection, then pick up the cards with your left hand and shake the spectator’s hand with your right (Fig. 25). This means the cards are in the spectator’s hands long enough to be effective, but not long enough to be dangerous. Figure Pa . 12JAYWALK Alternative Final Display This is an alternative to simply spread- ing back the cards to show them all once again face down. Begin with the packet squared (Fig. 26), artes then slide out the bottom card into your left fingers (Fig. 27) artic As your right thumb then pushes off the top two cards as one (Fig. 28), ates bring your left fingers back as if to get this apparent top card of the packet, but in reality execute the switch of an Elmsley Count: secretly leave the first card under the packet (Figs. 29) aeiees) as you grip with the two squared projecting cards As those two cards pass into the left fingers, push the uppermost of them back slightly to show two backs (Fig. 30). eMieY 13JAYWALK Do this very deliberately to avoid exposing the overlapping jokers Count the remaining two cards onto the first two, creating a staggered group of four (Figs. 31 & 32) Figure 31 aeticies During the day, or in an especially well-lit location, take care to never let packet come entirely to rest after the first joker has turned over. This can be done by moving the packet under— and out from under—your hand, rather than moving your hand over the packet. Under these sorts of circum- stances, it's also prudent to square the packet fairly quickly. Overall, you can always keep the packet subtly in motion, as if you're a little restless, or want to show the packet to as many spectators as possible. During most performing situations, though, the gimmick is virtually undetectable, and the effect can be performed as slowly as you wish. The concluding phase's idea of all the guesses being correct was inspired by Bill Malone’s presentation for David Solomon's effect Cutting Tens. Bruce Cervon suggested showing one of the jacks at the outset and helped with the concluding patter. Original routine © 2003 Magictab. All other material © 2003 Magic. ab.TALES FROM THE LABORATORY W..... in his native country or during his many engagements at Caesar's Magical Empire in Las Vegas and the Magic Castle in Las Angeles, Fenik has long been perplexing some of the top names in magic with his Mexican Revolution routine. The effect is straight- forward and eye-poppingly visual: four jacks turn face down one at a time, then turn back face up, and finally have their backs change from blue to red. Its highly ingenious method reduces sleights to an absolute minimum, but it's so much fun to watch you'll want to stay in front of the mirror doing it again and again. With the U.S. Playing Card Co. having done a brilliant job of producing the necessary cards, The Mexican Revolution was first released by Gordon Bean and Larry Horowitz's company Magiclab at the Magic Castle swap meet in the spring of 2002, and instantly proved to be a big hit. Fenik then came up with a brilliant streamlining of his original handling that, in turn, led Gordon to come up with Jaywalk, which turned the effect of the original inside out. This time, after turning face up then face down, the cards change from jokers to jacks. Considering that Jaywalk was the quintessential dealer's ad—three distinct phases of visual magic, no sleights required, only four cards used, fronts and backs of all cards in view, no glue, no wax, no double cards—the decision was made to put The Mexican Revolution on hold after its one day of release and wait for the necessary new cards to be printed. So now, for the same price, you get both The Mexican Revolution and Jaywalk —and a whole new world of experimentation. Afler this revolution, twisting effects will never be the same