Leo Boudreau’ s Spirited Pasteboards a2V¢& Mental Gems with Ordinary Cards avee FE fo THE RUSTIC PRESS (9 g woe SilerSPIRITED PASTEBOARDS by Leo Boudreau Copyright © 1987 by Leo Boudreau Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this work may be repro- duced or transmitted in any form or by any means now known or to be invented, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the author. An exception is made for short quotes for book reviews. All manufacturing rights to any of the effects contained in this work are the sole property of the author. Address inquiries to: Leo Boudreau P.O. Box 16472 Arlington, Va. 22215 First Printing: July, 1987NTRODUCTION There is an ancient Chinese curse which goes, "May you live in interesting times." Bearing this in mind, it is not without some playful malice that I inform you that you are now holding a tome which is extremely interesting. As with the author's previous book, Psimatrika, the work in this text is primarily based upon stacking arrangements which generate information via binary codes. The principle is by no means new, but in its seventy-year history as a conjuring method it has remained little-known and woefully under-explored. Mr. Boudreau clearly wishes to remedy that, with a vengeance. The material in this volume is almost exclusively done with Playing cards. However, don't be misled into thinking that this is simply another book of card tricks. Rather, in this book playing cards are used as a frame-of-reference for the author's adventurous speculations. Once the methodological foundations are understood, a far wider range of applications will present themselves. (For that matter, purely as card tricks there are some hot items to be found here. } At first, much of this material may strike the reader as being infuriatingly complex and confusing. I would urge persever- ance; the rewards are well worth the effort. After absorbing the ideas in this book, you may never look at a pack of cards in quite the same way again. Max Maven Tokyo, Japan duly, ’1987Notes From Max Max Maven sent me some Notes that I would like to share with you. But before I do, let me bear witness to yet another spectacular trick that Max has performed: He read this weighty tome under virtually impossible conditions. He received my book just hours before departing on a hectic six-week tour. (New York - Tokyo = Atlantic City). He still agreed to take the book with him, digest the material and write the INTRODUCTION. Now that, I must say, is going well beyond the call of duty. The man is a dynamo and a true gentleman! Now for the Notes. (1) _ In “Ultrasense" (page 25) and “Estimation and Noise" (page 84) I provide a 1961 publication date for the Hugard “Encyclopedia of Card Tricks.” While this is indeed the year in which the Faber & Faber edition was released, Max Holden published the first edition of the text in 1937. (2) The force used in "Stellar Connections" (page 29) has a name: "The PATEO Force." (“Pick Any Two, Eliminate One.") So far as Max knows, its specific inventor is unknown, but he believes it is of relatively recent vintage (within the last ten years), and European in origin. (3) The force used in “Matchmaking” (page 128) is not Eugene Burger's invention, and he's never claimed it as such. Again, the actual creator's identity is apparently lost. It, too, comes from Europe. Its first publication in English was in a Frank Garcia card book, which would date it from the early 1970's. (4) The sun-bleaching idea in “Gafia" (page 224) is actually a very old method used by gambling cheats to mark high-value cards. (5) _ Finatly, Faro Shutfling provides a quick and efficient means for placing the keys for “Calling Cards" (page 7) and “Easy Poker" (page 159). Sleight-of-hand is something I try to avoid, but T'm not closed-minded on the subjectAutbor’s Preface Charles Jordan, Karl Fulves, Roy Walton, T. A. Waters, Bob Hummer, Alex Elmsley, Stewart James, Larsen & Wright, Phil Goldstein and Persi Diaconis —— these are some of the creative minds credited with the earliest effects using the bracelet (or serial) code. There may be simpler methods for creating magic, but none can match the bracelet code for its subtlety. It can deliver stunning results under circumstances where it would be impossible to perform otherwise. Several years ago, at a stuffy scientific convention if I remember correctly, I had the opportunity to put the bracelet code to the acid test. Engineering is my adopted profession but Magic has been a lifelong passion, as it is with many of my colleagues Often at these conventions I find time to talk magic with fellow scientists and engineers. Somehow at this one convention — I've forgotten the exact reason why —— the topic turned to the exploits of Uri Geller, the reputed psychic who caused such a sensation in the mid 1970s. The scientists in attendance considered it unlikely that Geller could ever deceive them with magician's tricks. No trick, they asserted, could withstand close scientific scrutiny. I disagreed, of course, as I often do with their cocky attitude about magic; and I posed a challenge. If a rank amateur like myself could deceive them, then Geller could certainly do it with impunity. Here were assembled some of the most respected members of the scientific community, several in fact knew as much magic as I did, and they were not the type who could be tricked easily. Naiveté wasn't one of their traits. Gaffed cards, sleight of hand, invisible thread, and the usual gimmicks of the magician's trade were out of the question in this gathering. Moreover, I had none of this stuff with me even if I had wanted to use it. So, what now? I had picked up the gauntlet, and it was too late to'back away. Around that time I had been tinkering with the bracelet code. I had worked out a couple of routines but hadn't tested them yet on anyone, least of all a panel of skeptical scientists. 1 had little choice, however. It was my only Ace-in-the-hole. So I launched into two effects using the bracelet code, one with borrowed business cards ("Bits of Business") and the other with a borrowed textbook ("Quin Taces"). To my astonishment, these scientists Were absolutely baffled. Despite my rather amateurish performance and my forewarning of trickery, not one of them could adequately explain what they saw. My point about Geller was driven home, though I still found it a bit disconcerting that my associatescouldn't figure out the method (and still can't). I knew then that I had stumbled onto something special. That incident, together with the expert advice provided by my Mentalist friend, Al Mann, led eventually to my books on the bracelet code, which’ began four years ago with QUIN TACES, followed last year by PSIMATRIKA, and ends now with the book you have in hand. I think the bracelet code fully deserves the special airing I've given it. It links all three books but each book is self- contained nonetheless. You don't need all three to understand the material, nor do you need any other text. QUIN TACES is devoted entirely to thought reading and book tests; PSIMATRIKA to effects with designs, money, numbers, words, business cards and envelopes; and this latest volume to magic with playing cards. PSIMATRIKA, which came out last year, neglected to mention the magicians whose work with the bracelet code preceded my own. That oversight was not intentional, and the time has come to remedy the situation. Frankly, I didn't know the historical antecedents until I was enlightened’ by two wizards, Jeff Busby and Max Maven. Max produced a list of names that reads Tike a Who's Who in Magic. To the names I mentioned earlier should be added the names of Charles Hudson, Bill Miesel, Mel Stover, Ronald Wohi, and Jack Yates; and the list is probably far longer. Effects with the two- way stack, employing stacked one-way backs to indicate one's posi- tion in a card arrangement, were invented by Charles Jordan (THE WIZARD READER, 1916), Leslie May, Karl Fulves (GRAY STACK), Roy Walton (THE ABACUS CARD TRICK), and Phil Goldstein (in MAGICK, 1975). My thanks to Max for the information. Seventy years have passed since Charles Jordan introduced the bracelet code to the magic fraternity. A score of top profes- sionals have created effects using the code. Yet, today, magicians and scientists alike seem unaware of its existence. The time may be ripe, therefore, to use the code in earnest. Time to step boldly into the world and'unsettle the skeptics. Time to get them thinking again, and knock their collective socks off! Magically yours, Leo Boudreau June, 1987Contents POIANA eee eet eer cree error reared 1 en iM HOM eet aera areata ru ret ae eeu ee ree te 7 MLODECKED OUT. 2. 2. ee ee ee ee 12 AWI-TECH PRINCESS... 2... 2222. 16 POMS Het ae Hae ae are ee 19 YSTELLAR CONNECTIONS... 2.2.2... eee 26 Wes eee eee eee eee 32 oe MAINTE NOISE ectcece esse fereeeetietae es een a aes-e eae een eee 39 VRARCELET: REDUM Sie, fc ciev otis eae anaccan nec derma 45 ASENSE OF VALUE. 22... ee 49 [SECOND IMPRESS TOM ese erSecer eee teeeseeeicedseserCeeeae 59 SUDDEN IMPACT. 2... ee ee ee 6 VEXTENPORE. ee 64 / SUITING UP . Pee ee ee ee eee ee ewe 67 DONT Mdceceteae ee ae eC ee eC 69 HEADIN: STUBE sees eter tetdatunee etter se gee Heree eee eee sutEe n MUARE TRE Seeds cece ete eee eae ” ESTIMATION B NOISE. 2... ee ee 79 THE MULTICARD LOCATOR... 2.2... 22.2020; 85 ANY CARD AT ANY MUMBER. 93 THE CALIBRATED DECK. . 99 ‘THE CUTTING EDGE... ee 101 WO FACIAL STACK. ©. ee ee 110AVGRAVEREE Mountain Valley Stack THE EFFECT The ntonmen asks five members of ts ae oiee mutied: pate in a thought-reading experiment. After ing @ 0°; playing cards, the persormer hands it to a spectator and has him mix the cards as well. At this point, the performer moves aay and may even retine to another room. He tells the spectator holding the deck to deat a card £0 each of the give volunteers. They get one card apiece. The volunteers are then asked merely to think of their cards — to form a clear mental picture — and as they do this, the performer tries to intercept thein thoughts. His first attempt is unsuccessful, 40 he decides to isolate their thoughts. He asks the {ive volunteers to examine one another's cards and determine who among them has the highest vatue and who has the Lowest value. These extremes, he says, tend to project better. The volunteers holding the high and tow cards step forward and they alone 4éx their thoughts upon their cards. The performer Promptly reveals both hte, Tht, Mate, temaning esr naw me asked to project theia thoughts separately, @ performer discloses each of their card vatues in turn. THE METHOD Prearrange the fifty-two cards of an odinary deck from the top down as follows: 8, 4, 2, 6, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 7, Ace, 3, 5, 8, 4, 2, 6, 10, King, etc. Notice that the same sequenceof thirteen cards repeats four times throughout the deck. The order of the suits rotates in the Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds or CHaSeD sequence. With the deck in this order and face down, the top card ought to be the eight of Clubs and the bottom card the five of Diamonds. When you're ready to perform, request the assistance of five volunteers. Casually show the faces of the cards by spreading the deck face up between your hands. The cards will appear well mixed and in no particular order. After showing the cards, square up the deck, turn it face down and execute a false shuffle if you know how. Otherwise, just straight cut the deck several ‘times with complete cuts. The deck can be straight cut indefinitely without upsetting the arrangement. Find a spectator who will serve as the dealer and demonstrate how he will mix the cards. You say: "Take some cards off the top of the deck and place them underneath like this. Continue doing this as often as you please and then deal one card apiece to our five volunteers." You now hand the deck to the spectator and move away as he cuts it and deals the five cards. Mentally number the volunteers according to their positions in the deal; in other words, the person who receives the first card is volunteer #1, the person receiving the second card is volunteer #2, and so on. When the dealing is done, you immediately ask the five volun- teers to visualize their cards. You try to read their thoughts. You fail, of course, because the code you need has not yet been communicated. It is’a sbtle code, and it depends on the high and low cards. The deck has been stacked in a way that assures a different pair of volunteers will receive the high and low cards for every possible set of cards that can be dealt. By discovering who holds the high and Tow cards, you will learn the card values for all five volunteers. Your initial failure at reading the minds of the volunteers provides you with the excuse you need to isolate their thoughts. "Too many thoughts at one time," you say. "Let's go for the extreme values only. The high and low cards are usually the easiest to discern. They project better. As in Poker, Aces are high, followed by the King, Queen, Jack, ten, etc. Deuces are low. Please examine each other's cards’and find out who has the highest card and who has the lowest card. (Pause long enough to allow the volunteers time to check one another's cards.) Will the person holding the high card please step forward and form a mental picture of the card. Next, will the person holding the low card also step forward and form a mental picture of his card.” The code is now complete. You don't have to know the actual identities of the high and low cards. By simply learning which volunteer (#1, #2, #3, #4, or #5) has the high card and whichconsult the following chart hidden, say, in a pocket notebook VOLUNTEER WITH VOLUNTEER WITH CARD VALUES FOR ALL VOLUNTEERS HIGH CARD = SLOW CARD a 2 B46 8 5 “l #2 Ace 3 a 4 al #5 King Queen Jack 9 i #2 8 7 Ae 3 8 8 nz 4 CSeeasioteastoet, sealer Haeeiet #2 5 10 King Queen Jack 9 3 4 6 10 King Queen Jack 8 “4 t eseeer Aver’ Seieree Siulnet B 8 See HSS Heeatele #4 Hn 2 6 10 King Queen #4 45 Jack 9 7 Ace 3 5 # 4 2 6 10 King 5 8 Satna corte aaHEO| #5 8 Queen Jack 99 97 Ace Suppose volunteer #2 were to step forward when you ask the Person with the high card to do so and volunteer #4 were to step forward when you ask the person with the Tow card to do so. According to the chart above, volunteer #2 would then be holding an 8 and volunteer #4 a 2. Moreover, volunteer #1 would have a 5, volunteer #3 a 4, and volunteer #5 2 6. You start by disclosing the high and low cards for volunteers #2 and #4. Follow this up by disclosing each card for the three remaining volunteers. Although the values of the cards are revealed to you by the code, the suits are not. You can, therefore, limit your disclosure to the card values only. But if you prefer disclosing both the suits and the values of the cards, you can discover the suits in a rather easy fashion. By obtaining the suit for only one card you will learn the suits for every card because of the uniform CHaSeD stacking order. This is how you should proceed to obtain the one suit. After revealing all the card values, return to the first volunteer, who is volunteer #2 in our example. Feign difficulty with the suit. volunteer has the low card, you can ascertain the values of all the cards. On the pretext of writing down your thoughts, you canTell the volunteer to concentrate on the color. At this point, simply guess at the color. If you're correct, then proceed with a second guess at the suit. If either guess is wrong, admit you don't know and ask the volunteer to reveal the suit. Let's say it is a Heart. With this crucial bit of information you can now determine the suits for every other card by counting either forwards or backwards from the known suit using the CHaSeD sequence. ‘An Added Subtlety As I explained earlier, you ask the volunteers who hold the high and low cards to step forward so you can observe who they are in terms of their positions in the deal. A subtler approach is available, however, when you have a clear view of all the volun- teers' faces. dust ask the volunteer with the high card to close his eyes and try to form a clear mental image of his card. The other volunteers are asked to keep their eyes open and their minds on other thoughts. You then observe which volunteer has his eyes closed. Repeat your instructions for the volunteer with the Tow card and note who he is as well. Distant Thoughts. As I said earlier, you may leave the room upon handing the deck to the spectator and before he cuts and deals the cards. Two precautions must be taken, however, for this strategy to work. First, you must program the deal in advance by demonstrating the exact’ order in which the spectator will distribute the cards to the five volunteers. That way, you can number the volunteers correctly without actually seeing the deal. Second, you must recognize every volunteer by his name or voice alone. At the right moment, you will instruct the volunteer with the high card to form a mental picture of his card. From your remote location in another room, for example, you will ask him if he has a clear image in mind. When he responds, you must be able to recognize who he is so you can get a fix on his position in the deal. You must, of course, do the same for the volunteer holding the low card. Mass Mind Rei ing Nore than five volunteers may take part in this effect. Any number of volunteers between five and fifty-two may be dealt a_card from the deck after it has been cut repeatedly. You will be able to learn the identity of every card by the positions of the high and low cards among the first five dealt. Suppose fifteen volunteers participate. Announce that you will start by reading five minds simultaneously. Ask the first five volunteers to form mental pictures of their cards. After your initial failure, you tell the five volunteers to determine who among them has ‘the high card and who has the low card, just as you did in the original effect. If volunteer #3 holds the high card and volunteer #4 holds the low card, then the cards dealt to the fifteen volun~teers must be 9, 7, Ace, 3, 5, 8 4, 2, 6, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9 and 7 ‘An Impromptu Version You may perform the effect using less than a full deck. Only thirteen cards are really necessary, and you may arrange them openly as you sort through a borrowed deck. You first spread the deck face up on a table and then, while presumably hunting for a card of each value, you pick up the cards one at a time in the order of 8, 4, 2, 6, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 7, Ace, 3, and 5. Stack the cards in that’ same order ‘in one of your hands. You will forn a face-down packet whose arrangement from the top down is 8 4, 2, 6, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 7, Ace, 3, and 5, without regard to suit. Once formed, the packet may be straight cut repeatedly without destroying the arrangement. When any five consecutive cards are dealt, the positions of the high and low ones will reveal all five card values.AVERAVERESE Calling Cards THE EFFECT cands to anyone. The THE METHOD You must know the cards at only eight positions in the deck to perform this effect. Any eight will do as long as the positions are spaced four cards apart. The rest of the deck is unprepared. With the deck face down, the top card will be considered position 1 and the bottom card position 52. You may, for example. know the identities of the cards in positions 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25 and 29, Or the known cards may be in positions i5,°19,'23, 27, 31, 35, 39 and 43. The exact positions are not important so Tong as each Successive position is four cards away. You have many methods at your disposal for getting eight known cards into the required positions within the deck, nethcos that work with or without advance preparation. One particularlygood impromptu method is available to anybody who can memorize eight cards rather quickly. Borrow a deck. Turn it face up and spread the cards between your hands. As you do so, memorize the eight cards on the bottom of the deck. (These same cards will be on top when the deck is again turned face down.) The easiest way to memorize the cards is to first memorize the eight values in se- quence, then the eight suits. Square up the deck and turn it face down after memorizing the eight cards. If your memory is not nimble enough for this approach, you may secretly run through the deck, remove any eight cards of your choosing and place them on top of the deck. Alternatively, you may steal any eight cards from the borrowed deck, write down their identities on a hidden prompter and then secretly return the cards to the top of the deck at an oppor- tune moment. Whichever method you choose, you must know the eight cards in sequence from the top down. When you are ready to perform, cut the deck and riffle shuffle the two halves together, but be sure to retain the eight menorized cards on top undisturbed. You may riffle shuffle the deck in this manner as often as you like. In the end the eight memorized cards should still be intact and undisturbed on top of the deck. Next, you must get three indifferent cards between each adjacent pair of memorized cards. The best way to accomplish this without a magician's sleight is to deal eight hands of four cards each. Start by dealing the eight memorized cards face down in a row. Deal the next eight cards on top of these, then deal the next eight on these, and so on —— until three indifferent cards are on top of each of the memorized cards. The purpose alleged for these actions is, of course, to demonstrate how the volunteer will deal the cards when he himself gets the deck. Better yet, you may simply pretend to change your mind while dealing the cards and call ‘on one of the volunteers to deal five hands instead. At this point, you collect the eight hands you've already dealt and assemble them by putting the first hand on the second, then putting these two hands on the third, then putting these three on the fourth, etc., finally putting the assembled packet back on top of the deck: This action will place the memorized cards in positions 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 and 32, The known cards will thus be in positions that are four cards apart. That's all you need to perform the effect. The deck once arranged in this fashion may no longer be riffle shuffled, but it can be subjected to any number of straight cuts without disturbing the arrangement. You may now straight cut the deck a few times and hand the deck to one of the volunteers, who will serve as the dealer. You may move away immediately upon handing over the deck. You never again have to look back at the cards. The volunteer may complete as many straight cuts as he pleases and then deal five hands of five cards each. He deals the cards as in Poker —— one at a time in clockwise rotation, beginning with the volunteer at his left.You must mentally number the volunteers in this same rotation, volunteer #1 being the person at the dealer's left and volunteer #8 being the dealer himself. Suppose the eight memorized cards are the JH, 55, 10D, KC, 6H, 3S, AD and 8C, and you were able to finesse these cards into positions 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28 and 32 respectively. You may, at your earliest opportunity, ‘enter the cards on 2 prompter as Follows: iL ) CARD ID: JH 5S 10D KC 6H 3S «ADC. These cards are numbered so as to correspond to their original order in the face-down deck from the top down. You must now make two calls of four cards each. The four cards appearing originally nearest the top of the deck —- JH, 5S, 10D and KC — will make up the first call. The next four cards —~ 6H, 35, AD and 8C — will make up the second call. Put another way, cards #1 through #4 comprise the first cal] and cards #5 through #8 comprise the second call. After positioning yourself well away from the volunteers, ask them to pick up their cards and look over the cards without revealing the identities to anyone. As they do this, you say: “I'm getting some rather strong impressions of certain cards. Four cards in particular seem to stand out more than any other. I will call out their names, and I want you to listen carefully as I do so. The cards are the Jack of Hearts, 5 of Spades, 10 of Diamonds and King of Clubs. If I've called out any of your cards, please answer YES." Repeat the call if necessary to give everyone a chance to check his cards. As an added subtlety, you may ask the volunteers to respond by shutting their eyes and concentrating on their cards instead of answering YES. This approach will work whenever you have an unobstructed view of all the volunteers’ faces. The volunteers needn't utter a sound. Simply ask them to close their eyes if they have heard any of their cards and to try to form a clear mental Picture of the cards. The volunteers whose cards have not been called are told to keep their eyes open and their minds on other things. You then observe which volunteers have their eyes shut. After the first call, you must record the identities of the volunteers who answered YES, or who shut their eyes. You are now ready for your second call. You say: “Still other cards stand out in my mind. I will call out their names and I would Tike you to listen carefully. The cards are the 6 of Hearts, 3 of Spades, Ace of Diamonds and 8 of Clubs. If you've heard any of your cards, please answer YES, (or please shut your eyes and try to form a mental image of the cards).Again, you must record the identities of the volunteers who answer YES, or who shut their eyes, in response to your second call. The volunteers’ responses to the two separate calls provide a unique code that will reveal exactly which cards are being held by which volunteers. You must have the responses to both calls to get the complete code. Let's assume volunteers #2 and #3 answered YES to your first call (JH, 5S, 100 and KC), and volunteers #1, #3, #4 and #5 answered YES to your second call (6H, 3S, AD and 8C). By consulting @ chart Tike the one on the following page, you will find these same responses listed at line 24. Reading across the line, you will see the following card numbers listed for each volunteer: 5 for volunteer #1; 4 for volunteer #2; 3,8 for volunteer #3; 7 for volunteer #4; and 6 for volunteer #5. These numbers mean that volunteer #1’ is holding card #5, which is the 6 of Hearts in our example; volunteer #2 is holding card #4, the King of Clubs; volunteer #3 is holding cards #3 and #8, the 10 of Diamonds and the & of Clubs; volunteer #4 is holding card #7, the Ace of Diamonds; and volunteer #5 is holding card #6, the 3 of Spades. You now reveal this information in your most entertaining fashion. The chart can be hidden in a notebook, which you produce to write down your thoughts. The chart will work for any eight cards you happen to arrange in the deck as long as you number the volunteers and the cards correctly. 10VOLUNTEERS WHO | VOLUNTEERS WHO | THE CARDS HELD BY THE FIVE RESPOND TO THE | RESPOND TO THE /OLUNTEERS, | FIRST CALL SECOND CALL [fl [#2 | #3 | #4 | #5 1. | a #2, 43, #4, 5 |a |e [7 |6 [5 apa 2,3, 5 14s 13e ir Te 1s A 1 2 aa, a”, Bw P38 ty Te Ts Ta 5S. | fi, #2, 93 #3, #4, #5 a [3 276 1s 6. | fl, #2, #5 211 3 Cras mB 3 [arte [s [a 8. Hi, #4, 45 1 312 3a #4, #5 WB le7te ts [4 138 TO.[ #1, #2, 43, 74 | #5 a 73 is #2, 43, a | Ho, a3 Les 12] Al, #2, #3 8 Seer eereaaL 4 13.[ #1, #2, #3, #5 | #o age ae ea fe eae (om sea. 14.[ #1, #2, #3, #5 [A5, Fo 3 z Lets Tt 1s.[ #1, #2, #4, #5 271 a 13 16] #1, #2, #4, #5 | 1S Teelag cerita les T7[ A, #2, #4, #5 | #2, 3 Deseo leg ee [odse| 3 18. Fi, FS, a, #5 1 ata 12 19.[ #1, #3, #4, #5 | tease 0.| #1, #a, wa, #5 | #1, #2, OS Dredge (ners rece leaT 21 1 22, #2 if mw BTSs [4a ta [7 16 23.[ #2, 93 211 24.[ 42, #3. 8, Bs 14a [sae l7 1s 25.[ #2, 93, #4 aa 26. #2, #3, 14. a6 Bins [sqrceeleger (aps 7a eG 27.[ #2, #3, #4, #5. 4 3 1 26.[ #2, #3, #4, #5 | #1, #5 Sa fs fee 23. #3 1 [30-7 #3 Wi, 6 16 [S14 _Te 7 3B, 21 32.43, #4 wf, [6 1s 14 [38 17 33.[ #3, #4, #5 gear |ag ee er 34. #4 1 35.[ #4 [7 Te 1s [a es 36.| #4, 5 1 37-65. a B I 38. A, 2 8_[7 39. A, #5 7 zg 40. fl, #2, #3 a_[7 Ts a1. Tl, #2, #5 716 a2. fl, #4, #5 6 e172 43. fl, #2, #3, [8 Ty [eT 4a #l, #2, #3, [7 1615 a a5 Tal. #2. #4, #5 [6 15 a 17 46. Tl, #3, #4, #5 | 5 a7 16 a7 #2 a 48. #2, 87 a9. #2, #3, 90 8 716 50 #3 3 51. #3, 7 a [7 52. #4 @ 1All Decked Out The version of the Calling Cards I described on pages 7-10 can be performed with little or no advance preparation and with any borrowed deck. The stacking can be done virtually on a moment's notice because only eight cards must be positioned in the deck. If, on the other hand, the entire deck were stacked in advance according to a predetermined card system, such as Si Stebbins, then even more startling results are possible. A few of these will now be explained. Prearrange the cards of an ordinary deck in the Si Stebbins order, shown below. The card values in the Si Stebbins stack increase in units of three; that is to say, the numerical value of each card is three higher than the one before. The suits are alternated throughout the deck in the Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds or CHaSeD sequence. If the King of Clubs is the top card in the face-down deck, then the cards in order from the top down will be: KC, 3H, 6S, 9D, QC, 2H, 5S, 8D, JC, AH, 4S, 7D, 1OC, KH, 3S, 6D, 9C, QH, 2S, 5D, 8C, JH, AS, 4D, 7C, LOH, KS, 3D, 6C, 9H, QS, 2D, 5C, 8H, JS, AD, 4C, 7H, 10S, KD, 3C, 6H, 9S, QD, 2C, 5H, 8S, JD, AC, 4H, 7S, 100 As in the previous effects, any number of straight cuts are per- mitted; they will not disturb the card arrangement. With the deck arranged in this way, any eight cards that follow one another at intervals of four card positions may be employed as Calling Cards. With Si Stebbins, cards that are separated by four positions in the deck will all be the same suit because of the CHaSeD stacking order. Therefore, the Calling Cards will always be eight consecutive cards that have the same suit. Here are a few examples of appropriate Calling Cards: BESO Ee eece Dee eeLe eee gc sc toc 9 BC 7 BC 2H AK KK OQH JH «10H OH 5S 4S 35 25 AS KS QS 80 7D 60 5D 4D 30 20 dc loc 9¢ BC 7 BC OSC AH KK QH JH «10H 9H 8H 45 38 25 AS KS QS JS QH JH 10H 9H 8H 7H 6H 12Each row provides you with a different set of Calling Cards. You may choose any one of these sets in creating your calls In fact, you may choose from among fifty-two different sets of cards. The rule for getting an appropriate set is simple: The eight cards must be the same suit and must appear in consecutive order at every fourth position in the stacked deck. Having handed the stacked deck to one of five volunteers, allowed him to cut it and complete the cut several times and told him to deal five Poker hands of five cards each, you may now ask him to call out a suit at random. Suppose he says “Diamonds. You next instruct all five volunteers to pick up their cards, look them over carefully and concentrate on the Diamonds only.” Tell them to form images of the cards in their minds. You must now use a set of Calling Cards that consists entirely of Diamonds. I reconmend the following set for reasons that will be apparent short]. CARD NO: Repeat Jetstoset Heres! ettesst- Soeetee( Sittates Rerecees CARD TO: ko Qo wD 100 9 8 7 6 YS First Call Second Call You call out these cards in groups of four as you did in the earlier version of the effect. The King, Queen, Jack and 10 of Diamonds make up your first call, and the 9, 8, 7 and 6 of Diamonds make up your second call. Again, you must note which volunteers answer your two calls in the affirmative whether with a YES or an gye-closing. Suppose volunteers 1, 4 and 5 answer YES to your first call and none of the volunteers answer YES to your second call. These responses correspond to line 8 on the chart of page 11, which tells you volunteer #1 has the King of Diamonds, volunteer #4 has the Jack of Diamonds and volunteer #5 has the Queen of Diamonds. The chart on page 11 functions exactly as it did in the last effect. That is, you first identify the volunteers on the chart that responded to your first and second calls and then read each volunteer's card number on the right side of the chart. With the use of a stacked deck, however, the responses to your two calls can reveal still more information. The volunteers’ responses can reveal which card was the first one dealt from the deck and, with this bit of information, you can secretly reconstruct all’ five hands of cards. You must consult the chart on page 15 to get this additional information. The volunteers’ responses in our example above Corresponded to line 8 on the chart of page 11. Therefore, you must refer to this same Tine on the chart of page 15. There, on line 8, you will find the 7 of Clubs listed in the column headed by the King of Diamonds (card #1 in your first call). This means that the 7 of Clubs was the very first card dealt from the deck. 13 |With a copy of the 52-card stack hidden in a notebook along with the two charts, you can reconstruct the five hands by simply writing the numbers 1-5 in a repeating sequence starting at the 7 of Clubs. 7 10H KS 30 6C SH QS 20 SC 8H JS AD aC ESOS teeta cies efter etiata) 7H 10S KD 3C 6H 9S QD 2C SH 8S JD AC ae ee tee Olde SHAE Eee Laeee tee ean Each number represents a volunteer. Volunteer #1, for example, has the 7 of Clubs, 9 of Hearts, Jack of Spades, King of Diamonds and 2 of Clubs. ' Volunteer #2 has the 10 of Hearts, Queen of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, 3 of Clubs and 5 of Hearts. The cards for volunteers #3-#5 can also be derived from the card sequence above. Given this information, you are ready to reveal all the volunteers’ cards without any further calls. So, in this version of the Calling Cards using a stacked deck, you allow a volunteer to pick a suit and you then call out cards in that suit. The chart on page i1 witli reveal which cards belong to which volunteers based on their responses. More- over, the chart on page 15 will reveal the first card dealt from the ‘deck but only if your Calling Cards always consist of the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7 and 6 in the chosen suit. If the chosen suit were Clubs, for example, then card #1 in your first call would be the King of Clubs. "And by going to the colum headed by the King of Clubs, you would obtain the first card dealt, from which you can reconstruct all five hands. ‘ANOTHER EXAMPLE Suppose Hearts is the suit picked by a volunteer. Your first call consisting of the King, Queen, Jack and 10 of Hearts elicits no response from any volunteer, but your second call consisting of the 9, 8, 7 and 6 of Hearts elicits responses from volunteers #1, #4 and #5. ‘These responses correspond to line 42 in the chart on page 11, which means volunteer #1 has the 8 of Hearts, volunteer #4 has the 6 of Hearts and volunteer #5 has the 7 of Hearts. You reveal these cards for the three volunteers. According to the chart on page 15, specifically in the "KH" column of line 42, the 8 of Hearts was the first card dealt. So, the entire sequence of cards dealt to the five volunteers must be as follows: BH JS AD 4C 7H 10S KD 3C 6H 9S QD 2C 5H HORS Aer DEE Lae tees seme Dare Lea. aS uD AC 4H 7S 10D KC 3H 6S 9D QC 2H bees feast nee eee: actos ieee beets Wauas-Qheeee eee ae You now have all the data you need to reveal every card in the five hands, or to perform the Princess Card Trick, described next. 14A Hi-Tech Princess THE EFFECT The performer assembles five volunteers from the audience and hands a deck of cards to one of them. The persormer then moves away 40 he cannot see the cards. The volunteer with the deck cuts At several times and deals five cards to each participant including himset{. When the volunteers have inspected their cards, the per- former has one volunteer call out a suit at random. Thereagter, the performer calls out severat cards in the chosen suit and asks the volunteers to anuser YES only if their cards were calted. For the volunteers who answer YES, the performer identifies exactly which cards are theirs. In a second phase of the demonstration, each volunteer mentatly selects one card from the give cards dealt to him. The volunteer atone knows which card he has in mind. He neveats it to no one. Yet, the performer again calls out a number of different cards seemingly in response to mental impressions. He then tells the volunteers to acknowledge with a YES only if their selected cards were catled. The performer promptly identifies all ‘the mentally selected cards. ‘THE METHOD The modus operandi for the second phase of this effect is the principle of intersecting sets. This same principle is employed in the classic Five Card Mental Selection, sometimes called The Princess Card Trick. The principle will now be applied in rather unusual circumstances. The deck will be cut repeatedly. You will never touch the cards after they are dealt. And you will not peek at any card. Yet, in spite of these very difficult conditions, you will still be able to identify all the cards that were dealt — a must if the principle of intersecting sets is to be applied advantageously. You will discover the cards by preceding the Princess phase with two phase one calls. This first phase has already been described in the last effect. In phase one, you will need a deck stacked in the Si Stebbins order. A volunteer will cut the deck and deal five hands of five cards each. The deal proceeds as in Poker. Another volunteer will then choose a suit. If Spades is chosen, your first call will be the King, Queen, Jack and 10 of Spades and your second call will be the 9, 8, 7 and 6 of Spades. Depending upon the volunteers’ responses to these two calls, you will be able to reproduce all their cards with the aid of the charts on pages 11 and 15. The 16charts may be hidden in a notebook or attached to a clipboard, which you use to write down your thoughts. Suppose the cards are: CALL #1 CALL #2 CALL #3 OF FF 7 KD 3C GH 9S QD 2¢ 5H 8S JD AC 4H 75 10D KC 3H eee Wa Decent cee tae eee eee CALL #4 —__ 6S 9D QC 2H 5S 8D JC AH 4S 7D NH Ceres tetaetHG ee eee eat tearcs. You now ask each of the volunteers to mentally select one of their five cards. Remind them not to reveal their selections to anyone. The volunteers can then put aside the cards for they are no longer needed. To determine which card each volunteer has in mind, you must call out the cards in groups of five. Thus, your first call will be the King of Diamonds, 3 of Clubs, 6 of Hearts, 9 of Spades and Queen of Diamonds — all the cards in the first group. You ask if anyone has heard his selected card. If so, you know immediately which card it is. If volunteer #3 has heard his selected card, then that card will be the third card in the group — the 6 of Hearts. If volunteer #2 has heard his card, it will be the second card in the group — the 3 of Clubs. In other words, the position of the selected card in the group will correspond to the number of the volunteer. This same rule holds for every call. The calls continue until all the selected cards are discov- ered. No more than four calls will ever be necessary. After each call, you will ask if anyone has heard his selected card. In some calls there may be no selected cards at all. Other calls may have two or more. If after the fourth call you've found the selected cards for, say, volunteers ¥1, #3 and #4, then you may surmise that volunteer #2's card is the Jack of Clubs and volunteer #5's card is the 7 of Diamonds without even calling out the fifth group of cards. You can see how the overall process works. ach call consists of only one card from each hand. If a volunteer acknowl- edges that he has heard his card, then only one card among those called can qualify as his. You reveal each selected card in your best theatrical style. When you work with a prompter that includes the set-up for the entire deck, it is not necessary that you rewrite the twenty- five cards during the performance. Once you have discovered the first card dealt based on the two calis in phase one, all you need do at this point is number the cards on the prompter in consecutive groups of five beginning with the first card. Suppose the first card is the 9 of Clubs, then your prompter should be numbered 7as follows: CALL #1 CALL 42 CALL #3 9¢ QH 28 5D 8C JH AS 4D 7C 10H KS 3D 6C SH QS slisaer Meseer toned at Viste) rest Jeuat deser ereere Gates Gasset Seete’ tai” sti} CALL #4 ——— 20 SC 8H JS AD 4C 7H 10S KD 3¢ uTieter Secuek seu euae seeee (uae Jaga eee et} The prompter is now ready for your Phase two calls. NOTES (1) As an added subtlety, you may ask the volunteers to respond to your calls by shutting their eyes and concentrating on their cards instead of answering YES. This eye-shutting method was explained earlier on page 9. (2) As I've described the effect above, each call made in Phase two consists of five cards. However, you can vary the number of cards in each call so that the calls follow no noticeable pattern. For example, your first call includes all five of the cards in the first group. If, say, volunteer #3 answers YES or closes his eyes, then your second cal? may include all the cards in the second group plus volunteer #3's card in the third group — a total of six cards. Since you already know volunteer #3's chosen card based on the first call, any of his other cards may be included in the remaining calls without affecting your ability to discover the other chosen cards. So, each time a chosen card is revealed by a call, that volunteer's other cards may be added to the remaining calls to thereby vary the number of cards in these calls. (3) See Martin Gardner's book "Mathematics, Magic and Mystery" for a thorough explanation of the principle of intersecting sets. Peter Tappan has written an excellent treatise on The Princess Card Trick in his recent book entitled "The Impostress Princess: Theme and Variations on a Mental Classic.” POLS wwAVERAVERESE Ultrasense ‘THE EFFECT "A sensitive, a person with a highty devetoped paychic ability, can divine {acts about an object on its owmer merely by touching the object. This phenomenon is called Paychometry. Strange indeed! 1 woutd Like to teat the phenomenon naw, on a smatt scate, and in a rather unconventional way. 1 need someone £0 assist me.” With these introductory remarks, you select a volunteer and produce a deck of playing cards. You mix the cards and explain how ‘the volunteer will next @ card at random. "I want you to complete a series of cuts," you say. "With each cut, you witk take some cards off the top of the deck and place them underneath. You may stop cutting anywhere you please and then xemove one card {nom the deck. Glance at the face of the cand briegly and put it in your pocket without revealing its iden- tity to anyone. Then, complete another series of cuts on the deck and place the deck on the table face dow.” Agter clearly demonstrating what he is to do, you hand the deck to the volunteer. Turn auay as he carries out your instruc- tions. When you again tuan to face the volunteer, the deck should be face down on the table. You spread the cards horizontally achoss the table and begin touching the backs of individual cards. "Please try to form a mental picture of your card,” you request. "I want your mind to control my actions.”Atl the cards remain face dom. Yet, you remove three of them rom different Locations in the spread. Hesitantly at first. But mone confidently as the volunteer forms a clearer image of his cand. "I sense your card is red (on black if appropriate). Connect?” Let the volunteer confirm this. You now turn your three cards face up. They are three-of-a-kind. The volunteer removes the card {rom his pocket, and it matches the value of your three cards exactly. THE METHOD The deck is ordinary, but it must have a one-way back design. The bolder the design the better because the cards need not be spread out as much if the backs have a bold, easy-to-spot design. The orientation of the design on each card will then be discernible with minimal spreading of the cards. The faces of the cards are arranged according to Si Stebbins or any other card system that spaces the matching values in the deck at intervals of thirteen cards. The faces of the cards may be shown to the spectators at the start without much fear of detection. The back designs of the cards must be alternately reversed throughout the deck. The designs will then fit the following code: 010101010101+-+- etc. Each "1" represents one orienta- tion of the design and each "0" represents the opposite orientation. Assuming you use Si Stebbins, you must prearrange the entire deck, front and back, as shown below. The value of each card is three higher than the preceding card, and the suits rotate in the C, H, S, D or CHaSeD order. If the King of Clubs is the top card of the face-down deck, then the cards in sequence from the top down will be: BACKS: 0 1 0 1 0 9 FACES: KC 3H 6S 9D QC 2H 5S 8D JC AH 4S 7D 10C BACKS: 1 0 1 0 1 0 10 1 010 21 FACES: KH 3S 6D 9C QH 2S 5D 8C JH AS 4D 7C 10H BACKS =e Oe Mae O eee Oe Hee O Lee aU sere ECHO Hea I HeaHO: FACES: KS 3D 6C 9H QS 2D 5C 8H JS AD 4C 7H 10S BACKS: 1 O 1 0 1 0 1 01 01210 21 FACES: KD 3C 6H 9S QD 2C 5H 8S JD AC 4H 7S 100 It doesn't really matter which cards are the "1's" and which are the "O's" so long as the one-way backs alternate direc- tions throughout the stacked deck. When no cards are missing, all the "1's" will be separated by "O's" and all the “O's will be 20separated by “l‘s." And that is the key to the entire effect. By depositing a card in his pocket, the volunteer will cause two cards that are side-by-side to point in the same direction. In other words, a pair of "O's" somewhere in the deck will no longer be separated by a "1", or a pair of "1's" will no longer be sepa- rated by a "0". Where this occurs will mark the point in the deck at which the card was removed. And precisely thirteen, twenty-six and thirty-nine cards away from this point will be the matching cards. Any number of straight cuts may be carried out both before and after the card has been removed from the deck without Gisturbing the code. But your shuffling at the outset must be false. Any false shuffle will do as long as it looks honest and rather sloppy and results in nothing more than the straight cutting of the cards. If you hold the deck as you would in a regular hindu shuffle or an overhand shuffle and openly perform a series of genuine cuts instead, no one will question the fairness of your actions. Next, show the volunteer how you want him to choose a card at random by a series of straight cuts. After he chooses his card and places the deck back on the table, you're ready to spread the cards. You needn't pick up the deck at all as you spread the cards face down on the table. The spreading itself ought to be done rather clumsily. Avoid handling the cards as a magician might. You Proceed to find the 00 or 11 pair by reading the backs of the cards in the spread from the top of the deck down. Don't be obvious about reading the backs. If your scrutiny"is too notice- able, the method may become apparent to your audience. Try to use @ one-way design that extends to the edges of the cards; in other words, the backs have no borders. You will then be able to spot the orientation of each back design with a very slight spreading or fanning of the cards. You need only look at the exposed edges. When you locate the pair, start your count. The second card in the pair is card #1. Should you come to the bottom of the deck before reaching a count of thirty-nine, then return to the top of the deck and continue counting cards as if the entire deck were one continuous loop. Remember also that the top and bottom cards together may form a valid 00/11 pair. Suppose the spread displays the following sequence of card orientations: TOP 26 39 PAIR v 4 ¥ “~ 9101010101010101010101010101010110 1 1010101010101 t ft 3 BOTTOMThe matching cards are shown at positions thirteen, twenty- six and thirty-nine from the "11" pair. Remove these three cards from the spread, keeping them face down. With Si Stebbins, the cards having one orientation will all be black and the opposite orientation will all be red. By remem- bering which orientation corresponds to which color, you will be able to tell the color of the volunteer's card based on whether the pair is 00 or 11. Suppose in our example above all the "1's" are red cards and all the "O's" are black cards. The "ll" pair would mean, therefore, that a "0" was removed. So, the pocketed card must be black, Announce the color and let the volunteer confirm that you are correct. Then show the faces of the three cards you took from the spread. Let's say they are three Jacks. The volunteer's card, when he reveals it, will be the fourth Jack. The Telltale Card You will not actually know the value or the suit of the volunteer's pocketed card even as you remove its three matching cards from the spread. You will know its color, however, by whether the pair is a 00 or a 11. So, you can reveal the color of the card before turning the three matching cards face up, as I explained above. In any case, there is a rather simple way you can secretly discover both the value and the suit of the volunteer's card before turning over the three cards that match it. This will require that you glimpse one card as you remove it from the spread. The card at Position twenty-six will always have the same value and color as the volunteer's pocketed card. If this twenty-sixth card were the Jack of Clubs, for example, the volunteer's card would then be the Jack of Spades. 8y bending the twenty-sixth card upwards slightly as you slide it out of the spread, you can glimpse its face and thereby learn the identity of the volunteer's card. Later, when all three cards have been removed and are still face down, you can disclose the identity of the pocketed card and then show the faces of the matching cards. ‘THE METHOD (WHEN MORE THAN ONE VOLUNTEER PARTICIPATES) You may let several volunteers remove cards from the deck by the same cutting process described earlier. The 00 or 11 pair will be produced whenever an odd number of neighboring cards are removed from the deck. So, one, three, five, or any other odd number of volunteers may participate. | With five volunteers, for example, you may assign one volunteer the task of straight cutting the deck as much as he likes and then dealing five cards in succession to the five volunteers. They get one card apiece. After the five cards are dealt, the volunteer completes another series of 22straight cuts and deposits the deck face down on the table. You would then spread the deck of cards face down, locate the 00 or 11 pair and count the cards to find those that match the five that were dealt. You must mentally number each volunteer to correspond to his position in the deal. ‘The order in which the volunteers were dealt the cards will determine how the volunteers are numbered. The person who received the first card is volunteer #1, the person who received the second card is volunteer #2, and so forth, The first set of matching cards will be the ninth through the thirteenth cards away from the 00/11 pair. Each card in these five positions will match a different one of the cards held by the five volunteers. The card in the ninth position will match the card dealt to volunteer #1. The card in the tenth posi- tion will match the card dealt to volunteer #2. The card in the eleventh position will match the card dealt to volunteer #3. And so on. A second set of matching cards will occur twenty-two through twenty-six cards away from the 00/11 pair. And the third and final set of matching cards will occur thirty-five through thirty- nine cards away. When the pair is "00," the orientations of the five dealt cards must be 10101, respectively. From this series of "1's" and "O's," you can derive the color of the card held by each volunteer. When the pair is "Ll," the orientations must be 01010. How you choose to reveal the cards can make a difference in the impact on the audience. I recommend the following approach to help heighten the effect. Please follow along with a stacked deck if necessary to understand the process. Begin by removing the matching cards for volunteer #1. His will be in positions nine, twenty-two and thirty-five. The twenty-second card will have the same value and color as the card dealt to him. Therefore, if you glimpse the face of the twenty-second card as you remove it from the Spread, you will secretly learn the identity of volunteer #I's card. Reveal his card and then show the faces of your three matching cards. Without disturbing the spread, you will next remove the three cards that match the one dealt to volunteer #2. His matching cards will be the ones now situated in positions nine, twenty-one and thirty-three. You needn't count the cards to find the correct positions, however, because there will be three new 00 and 11 pairs to mark the positions. These new pairs were formed as you removed volunteer #1's matching cards from the spread. But these new pairs are short-lived. They will be erased as you remove volunteer 42's matching cards from the spread, Teaving only the original 00/11 pair behind. Subsequently, you may reveal the identity of the card dealt to volunteer #2, which you secretly discovered by glimpsing the twenty-first card, You ‘then turn over your three matching cards. 23At this point you may close the spread and straight cut the deck any number of times. This card mixing in the midst of your demonstration will further enhance the mystery. You may let a volunteer cut the cards at this point. Next, you will spread the cards on the table again, locate the original 00/11 pair, and count the cards until you find those now in positions nine, twenty and thirty-one. The cards in these positions will match the card dealt to volunteer #3. Remove them from the spread and reveal them as before. Again, without disturbing the spread, you will remove the cards now in the ninth, nineteenth and twenty-ninth positions. They will match volunteer #4*s card. Thereafter, you may again close the spread and cut the deck prior to removing volunteer #5's cards from the spread. They will be in the ninth, eighteenth and twenty-seventh positions. A Few Precautions (1) With the exception of the cards you remove from the spread, you must always maintain the cards in their proper stacking order even as you spread, unspread and cut the deck. In other words, be careful not to disturb the arrangement while handling the cards. (2) You must always keep track of the original 00/11 pair. That pair is the key by which you determine the positions of the volunteers’ matching cards. It is the only pair that marks the Tocation from which the original five cards were dealt. Other pairs will be formed as you remove the matching cards for volunteers #1 and #3. Nevertheless, you must not confuse these other pairs with the original. The other pairs will be erased as soon as you remove the matching cards for volunteers #2 and #4. (3) You should always "mix" the deck of cards just after removing volunteer #2's and volunteer #4's matching cards from the spread. This mixing consists of closing the spread (i.e., reassem- bling the deck) and repeatedly staight cutting the deck. It adds to the bewilderment. But remember that the mixing is permissible only at those two points in your demonstration. Otherwise, you will lose the original 00/11 pair among the spurious pairs formed when you remove the cards for volunteers #1 and #3. ‘Sumary The chart on the following page summarizes the card handling for 1, 3, 5 and 7 volunteers. The chart is correct assuming you remove the matching cards for one volunteer at a time, begin- ning with volunteer #1. 24