Bob King - New Magician Foolers.pdf

.El

.El

.El

.rc

orel .re! .re! rEl

.a a

I a

I O

I

rf[

a

I a

I

8v 808 KtNa

t

I O

I .

t

Ptirrate Lecture Book

I t

I a

I a

Copyright

@ 2003

by Bob Ifing Magic

I a

L.

;

CIO

EIr

CTo

ETr

ETI

ETr

CIr

a

CTr I

1'

\

Soft Sleeve Soft Touch Copper/Silver For Dean Matching Wits Impromptu Stunner II Time will Tell Underground Matrix III Celebrating The Fourth Repeat Triumph Bonus Routine Bottoms Out

a

Copyright O 2002 by Bob King

Magic-All

2

3 4 5 7 8 10 13

r6 18

fughts Reserved

\.

soFT stf,Fyg

8t s0L sf0fiE

This excellent method for sleeving a coin is the basis for many of the effects in my current lecture. It plays an important role in my Pen through Quarter as well as my routine for the Coin in Bottle. I also use it in many spellbound routines as well qs my routine for Expansion of Texture.

see the position of the coin just prior to the sleeving action. The second and third fingers have been moved out of the way to make things clearer. In practice, they would be curled and next to the first finger.

In Fig. 1, you will

Begin, as in Fig. l, with the coin held pinched by the first finger and thumb so that most of the coin projects to the right and closer to the second finger. You are going to propel the coin up the right sleeve, using the first finger. This move is not a snapping action. The first finger, very softly, brushes up the side of the thumb,

carrying the coin with

it

and up

the

sleeve.

ffig' I

Think of the first fingertip as sliding up the side of the thumb and coming to rest at the base of the thumb. If you snap too hard, you will miss the sleeve entirely. The action must be sol and smooth.

In Fig. 2, yol can

might in a mirror. In actual fact, the coin travels so quickly that you cannot sEe it go from any angle. Also note in Fig. 2 thx the first finger has traveled only half its route; it must follow through all the way to the base of the thumb. see the move as you

This sleeving method may

be

of a coin or as a change of one coin to another. Having another coin finger-palmed for the change in no way hinders the action of the

used as a complete vanish

sleeving.

Elg.2 2

s0Ff Taaffi

cfi??n&tm

I

have always considered the "Copper/Silver Transposition " to be one of the greatest tricl<s in magic. The reaction I've gotten from the thousands af perform-

ances of it bears this out. Using the "Soft Sleeve" makes this the cleanest, most baLfling version I've ever performed.

Preparation: In your right pocket, you must have two silver half dollars and in your left pocket, one copper English penny.

Performance: You must have your hclper facing you, Your

hands

reach into your pockets. The left takes the copper as the right takes one coin at the fingertips, and one in finger palm. As you bring the hands out of the pockets, do the Soft Sleeve of one of the silver coins as both hands turn palms up. You are showing your helper what you would like him to do. Place the silver eoin in his left hand, the copper in his right.

Your right hand picks up the copper coin and you explain that you will drop it back into his hand, at which time, he is to close his hand and turn it over. Illustrate this by dropping the coin, closing his hand and twisting it palm down. Have him turn the hand back over and open it. Pick up the coin and drop it into his hand. As he closes and tums the hand over, you drop your hand and retrieved the sleeved half. Admonish him for not having done it fast enough. Take the copper and immediately do the Soft-Sleeve switch. After the switch, leave the palm up hand partially open, with the curled {ingers hiding the half (sort of an upside down Ramsey subtlefy, He can't see tho coin, but the rest of the audience assurnes that he can still see the copper coin-this is strong!

Turn your hand over and dump the half into his. He will quickly close the hand and turn it over, assuming he has the copper coin. Let your hands be seen empty. The right hand take his other coin as the left pushes this hand dorvn, indicting that it will no longer be needed. Place this half onto the back of his right hand, preventing him from opening the hand prematurely. The right hand taps the half as you explain that you into the fist, causing the copper to come up to the top.

will tap it right through

Lift the hand and let it fall to the side, retrieving the sleeved copper coin. Come back up and pick up the copper. lmmediately do the sleeve-switch and Ramsey subtlety. Slap the coin onto the back of his hand and lift to show the copper. Pick it up. Have him open his hand to show the half, drop the copper to join the half to end this wonderful routine.

3

FO*,OE,fr This is my stmptified handling of a Dean Dill routine. What I've done is elimin(tte some side-steals and palms to bring about a rnuch more direct elfect. My first effort was to use thefour Kings to find their Queen mates. I then decided that I liked Dean's idea of using dollar bills to find {our of a ktnd. The ending of showing a one-way deck is strictlyfor laymen.

SET UP: On top of a one-way deck (I use a deck of all Jokers) are two aces. The other two aces are on the bottom of the deck. You must also have four dollar bills folded in half. PERFORMANCE: Begin dealing to the table, until told to stop. When stopped, have your helper place one of the bills onto the dealt eards. While they are doing this, casually shuffle as follows: Milk the top and bottom cards and shuffle off the rest, running the last few cards singly. Drop the deck onto the dealt cards. Begin dealing again and when stopped, have another bill dropped onto the dealt cards. Drop the deck onto the dealt cards.

Do the same thing for the remaining two bills.

Now, Pick up the deck and run through it until you come to the first bill. The right hand, holding a fan of cards, takes this bill and the card to the right of it and tables this pair. Run through again and as you approach the next bill, you must cull the card second to the right of this bill to under the spread. Again, table this bill and the card to the right of it.

Again start running through the deck, keeping all spread cards above the culled Ace. Table the next bill and the card to the right of it. Finally, run to the final bill and as you move forward to table this card, the left fingers pull the culled Ace to the left and it is tabled with the bill.

Turn over each face down card to show that the bills have found all four Aces. Finally, tum the deck face up and spread it to show that your helper has found the only four regular cards in the deck.

4

nfiGfltilewfi| The following routine takes a very old gambling scam and turns it into an entertaining routine, guaranteed to cause any audience to credit you with skill way out of proportion to the effort on your part.

EFFECT: Your helper pushes a card face up into the deck. You are always able to lell him whether or not the card next to his will match in color. This is repeated a couple of times, each time, becoming more and more conrolled by your helper. Finally, the deck is cut into several packets, and as many people push cards into their packets; you have someone do the same for you. The surprise ending comes when it is shown that none of the spectators has managed to match the color of their inscrted card. However, when your pair is tumed over, it is seen that yours is the only match and you pick up your $100 bill which was placed down as a wager.

PREPARATION: The only set up is that the cards of the deck be alternated as to color: Have a red card on top, followed by a black, then a red, etc.

PRINCIPLE: Arrange it so that the top card is red. Take the top two cards, a red and a black, off the deck and lay them face up, off to the side. To familiarize yourself with the secret to this effect, take the face up red card and push it face up into the deck. Norv, pick up the deck and push off the top two cards, keeping them in the same order. Drop these onto the table. Push off two more and drop them onto the first two. Continue until you get to the face up red card and the one which is paired with it. Tum the facs down card face up, and you will see that the two match in color. Replace the the original (pushed in) card with the other black face up card off to the side. Flip the matched card face down onto the cards in your hand and drop these cards onto the dealt pairs. The deck is back in order.

If you were to have taken the black

face up card and pushed it into the deck, the pair arrived at by dealing would not have matched. Here's the whole secret: if the pushed in card matches the top card of the deck, the arrived at pair will always match and vice versa.

PERFORMANCE: Bring out the deck and arange to have the top card red. Take off the top two cards, turn them face up and place them in front of your helper. Ask him to pick up one of them and push it face up into the deck. The minute he picks up a card, you know whether or not it will cause a match, I.E., if he picks up the red card, the pair arrived at will match; if he picks up the black, they will not match. Announce your prediction and go through the dealing of pairs. After showing that you were correct, put the deck in order as above.

At this point, I repeat the above. I also cut a card from the top to the bottorn. so that a black card is now on top. This way, if he picks up the red card again, I can announce that the two cards will not match. On the third stage, I will claim that maybe he thinks I am able to calculate the result by watching rvhere he pushes the card into the deck. For that reason, I tell him that I will attempt to do it with my back turned. Have him pick up one of the face up cards; you immediately know whether or not there will be a match. Turn your head away and have him push the card into the deck. While your head is still turned, announce your prediction. Turn around, take the deck and go through the dealing. Put the deck back in order.

You may leave this stage out if you like-we always include it. Pick up both face up cards and declare that this time, no matter which card they use and no matter where they place it, there will be no match. Have hirn take one card from your hand. If he takes the red card place the black aside and proceed as before. If he takes the black card, casually drop the red face down onto the deck and proceed. In either case, because there was a black card on top originally, there will be no match.

If

he chose the black card, there is a slight difference in resetting the deck. When you come to the face up/ face dorvn pair and show no match, place them aside as before. Now, double-cut the top card of those in your hand to the bottom before dropping them onto the tabied group. For the climax, you will first replace the two face up cards to the top of the deck. However, you must place them on in reversed order; if the top card of the deck is red, place the red face up card on first, then place the other on top of it. This puts the top three cards out of sync and is necessary for the ending. Take out a 5100 bill and propose a challenge. You will have several people, including yourself, try to cause a match. The first one to do so will win the $100. Have one helper cut off about a quarter of the deck and place it in front of you. Have each of three persons cut off packets for themselves. All four of you now take the top card of your packet, turn it face up and push it into the packet. In fact,I always have another spectator do mine so that I'm not accused of cheating. All four of you now do the dealing of pairs until you come to the face up card and its mate. You'll find that none of the other three helpers have a match, but you do. Pick up the $100 bill and pocket it.

If you analyze the ending, you'll see why it works. When they take the top card off their packet, it will be a different color than the one now on top of the packet, and therefore, cannot match its mate. Since you were given the top quarter of the deck, your top fwo cards were reversed and will automatically create a match.

m?n0nfia srailnE?u Not one magician witnessing this ffict has ever reconstracted it, or, for that matter, had rnuch of an idea as to its method. Perhaps the fact that the cards removed by the spectator are never replaced, as in similar triclcs, is what fools. This effect was first yvritten up tn my book Magician Foolers.

I

have since made some changes whiclt

I

believe make

it

more

commercial.

EFFECT: A spectator merely thinks of a card at a position in the deck determined by him. With not a single question asked, the magician causes that very card to be the last one of those eliminated by the spectator..

METHOD: Borrow a deck-making sure it is complete. Explain that you are going to have a card thought of among the top twenty. In order that the spectator selects a number which could not have been know ahead of time, have him cut off a packet of cards-less than half the deck. Turn your head away while this is done. Have him secretly count the cards under the table or behind his back; stress /&e

fact that you could not possibly know the number. Havs him remember the number and place the packet into his pocket.

Raising the cards with the faces torvard the spectator, count the cards

into the right hand without reversing their order. Have the spectator rernember the card which falls at his remembered number. Count slowly

and out loud to twenty six. At this point, if the right hand cards were to be put below the others, his car:d would be 26th from the top. The formula is that his card will always be a number from the top equal to 52 minus the number of cards placed to the bottom.

Deal five hands of five-card Poker, using up twenty five cards. As you deal the last card to your hand, casually, let the deck go slightly below the table top and allow the top card to fall into your lap. Place the deck aside. One-by-one, let your helper eliminate four of the Poker hands by placing them onto the deck. Take the remaining hand and deal its cards into the five positions previously occupied by the hands. Have him eliminate four of these cards as before. V/hile he is doing this, drop your r:ight hand to your lap and palm the card there, face down. Have him narne his mentally selected card. Bring your right hand over the remaining card and in the act of turning it face up, sweep it off the table into your lap and show the one you had palrned, turning it face up and dropping it to the table.

7

There are, of course, many other ways to bring the lapped card into play. You may use any gambler's switch you are comfortable with. Many so-called "hand mucking" moves, as used in Black Jack may be used. Those familiar with Marlo's shelf will want to try this approach.

Another idea is to show the remaining card as being the wrong one and then producing the selection from your wallet.

We're sure you will find many applications for this fascinating principle

flNEruUTEU Basically, what you are abaut to learn will enoble you to ask someone to think of their favorite hour of rht day. lYithout asking any questions, you are able to divine this number.

You must be wearing a watch with a sweep second hand. Before your performance, pull out the stem of the watch when the second hand is over twelve; the watch will stop at this point. Place the watch in your jacket pocket with your thumb hovering over the stem. Approach someone and ask to look at their watch. If it has a sweep second hand, wait for it to pass over any number; let's suppose thx number to be four. At that very instant, your thumb pushes the stem of your watch in and you walk away. In private, replace the watch on your wrist, which we will assume is the left one. What you now have is the situation where his second hand is running four hours ahead of yours. This is so because when his hand was passing over four, yours began to run again at twelve. On most watches, this situation will remain for several hours.

Wren ready to perform, ask him to think of his favorite hour. Turn your back and stand as follows: Cross your affns and then bring rour right hand up against your right cheek. The left hand remains at the crook of the right elbow. This is a natural way to rest your head against your right palm. If you now glance down, you will be looking right at your watch.

Ask your helper to look at his watch, and when the second hand "Now." When he does so,

passes over his favorite hour, he is to yell out: take note of the hour which your second hand is on.

8

Let's assume that your second hand is on six. Because his second-hand was four hours ahead of yours, he must be thinking of ten. Without asking a single question, you now know what number he is thinking of.

In my lectures, I havs several rvays of using this information. One is to secretly shuffle that many cards onto a previously selected card, which has been brought to the top of the deck. Let him count down to his secret number and tum over the next card. Somctimes, I will have a breather-crimp on the bottom of the deck, and when I know his number, I will shuffle that many cards to the bottom of the deck and hand it to him. He will remove a card from the center of the deck, place it on top and cut the deck as many times as he likes. I takc the deck back and cut the crimp to the bottom. The selection is now one card past his secret number.

Probably the most direct way of presenting this is to simply read the spectator's mind and tell him his favorite hour of the day.

I

ailofr0n0ailo nrnfi

ilt

Of the tnany "slit-mat" coin rotttines I do, this is

nry favorite. It begins with jttstfour coins and cards, has several surprises and has a totally unexpected ending. Most magicians will kave the necessary props on hand.

Setup: You will need a black close-up mat, gimmicked as in Pig. 1. You must make two slits with a razor blade at the upper left and right. They must be slightly longer than the diameter of a half dollar. The diagram shows a gray mat, only so that you can see the slits. In reality, the mat must be black. This renders the slits invisible. You will also need four half dollars and an expanded shell to match, a jumbo coin and four playing cards. Have the jumbo coin on your left thigh and the shell coin on your right thigh. The four coins and cards are on your mat.

Performance: Place the four coins at the four corners of your mat. Hold the four cards, slightly fanned, in your left hand. Bring the cards over the bottom left coin and as you press dorvn on the top card with the right hngers, withdraw the rest of the cards, thus leaving one to cover the coin. You will nolv, apparently, do the same rvith the upper left coin, This time, as the cards are brought over the coin, the left fingers dig under the coin and trap it against the cards, as the top card is left in place. Take the two cards, with the coin hidden beneath to the upper right coin. Leave the top card and the place the last card, and coin, over the bottom right coin. Turn the cards so that the short edges are at the right and left. You have secretly transferred the upper left coin to the bottom right. Stage l: Both hands lift the rear two cards with the right hand doing the Dingle pick-up move of one coin. One coin rvill show under each; replace the cards. Snap you frngers and lift the cards again. This time, do the pick-up of the left coin; two coins will appear under the card on the right.

Bring the right hand card over the upper right card and the left hand card over the lower right coins. As you lift both hands, the right hand lifts both cards and does the pick-up move and the left hand leaves it coin with the other two. There are now three coins together. You will find that the pick-up move is no more difficult when done rvith two cards, and does away with discarding a card after the appearance of each coin. The right hand comes down with its two cards to cover the coins and the left brings its card over the one at the upper left. Lift both hands and cards to show all four coins at the bottorn right.

t0

Stage 2: Place the coins at the comers as before. As you cover them with the cards, do the steal on the first (lower left) coin, Continue covering the coins and deposit the stolen coin at the bottom right as before.

Do the pick-up move of one of the tlvo lower right coins as you use this card to point to the upper left card. You are explaining that this coin will be first to go this time and it effectively shows just one coin at the bottom right. Replace the right hand card. Snap your fingers or do your magical gesture. Pick up the upper left and lower right cards, doing the pick-up with the lsft hand. Move the right to the upper right and the left to over the coins. The right lifts both cards, doing the pick-up as the left deposits its coin and lifts to shorv three coins. The right brings its two cards and the coin over the three coins as the left goes to the lorver left. Lift both hands and cards to show all four coins again at the lower right. Drop the cards to the center of the table and drop your hands to your lap in a relaxed posture. Stage 3: The right hand retrieves the shell and holds it at fingertip rest. Bring both hands up and take the cards into left hand dealing position. Deal the top card to the upper left secretly leaving the shell under it. Continue dealing the other cards to the remaining three corners.

The left hand lifts thc upper left card, doing the pick-up move and the right hand places one of the coins at this upper left comer. Lower the card over the coin, being careful not to let the two coins o'talk." The left thumb lifts your side of the card at the upper right and the right hand apparently places a coin under it. Actually, the coin goes into the slit in the mat and right underneath it; lower the card. The other two coins are placed under the rernaining cards. You will now cause the coins to assemble at the upper left as follows: The lefi hand lifts the upper left card as the right li{is the lower right, doing the pick-up move. Shift you left hand, and card, to lhe lower left. The right moves to the upper left. On lifting the cards, the right hand deposits its coin, as the left does the pick up move. The left hand cards and coin go to the upper left and deposit the coin as the right takes its card to the upper right and lifts the card there. Stage 4: Pick up the shell and one other coin. Place them to the upper middle

of the mat with the shell overlapping the coin. Place the other trvo coins at the lower middle of the mat, separated about six inches. Deal the four cards to the four corners. The right hand picks up the shell and coin, fingers on top and thumb beneath. The left hand lifts your side of the upper right card and the right hand ducks the coins underneath the card. While there, the coin is slid into the shell, the hand removed and the card lowered. It will look as though you simply left one of the coins under the card.

The left hand lifts your side of the upper left card and the shell-covered coin is placed under it, actually going into the slit in the mat as before. Lower the card.

1l

The left hand now lifts the lower left card as the right slides the leftmost coin of the two closest to you under it. Lower the card and slide your right hand over to the last coin. As the left hand reaches in front of the right to lift your side of the right hand card, the right hand pretends to pick up the coin, actually lapping it. Pretend to place this coin under the card.

Relax your hands to the lap and place the lapped coin onto your thigh. You are going to lap another in a moment and you don't want them to hit each other. Remove the card from the lower left coin and place it aside to the left. Explain that you would like to cause the other three coins to assemble here, but they seem to have disappeared. As you paiter the above, do the follorving: The right hand removes, and tosses to the right, the lower right card; the left hand does the same with the upper left card, tossing it to the left; as the right hand tosses the last card to the right, the left hand drops to the lap and retrieves the jumbo coin. Bring the left hand up in a loose fist with the coin secretly resting on the curled fingers.

You now explain that there would have been no room for the other coins along with this one. Here, your right hand pretends to pick up the visible half dollar, actually sliding off the table and lapping it. You then do a Han Ping Chien move as the left moves aside leaving the jumbo coin to apparently be thrown dorvn by the right hand

t2

cHtfiM7til9ilils r0urn The following two routines make use o.f an old. principle which I have been using to apparently deal tke.faurth card, while appearing to deal the top. It is no more dfficult than dealing a second. The first routine is a very authentic Poker demo, the second is a super clean assembly.

POKER4

Preparation: Take the Ace of Diamonds and Hearts and cut a ncat circls out of the cards, following one of the two circles surrounding the Angels riding the bikes on a Bicycle playing card. Remove the fives and tens frorn the rest of the deck;

I'll explain why later.

If you place the Ace of Spades at the face of these two aces and the Ace of Clubs at the back, you can fan these four cards and the cut-out circles will not show.

Performance: Fan the four aces face up and lay them onto your working surface so that you knorv which end the holes are at, Hand out the rest of the cards to be shuffled; the thinness of the deck will be attributed to the removal of the aces. Take back the deck and place the aces on top, keeping track of which end the holes are at. In three riffle-shuffles, shuffle twelve cards above the accs. Claiming that your partner would now give the deck a false cut, do a slip cut to simulate the real thing.

Orient the deck so that the holes are at the outer end of the deck. Turn the bottom card face up in place to apparently prevent bottom deals. Begin to deal four Poker hands with your hand receiving the fourth card. After you have dealt th:ree cards to each hand, you will fsel the cut-out holes under your left thumb. If you press down with the thumb and move it to the right, three cards will move, allowing you to deal the fourth card. Just do it as you would a second-deal. Deal the remaining two rounds, actually leaving the aces on top.

Allow

someone to look at the other three hands and decide how many cards would like to keep; the others are thrown into a discard pile, leaving the kept they cards face up. Letting someone else do this shows that you could not have know where to place the aces during your initial shuffle. When it comes your tum, using only your right hand, and without them seeing your cards, discard all but your ace and one other card.

You will now deal a number of cards to each hand, based on how many they discarded. Let's say that the first player discarded three cards and you are to deal that amount to them. Deal the first card, dealing a fourth as before, into your right

13

hand. Now deal another the same way, onto the first. This is done by bringing up the first dealt card to the back of the left knuckles and dealing the fourth onto it. Do this same deal once again, resting the first two against the knuckles. Throw these three cards to the first player. This is a common way of dealing a number of cards to the same player.

Do the same deal rvith the other two players, based on the number of cards discarded.

You will now deal the top three cards into your right hand, using the same technique, but actually dealing two hole cards and then the fourth ace onto these. Drop these three cards onto your other two cards. Show that the bottom card is still face up. Show each of the other three hands and comment on their strength. Put your thumb on the outer end of your cards, dig your fingers under the same end, turn the cards face up and fan them to show the winning hand of four aces. anyone points out that a straight-flush would have beaten you, just smile. This is why you removed the fives and tens. This makes a straight flush impossible.

If

ASSEMBLY4 This three-phcse assembly gets progressively more and more fair and, therefore, more and more perplexing to your audience.

Phase l: Have your fan of aces, face up, on the table. Remove from the deck twelve cards, making sure that the card seventh from the face is one of the threes except for the spade (let's assume this to be the three of clubs). Turn these cards face down and place the aces face down on top of them. The cut-outs are at the outer end. Deal the top ace face up and forward on your mat; your left thumb covers the holes. Now closer to you and dealing frorn left to right, do your fourth deal, apparently dealing the other three aces into a row. The right hand comes over the cards, fingers at the outer end, thumb at the inner. The left thumb pushes over, in a tight spread, three cards. The holes are hidden from the front by the right fingers. Lift these cards from the deck and use thern to flip the face up ace face down. Now, slide these cards under the ace and square these cards.

From the rest ofthe cards, place three onto each ofthe other cards, believed to be aces. Pick up the packet on the right and set it onto the middle packet. Place this combined packet onto the left most cards. Do your magical gesture, tum these cards face up and spread them on the mat to show no aces. The right hand turns the ace pile face up and fans it, using the same technique as in the Poker routine. Table this fan of aces.

14

Phase 2: Scoop up the indifferent cards and turn them face down. Explarn that some may think you are dealing from the bottom when placing the aces down. To dispel this notion you will "bum" tlie bottom card by turning it face up at the bottom of the deck; do so.

Place the aces on top of the deck as in phase I and repeat that whole phase. After dealing the aces, show that the "burneC'is still there and straighten it out. Phase 3: At the end of phase 2,the three of clubs will be second from the top of the indifferent cards when they are scooped up and turned face down.

Take the top card, turn it face up and place it to the bottom as the "burner." The three is now on top.

Do the apparent dealing of the aces, but deal them all face down, including the first one. Turn the remaining cards fuce up and turn the "burner" over face up. Holding the cards from above in the right hand, the thumb gets a break above the three aces at the rear ofthe packet.

You rvill now apparently show the faces of all the cards placed onto the aces. The left thumb pulls off the face card, but also takes the three aces secretly below it, keeping a pinkie-break between thenr. Continue by pulling off two more cards onto the others. Done smoothly, it looks as though you have simply pulled three cards off into the left hand. The left hand is going to turn face down and deposit it's cards onto the leader ace, but as it does so, the two hands come together and the three cards at the face of the left hand packet are touched to the bottom of the right hand packet and left there. The left hand continues fliming face down and adds its cards to the leader ace as follows: The cards are brought to the left of the ace, touching the table, and the lcft thumb reaches out and slides the ace onto the back of the packet. This will effectively hide the holes in the top two aces. Show and place three more cards onto each of the other supposed aces. Pick up the packets, right to left and the three of clubs will be at the bottom. Explain that you will further isolate the aces by placing atl of these cards back into the deck. The left hand picks up the deck and the right hand's twelve cards are placed into the center of the deck for about hatf their length. The right hand first and second finger are placed onto the face of this packet, hiding the index and one pip of the three. In this condition, both hands are tipped up to show the bottom of the deck as the tlvelve cards are pushed into the deck. The three, with only it's center pip showing, Iooks exactly like the ace of clubs, Turn the deck face up and spread it to show the vanish of the aces. Finish by picking up and fanning the aces for the third time.

15

ntrEtrtua,,lP,l I have always considered any version of Triumph to be one of the strCIngest routines you can perform for laymen; so much seems to happen without any ntoves. The trick just begs to be repeated and I don't believe the ffict suffers

from repetition. This method

is fun to perform because the ending to the first part automatically sets you up.for the repeat-just when your audience thinks the

effect is over.

SET UP: You will need to make a thick double-backer: Use double-faced tape to stick two cards face-to-face; tape makes the card stiffer than glue. Place this card second from the bottom of your deck.

PERFORLANCE: Ribbon-spread the deck face down. Do the usual flourish of flipping the spread face up, making sure that the bottom few cards are bunched to hide the d/b card. Scoop up the cards, turn them face down and pattcr: "Different people shuffle cards in different ways. Some shufJle like this; some give them a riffle-shuffle and some shuffle overhand like this." During the preceding patter, perfomr the following moves: Hindu-shuffle about half of the cards into the left hand and drop the rest on top. Table the cards for a riffleshuffle and let your thumb riffle up the near side until you feel the thick card drop. Separate the deck at this point and rjffle-shuffle, bringing the d/b card to the top. Give the deck one overhand shuffle, running the dlb card to the bottom. All of this casual shuffling begins the story you are about to tell and also implies that the deck is normal. "However, I was performing at a function once and a fellow grabbed the deck and shuffled like this." Here you are going to perform a Tenkai move which will set you up way ahead of time. The deck is held face down in the left hand. The right hand comes over the deck and takes about half. Just as the right hand cards are lifted off the left, both hands turn over, the right turning palm up, the left, palm down. Because of the ilb card on the bottom, it will appear that you simply turned one half face up. Table the two halves rvith the left half overlapping the right.

It appears that one packet is face up and one face down, when, in reality, thcy are both face up with the d/b card covering one. You will now do a move with which I have fooled many magicians. Act as though you were going to demonstrate how this fellow shuffled the cards and then stop and say: "...but wait...I'm getting ahead of my story." Take the face up right half and flip it over to the left and onto the other face down(?) half. (l've had magicians tell me that they thought I started to do the Tenkai move and then changed my mind; they were completely fooled). I realize that the position you're in could be reached by doing a half-pass, but these moves fit the story and appear completely innocent. Besides, there is something satisfying about making a move right under their noses.

"l

was showing this wise guy a card trick and I had him remove one. Will you play the part of the jerk...I mean...spectator?" Spread the top half of the deck and have one selected. While the card is being shown around, the right thumb riffles up the near end until the d/b card drops onto the lower half. Lift the upper

l6

half and have the card replaced onto the d/b card. Square the deck and position it for a riffle-shuffle.

"As I said, this guy turned about half the deck face up and shuffled it into the face down half." The right thumb riffles up the near side until the d/b card drops. Move the upper half of the deck about ll2 inch to the right and let another card (the selection) drop. Take the rest of the cards to the right and table them face up. The top card of the left half is jogged slightly to show more backs. Use the left edge of the face up half to realign the top card of the left half, which you accidentally(?) left jogged. Shuffle the hvo halves together, letting a few of the left portion's cards fall last. Very cleanly, square the cards.

"He handed me the cards and said: 'Al1 right mister magician, Iet's see you find my card now.' Well, it looked like I would have to use some real magic, so I gave the cards one cut...like this, and when I spread the cards...like this, all of the cards returned face down except for one...his card!" Give the cards a cut and complete it. Ask for the name of the card and then, turn the deck face down and ribbon spread it from left to right. His card will be face up in the middle of the face down spread. Unbeknownst to him, the d/b card will be just to the right of his. It is during the reaction to this surprise, that you will set up for the repeat. This is bold, but because the trick is apparently over, it always passes.

Your left hand takes hold of the left side of the d/b card and scoops up all the cards to the right of the selection; these cards are held in sort of a dealing grip. The right hand slides the selection forward, toward the spectator. At the same time, the left hand tums palm down and goes to the left end of the spread, where it slides the tabled spread to the right, squaring it under the cards in your hand. From the top down, you will have a d/b card, followed by half the deck face up and then the other half face dorvn.

"I could tell that this guy was fooled, because he asked me to do it again. Well, normally we magicians don't repeat a trick, but he talked me into it." Holding the deck in the left hand, take back the selection in the right and stick it, from the rear, into the middle of the upper half. Be careful not to push any of the face up cards out the front. Table the deck for a shuffle. The right hand lifts the top half at the natural separation between back-to-back cards and tables it to the right of the other half. Turn the left half face up. Shuffle the packets together, letting the d/b card be the second-last card to drop.

"I started to cut the cards, but this time he said I was not to cut. So, all I did was wave my hand over the deck...like this, and, once again, his card was the only card face up in a face down deck." Act as though you were about to cut the cards and stop. Turn the deck face down, wave your hand over it and spread the cards. To finish, turn the selection face down in place and flip the cards faee up as you did in the beginning. The d/b card is back second from the bottom and you are ready for your next performance of the triek.

t7

c07fian8

0w

Routined by Bob King

Ron Zollweg was intrigued with a report he heard thut Al Baker once did a trick in which he knocked the bottom out of a drinking glass and then instantly restored it. Zollweg set to work devising a suitable gimmick and handling. "Bottoms Out" is the result. While it may sound rather dry and ohvious in print, it creates quite a bit oJ'interest ailtang layrnen whenever it is done in a bar or restaurant. The above is Ron's original (1960's) first paragraph. Believe me this effect is much stronger than he modestly declares. What I have added is a bit of tweaking on the timing and making it appear that the knife, or pen as I prefer, actually penetrates the bottom of the glass.

Required: The gimmick is a raggedly disc

of clear Plexiglas

cut

about one-quarter inch thick and one and a half inches in diametcr.

i \l{ rlg' ... I ilJ r,l ,l Fig# If the reader were to saw a disc of plastic out\

UL-J

of a sheet of Plexiglas using a coping J;;; k;;- Lr?*l*' hole saw, the resulting sawed edge would be just about right. The edges should not be too even or neat. Also needed is a borrowed glass and table knife, or pen.

To Perform: l) Have the gimmick in a handy pocket on your left side. When ready to perform this trick, reach into the pocket with the left hand and grip the disc in the left hand. The disc is held edge against the palm with the third finger curling around it. Figure I shows how the disc is palmed.

2) Normally when holding a glass, a person would grip it so that all four fingers encircle the glass. In this trick, however, hold the glass highcr up in the left hand than normal. The left first and second fingers and thumb encircle the glass near its

bottom. The left third and fourth fingers are curled below the bottorn of glass, thus if the disc is held by the third finger as described above, the disc will be directly below and parallel to the bottom of the glass. The disc should be about one-quarter inch away from the bottom of the glass. Since glasses are usually larger in diameter than the disc, the glass will sit on the side of the third finger and the quarter-inch spacing between the glass and the disc will be almost automatic. Figure 2 shows the spectators'view of the glass as

18

it is held by the performer's left hand. The spacing betrveen disc and glass is nectwo objects striking together and creating noise that would spoil the illusion. Note also that the space at the base of the thumb is larger than shown. When the penetration occurs, the pen will slide down this space, behind essary to prevent the

the glass (see arrow in Fig. 2).

3)

This step and those which follow must be done in a smooth, unhurried Rehearse these moves so you can do them r,vhat on happens next. Hold the glass in left hand as without concentrating

flow. There must not be a pause. shown.

4) Pick up the pen and lower it into the glass until it touches the bottom. Tap the bottom of the glass several times gently with the pen, each time, lifting the pen all the way out of the glass. After several gentle taps, bring the pen down again. This time, holvever, it goes behind the glass and slides into the thumb crotch. At that exact moment, relax the left third finger and allow the plastic disc to drop to the table. As you release the disc try to use as little finger motion as possible. The bottom of the pen should be briefly seen below the glass, as though it had gone right through. Immediately, bring the pen straight up and set it aside.

5) Without changing tempo, pick up the disc in the right hand, look at the bottom of the glass, then at the disc. Slap the disc flat against the bottom of the glass. As the disc rebounds off the bottom of the glass grip the edge of the disc with the left third finger as betbre. 6) Maintaining the same even tempo, the empty right hand nloves up to the top of the glass, grips the glass and sets it well forward on the table near one of the spectators. Under cover of the right hand movement forward, the left hand can easily come back and lap the disc. If standing the disc can be pocketed. The right hand picks up the pen, the left picks up the glass. Tap the pen against the bottorn of the glass and then drop it into the glass. Hand the hole thing out to be examined.

19