Mnemonica Speller

Spell To Any Card Named (Mnemonica Version)

by Jack Shalom

© A Brief Chronicles Production 2020 First Edition. Not for Sale! Yeah, you can make a copy of it for a friend or two, but please be respectful and reproduce the whole thing including this notice. Thanks.

2

Introduction I recently published the Aronson stack version of this effect, as I have been a longtime user of Simon Aronson’s memorized stacked deck. I got a very good response to that, but a number of people mentioned that they were Mnemonica users, and asked if I would create a version for the Mnemonica stack. Well, I thought it would take me a long time to do that, since the Aronson version was put together over several years and I had little experience with the Mnemonica stack. But strangely the work on the Mnemonica stack went very quickly by applying what I had learned from my previous effort. Most magicians (including myself!) are not enamored of spelling tricks, but I’ve found that many non-magicians enjoy them a lot and find them absolutely baffling. So why not have an extra weapon in your memdeck arsenal? The only way the project would be interesting to me, however, was if I were able to work out a list of instructions that covered every card in the deck. I think I’ve achieved that. Moreover, in nearly every case the named cards can be spelled to without the performer touching the deck-- the spectator does the dealing almost all of the time! The instructions involve a variety of strategies, so a few comments about prerequisites. First, the method(s) assume that you are completely comfortable with the Mnemonica stack; card-to-stack number and stack number-to-card should be fairly automatic. In addition, it will also help immensely if you have a quick way of determining the number of letters in the name of a card. I would recommend the method that Simon Aronson explains in Try The Impossible called “Simon’s Flash Speller.” And third, you must have a reverse breather crimp set at card 26 (write me at the email address included if you don’t know how to do that.) The instruction list is on its own page for easy reference, but make sure to read and assimilate all of the material here before you attempt this publicly. One practice tip is to have a deck with the stack in order; then with another shuffled deck, choose cards at random to spell to in the stacked deck. And, of course, always begin with some false shuffles before the card is named. Do whatever your skill set allows you; what you do is not as important that you do it. Some false shuffle is better than none. Please send questions, suggestions, and comments to [email protected] Enjoy!—Jack 3

THE INSTRUCTION LIST (Mnemonica) Clubs Ace: FU, Normal Two: Crimp, Top Card Three: Count to 3, Next Four: Top Five: Crimp, FIVE Six: FU, SIX Seven: FU, SEVEN, Next Eight: Crimp, EIGHT, Turn a Double Nine: FU, Count to 9 Ten: Crimp, FU, TEN Jack: Crimp, JACK, CLUBS, Next Queen: Normal, Next King: Crimp, FU, KING, CLUBS Hearts Ace: FU, Erdnase color change Two: Count to 2 Three: Turn over 4C; starting with next card, Spell FOUROFCLUBS, turn over 3D; starting with next card spell THREEOFDIAMONDS, Next Four: FOUR, Next Five: Turn over the 4C, Start with next card, spell FOUR. Turn over the 4H, then starting with the 4H, spell FOUR. Six: Crimp, FU, SIX, Next Seven: FU, SEVEN, HEARTS, Next Eight: Normal, Next Nine: Crimp, FU, NINE, HEARTS Ten: Crimp, Normal, Next Jack: Crimp, FU, THE JACK Queen: QUEEN, HEARTS King: Crimp, KING, HEART

Spades Ace: SPADES [or THE ACE], Next Two: TWO, SPADES, Next Three: Crimp, FU, THREE, Next Four: FU, Normal, Next Five: The+Normal, Next Six: The+Normal, Next Seven: FU, THE+ Normal Eight: From the top of the deck spell EIGHTOFSPADES, Next. Turn over the 8H. Starting from the next card spell NO, SPADES Nine: Count to 9 Ten: Crimp, TEN, SPADE Jack: FU, THE JACK, Next Queen: FU, QUEEN King: Crimp, KING, Next Diamonds Ace: Crimp, Normal Two: Crimp, FU, DIAMONDS Three: Crimp, FU, Normal Four: FU, FOUR, DIAMOND Five: Crimp, FU, Erdnase color change Six: Count to 6 Seven: “Name a small number” (A hit on 2 or 3) Eight: Crimp, Show the King, then spell KING starting from the KD continuing to the Bottom half Nine: Bottom Ten: FU, TEN, Next Jack: FU, The+Normal, Point to the JC, and starting with next card spell JACK Queen: Crimp, Normal, Next. Show the 4D, start with next card to spell FOUR King: Crimp, FU 4

Explanations. Please Read! Normal: means deal one card for every letter in the name of the card, ending on the last letter. Next: means turn over the card after the last letter. So, for example, if the Queen of Clubs is named (Instructions are Normal; Next) spell by dealing one card each for Q-U-E-E-N-O-F-C-L-U-B-S and then turn over the Next card. THE+: Add the word THE in front of the Normal spelling. So, for example, if the Five of Spades is named (Instructions are THE+ Normal; Next) spell by dealing one card each for T-H-E-F-I-V-E-O-F-S-P-A-D-E-S and turn over the Next card. FU: Turn the deck Face Up and spell. So, for example, if the Ten of Diamonds is named (instructions are FU, TEN, Next), turn the deck face up and then spell by dealing one card each for T-E-N, and then the 10D will be the next card, staring you in the face. Crimp: The deck is prepared with a crimped King of Diamonds at position 26. The crimp should be set so that when cut, the King is on the bottom of the top half. A classic reverse breather crimp works well here (that is, put the crimp into the back of the card). So for example, to spell to the Ten of Hearts (instructions are Crimp, Normal, Next) cut to the Crimp, and then starting with the bottom half spell by dealing one card each for T-E-N-O-F-H-E-A-R-T-S, and turn over the next card. The spelling always starts with the bottom half (that is, position #27) unless it says Crimp FU in which case it starts with the top half. Crimp followed by FU: Cut at the crimp and turn over the top half so that position #26 is facing you and count down from there. So, for example, if the Three of Diamonds is named (instructions are Crimp, FU, Normal) you cut to the crimp, turn the top half face up, and spell by dealing one card each for T-H-R-EE-O-F-D-I-A-M-O-N-D-S. Paco Nagata gives the great tip that for the first ten cards or so, you can elect to have the spectator cut anywhere they like, but not complete it; and then after a time delay, as in a Cross Cut Force, start the spelling from the apparent cut point, but in reality the original top of the deck.

5

Some Important Strategies To Sell The Spelling With a list that gives you a spelling method for every card in the deck, some outs are going to seem inherently stronger than others. But in reality, even some of the outs that look more far-fetched can actually play quite strong if approached in the correct way. With almost all of the spellings, you can perform them handsoff, just by directing the spectator what to do. For cutting at the Crimp, you can actually make the cut as you turn your head, which seems very fair, and then give further instructions to the spectator with no other handling on your part. For most of the other instructions, you are hands off, with the spectator following your instructions. The only three exceptions would be when the handling demands turning a Double, or doing an Erdnase color change, in which case the performer will be handling the deck. Having to hold the deck for a Double is admittedly the weakest possible outcome—but it’s only for one of the cases, and you’ve still brought the effect to a successful conclusion. In the case of the two cards that demand an Erdnase color change, it’s a strong ending: you pick up the deck and the face card magically transforms into the chosen card. If instead of spelling the whole card name, the instructions say to spell just the number or the suit, a little dialogue beforehand helps to sell it. For example, the instructions for the King of Spades says “Crimp, KING, Next.” Your script would be something like, “The King of Spades? I’m going to turn my head (you make the cut at the crimp). What is your card, the Jack of Spades? (“No, the King.”) The Queen of Spades? (“No, the King!) The King. Okay deal one card for each of the letters in the word K-I-N-G, and now turn over that card…” So the idea is to make it seem that the tough part is the number or suit, and that’s what you’re focusing on in the spelling. Sometimes the instructions give the number and the suit, but not in Normal form. For example, the instructions for the Four of Diamonds is FU, FOUR, DIAMOND. In that kind of situation, have the spectator pick up the deck and turn it face up. Ask him or her what the value of the card is. “Okay, deal one card off for each of the letters of FOUR, F-O-U-R. And is it a heart or a diamond? Good, then deal one card off for each of the letters of the word DIAMOND.” Sometimes the instructions involve dealing to more than one card. You’ve got to be very careful to follow the instructions extra carefully here. But the reward is a fun reveal with a little extra drama. For example, suppose the Three of Hearts is named. The instructions are: (Turn over 4C; starting with next card, spell FOUROFCLUBS, turn over 3D; starting with next card spell THREEOFDIAMONDS, Next.) Your script would be something like this: “The Three of Hearts. Hmm, 6

that’s a hard one. Can I take three tries?” You turn over the top card—the 4C. “Whoops, sorry, that was my first try. But maybe that’s a clue. Deal one card for each letter in FOUR OF CLUBS.” You turn over the 3D. “Oh, man, I’m rusty today—that was try number two. Well how about dealing one card each for the THREE OF DIAMONDS?” And when they do, the next card is their card! “Well done! That was like a triple play!” How To Memorize This List It will obviously take some practice, but it’s not too terrible. The truth is, you’ve already memorized the stack, so you must have some memory ability already! The key is to think about where in the stack the named card is. If you’re familiar with Aronson’s Flash Speller from Try The Impossible, you will know how to determine the spelling length of a card name quickly. By comparing the stack number with the spelling length, you’ll have an idea of what you must do. For example, suppose the 4H is named. That’s stack #5, but the spelling length is 12. Clearly, the deck will be face down and since the spelling length is too long for the stack #, it must be a short version of the name: FOUR with Next works. Let’s try another one, The QS. The stack number is 48, so the deck is probably face up. Counting back from 52, it’s only 5 cards (remember to include both ends—card #52 and card #48--in your count! 52-48+1= 5) so in this case you can spell QUEEN. Let’s try a harder one: The 7S. That’s stack #37. So it might be from a cut to the crimp or it might be face up. It’s 11 from the crimp position of 27 (37-27+1=11), and 16 from the bottom of the deck, position 52 (52-37+1=16). Either one might be a possibility. You know that 7S spells with 13 letters, so you’re a bit stuck now. What can you do to reach the card? Well SEVEN, SPADES will get you to 11, so that’s one possibility, but you could also reach 16 by adding THE to the beginning of the spelling. So FU, THE+Normal also works. I prefer the latter, but you realize now you have a choice. So you see, if you like, you can forego brute memorization by having a repertoire of strategies, figuring it out on the fly, rather than memorizing what to do for each card. I would recommend becoming very familiar with the list above, and then not worrying about it, trusting yourself that you’ll figure out what to do. I think you’ll surprise yourself with how well you do. Who knows, you may even come up with a better spelling scheme for a given card! 7

8