Главная - Энциклопедия The Neato card location
Magicians who work close-up should always know one or two "impromptu" card effects that can be done without any preparation and with any deck of cards.

The magician gives the spectator a deck of cards, then steps a few feet away from the spectator. He or she tells the spectator to shuffle the deck, then take one card out of the deck, look at it, put it back in the deck more or less where it came from, then square up the deck.

The magician turns his back and puts his hands behind his back. He asks the spectator to place the deck in his hands.

The magician then faces the spectator. He brings out three or four cards at a time and shows them to the spectator, asking if the spectator sees his card. When the spectator says that yes, he has seen his card, the magician reveals which card the spectator selected.

Setup

A deck of cards. No preparation.

Presentation

You must watch what the spectator does as he or she handles the cards. The spectator can shuffle the cards as much as he likes to start, however once a card as been removed from the deck as a selection and then replaced in the deck, the deck cannot be shuffled. You must know the approximate location of the card: near the top of the deck, near the center of the deck or near the bottom of the deck.

Presuming the card has been returned so that it is near the top of the deck, have the spectator square the deck, turn you back, and ask for the deck to be placed in your hands.

You will now bring out three or four cards at a time, show them in fan to the spectator and ask if the spectator sees his card. The dodge involved is that the groups of cards you bring forward are assembled by taking one card from the top of the deck and two cards from the bottom.

Thus you are showing the spectator a group of cards of which only one card could possibly be their selection. Obviously you have to keep track of where the card from the top is in the group you bring forward.

Knowing this, when the spectator announces that he sees his card, you can simply drop all the rest of the cards you are holding until you are only holding the one card from the top which must be his card.

Expanding The Principle

With two decks of cards you can make up a gaffed version of this effect which, while not impromptu, is more impossible. Make up one deck from the two that consists of two sets of 26 cards which are the same. Place the joker between the two sets of 26.

Bring out this deck, give it a false shuffle or several false cuts, then cut the deck at the joker and offer the spectator either half.

Once they've taken the 26 cards, step back with the other half, put your hands behind your back, and exchange the 26 cards for a packet of 26 cards which were left over when you made up the first deck.

This will eventually give you a full, complete deck, but more immediately it means that when the spectator can shuffle his 26 cards after making his selection and putting it back. As you bring out the cards in groups, you simply bring out one from his 26 stack and one from your 26 stack, keeping track of which card is from the spectator's stack.