The various sleights above described will cost the student some time and perseverance before they are fairly mastered, and until they are so it is hopeless to attempt any of the more brilliant feats. For his amusement in the meantime, we subjoin a few tricks for which sleight-of-hand is not necessary, but which, if performed with neatness and tact, will cause considerable astonishment to the uninitiated.
CHAPTER III.
Card Tricks with Ordinary Cards, and not requiring Sleight-of-Hand.
There is a large class of tricks which may be described as consisting of two elements—the discovery of a chosen card by the performer, and the revelation of his knowledge in a more or less striking manner. We propose to give, in the first place, three or four methods of discovering a given card, and then a similar variety of methods of concluding the trick. It must be remembered that for our present purpose we exclude all tricks for which any special dexterity is requisite. There will be little that is absolutely novel in this chapter, but it will be for the student to supply the want of freshness in his materials by the ingenuity of his combinations.
Fig. 28.
Simple Modes of Discovering a given Card. First Method.—Hold the pack face downwards in the left hand, having previously noticed the bottom card. Secretly draw down this card about three-quarters of an inch, and hold the part so drawn down between the thumb and fourth finger of the right hand, the palm of the right hand being above the cards. (See [Fig. 28].) Now, with the tip of the first or second finger of the right hand, draw down the cards one by one about half an inch (beginning with the top card, and so on), inviting your audience to stop you at any card they may choose. When they do so, draw down all the cards, as far as you have gone, completely away from the remaining cards; but with them draw down at the same time the bottom card. This card, coalescing with the upper portion, will be, to the eyes of the spectators, that at which you were directed to stop. Holding the cards with their backs towards you, request them to observe what the card is. The pack may now be shuffled to any extent, but, being acquainted with the card, you can find or name it at pleasure.
The above may be employed as a means of “forcing,” where it is essential to force a given card, and you are not sufficiently proficient to feel certain of effecting that object by the regular method. Thus, suppose that the card which you desire to force is the seven of diamonds, you place that card at the bottom of the pack, and proceed as above directed. When the audience desire you to stop, you draw off the upper packet, and with it the seven of diamonds, which will thereby become the bottom card of that packet. You request them to note the card, and at once hand the pack to be shuffled. This is a very simple and easy mode of forcing, but it is very generally known, and it would not, therefore, be safe to use it before a large or very acute audience.
Second Method.—Deal the cards into three packs, face upwards, and request a spectator to note a card, and remember in which heap it is. When you have dealt twenty-one cards, throw the rest aside, these not being employed in the trick. Ask in which heap the chosen card is, and place that heap between the other two, and deal again as before. Again ask the question, place the heap indicated in the middle, and deal again a third time. Note particularly the fourth or middle card of each heap, as one or other of those three cards will be the card thought of. Ask, for the last time, in which heap the chosen card now is, when you may be certain that it was the card which you noted as being the middle card of that heap.