Royal Road to Card Magic The

B and place these cards at C. The four of spades, your key card, is somewhere in the middle of packet B.
    2. Now instruct him to take packet C and shuffle it well, then look at and remember its top card, replacing the packet at C. 'Please remember that you first shuffled the cards and then looked at the top card. There is no possible way in which I can know the card of which you are thinking.'
    3. Next have him pick up the packet at A, shuffle it well and place this on packet C. 'Your card is lost,' you point out. 'I give you my word I do not know what it is or where it is at this moment.'
    4. Finally, have him pick up the combined packet A-C and place it on B, then give the assembled pack one or two complete cuts.
    5. Take the cards and run through them with their faces towards yourself until you come to the four of spades, your key card. Calling this card number one, count to the left until you arrive at the twenty-sixth card above it. Should your count take you to the top card before you reach the twenty-sixth card, continue the count from the bottom card. This card, the one twenty-sixth above your key card, will be the spectator's card.
    6. Cut the cards at this point, taking all the cards above the spectator's card in your left hand and the remainder in your right hand, holding the hands widely separated. Glance from one packet to the other, shake your head a little, doubtfully, and move a step or so forwards as you say, 'I'll try to find it another way.' At the same moment bring your two hands together, placing the cards in the right hand above those in the left and in this manner placing the spectator's card at the top of the pack.
    7. Take the pack in your right hand, holding it at the ends between the fingers and the thumb, at the same time pushing the spectator's card at the top 25 mm (1 in) off the pack to the right. 'Please name your card.' Raise your right hand and toss the pack into the left hand. As it falls, air pressure against the protruding top card will cause it to turn over so that when the pack drops into the left hand, the card will be face upwards. 'There it is!' you exclaim. The effect is that you threw the deck into the left hand and the spectator's card somehow popped, face upwards, to the top.
    A Meeting of the Minds
    This impressive feat may well pass as a demonstration of genuine mind reading.
    1. Note the bottom card of the pack for use as a key card and shuffle it to the top in the course of an overhand shuffle; then spread the cards from hand to hand, asking someone to remove a group of cards from the centre and leaving to chance the number he will take. Square the remainder of the pack and place it to one side.
    2. Take the spectator's packet of cards and pass them one by one from your left hand to your right hand, faces towards the spectator, asking him to think of one of them. Turn your head away as you do this but silently count the cards so that you know how many there are in the packet.
    3. Hand the packet to the spectator, then move away a few paces and turn your back. Instruct him to remove his card and place it face downwards to one side, then shuffle the remainder of the packet and replace it on the deck and consequently upon your key card. Finally, have him place his selected card on top of all.
    4. Have him cut off about two-thirds of the pack, then place the cut to one side; take the lower portion, shuffle it and place it on top of the other portion; make one complete cut.
    5. Returning, take the pack and recapitulate what has been done. 'You will remember that you have thought of a card and replaced it in the pack after shuffling and cutting. You are the only person present who knows the name of the card of which you are thinking. If you doubt this, say so at this time. You are satisfied that no one else can know the name of your card? Good. Therefore it is impossible that a confederate could transmit its name to me. I assure you that I have never found it necessary to employ confederates and would find it distasteful, but this trick is so amazing that some people afterwards think that this may have been the case. I mention it only to forestall such criticism.
    'Others have claimed that I do not really succeed in the feat, but that the spectator who thinks of the card, through courtesy and a kindly desire not to embarrass me, agrees that the card I show is his when it is not. For this reason I shall ask you to write the name of the card of which you are thinking on a