Royal Road to Card Magic The

described it, you will understand the psychology of the top change better. You must not snatch the card in making the change - you do not need to make it with great speed. We have tried to emphasise that naturalness is the keynote of good conjuring, and this is especially true of the top change.
    At first it may seem to you that everyone must see the exchange of cards, but a century of experience on the part of card conjurors is that, smoothly and easily performed, the exchange goes wholly unnoticed.
    Top-Change Byplay
    This is another quick card trick especially suitable for an impromptu or close-up performance.
    1. Have a card drawn and shown to all. When it has been replaced in the deck, control it to the top by means of the Hindu shuffle.
    2. 'Ah, I've made a mistake!' you apologise. 'Let's start over again. Take another card.' Force the same card on the same spectator, using the classic force. When he and those around him glance at it, they will laugh and may make some remark that it is the same card. If this happens, you must act as though it is a genuine surprise to you. You must never be smug and pleased with yourself when you make a force.
    3. Reach out and take the card in your right hand. Turn to address someone on your left. 'My mother told me there'd be nights like this!' you say wryly. As you make the turn, top change the forced card for the indifferent card on top of the pack. 'Here, let's get rid of that card!'
    4. Toss the card face downwards on the first spectator's lap, if he is seated, or drop it on a convenient table or chair if you are all standing. Immediately pass the forced card to the middle of the pack and force it again on the same spectator.
    5. When, for the third time, the spectator draws a card which he now believes rests on his own lap, the resultant laughter will be most gratifying to you.
    6. Do not touch the card you discarded in step 4. Usually some curious soul will reach for it and turn it over, and this will cause more laughter.
    Bottom Change
    In the bottom change the card held in the right hand is placed at the bottom of the pack, the top card being taken in its place. It is generally agreed that this change is not so smooth as the preceding method, but there are certain tricks in which it must be used if the trick is to be performed at all. You must not gather from this fact that the bottom change is difficult or detectable. Actually it is easier than the top change and, when neatly performed, it is imperceptible. We simply point out that, all things being equal, the top change is the preferable method.
    The principle of the bottom change is the same as that of the top change, that is, one card is changed for another under cover of a larger movement of the hands and the withdrawal of the left hand from the right after the change has been made.
    1. Hold a card face downwards in your right hand, between the thumb and index and middle fingers, and about 30 cm (12 in) from the left hand. Unlike the top change, in which the card is held at the lower corner, here you grasp it at the middle of the right side.
    2. Hold the pack face downwards in the left hand between the thumb and index finger at the extreme outer end. Place the pack well into the crotch of the thumb. Keep the other three fingers free of the pack, so that by extending them an opening will be made between them and the index finger; into this opening the right-hand card may slide and be gripped as in a forceps. Rest the thumb on the top card, in readiness to push it off the pack to the right (figure 123).

    3. Make a turn to the left and move the right hand towards the left, simultaneously moving the index finger from below the card on to its back, so that it is gripped between the two fingers and the thumb is free.
    4. The right hand overtakes the left at the middle of the body and slides its card between the left index and the other three fingers, which drop slightly to permit this. Close the right thumb and index finger on the top card, which is pushed off the pack to the right by the left thumb (figure 124). Move the left hand away with the pack, the right hand following on more slowly with the former top card.

    The changed card is now gripped squarely under the pack between the left index and the other three fingers. Close the latter on the pack and move the index finger outwards, allowing the card to be pressed up against the bottom of the pack by the fingers.
    5. Continue the swing to the left, moving the left