Watch Closely

Owner

Morgan

Presentation

Teams receive a shuffled deck of cards. Each card has a letter written on it. (Table & image below) They also watch a magic show performed by a volunteer. During the show, the illuden performs 4 tricks. Each trick has one "chosen" card, and in order they are

1. 8♣
2. J ♦
3. 6 ♠
4. 8 ♥

Nearby, there is a sign:

Walkthrough

1. Sort deck of cards into the 4 suits, then order them A, 2, 3, 4, …, Q, K

2. put in order the sub-piles: clubs, diamonds, spades, hearts. This is based on the order of chosen cards in the tricks the illuden performed (8 of clubs, J of diamonds, 6 of spades, 8 of hearts), as well as implied in the title row of the sign.

3. Notice that the Illuden selected the 8 of clubs, J of diamonds, 6 of spades, and 8 of hearts. Also, if you count the symbols on the sign, you notice there are 8 clubs, 11 diamonds, 6 spades, and 8 hearts. Notice that the back of the cards say "Caesar's Casino"

4. Caesar shift forward each suit by a prescribed amount from step 2 above. Clubs - 8. Diamonds - 11 (Jack = 11). Spades - 6. Hearts - 8.

5. Now, the text you have for each suit is as follows

   Clubs: SUBTRACTONEFR

   Diamonds: OMCARDSCHOSEN

   Spades: THENSHIFTTHOS

   Hearts: ECARDSBYEIGHT

   "Subtract one from cards chosen, then shift those cards by eight"

6. Cards chosen refers to the cards the illuden selected during the show, which are the 8 of clubs, J of diamonds, 6 of spades, and 8 of hearts. We subtract one from the cardinality of those chosen cards to get the 7 of clubs, 10 of diamonds, 5 of spades, and 7 of hearts.

7. The letters on those cards are:

   7♣	10♦	5♠	7♥
   U	D	M	T

8. Caesar shift forward these letters to get the solution "CLUB"

Design Notes: How to do the card tricks

Trick 1:

Force an 8 of clubs

• Riffle force
  1. Hold the deck of cards in a dealers grip in your left hand, making sure to grip the top of the cards very well with your left middle and ring finger
  2. Ask the volunteer to tell you when to stop
  3. Riffle through the cards, and when they say to stop, with your right thumb and middle finger, grasp the packet of cards that you have riffled through, EXCEPT for the top card
  4. Use your left middle & ring finger to slide the top card onto the top of the packet that is still in your left hand, while simultaneously flipping the packet in your right hand over and pointing to the card asking "here?"
  5. When they say yes, flip the packet in your left hand back over, and present the packet for them to draw the top card. Ask them not to show it to you
• Mentalist
  1. Ask a series of questions, as they answer, narrow down your prediction of what the card is
  2. ex:

You: Favorite color?

Volunteer: Blue

You: Ah! It's clubs. Okayyyy…savory or sweet?

Volunteer: Sweet

You: EVEN number. hmmm…cats or dogs?

Volunteer: Cats

You: Ah, it's bigger than 5. What was the name of the street you grew up on?

Volunteer: Merigold

You: 8 of clubs!!

other question ideas:

• does pineapple belong on pizza?

• Whats your VPs name

• what date did you start your internship?

• favorite ice cream flavor

Trick 2:

Just grab a J of diamonds off the top of the deck

• toss the card

  1. Say some bullshit about how you've studied the physics of cards, you know science, you're an illuden. If you know the exact position of the card within the deck, you can toss the deck with the correct velocity and trajectory such that you can make the chosen card pop out of the deck.
  2. hold the deck in your right hand, and toss the deck from right to left, and allow your finger sweat to hold the bottom card of the deck to your right fingertips

Trick 3:

force a 6 of spades

• Draw from the bottom force

  1. 10 Ways to Force A Card @ 1:30

• slide card up

  1. this is a special deck. You're going to put the card back in the deck upside down, and then find a way to shuffle the deck so it doesn't mess up the direction of all of the cards

  2. have the volunteer hold their hand above the deck of cards and ask them to concentrate on the card, while you slide your fingers along the side of the deck and cause the card to pop out

Trick 4:

force an 8 of hearts

• spread out force

  1. FORCE ANY CARD!!! - 3 Easy Ways to Force a Playing card @ 7:57

1. push through table

   1. You have prepared, and you have an 8 of hearts which is taped to the bottom of the table
   2. Now say some bullshit about how matter is made of atoms and SPACE between them. if you concentrate hard enough you can push the card through the table
   3. There's a video for this but I can't find it right now

Ideas of other things that are important for doing magic

• get them answering questions. every time you ask for a volunteer, ask them what their name is, where they work, are they having a good day, etc
• have fun with it, try different bits. as you find bits that work, use them over again
• Make it a bit different every time. if you hear interns fixating on certain language you're using, use different language.
• If you mess up, just go with it. UNLESS YOU PICK THE WRONG CARD. If you pick the wrong card, start the trick over again.