That’s right kids. A One Way Force Deck. A deck of cards consisting of only one card. 52 of the same card. It doesn’t get more simple than that! No need for deck switches, no need for card controls. Nothing. This is totally self working and com-pletely fair. You simply allow them to eliminate the cards. In the end, no matter what, they will chose the Jack of Hearts. There are a few little things you can do to
“improve” the effect, but these are all personal choices.
I suggest having one indifferent card on bottom so that you don’t flash a sec-ond Jack of Hearts. The only disadvantage to this is that they might choose the in-different card during the elimination process. This has never happened to me, but it could. So if you’re worried about that, either palm it out, keep track of it, or just don’t use it. Having an indifferent card, you can also eliminate all but two, top
change the last “No” for the indifferent card, and turn over the chosen card with the indifferent one. This may give the illusion that they are all different. I person-ally have found that by showing more, I’m trusted less. I have done everything in my power to appear to be fair, yet people always try and catch me when I do that.
When I am unfair, people tend to trust me more. Why this is, I’m not sure. None-theless, this is just my personal experience.
Another thing you can do to make sure that you are not discovered to be using a one way force deck, is to put the cards back in the box as soon as the final card is chosen. Meaning that as soon as they eliminate all but one card with the pendu-lum, you take the deck, box it, and pocket it. I love the line that I use when I do this.
“Fifty-two cards came out of the box, Fifty-one go back in. There was only one other time when only Fifty-one cards were in this deck. That was the moment that one was in your hand.
What was the card in your hand, the card you selected?”
They reveal the card to you, you build the pressure, you reveal the card, and you accept your applause. By putting the cards back in the box and pocketing them, you put the cards out of sight and out of mind. No one will ask to see the cards. The dramaticism of the single card on the table, as well as the fact that hu-mans will always take the easiest route, assures that they won’t ask to see the deck.
If they did, it would kill the mood and it would simply be too much work for them.
So let’s review...
1: Remove the pack from the box and have them select a card.
2: Bury the card and shuffle.
3: Teach them how to get Yes and No from the pendulum.
4: Cut a bunch of piles all over the table.
5: have them select one pile with the pendulum. Continue eliminating till two cards are left
6: Eliminate one of the final two cards and put the whole deck in the box.
7: Build pressure, reveal the card, live on forever in legends and stories.
And that is it. It is super simple. Try it, love it, and cry the tears of italian an-gels.
BUT what if you are without a one way force deck?!?! What if you are stuck in the woods with nothing but a rock, a string, and half a deck of cards?!?! Dear
God!!!
Fear not Plebeian, I have a solution. This is the exact same routine with one small change. It will serve you well in impromptu situations where you have noth-ing. So without further ado, 1 in 52 (without a net)...
S E C T I O N 3
1 in 52 (without a net)
Effect:
The exact same as 1 in 52, Except that instead of learning yes and no, you sim-ply teach them to make it swing. Otherwise, It’s pretty much the same thing.
Method:
Goodness, I didn’t think I’d be teaching the same trick twice. What I mean is not that this is the same as the previous effect. I mean that it is pretty close to iden-tical with Broken Hearts. Here is what happens.
They remove their desired card, show it around, and before they plant it back in the pack you take the card from them and crimp the corner. Now I mean
REALLY crimp it. The idea is that when it is buried, you’ll be able to see a break in the pack. As you take the card from them to bury it, you simply use your pinky to crimp the corner. As you bury the card, make sure that you bury it crimp side in first. That way, you can display the card half buried and no one will see the gi-ant crimp you’ve made. Also, this ensures that when you set it down, naturally the crimp will face you instead of your audience.
So let’s catch up. They have selected a card, shown it around, you have taken the card and crimped the corner and buried that corner in the pack. As you slide the card in, you’ll notice that the crimp is on the lower half of the pack. Set it down in front of you with the break towards you and you’ll see a big old break.
That’s your card. Now, feel free to shuffle the cards as much as you like. That break will still be there. Just as before, use the time spent shuffling to teach them how to use a pendulum. This time, you’ll teach them a bit differently.
Instead of teaching Yes and No, you will simply make it swing. Just like it did for Broken Hearts. In the end, this will be the exact same thing as Broken Hearts.
You will simply guide them down a path. They usually do a good job of walking
the path themselves, and if they happen to stray you can guide them back with the, “Are you sure? I feel energy here, try this one again.” Jedi mind trick. So once again, not too much to cover other than the end.
After shuffling and teaching pendulum use, you cut the pack into more than two piles (so that you have some wiggle room) and you start eliminating. All you have to do is keep the crimp card on the table. Do the exact same things you did in Broken Hearts. Once you eliminate the first piles, split up the pack again and eliminate even more piles in the same fashion. Now, you’ll probably be down to about 8 cards. This is the only thing that can go sour if you aren’t paying atten-tion.
With these last cards, you will want to make sure you ‘Un-Crimp’ the chosen card. That way, no one can tell how you would have known where the card is.
Spread the cards out and allow them to find their card. Make sure you keep track of their card. Since it’s no longer marked, it could be easy to lose track of. Let them do what they always do and let them eliminate down to One card. If you need to help them, do so. Finally get rid of all the other cards, reveal that they were right, and give them a round of applause.
I know that I’ve been very slack with explaning this routine. The reason for this is simple. You already have the tools to do this, I already taught you how to use these tools, and I think that, in the end, if you needed to do this impromptu, you could have figured this out on your own. So let’s wrap this baby up with a recap.
1: Have your willing and oblivious victim pick a card.
2: As you take the card to bury it, Crimp the Hell out of the bottom corner.
3: Bury the card, crimp side first, into the pack and lay down the cards with the crimp facing you.
4: As you teach them to use the pendulum (Remember, not Yes and No, just a simple swing) you shuffle the cards.
5: You cut at least 3 piles and they eliminate all but one pile. The pile with the crimp.
6: Cut more, even smaller piles, onto the table for elimination.
7: Once all but one small pile is gone, un-crimp the chosen card and spread out the final cards on the table.
8: Keep track of the selected card and let them eliminate all the others. Re-member that if they aren’t hitting the nail on the head, it’s just like magicians choice. Get them back on track with your Jedi Mind Trick
9: Once the selected card is left, reveal it and hear the praises of your name sung throughout the eons.
So just remember while performing this, it’s just like Broken Hearts but without all the tearing. Just keep track of their crimped selection and if they don’t follow the right path, guide them back to it. Remember, you are like a Shepard guiding your audience through an inspirational and magical journey. In all these effects, you are a leader. You are not in control, you are letting the magic happen around you. You simply show the road to them, you don’t force them down it. Remember that in all you do.
C H A P T E R 4