Alright.
Last week, I shared a brand new ‘Fingertip Fumble’ with you.
If you haven’t read that yet, go do that.
Once you’re all caught up, we’re ready to move into today’s idea.
In this version, we ‘level up’ the effect (in my opinion) by making one simple change to the handling…
Again, this comes down to sequencing.
(and once again, we want to make sure that this sequencing isn’t obvious to the audience.)
We’re simply going to ‘restructure’ the way we do this slightly.
How?
Here’s the revised sequence:
- First, a card is forced
- A number is freely chosen
- A number of shuffles are freely chosen
- A second card is forced
Here’s the major benefit I think this approach has:
In the first version, the number was forced, and one of the cards was forced.
I personally think that forcing a card is much more ‘justified’ of an action than forcing a number.
Whenever I see someone using a weird selection procedure to select a number, even if it’s NOT a force, it just feels…off.
After all, if you want a random number—why not just get someone to name one?
You’d think the same logic would apply to cards, but I think the major distinction is that physically picking a card is such an accepted and common thing to do that it doesn’t feel unnatural.
Picking a number card, on the other hand, IS memorable.
And since it’s memorable, it’s more likely to stick in their memory.
Really, we want the opposite.
The only thing we want them to remember is that they chose certain things—not HOW they chose them.
So, if we simply opt to force BOTH cards rather than just one, we can allow them to freely choose any number.
And since we’re forcing one card anyway…why not both? At least there’s going to be consistency in action.
So, now that we have that established, here’s a quick rundown on how the updated handling will work:
(this will be purposefully brief, as I’m assuming you’re familiar with the original routine, and all the principles are the same—just adapted)
- A card is forced
We force the first card of our stack. In our case, the 4C.
- A number is chosen
This is a free choice.
- A number of shuffles is chosen
Whatever they say, we look at the shuffle chart for that number—and see which card is in the position of the number chosen in step 2.
For example, if they chose the number ‘41’ in the second step, and asked for 3 shuffles, we’d look at the part of the chart labeled ‘third shuffle.’
Next, we’d look at what number is in the 41st position. We can see, in the ‘original order’ chart, that 41 is the first number in the sixth row down.
So we just look at that position in the third shuffle. We see the number ‘6’.
Now we translate that number into its card, based on our stack.
If I’m using Mnemonica, that’s the 6 of Diamonds.
- A second card is forced
We now force—you guessed it—the 6 of Diamonds.
The reveal:
This is handled in the same manner as I described in the last version…
Give the deck as many shuffles as requested—however, these are going to be FARO shuffles (hence they’ll line up with the chart provided and make this whole thing work.)
After you finish, everything will be in place.
One extra thing I would add is cutting the deck once after the final shuffle—placing the 4C in the centre of the deck. Cutting the deck won’t change the DISTANCE between the cards, it just means the 4C won’t be on top.
(although I’m sure a cleverer magician than me could find a way to make that an effect in itself, as a ‘freebie’ magic moment)
Again, let me remind you what the effect is meant to look like:
Two cards are freely chosen. An audience member freely chooses a number. Finally, you ask the audience how many shuffles you should give the deck. Whatever they choose, that’s how many shuffles you give the deck.
After you shuffle, you deal through the cards one by one, turning them face up. When you reach the first named card, you start counting.
Lo and behold, the second named card turns up on the exact number asked for!
In my opinion, this does a better job of achieving that.
Now, I did have one more idea based on this routine—but even I’ll admit that this one is a little ‘out there’.
I’ll explain in the next weekly effect.
Until then, enjoy!
Benji