Little Egypt Magic presents:

A Sure-Fire Prediction:
An Alternative Routine for Duvivier's Deck That Shuffles Itself

It struck me that Duvivier's wonderful self-shuffling deck might be played for comedy if the shuffling sequences were incidental to a braggart's attempt at mentalism. So far my audiences agree.

I shall not explain the workings of the trick. The shenanigans you must go through to accomplish the following should be obvious to owners of the deck.

As to the new routine:

Introduce the deck by removing it from its case. A piece of paper and a pen are handy.

"I can see into your future. Not very far, but far enough to make an accurate prediction about your impending actions. I know what you are about to do."

"I'm going to spread the deck like this and ask you to think of a card."

Ribbon spread the cards face up, displaying 52 different cards.

"But before I do, I'm going to predict which card you will think of."

Turn the deck over and do a face-down ribbon spread showing all backs.

"I won't spread the deck face down, like this, because then you can't see any cards. I want you to think of a card that you can see."

Close the spread and leave the deck lying face-down on the table. I turn it 90 degrees.

"Of course, I could give myself an edge by doing this. I could remove the astral body of the deck, place it over here, cut the deck in half, turn one half face up, and then shuffle the halves together, face up/face down, like this. And then return it to the deck."

Mime this shuffling and the return of the "astral body" to the deck.

"Now if I spread the cards, you can see only 26 or so cards, which makes my prediction task easier."

Spread the deck to reveal a topsy-turvy shuffled condition, a la Triumph. This gets a laugh and is the first time the specs realize something isn't right. You seem to ignore the magic that has just taken place.

"But that wouldn't be fair. So I'll shake them up again."

Close the spread, shake the deck, and ribbon spread it to reveal 52 face-up cards again.

"Face up ..."

Turn the deck over and ribbon spread it to reveal all backs.

"... and face down."

Close the spread and turn the deck over, so that it lies face up. A queen of hearts will show.

"So you understand the rules. I'll spread the deck. You think of a card. But first ... my prediction."

Secretly write the Queen of Hearts on the paper and turn the paper face down.

"I'm committed. Are you ready? Okay, think of a card."

Spread the deck to reveal that all 52 cards are queens of hearts. This gets a huge laugh.

"Any one you see. Do you have one? Is it ... the QUEEN OF HEARTS?"

Turn the paper over to show that your prediction is correct.

Close the spread, pick up the deck, and begin to insert it back into the case. Just before you do, put the case back down and spread the cards from hand to hand, showing 52 different cards again.

"You could have thought of any of these, but you did think of the queen of hearts. I just had a feeling." All this is tongue in cheek of course.

And that's enough. I do not advise the kicker of the card case printing bit that comes with the equipment. Your audience has seen plenty of magic already.

A JSB Creations product
Copyright© 2006 by Steve Bryant