AboutGale Mack Expertise I`ll be happy to assist anyone in magic by answering questions they might have - as long as they are magicians. I`m a member of the Fellowship of Christian magicians and the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
I do parlor and state magic, about 45 50 shows a year. I'm the secretary for the Wizards of Winter Haven, Winter Haven, Florida.
I don't do much close up magic and very little card magic.
Question Hi,
I'm not sure if this is your area of expertise, if not can you direct me to somewhere that is?
Thank you in advance!
In 1999, a guy showed me a card trick that seemed rather simple. It's not so much a trick as it is math.
He took a standard deck of cards. Made stacks that totaled 13. For example, if a 2 was the card, he added 11 cards to the stack. And so forth. Kings were automatically put in another stack.
He did this until he could no longer make the stacks to 13. Then I believe added the extra cards to the stack of kings.
He would then ask someone to select 3 of the stacks to keep. Putting the other stacks into the kings pile.
The volunteer was asked to turn over the top card on 2 of the 3 stacks. The guy would then count the # off of the extras stack. With the remaining cards in the extra stack he could tell you the top card in the third stack!
He did this several times, always being right!
I tried it and also was right several tries.
My guess is that I'm missing some kind of instructions here. Do you have any idea how this is supposed to work?
Thank you again for your time!
Answer Trevor,
There are a countless number of card tricks similar to what you explained. I've probably, in the past, seen or even used the trick, but I don't remember it. A similar trick is to have someone pick a card from a deck of 21 cards. Lay down three stacks of card with seven cards in each stack. Pick up a stack and ask if the card is there. If yes, place it on top of one of the4 stacks and the other on top of it. Count out three stack again side ways (that is one - two - three. two - two- three. three - two - three, etc. Hold up a stack and ask if the card is there. Whatevery stack the card is in will be the middle stack and count out the stacks. Do this three ties. If I have explained this properly, the fouth card down on the final count will be the selected card. It's been a while since I've sued this trick, too. I don't do too much close up, and with a having had fingers broken, don't do a lot of card tricks. I do mostly parlow magic.
May I suggest you go to a school or community library and go to the magic section. You'll find several magic books. They will have tricks like this. Get a book that has several pictures.
