EFFECT PERFORMANCE accident and ...lfound your card...
The magician locates a selected card- Look at, away, and then back at a spectator, reveal the
Spread the cards with the faces toward
and then reveals that a freely named time on the
Whoa...l just got a jolt of d6jit vu
you, looking for the card among the
time is written on its back. back below.
involving you, this deck... non-duplicates that-according to the
However, to be
PROPERTIES system detailed previously-corresponds
safe, always
Take out the cased deck.
look down to
to the spectator's choice of time. lf you
The Timecard deck alternates twenty-six take care to spread only far enough to see
...and a grandfather clock. make sure a
duplicates with twenty-six cards of varying
time isn't
the indices, it becomes almost impossible
values. The duplicates-with two excep- Look over your shoulder at a tall imaginary to accidentally reveal any stray marks on
about to come into view. lf one is, just
tions-have a succession of times written clock, and then look back at the spectator. riffle off an additional card See Dribble
the other side (Fig. 5, spectator view).
on their backs; the cards of varying values Taking the cards out of the case, continue: (Practicing in front of a mirror is a good
Handling for an alternative to this proce-
are all cut slightly short. way to put your mind to rest regarding this
NoW since you were there too, do dure that's totally foolproof and only a
concern.)
The times on the duplicates correspond to you remember the clock chiming on little more difficult.)
the values of the cards under them. full the half hour or on the hour? Pausrng before putting each packet on the
hours are paired with a spade or a club, [The spectator answers.] So, at exactly... bottom of the deck should guide the spec-
and half hours are paired with a heart or a
lpause, looking at the spectator as you tator into stopping you wrth a packet in
diamond. wait for her to fill in the complete timel your hand.
...1 had you say stop as I cut cards
To take two examples, the duplicate with
from the top to the bottom. Once the spectator stops you for good,
1 .00 on its back is above a black ace, while
look away as you lift the packet, showing
the duplicate with 10:30 on its back is Tipping the deck forward, gently riffle up the bottom card
above a red ten. As far as face cards go, the back of the deck (Fig. 1). Stop about a (Fig. 4, spectator
the 1 1.00 and 1 1 30 duplicates are above quarter of the view). (lf, despite With the appropriate indicator card located,
appropriate jacks; the '12:00 and 12:30 way from the your best efforts, move all the cards in back of it to the face
duplicates are above appropriate queens; top, and cut off the spectator has of the deck (Figs. 6 and 7)
and the two duplicates with clean backs the remaining stopped you as
are above kings. cards (Fig. 2). you've placed a
Extending the strategy used by Burlrng Pause for a packet on the
Hull in his Cards Mysterious (aka Ihe moment, and bottom of the
Svengali Deck), the alternation of short
then place deck, tip up the
these cards on entire deck to
and long cards allows you to (A) hide the
faces of the duplicates, (B) hide the writing
the bottom of show the card
on their backs, and (C) make sure a
the deck (Fig on the bottom.)
3)
duplicate is always chosen,
I asked you to
(Tipping the remember your card, and then-after
To speed your location of the correct
duplicate, the red and black groups of
deck before cutting the deck a few times...
non-duplicates are each arranged in riffling helps
slide the short- After placing the packet you're holding on
numerical order, although meshed with
ened cards for- top of the deck, again tip the deck
one another-and with differing starting
ward, making forward and-gently riffling up the back
points-to mask this fact. (The order of all
sure that your as before-give it a few complete cuts.
fifty-two cards is reproduced at the end of
thumb won't (Don't forget to always check that a time
these instructions,)
pick up an isn't about to come into view.)
extra card by
(A strong pornt here is the revelation of a cards whrle not altering the order of the and put it on top of the deck, which you 5) lt can be effective for the time selection
clean back as you separate the cards, so deck (Fig. 10 and 1 1). give a cut before slipping back inside the to be split between two spectators-one
you should move slowly enough for it to box. specifying whether the clock was chiming
register.) Tap the unseen duplicate you're on the hour or the half hour, and the other
l'm glad you remembered that the specifying the actual time.
about to reveal.
same way I did. Otherwise, people
...which was the...lwait for the spectator might have thought I was making 6l The dejd vu theme makes the selection
to supply the name of the cardl. And it all up. of the same card during another perform-
that's exactly what it was. ance seem less suspicious and more of an
You are now reset. lt is possible, however, to
added effect.
Tip your hand down to show the apparent carry a second deck to facilitate an
NOTES
selection on the face of the deck (Fig. B) alternate selection, since limecard is
I 1) When performinq for a particularly manufactured with a full spectrum of
.rnalytical group or for a magrcian- force cards.
ll
having the card chosen before the time
can add to the mystery. Otherwise, start- DRIBBLE HANDLING
ing with the time lets the card's moment lnstead of cutting packets off the deck as
of dej) vu be the moment of selection. descrrbed, it s possrble to have a card
2) To end clean, keep a second deck in picked by allowing cards to dribble from
your pocket that lacks the card duplicated one hand to the other. Apart from being
in the main deck. After finding the selec- extremely deceptive, this also makes the
tion and revealing the time, box the accidental flash of a time virtually impossible.
But-if you'll put your hand out like a remainder of the deck and put it into the Hold the face-down deck from above,
table... (Alternatively, the drrbble handlrng taught pocket containing the hidden duplicate
later on will work particularly well here.)
with your thumb at the inner end, your
box. Pick up the selection as you deliver index finger in the top card, and your
Put out your own free hand in demonstration.
...was a time it'll never forget. the last lrne; and then, almost as an after- remaininq fingers at the outer end (Fiq. 13).
...we'll see that people aren't the only thought, take out the duplicate box and lf you simulta-
ones who get dejit vu: cards do too. Pick the card up so only you can see its slip the selection inside. The unspoken neously push
Your picking this one... back, and then lay it on the spectator's assumption is that you absentmindedly down with your
hand so thaL the [ime comes into view jumped the gun in putting away the deck,
Deal the apparent selection face up onto oriented toward the spectator (Fig. 12).
index finger
realized your mistake, and then brought it while pulling up
the spectators hand (Fig. 9). out again. with your other
3) lf you don't have a chance to switch fingers and
decks, and someone asks to examine the thumb, you'll
I one you're holding, reply. "Certainly, but create a tension
first you'll have to go back in time." that can be
released by let-
4) By placing the duplicates under their ting cards
corresponding indicator cards-instead of spring off the
above them-it becomes possible to riffle bottom of the
shuffle the deck, since the long/short deck in an
principle will keep those pairs together. unhurried
...out of all of these... Obviously this will destroy the order of the stream (Fig. 1a).
deck, making it more difficult to quickly
Cut off and replace varying numbers of Wait a few beats for audience reaction, locate the correct duplicate card.
cards, displayinq a number of different and then take back the apparent selection
Due to the alternating configuration of WARNING! Be very careful in dribbling
My f avorite of these has a humorous DECK ORDER
plot in which, after the selection has apparently
short and long cards, only clean backs will cards if standing above seated spectators,
been found, I casi doubt on that fact by show- From top down, indicating back
show during this disarmingly natural as such a situation creates a dangerous
rng that all the cards in the deck are the same, content of duplicates and color
display. upward angle. To get around this problem,
frnishing by showing that the selection really is and value of
(A) lower your hands, (B) dribble the cards
As before,
onto the table, or (C) confine yourself to the spectator's "own special card" by displaying
once the that his name is now on its face. This works well Unmarked Unmarked
spectator
has stopped
the riffle-and-cut technique
previously.
described
with Katsuya Masuda's powerful Wow!, wilh
the message appearing visually while the face-up
Es@l@
EtrilIEil
6:00 6:30
you-and TIMECARD selection is trapped in a plastic envelope.
after you've
given Timecard has been over six years in the I Ultimately, though, I have found the approach 12:30 '12:00
her
free range to
change her
making. Originally, I used male names on
the back of the duplicate cards, cued by
detailed here to be the strongest and most
consistent. (Though you are certainly welcome
@n@tE@ 5:00 5:30
mind-lift
up the unre-
small white letters on their court card
faces. I showed this informally at the
MAGIC livel Convention in 2001, but
to try out any of these approaches, I do
the rights to their future marketing.)
reserve
EtrT @ 1 1:30 1 1:00
leased cards
to show her
ultimately decided against putting it out.
Though its very effective when you can
Precedents for
Trmecard include Christened
Reverse by Fred Lowe; X-Credable by Buddy
@il E@r 4:00 4:30
the one on the
bottom (Fig
15). Finish by
produce the spectator's name, all too
often I found myself fishing for a match.
Ackner; Birthday Suit by Dan Harlan; Cardran
Angel by Paul Harris and Mike Maxwell; Ihe E@ @ 10:30 '10:00
releasing
those cards in
("And your father's name is...?")
Latet I thought I had solved the problem
Anything Deck by Paurl Harris; Deep Impact and
Deep Impact ll, by Paul Harris and Rodney
Whitlock; Believe by Aaron Delong; Laser Card
Eil 3:00
@ 3:30
a stream
the
onto
others
(Fiq 16).
by using the first names of male movie
stars, but even with a nice out for a
by Rey Ben; and a pair of unreleased items by
Fenrk
Eil 9:30
EEil 9:00
This technique may also be used when you
non-match, I found it frustrating to have a
trick that didn't always conclude as well as As far as I am aware, the plot of producing a
named time on the back of a selected card is my
@ 2:00
@ 2:30
cut the deck to lose the spectator's selec-
tion. ln this case, release the cards in a
it might. (For a more certain approach to
the famous-name plot, check out Wayne
Dobson's Celebrity Deck.) After consider-
own, as is the method of
using the Svengali
approach to hide an open index of back-message
EM @
Etril
quick spurt-creating a noise similar to a 8:30 8:00
options. The overall concept of the reverse
riffle shuffle-before putting the released
cards on top of the others. Repeat this a
a
ing number of other inscriptions,
including zodiac signs, months, letters, Svengali Deck-in which the force cards are @ 1:00 1:30
long and the indifferent cards are short-was
few times to give the impression of seeing
the backs of every card in the deck.
numbers, and the names of the twenty-six
non-duplicate cards, I settled on the time
options used here.
apparently first explored by Billy McComb. @ 7:30
@ 7:00
My use of the deja vu theme as applied to this
For openinq displays of both backs and
faces of the deck, begin with either the
I also played around with a few approaches effect was the suggestion of Bill Goodwin and
has its roots in Darwin Ortiz's classic Dream
@ @
in which different words are on the faces
black seven or the red seven on the deck's Card, which may be found in lhe Darwin Ortiz at
face, bringing a clean back to the top. of the cards, as opposed to the backs.
The advantage here is that, with no cuing
the Card lable book and DVD series.
Finally, as indicated during the main system needed, one can easily customize
instructions, the technique taught here is a the effect to a particular situation, where Other effects from Gordon Bean can be found at
strong option for showing the face-up
deck to be composed of different cards
one knows in advance the names, particular
tastes, or specialized knowledge of one's
gordonbean.com
just before you turn over the apparent audience magiclaboratory.com
selection. () 2008 Gordon Bean.lllustration & Design: Steve Mitchell . Photography: Hal Beavers
