$o PoVSn.

loric 6y Wark Strivings

8 crilica(exsminati
on $ tfrreesommersiqf
efJects
wit6lfogingcorOs.
Over 30
pozensof com6inqtions
metfioOs. possi6fe.

t,,.,..-,,;jt"=..'-*J,,-."***'**t*-**'*,*-*,:";;;.j.,:j:r,'tr;',,,
]...-,....1,..,'.'.,
 Aisoby MarkStivings

Booksandthe like

AnnemannForThe 90 s 11994)
MentalMdlange LectureNoles(1996)
MobileMentaljsm
bookaudiotape set (1996)
The Unseenediuon{1997)

On videoand audlo'

Annemann's Encore(1994)
Hou'To MakeMonegWith PsiParties(1996)
The AnnemannUpgrades Vol.I (1996)
StivingsSpeaksVol. I (1996)
SävingsSpeaksVol. II (1996)
WAM - WalktuoundMentalism(1996)
SpeaksAgain(1997)
Sirivings
Menialism- A Viewpoini(1997)

Effects-

SymbolMinded
As In A Mirror Darkly
As ln A Mirror DarkiyThe SequeL
TarotTell
Challenge Name-ACard
ExhaSensoryPercephon
Arcanelmage
TarofOptic
Warm FuzziesUp Close
Tarot Tell BasicKit
ArcaneSymbol Minded
Par-OpticPlus
SevenKeysTo Baldpate
The Sight UnseenCase
PsychicPsuds
Happy Meal Mlracle
SeaShell DivinationKit

MarketedMaterials-

The Home PsychicPartyKii

Crystal- The DeiuxeSet
Cagliostro's

For more informationpleasecall or !,'dte:

Mark Sirivings
3309 N. Grandview
Flagstaff,AZ 86004
USA
't74-0804
(52O)
emallMarkyApril@aol.com
Co
T - YJqu
l - - . , )
Clre
Y . - - lJrise
I
)by Warft Strivings

Q critica(exqninqtion q tliree
commersis(eJJects
witli lfoying curOs.
Over 30 metfioös.
!.{-
(pozensoJcom6inqtions
.possi6fe.
 To Pav The Price
Firstpublished1997 b9
Mark Strivings
3309 N. Grandview
Ragstaff,AZ 86004
USA

CopyrightOl99Tby Mark D. Strivings

This book may not be reproduced,stored in any retrlevalsystemor

transmitted.in angform or by any means,electronic, mechanical,
photocopying,recordingor otherwise,without written permissionof
Mark D. Strivings,3309 N. Grandview,Flagstaff,AZ 86004

Commercialproductionrightsto all effectscontainedin this colleclionare

stric y reservedby Mark D. SLrivings.
 So lloy (h" 1tric"
Qo6feoJ Contents
lntroduction I
ChallengeName-a-Card 2
ChallengeI 3
ChallengeIl. 7
ChallengeIII I
ChallengeIV 9
ChallengeV 10
ChallengeVI 13
ChallengeVll 14
ChallengeVIll 15
ChallengeIX i6
ChallengeX 17
ChallengeXI 18
ChallengeXll 19
ChailengeXIll 20
The StealthPrediction 21
StealthI 22
SteaithII 24
StealthIII 25
StealihIV 26
StealihV 26
StealihVI 28
StealthVII 30
SteaithVIII 31
StealthIX 33
StealthX 33
StealthXl - AKA 'Froggie' 34
Any CardAr Any OpenPrediction 39
PredictionI 41
PredictionII. 42
PredictionIII 43
PredictionIV M
PredictionV 46
PredictionVI 47
PredictionVII 48
Final Commeniary 48
 So Poy Stie ltrice
Ocknot'(eögments
As with any effortof thistype.iherearethosewho mustbe ihanked.
Withouttheirhelpand support.thisbook simpiywould not havehappened.
To my dearfriendsKathyand PatrickHolcombe,you'llneverknow what
a sourceof helpand suppoftyou havebeen.Yourfriendship meansmoreto me
vou'lleverknow.
than -To
the membersof The Six And One-Half.ArizonasMentalismBrain
Trust.You guysare simplythe best.You inspireme in waysyou can'timagine.
it'sirulv an honorto be a memberof thiswonderfulgroup.
To DoccHilford.KentonKnepper.Bob CassidyandRlchardMassey.
Your input on thiswork has beenof inestimablevalue.You all got me thinkingin
directions thatmightneverhavehappened.Thanksfor sharing.
To my bestfriend.RobertWaller.We don'tget togetheroflenenough.
I get recharged everytimewe talk.You'vebeenthe bestfriendanyonecould
everwishfor.As always,your ideasfan the flame.Heresto many morel
And to my wonderfuiwife.April Canter.Ilove you more thanyou know.
Iadmireyour patiencein puttingup with thiscrazyexistence l've carvedout.
This,as aiways,is for you.
 Qo Poy$he price
Jrrtro0ustion

So IJoyQn. J4rice
6y WlarkStrivings
Thisis a mostunusualbook.at leastfor a bookon mentalism.Thereare
severalreasonsand influencesfor its'creaiion.I11try to keep thisshort so we lan
get to the good stuff.

_ ln the^earlyJOs therewasan attemptar a magicalweeklyin the Uniied

States,alaGreaiBritains Abracadabra, calledThe Tälisman.It'u,asan
interesting littlemagazinewhichwas onlyableio iasta fairlyshorttime.Whlle
it containedmostlymagic.therewas a fair amountof mentalismpublishedthere,
someof ii beingof very highquality.But the singlethingthat mädean
impression on me the mostwasa carditem.In issue#47. the coveritemwas
aciuallya card problementiiled,"To PayThe Price'. by Ron Wilson.Mr. Wilson
simplyreiterated the point madeby Dr JacobDaley,tiat in any magicaleffect
rhereis a priceto be paid-andproposeda cardproblemro seewharkllndot price
r n er e a o e rw
s o u t oo e w l r n g1 op a g .

He setsomecondjtions on the problemthaLwerefairJystiff.Overthe

.omingissues..spveral peopler-ontrib.rted
theiridpason rhe problem,wirh
mtxpdresu s. I rememberreadingwirhgrealinleresl,not so muchabourrhe
hesand 'thepricethat the variouscontributors
hick.but.thediffering,approac
werewlflrngto pdy. I hts madesomeimprpssion on me.
Anotherinfluenceon thiscurrenlwork is the publishedmaterialof Ed
Marlo.Dont go runninglor rhedoor iI you re noLa cardman.Thisbookis not
aboutcardmovesand the like.The reasonMarlo'swork is an influencehereis
that.as I wasreadingone of 'Mario'sMagazines,,, a thoughtoccurredto me. In
tiß parhculartlook,were.singlgeffeqF_ with multiplemethods.They would be
listed.
as simplymethod# 1, #2, etc.Well.as I wasreadingit occurredto me that
the changesfrom one methodto the next sometimesrefläcteda desireto fixa'
conditionfrom the previousmethod.In other words, Marlo would createona
way to do a giventrick, but wasn'tentirelysatisfiedwith a particularaspectof the
finalproduct.
questio fix'.theproblemaspect,a new handling(orsomeümes
,ln his an
ennretynewe ect)was bom. I hat,in turn,wouldleadto yet anotheridea.And

1-
 4o llou Qheprice
-O-CqrO
14qme
Chal(enge
so on. If you readtheseworksfrom the standpointof a streamof ihought, it can
changethe entiretone of the work.You beginto geta senseof HOW he
thought,noi jusi WHAT he thought.It'san importanidistinction.
So what you havehereis a work thatexaminesa smallhandfulof effecis
from a varie! of viewpoints.Whilethis hasbeen donea fair amountin the magic
world.ihishasn'ibeenexaminedmuchin mentalism. Thereare reallyonly three
effectshere.One of these plots is fairlystandard,one is basedon a classic.one is
prettynovel.ln my own opinton,theyarealLworlhyof your examination. since
lhave foundthemto be work-hones in my own repedoire. The bottomline here
is that, if you shoulddecideto use some of theseeffectsior yourself,what price
areyou willingto pay?Hence,thenameof thiswork.borrowed{romThe
Taliiman. I will provideyou with severalsolutionsfor eachof theseitems.There
are certainlymorethat I haven'tlistedhere.Try themall. seewhat fits'youand
your styleof working.

Thereason,then, for the approachof this bookis simplyto try and

provideyou with materialthat you can definitelyuse,alongwith multiple
'you'.thoseeffects.
methodsfor achieving Hopefully,you will find somethingthat can
becomedistinctly You mightalsocareto try and find ihe streamof thought
presentin thesepages. It couldshryour own creativejuices.Who knowswhat
you mightcome up with?
Thereare thosewho will passihis book up becausethere are only three
effects.Their'swill be the loss.Leam theseeffectsand you will havestrong,
exclusivematerial.In eachof the followingI'll offer effectand method.as well as
commeniaryand the pro'sand con'sof eachidea. lt may seemlike a lot at first.
Hang in there.the trip willbe worthit. Lets proceed.

ge tlame-Q -Card
Cfiqffen
'Premonition'
The precursorto this iheme is the classic by EddieJoseph.
The effectis truly wonderful.The performerhas the spectatorname any card in
the deck.A deck of cardsis produced.The cardsarethen countedfaceup onto
the tablewhile the spectatorlooksfor their card.Whenall is said and done, only
51 cardsare presentand their freelynamedcard is missing.The performerihen

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 So PoyQfie price
C6olienqe
1'lqne-O-CqrO
cleanlyreachesinto a pocketand puilsout a singlecard.the very cardnamedl

A greateffect.Yet no one doesit. At least.I'veneverseenanyonedo it in

the originalform.I suspectthereis a reason.Thetitleof thisbook explainswhy.
the priceis simplytoo highfor mostper{ormers, mgselfincluded.WhileIam not
at libertyto revealthe methodof the originalhandling(which,I believeis still
availablefrom Abbott's),sufficeto saythat when the effectis done, there arestill
h.r'odecksof cardsin your pocketsof whichthe audienceis unaware.Plusthere
areotherproblemswith the originalmethod.Pleasedon'imisunderstand me.
the originalis a great pieceoi mentalwork with cards.lt jusi doesn'tfit me.

And pleasedon t misunderstand the followingitems.I'm not sayingtheyre

betterthan the original,either.But theydo address certainaspects of the
original.as wellas aspecisof eachother.Foilowalongandyou 1lseewhat
I mean.
Thereis someotherwork on thisparticular problem.the mostnotablein
recenttimesbeingTed Lesley'sPro-Monihon', from hiswonderfulbook.
"Paramiracles". My firstrealshotat thisplot is my own 'Challenge Name-A-
Card, firstin printin my 1996 lecturenotes.'MentalMelange' . I havealso
marketedthis particularversionfor sometime now. While I havethis effectin
prini already,I m goingto includeit herefor the sakeof completeness, srnce
severalother versionsfollow.Hereit is. in its' originalform from MentalMelange.

ChallengeName-A-Cardor ChallengeI- Mark Strivings

I will describetwo methodsto achievethis little jewel,one virtuallyself
workingand the othera one sleightwonder.

Effect- A red deckand a blue deckare dropped on the tablewith the

commandof, "Namea card!"comingfromthe seer.'The spectatornamesa card,
is allowedto changehis mind, but finallysettleson a card. The red deck is
uncased.The performerexplainsthat he will count through the cardsand the
spectatoris to look for the namedcard. Upon countingthroughihe entiredeck,
only 51 cardsare found to be presentand the namedcard is not there.The
performerexplainsthat before he left hishome that eveninqhe took one card

;t -3-
I
 8o PoUQh" prtce
Ciiq(fenqe
tr'lorne-0-Cur0
from the red deckand placedit in the bluedeck.Upon thumbingthroughthe
blue deck,a singlered cardis discovered.It is the randomlgnamedcardl!

Meihod- The abovedescription is absolutelv accutate...

5070of the hme.
Before you leave and throw up, let me tellyou thjt the other5070of the time
there is a bit of a proceduralsidetrackthat playsjust as strong.
Iwill give you the easyversionfirst.Just so gou know, the effectis identical
in both methods,howevertheyeachwill havetheirown merits.Decidefor
yourself.Here'swhat you need.Gei h.r,'o matchingred backeddecks,one blue
back deck,someroughingfluidor spraymattefinish.anda singledie. I will
explainthe reasonfor the die laterin this description.The blue deckdoes not
haveto be the samedesignasthe red decks,but mustbe the samesize(i.e.
poker or bridge).

Take all three decksand removeall of the even valueblack cardsand odd
value red cards.Set the blue deckstacksasidefor the moment,we'ilget backto
them. For this first deckyou wiil need only the cardsfrom the red decks.Set the
unusedred cardsaside.Keep your h.r,ostacksfrom the decksseparaie.
Thoroughlyshuffleone of the stacks.Now stackthe otherhalf packin ihe
identicalorder as the shuffledpack.Put one stackon top of the other.Thisputs
eachcards'duplicate 26 cardsaway.(Onesmallnote - breakup any matching
pain, i.e. the blackl0's, the red3's,the reasonwill be apparentlater).Now
discardthe face card of the deckand it is now ready.
You now have a deck of 51 cardsthat are comprisedof all the even black
cardsand odd red cards,each card representedhvice (exceptone,the card.just
removed).Eachcard is 26 awayfrom its'duplicate.Placethis deckin the red
caseand it is ready to go.
To constructthe blue deckvou will need one of the unusedhalf red decks
that is left over from the above däscriphon.Thesecardswill be the odd blacks
and evenreds.You will also requirethe even blacksand odd redsirom the blue
deck that you separatedeariier.Shuffleeacl-rhalf separately.Now you need to
rough the facesof the blue cardsand ihe backsof the red cards.Oncethey are
ready,pair up any red backedcardon the face of any bluebackedcard. Do this
with all 26 pain. When you are finishedyou will have what appearsto be a blue
backeddeck of cards.Placethesein the blue caseand you are readyto perform.

To perform, producethe two decksand statethat earlierin the day you

removedone card from the red deck and put it in the blue deck. Have the

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 So Poy'Qtieprice
Cliqfferrqe
14qme-O-Carö
spectator
name any card.You wanthim to nameanyone of the odd blacksor
evenreds.the facecardsol the pairsin the bluedeck.For now letsassumethat
he does(i.e.the 7 ol spades).
We'lldealwiththosetimeswhenthis doesnt
happenin a bit.

Removethe red deckfrom itscaseand explainthat you will countthrough

ihe cardsand gourspectltoris to look for theiröard.Countthroughaliof the"
cards.Therewill be only 51 and yourspeciators cardwill not be t"herel
Sincethe duplicates are26 cardsapartand vourvolunteerrs
concentrating on hiscard.the dupeswill hot be noticed.Thisis arsornereason
for separatingany pairsof cardsin the run. If there werehuo black tensin a row
it mightbe noticedwhentheyturn up againlaterin the count.That wouldbe
oao.

Backio the action.You noavuncas€the blue decl<andspreadit faceup

until you.locate_the.7of spades.Breakthe pairthat it is roughedto andup jog
the cardJorhalf itslength.You can now turnthe entirespreädover and reveäi
that the 7 of spadesis the only red backedcard in the biüe deck.A miracle!l

Now what aboutthosetimes(andthevwill be quitefew!)whenthe

spectatornamesa cardthaiis not one of thä facecardsin ihe blue deck?Here,s
wherethe die comesin. It hasbeenrestingquietlgin your pocketunhl now. Lets
saythey.callfor the 5 of diamonds.That is one of thä carästhat is duplicatedin
the red deck. Here'sthe procedure.
Play this with the exactsameattitude you would use if you were doing an
equivoqueprocedure{because. in fact.you arel)Oncerhecärdis named,
rmmediately producethe die (asif thisis whatalwayshappensat thispointin the
procedure) and explainthat.youdon'twant io be äccusädof influenöing your
spectatorschoice,so gou wiil add a randomizingprocedure.

Have them roll the die a time or two and see that it is normal.you state
thatthey can choosewhichroll of the die to use.Supposeiheysayrnesecono
roll. Have them roll h.vice.You ne-edan odd number'ätthis point.Ii they roll any
odd numberyou are homefree.Havethem add or subtraciit from thävaluet
the card iheyselected_(i.e. 5 of diamonds,they roll a three:eitheradd or subiract
to get eiiherthe 2 or 8 of diamonds, an evenred cardl) plav with this a bit witti
randomcards.a.nd you will get the hangof it very quicldy.Yöu can point out the
ditterentpossibleoutcomeshad theyrolleda differentnumber.It räallyseems
fair. You are now in a positionto finishas outlinedabove.

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 (o IJoySfie price
Cliq(fenqe14qtne-ß-CqrÖ
Supposeihev roll an evennumber?Simplyusethat numberand the
numberön the oppositeside(theywill alwaystotal7 and makeit work out!).
A smallpresentationaltip here.Whenusingthis.addor subtract.thefirstnumber
(theevenone) with theirselection to arriveat a new I
number. hen turn the die
äuera.rduse the new sidewith the curent number.At eachsteppointingout the
vastlydifferentpossibleoutcomes.
Regardlessof what your spectatordecides(makea big poini of letting
them decideeachstepof thewayl),you willend up withone of the cardson the
faceof the blue deckiYou can now revealthatthe cardthey'finallyiandedon
was the very card you removedfrom the red deck earlierl

Thisis very simpleto do. The only realpoint whereyou haveto do much
ihinkingis when-theyinitiallynametheiard. Vou needto imrn€diately discem
whetherit s an odd black or even red. If it is you can proceeddirecdyto the
countingand the blue deck.If it's noi, introducethe die and proceedfrom there'
Bv the wav. thereis a verv simplewagto remamberwhichcardsare the
importantones.Simplyrememberthe namäTOBERT' Notjr-ethe capilalsOBER
stund.fot Odd Black EvenRed,the cardsgou needto end up with Onceyou
have done this a few timesyou will have it down cold
'Challenge
Commentary- That'sthe original Name-A-Card'
'Premonition' .Asyou can
see.I havechanqeda smallconditibnof the origrnal handling,in
that I haveusedä seconddeckfor the selectedcard to appear in The thingsthat
are good (the pro's)about this handling(ascomparedto the original
'PreÄonition').are that both decksarebn the table at the outset ln the original
EddieJosephhandling,you couldn'tbringout a deckuntil you knew what the
selectedcaid was. Whätb not so good (for some people)is the fact that the die
hasto be used 500/oof the time.
This is the handlingI usedfor a long time. It is still basicallythe €xact
method I use today. Theie is only one smallchangeand it is recordedin
'ChallengeIV'.

In the write-up in MentalMelange,I gavea secondmethod,basedon the

above.Hereis the;dte-up straightfröm th? pagesof MentalMelange.i have
addedthe title for this work. It was untitled in the original.

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 So Poy$6e price
C6qf(enqe
tr4qnre-ß'Cqrd

ea
ChallengeName-A-CardII or ChallengeII- Mark Strivings
. Now for thoseoJyou who aren'tafraidof jusi a littlework. Heres what you
need. You usethe red deck exactlyas describedearlierin this write up. The-
difference is in the bluedeck.Geta regularbluedeckalongwith onered backed
x card.It'sfaceis neverseenso usewhateverspareyou hävelyingaround.Do.
however,know the identityof thiscard.Pui a strlpof doublestickstotch tape on
the faceof the card andpiaceit four cardsfrom the faceof ihe blue deck.Put the
deckin its'caseand you are readyto go.
The effectis identicalto the abovehandling.Thereare a coupleof slight
proceduraldifferences, however.Whenyou producethe decks.you
immediatelyuncaseboth of them and placethem on the iable. In toyingwith the
blue deck,locatethe tapedcard (whichwill be stuckto thecard in froni of it) and
breakthe sealof the tape.Leaveit in its'present
positionand placethe deck
gentlyon the tablefaceup. Thisis so the carddoesnot re-adhere to the next
card.

. . . Go_throughthe presentationwith the red deck as outlinedbefore.Pick up

the blue deck gently and stad to spreadface up from handto hand. Locatethä
tapedcardand cull it underthe spread.Iwill saveyou thedescription of this
sleighthere.ln essence the cardridesfreelvunderthe spread.Connnue
spreadinguntilyou locatethe namedcard.Positionthe culledcardunderand
overlappingthe namedcard. Breakthe spreadwith the named cardat the
bottom.ofihe rigtrt handportion. This positionsthe red backedcard directJy
under the namedcard.Squareup the deckand glve it a gentlesqueeze,causing -
the red backedcard to adheresecurelyio the selechon.Spreadthe deck iace
down showinga singlered backedcard in the spread,removeit and show it to
be the namedcard!.

This versjonhasthe advantageof givingthe appearanceof a complete

deck,all52 cardsplus the red card.This is a definiteplusin close-upconditiorrs.
If you are workingfrom the stageor parlor, it doesn'fmakea greaiäeal of
difference. You will justhaveto deciäefor yourself.

I havent gone into great detailon the cullingprocedurehere.It has been

t
 So Poy Qfie price
Chq((enqel4sne-O-Cqrö
coveredextensivelg in the worksof Michael
in ihe literature,mostnotabLy
Ammarand MichaälClose.If you are unfamiliar with thismoveit would be in
vour bestlnterestto learnit fromthesesources. Besides.thesebookshavea
äreatdealof tenificmalerialinthem besidesthe cull Checkit out'
Commentary- The effectis identicalio'Challgnge#l The pro's-arethat
lt usesa much moie naturallookingseconddeck Obviouslyyou could do the
aboue*ith a double1ift.but i wanteda methodthatlookedcleaner'The con's
are vou still havethe die for 500/oof the performancesand haveto indulgein a
bit of sleightof hand.
Bv the wav.the abovehandlingis basedin parton MichaelClose's'Red
BlueM6mmaFooler'from "Workers5', alsoin hislecturenotes. A Workers
Sampier".

aa&
ChallengeIII - Mark Strivings
'Premonitioneffectusing.deck#1 from the
Ii is possibleto do the original
firsth,,rohändlings,the die and two 13 card pocketindexes'The indexeswould
containall of th;dd black and even reds,one setin eachfront trouseror jacket
pocket.The deckis on the tableand the die is out of sightin a convenientspot'

Proceedwith the handlingouflinedin eitherof the first two methodsup to

the noint wherethe cardsfromIhe first deck are countedto revealtheir card
misiing.usingthe die. of courseif necessary in rhehandling Afierthe countis
Jon". il.nply"t"u.h inLorhe appropriatepocketand removethe propercard
from the index.
'Premonition'
Commentary- This doesduplicaiethe original handling.
exactJy, exceptif tie die needsto 6e usedto.geftoone of rhe pocketedcards
Pros äre thai the red deckis on the tableat the ourset,somerhing the Eddie
Joseohhandlinqcould noi do. lt also eliminatesan entiredeck and one-halffrom
the ioseoh hanäinq. Con's are that the die is stillpresentand that you stillhave
the indeies in your"pockets.Not necessarilythe best thing in the world if you
need thosepocketsfor subsequenteffects.

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 So IoU Stie pric.
Cirq(ienqe -O-Carö
14onre

au
ChallengeIV - Mark Strivingsand RichardMassey
Oneof the big problemsthatsomeof mv colleaques in the worldof
mentalismhad with'Challenge Name-ACard wasthe useof the die.They
u a n r e da m e t h o dw h e r e b yt h e d i ec o u l db ee l i m i n a r ecdo m p l e r e l W
y . e l l .w e
haveseveralof thoservpesol solutionsLo{ollow.

. However,a singlecommentfrom m9,friend,RichardMassey.allowedfor

the perfectlylogicalreasonto use thedie usingwordsinsteadof mäthod.Indeed,
ihis is the versionI perform for thiseffectto this day.The method is identicalto
thai liste_qunder'Challenge Name-A-Card.the originalversionof thisfamilyof
effects.Thereis one smallbut very importantaddiüon.It is a patter line thai
followsthetheme'choiceand chance.

Heres the way it plays.At ihe outsetof the effect,I mentiorrrnarwe are
goingto attemptan experimentin choiceandchance.I havethem namea card.
It they name.acardihat doesnot requirethe useof the die, Iproce€dwith the
countingofthe cardsand the revelation.that theircardis missing.At thatpoint
lwili say,"You recallthat I saidwe would indulgein an experime"nt of choiäeand
chance.Your choicewasthe _ of . I took a ähanceearlieriodav
and.removeda singlecard from thisred deckand placedit into thisli;;-J;;k.
Look, a singlered backedcard.As it happensit is ihe _ of _1,
',you
.. Jf theynamea.cardthat doesrequirethe useof the die,I will say,
recallI saidwe wouldindulgein an experimentof choiceand'chance.-tou
selected the _ of _. Lersinrroducean elemenrof chance.I havehere
a a die iike thoseusedin gamesof chance."You then proceedwith the
presentationas oudinedin ChallengeI.

This allowsfor a completelylogicalwordingand use of the die regardless

. ,
ol what scenarioDresents itself

.. - Commentary - The die is no longera factor(in my opinion).pros are that

allot the positivelactorsfrom ChallengeI and II arestilipräsent.Cons are
\nrtually
nil.fu Tstaredearlier...this
is thä venionwhichi näw perform.In my own
opinion.'ls the srrongestof a.llrhesepresenred here.Mg greärLhank ro Richard

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 So PoUQlie price
-ß-CqrO
Clicrffenqe'l4qme
Masseyfor his mostmarueious suggestionof the'choiceor chanceidea.
It completelytransformedthe effect.
in my opinion.

ChallengeV - Mark Strivings,Docc Hilford

and KentonKnepper
Therewillstillbe thosewho are botheredby the useof the die.Manyof
the followingsolutionsand ideasare directlyaddressingthai issue.The following
springsfrom a conversationwith my good buddies,Docc Hilford and Kenton
Knepper(of WonderWordsfame).
This makesuse of trvo deck, both massivelggimmicked.The construct'ion
wili seemcomplicatedat firsi, bui stickwith me. You will need only two decksof
cards,one red and one blue.You will alsoneedroughingfluid o{ somekind.
No die is used in this handling,.justthe hvo deck.
Firstseparatethe odd blacksand even reds from the trvo decks.Place
theseturo pilesaside.Likewisecollectthe odd redsand evenblacksfrom the hvo
decks.Takethe blue backedodd redsand evenblacks,removethe Ace of
Heartsand placeit aside,and thoroughlyshufflethe remainderof the packet.
Placethe Ace oi Hearts back on top once this is done-
Now stackthe odd reds and even blacksfrom the red in the sameorder
as the blue backedcards.Completelyremovethe red backedAce of Heartsand
discardit. Now comesthe really fun part.

Go through both packetsand break up any obvious pairs,makingsure

that both packetsend up in the sameorder.Take the red backedpacketand cut
13 cardsfrom top to bottom. You will now interlacethe cardsface up starting
with the top blue backedcard. You are goingto be watchingfor any new
obviouspairsthat come up. All ofihe facesof this deck might possiblybe seenin
the presentation,and sinceall of the cards(exceptthe Ace of Hearts)are
duplicated,you need to break up any obviouspairingsthat might standout to
a spectatorseelngthe cardsbeing dealt.This is the same idea as the red deck
from ChallengeI. If any new pairsshow up, breakthem up and adjustthe
stack(s).now interlacingto reflectthe new order of the cards.

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You will end up with a deckcomprisedof 51 cards.Thesecardsnow need
to be end-roughed. The biuebackedcardsneedto
be end-roughed on the facesand the red backed
cardsneedio be end roughedon the backs.See
the accompanyingillustrationto seewhat sections
needto be roughed.Essentially, the middlethirdor
so of eachcard is left untreated.This way you can
spreadthroughthe deckand if pressure is applied
to theendsof the cards,theywill spreadin pairs.
If pressureis appliedto the centerof the cards,they
will spreadsinglg.Oncethe deckhasbeen
assembled, roughedand stackedper above,if
pressureis appliedto the endsand the cardsspread
backsup. the deckwiil appearto be a blue-backed
deck.
You now need to do the sameprocesswith
the orherhalf-decksfrom before.only thisLime
rhrowawaythe blue ba"kedAceof Spades.End-
roughand stackas in the abovedeck,but (PLEASENOTE!),revenethe colors
in the above description.In otherwordsrough the facesof the red-backedcards
and the backsof the blue-backed cards.When spreadwith end pressure, this
deckwill reveala red-backeddeck.

Placethe decksinto their respectivecases.

You now havewhat appearsto be a blue-backed
deckthat conslstsentirelyof odd-redsand even-
black, and what appearsto be a red-backeddeck
consistingentirelyof odd-blacksand even-reds.
Eachdeckcanbe spreadto showEITHERtheir
apparentbackcolor or 51 faceup cardslWhat we
havehereis an inrerchangeable set-uplEirher
deckcan be usedto count 51 cards(showinqa
cardmissing) or to reveala chosencardas h;ving
a differentcolor back than the restof the deck.
We now only need a simpieway to
rememberwhich deck has which cards.This is
very simpleand, indeed,is the only ihing you
needto think about while performingthe effect.
The Reddeckconsistof Odd-Blacks and Even-

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Reds.We will call thisdeckthe ROBERTdeck.R = Red back (whenspreadwith
end roughing),O = Odd. B = Blacks.E = Even,R = Reds.The i is just extra.In
performance, this (ROBERt)is the onlypieceof informationI needto finishthe
äffect!If someonenamesan odd-blackor even-redI know that the red deck wiil
revealit as havinga differentcolor back,thereforethe blue deck will be counted
faceup as singlecardsto showthat ihe selected card is missing!And, of course,
ihe exactoppositeis true if they name any othercard.

I fuligrealizethatmanyof you areterminallycon{usedat thispoint..lfyou

havenot constructed ihe decksand havethemin front of you, thisis harderto
follow.But, in performance,its extremelysimpleto do. Here'sihe wag ii pans
out.
Supposethey namea 4 of Hearts.Thatis an EvenRed card.It is in the
ROBERT deck.You will firstuncasethe blue-backed deckand casuallyspreadit
(applyingpressureon the endsof the cards)to show blue backs.You will ihen
tuin the deckfaceup and countthe cards,singlyfaceup on the table,being
carefulnot to flashihe back of any cards.If a spectatoris specificallylookingfor
the 4 of Hearts,they won't seeit and therewill onlg be 51 cards.Apparenilytheir
cardis ihe only one missing.
You will then uncasethe red-backeddeckand spreadit faceup. (WITH
end pressure, this is important!)lookingfor the 4 of Hearts.Whenthe cardis
found, ii is tabled.The deckis turned facedown and spread(with end pressure)
to revealthe red backs.Then ihe tabied4 of Heartsis tumed over to revealthe
blue back!

Anotherscenario.Supposetheyselectthe Queenof Spades.Thatis not

an odd-black.It is setto be ievealediri the blue deck. So, qo to the red deckfirst,
spreadto show red backs,countthe cardsJaceup to revealtheir card missing.
Go io the blue deck and spreadface-up(with end pressure)to find the Queenof
Spades.Once found, ium the deck {acedown, spread (wiih pressure)to show
blue backsand revealthe Queento have a red backl
A few irials with the propsin hand will readilyshow how simplethisis once
it is construcied-One other thouqht.to re-set.revetsecount the entire deckthat
wascountedsinglyin the achraläffeät,and replacethe selectedcardin its'proper
placein the other deck.

Commentary - This eliminatesthe need for the die in the first few
methods.Prosare that literallyeverythingis on the table from the beginning.

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Consarethat you cannotbe specificas to the functionof eachdeckuntilthe
actualcard is named.

I havedonethiswhereIpick up the red-backed deckat the beginningand

stateflatlythat thereis somethinguniqueabout it. If it endsup beingCountedout
singly,I will reassertthat thereis somethingspecialabout it beforethe actual
counting.Then proceedfromthere,emphasizing ihatone cardis missing.If, on
the otherhand,the red deckendsup revealing the odd-backed card.Iwill
reassert ihat thereis somethinguniqueaboutit (thered deck)afterthe other
cardsarecounted, and revealthe card.Thisis aboutas closeto removinqthe
'which
vaguenatureof deckis which'atthe outsetasI havebeenableto come
up with.
Isincerelyhope ihishasn'tcompletely
confusedyou. If you'reconfused
now, imaginehow messedup I wasin try1ngto put it all togetherin the firstplace!

ua
ChallengeVI - Mark Strivings
Whai is reallyat play in many of the above versionsof this effectis a
rangingforce. That is. the performerneedsto force the spectatorto selectone of
26 cardsout of the pack. If the speciatordoesn'tfreeiyselectone of the cards
needed,then we mustforceit uponthem ihroughthe use of the die. Here'sa
revolutionarythought.What if we were to simply forcethe proper colorsand
values(odd/even)?In oiher words force TOBERI?What followsare a few
thoughisalong thoselines.In eachcasethe basiceffectis unchanqedfrom
C h a l l e n gLe
With a bit of thinkingon your feetthe followingcouldwork quitewell.
You'll usea coin. we'll saya quarter,to introducea bit of chanceinto the
presentation(soundfamiliar?).You need the h,r,odecksfrom ChallenqeI as well
as a double headedcoin to pull thisoff.

Have the h.r,odeckson the table.lnkoduce the coin. but don't call undue
attentionto it. Have the spectatordecidewhetherheadsis red or black,and vice
versa.Sup-posethey say headsis red. Of courseupon the tossof the coin, it will
Iorce red.You will now needto force even, therefore,headswill be even, tails

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wiil be odd. Of courseit comesup heads.You'renow lookingfor an even.red
card.Have them namethe suitof theirchoice(hearts.diamonds), as wellas the
value.You'rehomefree.
Of course,if theywereto cali headsas blackin theopeningphase.you
wouidthen needio callheadsas odd in the next.You couldalsohavea suit
calledin the secondphase.BEFOREthe actualcallof odd-even(depending on
what was neededto pull the forceoff).

The key in all of thisis placeno parhcularimportance on anyphaseof the

procedure.A nonchalantattitudeas if it doesn'treallymatterwhai color or value
is assignedto headsor tails is mostimportant.You're simplytrying to randomly
constructa card. Of coursewiih only the flip of a coin, the optionsthat can be
decidedrun out fairlyquicldy.It s just a randomizingprocedure(apparently).
Commentary - Obviously.a differentapproachto solvingthe die' problem
'coin'problem.
createsa if indeedit is a problem.My own feelingsare thai it just
denendson how YOU plav it. Moreon thisto follow.Prosare thai a cardis
apbarentlyrandomlyconsfructed withoutany apparentcontrolfromthe
performer.Cons are that we haveanotherprop to deal with, the coin, a gaffed
öne at ihat. I didn't mentionit in the abovewrite up, but you could alwayshave
a reqularcoin and switchin the gaffto performthe effect.lf the regularcoin were
exaäined,ir would takeany heätoff the gimmickedcoin.

uaa
unallenge v ll - lvrarKstnvlngs
Here'san interestingideathat the last method opensup. Suppose,using
'red'
the basicmethodology from ChallengeVI, you were to force in the opening
'even'
phasewith the coin, in the secondphase,and let the rest of the procedure
take its'own coursefiom there. ln other words, you know aheadof time that
you'r€goingto end up with evenreds,which is very possiblewith the above
procedure.

Here'sthe interestingpart,the rough smooth deckno longer needs26

pairs.Sincethereare only 12 cardspossible(the2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and Queenof the
two redsuits,total of 12 cards),the remainderof deck #2 can be regularX cards.

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 So PogQtie ltrice
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ln thiscaseyou wouldneedthe 12 roughedpairs(fora totalof 24 cards)and
28 X cardswhichdont duplicateany oi the facecardsof the roughedpairs.
Obviouslyihiswouldresultin a morenaturallookingdeckwhenspreadusing
pressLlre.
In some waysthis 1sgettingcooierl

Commentary- The seconddeckdoesindeedlook morenatural.More

cardsareshowing.Plustheycan be of more mixedvaluesthanbefore.Prosare
ihe betterlookingseconddeck.Consare ihat VoustilLhavethatdoubleheaded
coin, plus one extra force in the procedure.Againa light heartedapproachthat
placesno realimponanceon any o{ ii is the key to pullingit off.

uale
ChallengeVIII - Mark Strivings
Here s an extensionof ihe previousidea ihat dealswiih ihe fact that the
coins tosses come up headseach time. Have a double headedcoin as well as a
regularmatchingcoin. The regularcoin is in left flngerpalm, the double headed
(DH) coin is visiblein RH. The decksare on the table.Call headsare red and
tails are black. Flip visibie coin, catching ii in RH and slap on back of LH. Heads
<n tha enlnv i< ra,l

Upon takingthe coin back in RH, performa shuttlepassto the left hand,
switchingthe coins.Call headsis Diamondsand tailsis Hearts.A casual'show'of
both sidesof the coin would be a good idea here.Flip the coin with the LH,
catchingit and slappingit on ihe back o{ the RH. Go with whatevercomesup on
thiscatch,eitherheartsor diamonds.Upon reirievingthe coin, perform a shuttle
passback io the RH. Call headsis even,tails is odd and flip as before. Heads
comesupJit'seven.They namethe cardand you'redone. Ditchthe coinsas it is
convenlenr.
Commentary- Obviouslya bit of sleightof hand is in play. Pros arethat
the resultsof the coin tossescan be randomlooknq. Cons are that there are now
two coins.Of coune if they wishto examinethe coln, simplyshuttlepassthe DH
for the regularcoin and let them look all they wani!

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er
ChallengeIX - Mark Strivings
Here'sa naturalextensionof the previousthought.Whai if you were to
force the suit aswell asthe odd/evenvalue?For example,you knew you were
qoinqio forceihe evenhearts.Now your seconddeckwouidonly need6
i o u q h e dp a i r s1 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 . 1 0 , a n dQ u e e no f h e a r l sa s t h ef a c ec a r d so f e a c h
rou6hedbair).Now the seconddeckwouldappearevenmore natural.How to
accomplishthisfeat?
Obviouslyusinga doubleheadedcoin for all forcesbeginsto look a bit
suspicious.Thetosscomesout headseachtimelThat wouldstartto look bad.
Anä a regularcointo switchwith doesnt work (trustme).This versionsdeais
with this.
You need the hvo decks.the secondas describedh.r'oparagraphsback.
You alsoneeda doubleheadedcoin.aswell asa doubletaiiedcoin.I can hear
someof you startinggo, "Hey waita minute!'Staywith me. This works.
Thisis very similarto ChallengeVIII in handling.Palmthe doubletailed
(DT) coinin the lefi fingerpalm.The doubleheaded(DH) coin is visible.The
decksare on the table. Call headsare red and tailsare black.FIip visiblecoin,
catchingit in RH and slapon back of LH. Headscomesup so the color is red.
Upon takingthe coin back in RH, perform a shutt.lepassio the left hand,
switchingthZ coins.Call headsis Diamondsand tails is Hearts.Flip the coin with
the LH, catchingit and slappingit on the back of the RH. It comesup tails,so the
suit is Hearts.
Reirievethe coin and perform a shuttlepassback to the RH. Call headsis
even,tails is odd. Flip as beforeand slapof backof LH. Ii's even. You're now
home free. Have the spectatorname an even heartand proceedfrom there.
Commentary- Basicallythe sameas ChallengeVlll, but the additionof
anothergimmickedcoin makesthe tossesseemrandom, plus you now havean
even betterappearingseconddeck. Prosare what I just stated.Cons are that
lhereare now two gimmickedcoinsto deal with. However if your shuttlepasses
are good, thiswill fly right by.

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ChallengeX - Mark Strivings.Bob Cassidy(sortof)

I wili givecredit to my friendBob Cassidyfor the germ of the idea on this.
Bob waskind enoughto purchaseChallengeName-A-Cardfrom me and he.
too, s€i aboutto eiiminatethe die.The onlv ideahe sharedwith me made useof
a setof red and biackpokerchips.As lreiall he was iryingto forcerne coror,
thinkingaiongsimilarlines(althoughdifferentresultsas I recall).asthe previous
rew toeas.

I can'tdecideif Ilike thisideaor not. I'vedecidedto includeit because

therea few thingsto recommendii. I guessI just can't decideif the props areroo
weird(for me anyway!).It'sbasically a way to
do someo[ rhefearureso[ the previous
versionswith poker chipsinsteadof coins.
Here it is. Draw your own conclusrons.

In placeol coins.use poker chips

that are black and red. This version(and
there certainlyare variationspossibleon this
theme,althoughI won'tbotherto listthemin
this work, you can work them out for
yourselfif you'd like) usesa toial of three
poker chips,two red and one black.It also
makesuse of round stickersthat have
suitsand valueson them that areon the
centerof the poker chips.Thesecan be
done free-handor you could actuallycut
pips from cardsand gluethem to the centerof
the chips.It'salso possibleto makestickers
with computerprinted pips. Seethe
illustrationto understandwhat I m talking
aoout.
Let'ssupposeyou want to force the
even hearts(asin ChallengeIX). To do this
you wouJdneedthe blackchip to showclubs

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 So PoyStie pric.
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on a stickeron one sideand spadeson the other.Oneof the red chipswould
show heartson onesideand diamondson the other.The ihird chipwouldshow
heartson both sides.Thisis the doublesided(DS) chip.
Startwith the DS chip in rightfingerpalm. The other tuvochipsare on the
tableandcan be examined.Have ihe spectator pushone of them towardyou.
lf the redis pushedtowardyou. pickit up in the LH and shuttlepassit to the RH.
Pick up the black chip with ihe LH (redchip fingerpalmed)and placeboth in the
pocKer.
I t t h e yp u s ht h e b l a c kc h i pt o w a r dy o u .l e a v ei r t a b l e ds. t a t i n g
r h a Li t s
eliminated and you'llusethe red chip.Pickup the red chip with the LH and
performall of the actionsfrom the previousparagraph.Its simply an equivoque
iorce (andconsequentswitch)of the red chip.Any procedureyou likecouldbe
usedhereas long as ihe realchipsend up pocketedand the DS chipendsup in
plav.

You have now forcedreds in a very low-key style.Fiip the chip and force
hearts(alathe coin flip from before).Miscaildiamondsare odd and heartsare
even'.Rip again and force even.Proceedform there as in ChallengeIX.
Commentary- Sametype of handlingas before.but the novel appearance
of the chipsgivesit a differentflavor.Pros arethat ihe gimmickis wrung in very
casuallyafterthe props have been examined,plus the color of the chips
eliminatesa flip, but accomplishes the samepurpose.Cons are that there is still
sleighiof hand (lessthan ihe versions with the coins,but presentnone-theless),
plus a poker chip no one has everseenbefore.Perhapsthis versionwould fii
betterinto a magictype programthan a siraightmentalismpresentation!?

re
ChallengeXl - Mark Strivings
You could take this whole processin ChallengeX a step fartherby also
'E'
'E' or an 'O' on the chips.Of course, standsfor even
including
'O' an for eachsideof
and stands odd. See ihe diagramon the next page for what I mean. On
'E' 'O'
ihe regularchips,the black suits'E'
could have or in any 'O'
combination.The
regularred chip would havean on the heartspip and an on the diamonds

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 ('o PoU(ti. p'ic"
Cfiq([enqe -fi -Carö
]4qnre
pip.The DS chip wouldhavean E on both
heartspips.Seethe illustraüon. The
gimmickedchip wouldtakecareof the
caliingevenis heartsand odd is diamonds
typescenariofrom ChallengeX. A1lyou
wouldneed io do is makeihe 'E and O
meaningclearwhiie the regularchipsare on
the table,beforeihe switch.Fromthatpointon,
the effectis virtuallyself-working

Commentary- practically the same

as Challenge X. Same Pros and consand
the props do all the work for you (afterthe
simpleswitch).

raa
ChallengeXII - Mark Strivings
This will alreadyhaveoccurredto
someof you readingthis,but I'vesavedit for
now becauseit appliesto all versionsof this
effectfrom ChallengeVII on. Since,in eachcase,Vou are
dealingwith forcingthe evenredsor evenheartslin our
examples),allof.the oJhercardsin the deckcan show in deck#1 (remember,the
onewith only51 cardsin it). For example,in ChallengeX (amongothers)the
onlypossiblecardsthatcan end up beingchosenare the2,4,6, B, 10, and
Queenofllearts. Thai meansthat ALL other cardsfrom the packcan show in
deck# 1. Take a regularred backeddeckand removethe even hearts.Since
thereneedsto be only 51 cardsin this deck get 5 duplicatesof any non-obvious
X cardsfrom anotherred deckand mix them in. makingsurenot to get ihem
anywhereneartheir dupes.The deck will passas completelynatural,since
viriuallyeverycard.in a regularpack is therel Sincethe speCtatorwill be looking
for theircard.there'sno way theywill noticethe other 5 missingcards.
It becomescomplerelv undeteclableI
Commentary- With this addition,BOTH decksbeginto look more
natural.In many ways!this is a significantimprovement,particularlyif you are

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 So ltou$lie prlce
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performingfor spectators
who maybe familiarwith roughandsmooth.
etc. Magicians
duplicates, leapto mindat thispoint.The prosand consget real
mixedup bv thispoint becauseit justdependswhat you likeor don'ilike!

Tla&
ChallengeXIII - Mark Strivings
One oiher point that directlyrelatesio the lastfew versions.lf you are
forcingeven hearts,thereare only six rough smooth pairsin deck #2. Suppose
gou were to distributethesepairsevenlgthroughoutthe deckin order (facecard
of eachpair)2, 4, 6, a, 10,Queen?Pencildot the backcardof eachpair. lf you
wereto snreadthe deckfrom handto handFACEDOWN and watchfor the
pencil dois in order, you would be able to spread(separate)the CORRECT
PAIRsingly(allotherswouldbe spreadas paiß, with pressure), and havea
singlered backed card appearin the deck. The entire rest of the deckwould
show as blue and you couldthen revealthe singlecard as the selection.
Thischangesthe momentofthe climax.in thatthe redbackedcards'
identityis unknown until the revelation.If you chooseto do any of ihe versions
that forcethe suit and the odd/evenvalue. incomoratethis featureinto deck #2
and it putsthe icing on the cake!
Commentary- This littie subtletyis not possible(in practicalterms)until
you get the ranging{orcedown to just a very few cards.ln this contextit fits
perfecdyand is a real mind blower.Magicianswill be ihrown by the fact that
there are (seemingly)no roughedpairs.This subdetycombinedwith that of
ChallengeXII will completelyblow them away.

Finalcommentaryon Challenge
Name-A-Card

Ii you think aboui it, there aremany variationswithin variationsihat could

come from what is here. Piusthereare certainlyother directionsthat this could
take. We have gone far afieldfrom Eddie Joseph'soriginal,but then, this wasn't
meant to be a treatiseon Premonition.That was just the startingpoint that has
gone all kinds of interestingdirections.The bottom line is that the basiceffectis
very strong.I've performedthis in all kinds of situationsand, trust me, it kills.
Therejust doesn'tseemto be any explanation.There aren'tany moves,no

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 Qo PoUQtie price
.|4reöiction
$tie Steofttr
suspiciousmoments.justpurementalism. If you aren'tcurrentlydoingany
mentalcard work, and would like to, this is a greatplaceto start.Pick-avärsion.
any version.Waii a minute,that'sa magictrickl

a7F f t-\, f.f l./l v

Vne DteqlthfJreolctron
For some time now I have beenpreoccupiedby the possibilitiesin both
plot and methodof the useof a predichonthathasquiteevidentlybeendght in
front.ofthespectator.bul ihey wereunawareif its'presence. Thainitialgeirn of
the ideacameabout.whenl.toyedwith the ideaof usingthesametypemethod
'folded
asis commonin cardin - nlot This hasbäpn',.",-l5uiig551u11y 6y
ScotisYork in his'Cardfo Po.r,"t wutJh;äutin". ä;;;;;-;"" o.nerswno
haveusedthis ideavery successfully,
most notablyTommy Wondei and Michael
Ltose.

In essence. a seiected
signedcardis found,foldedintoeighthsin some
container. Obviouslythisdoesn'thaveto be a playingcard,bufthat is the usual
objectused.-lwastoyingwith the ideaof usingthä sÄmetypemodusfor a
predictioneffecl,sincethe meihod allows for a subtleswiti:hof the folded slip.
This has been donein mentalismbefore,but I'm not familiarwith ii beinguseäin
any of the ways I was considering.
As you are about to see,it went many differentdirections,all with the
samepurpose.Here'sthe basiceffect.

A deckof playingcardsis on the table alongwith its' box.A cardis selected

sightunseenand slid into the box. The surounding cardsfrom the deckare
inspectedand shownto be random.The box is then shakento reveala noise
from within. Upon removingthe contentsof the box, there is discovered.along
with the still unknown card,a foldedslip of paper.

, .Ttis billet is openedand, writtenupon it is the name or initialsof a playing

- "
card.When the selectedcardis tumed over, it is found to be the very caid
namedon the billet!

If you think about it, this 'plays'on severallevels.Of coursethere,sthe

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 Qo PoUQfieprice
(fie Steq(tliDreöistion
straightpredictionaspect,but alsothe factihat the casewas right therein front of
the spectatorihe entiretime!This,generally(in my experience), is something
thai hitsthe spectatorin hindslght,addingyet anoiherconditionto their
bafflement.PersonallyI havefalienin love with the effectAND the conceptof
the SteaithPrediction.I havemanv ideason this. Herewe qo.

StealthI - Mark Strivings

This is how I originallyconceivedof this, method-wise.The deck is
marked.Any systemwill do, bui IparticularlyrecommendTed Lesiey's
'Working
wonderful Professional'sMarkedDeck',whichshouldbe availableat
your localmagicoutlet.You will alsoneeda matchingcard case.severd.2ll2X
3 inch file card stockbillets(obtainedby cutting3 X 5 file cardsin half), some
clearnylonsewingthreadand a needle,somescotchtape,a vinyl coatedpaper
clip and a pencil stub.

Take one of the billetsand fold it into quarters.Don't be too precisewith

this, fold it somewhatoff center.Now threadsomeof the nylon thread through
the needle.Piercethe billeiihroughthe comerthatis all folds,no looseedges.
x See the diagramfor the locationof the threadthroughthe billet.After
threadingthe nylon throughthe billet,tie it into a loop of about 3/4 of
an inch or so. You may have to experimentwith the exactiengthon
this. Now, usingihe scotchtape, attachthe loop to the middle ot the
botiom of the insideof the card box. Oncethis is done. the billet will
be ableto move and be shakenin the box, but it won't fall out if tipped
up on end.

Now take a stack of about a dozen of the billetsand clip them together
with the paper clip on one of the short ends.Take anotherbillet and place ii
cross-wiseunder the clip. lt will standout slightJyfrom eachside of the stack.
Placethe stackin your rightfront trouserpocket (assumingyou are right
handed),paper clip down and the singleooss-wisebillet away from your body.
Pui the pencilstubin the samepocket. You're readyto go.

The cardsare introducedand shuffledbv the snectator.The box can sit

open to one sideon the table.The cardsaresiread änd a singlecard is slid out.

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 Qo PoU$lie price
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As it is slidout of the spread.you sighttheidentityof the card.notingthe
markingon its back.It is then slidsightunseenintoihe box. It wili go underthe
slipcontainedtherein.Thebox is closed.
Now havethe spectator turnover the cardson eachsideof the siteof the
selection.Thisserues two purposes.One.to reinforcethe fairnessand
randomnessof the selection.Two. it aivesvou time to write the initiaLsof the
card on the slip in your pocket!
Whilethe spectator is shuffling,etc..you simplyslip your handinto your
pocketand assumea casualstance.Obtainthe pencilstub and get readyto write
on the outer surfaceof the stackin your pocket.Thisis the cross-wisebillet.
Oncethe identityof the cardis known,writeits initialsonly (example:5C for 5 of
Clubs,eic.)on thecard.Oncedone,drop the pencilstub and pull the billetfree
from the clip. Thisis why the billei is placedcross-wise to beginwith. You can get
JUST ONE billetwith completeassurance. Now fold it into quartersin the
pocket.This is not difficuLt.Get the slip into right fingerpalm.This is the work of
bui a few momentswhilethe speciatoris busgdoinghisjob.
You now havesomeoptionsdependingon whatis mostcomfortablefor
you. In my casethe billetis fingerpalmedin the righthand. Pick up the casewith
the LH and placeit directlyover the palmedbilletin the RH, being carefuinot to
flash.The cut-outfor the flap oi the box is {acingup at this point. The right firsi
fingerthenpinsthe billetunderthe caseandthe RH rotaiesto an upright
positionwith the billet towardsthe back, away from the spectator.This allows
a very open posiüonas far as the look of the hand. You can also flashthe LH
duringalloi this.Don'i makea big dealourof ir. staycasual.
The RH now shakesthe box to showthat thereis somethinqinside.The
box is rotatedbackto its'originalposihonand placedin the palm up LH,
depositingthe bilietin the ieft paim. The box is openedand the spectator
allowedto look insideand describewhat thev see.Once done. the box is taken
awaywith ihe RH (LH tumspalm down to preventflashingthe billet),pinning
the flap open againstthe back of the box. Now the classic'dumping'move (ior
lack of a bettername) is performed.

The RH tums the box over in a right to left motion, endingup with the
openingdirectlyon the left palm over the billet. Duringthis action the LH tums
palm up to coincidewith the arrivalof the box. The billet is now displagedand
tabied.The cardin the box is removedand remainsface down.

-23-
 8o ltouQtieltrice
$tie SteofttipreÖiction
You arenow in positionto havethe speciatoropenthe bilietand read
whatit says.Turn the cardoverand you'redone!

All of ihis readslong. li all happensin justa matteroi a few seconds.You

certainlydont haveto choreograph the handlingof the billetand box theway
I have.Any combinatlonthatworksfor you. Ijust wantedto casuallyshowboth
handsempg and end up with ihe billetin the LH, hencethe abovecombination.
PlusI havegoneinto somedetailsincetheseexactsamemovescan be applied
to someof the followinghandlings.

Commentary- The basiceffectis quite strongand playsvery well. Prosare

thatthe overallhandlingis quitecleanlookingand subtle.The main conis that
sincethe deckis marked,if you are usingthe Lesleymarkingsas suggested, they
canwear fromextensiveuse.All-in-alla very cieanhandling.
For thosewho would like to know more about pocket writing,thereis an
extensive and detailedwrite-upin my book, "MobileMentalism'(1996)under
'What
the title, A GreatOutl'.It also hasdetaileddiagramsshowingthe entireset-
up, and alsohas a pretty good effectattachedto it.

J}
StealthII - Mark Strivings
Sameexacteffectas above.Thismethodstillinvolvespocketwribng,so all
of the set-upfor that is as before.In thiscasethe deck is not marked,but it is
stacked.Any stackwill do (Si Stebbins,etc.). The caseis also gimmickedas
beforewith the dummy billei aitachedinside.

The cardsare introducedand cut severaltimes.The deck is spreadand a

cardslid out. It is ihen placedin the caseas before.All of the handlingup io this
point is exacdyas in StealthL Now haveyour spectatortum over the cardson
eachside of the locationof ihe selection.This will allow you to sightthe nextcard
in the seriesand figureout whichcardis in the box. This also allowsyou the time
to do the pocketwritingas in StealthI. You can alsohavethe spectatorhtm over
randomcardsand commentabout the nossibilitieshad thev selectedelsewhere
in thepack.if you needextratime.

-2+-
 'Qtieprtce
So PoV
Qlie Steofthpreöiction
Oncethe pocketwriiingis done,simplyconcludeas in SteaithI.

Commentary As in Stealthl, a verycleanhandling.Prosare asin Stealth

I. Cons arethat the deckcannotbe freelyshuffledor shown(exceptvery
dependingon thestackihatyou use.
casually),

&&a
StealthIII - MarkStrivings
Of the handlingsof the type we havebeen discussing,
this is my favodte.
As before. thismethod requirespocketwriting,so you will needthat
pocketsetup from previousmethods.For thisyou will also need to acquirea
'Out
marketedeffect.It is titled Of Body' and was marketedby Larry Becker.
Your localmagic dealermay be ableto supplythis for you. While I am not at
libertyto divulgethe exactworkingof this very fine effect,sufficeto saythat the
box suppliedis gimmickedin sucha way thatyou can seethe pip of the facecard
of the deckwhile it is in the case.Ii is very subtleand clever.It is alsovirtually
angle-proof.
In this handlingyou will needto furthergimmickthe box io containthe
rattlingbiiletgimmickfrom StealthL This is done exactlvas beforeand will not
interferewith the workingsof the box. For thosefamiliai with the box, the
handlingis probablypretty clearalready.The deck is shuffled,a cardis selected
andplacedinto the box, facedown.The box is retainedin the LH. Whilethe
spectatoris revealingother cards,you sightthe card in the box usingthe clever
gmmick, do the pocket writingand finish exactiyas describedin the previous
methods.

Commentary- This is about ascleanasone couldwant. The deckis freely

handiedand not gimmickedin any way. The informationis is subtlyobtained.
ii's very strong.Prosare asjust listed.Cons arethat the box is gaffedand cannot
be examined.Still, a small 'priceio pay'in my opinion.

-L5-

: :::::r-:.
 So PoUQtie yJrice
Qlie Steo(tfipre0iction

eu
StealthIV - Mark Strivings
You probably alsohave figuredout that all of the previoushandlingsmay
also accomplishedby substituänga 52 billetpocketindexlnsteadof doingthe
be
pocketwriting.The effectis unchanged.

Commentary- Prosare thatall of your optionsare availableto you at any

time.Cons arethat you will havehvo pocketstakenup with the indexes.

StealthV - Mark Strivings

Wherheryou usepocketwriringor billeL
indexes,the billet(s)mustbe switchedusingthe
turnovermove. Here is anotherideathat will
accomplishihe same thing,exceptthat ihe billet is
actuallySEEN coming out of ihe box!
This particularideais designedfor use with
Bicyclebrand cards,but can be adaptedio oiher
brands.You will need h,",oBicyclecasesfor this as
well as an Exacio knife or somethingsimilar.The
accompanyingdiagramshowsthe back of the box
from a deck of Bicycles.Use the Exactoknife to
cut alongthe gray outlineshown on the case.This
basicallvcuts out the rectanqularsectionin the
midde;f the design.Do thii as neatlyas possible,
sinceyou will need BOTH the cut out sectionas
well asthe restofthe backto be in qood condition
whendone.

Now takethe secondcaseand cut of the entire back (flap side)and

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 Qo PogSfie price
$lie Steoftlipreöiction
bottomof the box. leavingthemattachedto each
other.lf you examinethe flapend of the panelyou
havecut out, gou will find h.,,'oridgesthat comprise Top of Box
the top of the box when the flap is closed.Belowthat
thereis anorherridge.Seerheillusrration ar righr. Exb-atop crease
Trim carefullyright below thiscrease(towardsthe
boitom of the panel)and removethe flap.It can now \ t*'':I"t"".'l* tnts
be discarded with the restof the box.All you needis ,/
thisremainingpanel.If the bottomflapof thispanel
(rheoriginalbottomof the boxl i: a doublelayerof
card stock,try to get it down to a singlelayerif
possible.lf this is noi a possibility.everythingwill still lnsideview of
work,it willjust be a bit tightlateron.
You will now needto fit thispanelinsidethe
other box. You will have to trim ihe bottom flap as
well as the sidesof ihe panelto do this.You want the
bottompanelto fit snuglyinio the botiom of the box.
and the back portion shouldbe abie to move Bottom of Box
somewhatfreelyas a flap in the box. Once you have
thistrimmedto size.attacha dummy billet (asin the abovehandlings,with nylon
thread)to the bottomflap of thisinnerpaneland. usinga gluestick,atiachihe
wholearrangementio the bottomof the originalbox (the one with the T---F;;;
rectangularcutout).
At this point you havea box with a rectangular(sort-of)hole cut
out of the back,and a moveableflap inslde.Thereis alsoa billetthat is
apparentlyloosein the box but won't fall out when it is tipped over.
Thereis only one more bit of preparation.

Placea deckinto the box and closeit. Usingthe gluestick,glue

the entireback of the cutout rectanglethat is still leftoverand placeit
inio the cutoutin the case.Ii will adhereto the inner flapthat vou have
created.Thisnow'fillsthe hole'created by the cutoutänd is virtually
invisible.See X-ray view of ihe ftnishedcaseat right. The billetwill be
at ihe bottom. This view is of the main box onlv. no flan.
vv rral you
What haveure.lLcu
y(Ju rravc createdlsis €l
a box
uox that looks complelely
rndr toQKS completelynolma
normal
from the
lrorn outside,cdu
rne ouLslue! ()e tasneo
can be flashedcasuallv
casuallvon the lnsloe.
on Ine inside.ano
and vel
vet has
access ihroughLheflap.If youwere to fäeda billerthroughLhis
openingwith the flap of the box open, it would appearthat the billetwascoming

_27_
 (o Poy$ne price
Qlie 5teoft6preöiction
from ihe insideof the box! You probablyseewherewere goingwith this.

On all of the abovehandlings, oncethebilletwiththe nameof the card.

eitherfrom an index or pocketwriting,is obtained,simplyplacethe box directly
over ihe billet.Usingthe fingersof the RH, pushthe billetup againstthe panel.
'feed'itihroughand removeit (appareny) withthe otherhand You canalso
literallvdump the billetoui of the box onceii is in placethroughthe backflap
access-. Be cärefulof anglesif you try ihis. From the front it looks exactlylike it
should.
ln actualhandlingyou would havethe spectator look in the box.They will
seethe backup cardand the dummybillet.Removeihe cardand piaceit on the
table.Now feed ihe realbilletthrouqhthe backof the box and dump ii out.
Proceedfrom there.
Commentary- Thisis a highlyversatile utilitydevicethatyou shouldbe
ableto come up with multipleusesfor. in thiscontextit workslike a charm.Pros
are ihat you really get to seethe billetcome from the box, pluswhen the
soectatoipeersinsideto seethe billetfor the first time, the flap is invisiblesince
if is coverädby the card thatis in the case.Cons are that you now havean even
more gimmickedcase,but in such a way that should arouseno suspicion.lt's not
reallya problem.

ua
StealthVI - Mark Strivings
This next seriesof solutionsapproachesthe problemfrom a different
angle.Someof theseare vemmTinieresting. The äffectis unchanged in all of
tnese-
This first is an idea that is a distantcousinof what you just read, at leastin
constructionof the modus.howeverin this versionthe card is forced.

For this you will need hlo card cases(again,Bicyclesare recommended).

The first is preparedby cuttlngout the entire bottom halfof the back design.See
illustrationon next page.The cut is made alongthe arc below the word'Bicycle'
clearto the edge of the case.The cut continuesdown the sidesand acrossthe

-L8-
 So PoV$tie ltrice
Qlie Steo(tlipreöiction
bottomof the case.Themainconsideration in
makingthesesideand bottomcutsis that the panel
that is cut out mustbe ableto fallinto the case
itself.In otherwords,makesurethat your cutsare
on the very edgeof theplaneof the casethat the
back designis on. This will becomeclearas we
proceed.

As in StealthV, you will cut the back and

b o n o mo f t h es e c o n dc a s eo u r .I l s e x a " r ' t h p
samewith rheexceprion ,t ot tl" Üli"in"ia n"o,U"
attachedto the bottomof the case.Gluethe cut
out panelinto the bottom of the caseso that the
flap insidethe casecan hingefromihe bottom.
Now glue the cut out poa.ionof ihe whole case SIDIR BACK
into placewith a deck in the case.Once done. you
wiil havean entire backpanel of the casethat can
open.See the diagramfor moredetail.
ln this versionthe billetis not attached.Simplvdecidewhich card
you want to forceand writeit on the billet,fold it-aädplacejt into the
caseyoujust constructed. Now getthe cardthatyou havedecided
upon and placeit in the casefacedown. The caseis then placedon the
tablewith openingawayfrom the spectators.The rest oi ihe deck rson
the table.
The deckcan be shuffledand cut.A cardis slid out of the Dack
and left on the table. Gatherup the remainderof the deckand hbld in
LH dealersgrip face down. Pick up the card box and placeonto the
deckin LH ougogged for about2'3 itslength.Keepinga somewhat side
profileto the audience,slidethe card into ihe casewhilesimultaneouslv
pushingup againstthe flap in the back of the case.The cardwill travei
throughthe openingyouve createdand out the back of the case.Once
ihe cardis all the way in (?)the box, allowthe flapto falland the card
alreadyin the box can be freelyshown.

This entiremotion is done as a sweep'from side to front. When

the card is first insertedyou are in profile. As the card goesfurtherinto
the.caseyou.tum more fro_ntuntil you are full facefront, just as the card already
in the box.fallsinto place.If you experimentwith thisyou'llfind thaithe actual'
openingol the tlap in ihe box is reallyvery small.Oncethecard beinginserted

-29-
 So PoUQlie price
Qlie Steuftlipreöiction
goesunder the flap in the box it wiLlautomaticallygo out ihe back of the box.
The entire operationtakesbut a mom€nt.

Retumingto the actionnow. Thesituationis thatthe forcecard is now

visiblethrough the openingof the box. The real randomselectionis half in and
half out of the box throughthe back.The deckitselfis restinginjoggedunderthe
pack.Now slidethe caseflushwith the deck and closethe lid of the box. As the
box is movedawayand tabled.slidethe cardthe restof the wayout ihe backof
the box and allow it to land flush with the deck.You'vejust switchedcardsright
in front of everybodyl

You may haveto experimentwith the exactpositioningof the caseand the

deckto effectthe removalof the cardfrom the back of the box. lve found with
thosewho I havetaughtthis.that eachone had io do somesmallvariationof the
aboveto make it work for them. A few trialswill get it togeiherfor gou.
Once this is done, simplyfinishas in all the other methods.The card is
revealedand the billetwill matchl
Commentary- Again ihe caseiooks good evenfrom a short distance.
Sincethe cutsin the casearenot incorporatedinto the designof the printing,
they will be easilyseenby you. Trust me, the casewill withstandstandard
handlingprovidedyou don'taliow a prolongedand directview of the back.Pros
are a very cleanswitchof the card to effectthe switchand thus,the force.The
deckcan be handledwith completeassurance and normally.In this case,of
coursethere'sno pocketwork of any sort and the billetthey seein the caseis the
sameone theg read later. Cons are a casethat can't be examinedand the fact
ihat you haveto handlethe deck and casewhile the card is placedinside.

ule
StealthVII - Mark Strivingsand RobertWaller
Somewhatsimilarto the previousapproach,but entirelyself contained.
Againa gaffedcard box doesthe work for you. Part of this is basedon a
suggestionfrom my buddy and creativegenius,RobertWaller.

Constructa box identicalin constructionas in method VI with threesmall

-30-
 8o PoU$tie price
$tie Steuftfipreöiction
exceptions.One exceptionis that thereis no cut out from the back of the main
box ät all.The secondexceptionis thatihe panelthat is cut fromthe othercard
box is left intactclearup theiop fold wheretheiop of the flapbegins.In other
words,the entirebackpaneland thebottomis now used.The
third smallexceptionis that the botiom flap of the cut out portion X ra!
is actuallgcut a tiny bit shorierihan in the otherhvo meihods
wherethisbasictechniqueis used.Whenit is gluedin placeon
the botiomof the box, thereis a smallgap betweenthe box itself
and the flapiparlition.The shorterbottomwill helpcreatethis.See
the diagramfor more details.

Thiscreatesa pocketin the box that willhold a singlecard.

As in StealthVl, the force card and its'fiiled out billet are already
in ihe box. Whenthe selection is made,you (notthe spectator)
will slidethe card in the box, UNDERthe flap un[l it is completely
oui of sight.The samebodyturn employedin StealthVI is used
here.Oncethe cardis completelyoui of sight,you cancomplete
the effectas previouslydescribed.
One smalldetailshouldbrouohtun here.The box as
described workslikea charm.Sincä.however,al somepoini in
the proceedingsyou are goingto invitethe spectatorto look
directlyin the box (to seeihe billet),the extrapocketis somewhat
visibleif lookedat direcdy.To coverthis,simplyallow the card in the caseto slide
out about 1/2 inch. This will cover the flap and ihe interiorof the box will look
absolutelynormal.
Commentary- Anotherswitchis broughtinto play here.The casedoes ali
of the work for you. Pros areihat the methodis very clean.Cons are that,again
you need to actuallyinsertthe card, plus the casecan'tbe examinedwithout a
coveringcardin placeas above.

u&a&
StealthVIII - Mark Strivingsand RobertWaller
Here'sa real offbeatsolutionto the effectbrought about by another
suggestionby RobertWaller.In someways thisis my Iavorite,if for no other

t
4r-
E
 So PoU(tie price
Qtie SreofthpreOiction
reasonthan the factthat the solutionis so cieveriyconcealed.

In thisversionyou'llbe gladto know thatthe caseusedis completelg

normal!For thisyou'llneeda full deckplusone matchingblankbackcard.
Removethe duplicateof the blankbackcardand discardit. You won'tneedit.
The reasonfor the blank backwill be seenshortly.You will need io destroyyet
anothercasefor this,though.Cut out the entirebackpanel of the matchingcase.
This doesnot haveto be done neatly,just makesureto cut righton the edgesof
ihe case.Removethe flap and the top of the panel,leavingihe entirebackof the
card casein one piece.

Now splitthe insideiayerof the panelaway fromthe rest.Thisis not as

difficultas it may sound sincethe cardboardit is made of is fairly flimsy.Now
glue(withrubbercement)the singlelageroi the caseto the blanksurfaceof ihe
blankbackcard.Now trim neatlvaroundthe edqesof the cardso thatthe 'box'
sideof the card matchesthe edgesof the realcaid. You havejustconstructed a
doublefacecard with an X facebn one sideand the interiorof a card box on the
other.Thisis the reasonfor the blankbackcard.If the back werethereit would
show through the singlelayerof paper gluedover it.
Now get someroughingfluid and roughthe facesof the entiredeckas well
'cardcase'side
as the of the doubiefacecard.This surfacemay need a coupleof
coatsto get it working properlg.Placethe double facerin the box with the
'cardcase
side up and the creaseon the cardorientedcorrectlyto matchthe real
case.Rightthe billetwith the nameof the cardthat is on the othersideof that
doublefacer,fold it and placeit in the caseas well. You're ready to perform.
The deck can be shuffledand anv cardselected.I usuallvsnreadthe entire
deckfaceup in a haphazard fashionto showthat theycould 6aveselected any
card.The casecan be handledcasuallvsinceanv flashof the interiorwill not be
noticed.The cardis placedinto the caie facedown. The roughedsurfaces wlll
adhereto each otherwhen it comestime to removethe card(s).Drop the card(s)
faceup on the spreadof cardson the tableand removejust the singlefacecard,
beingcarefulnot io flashthe back.The realselectionwill melt into the smattering
of cardson the table.Finishas above.

Commentary- A pretty novel solution.Pros are thai the caseis normal,

the slip is the real one from ihe beginning,and the deck is normal,exceptfor
beingminusone card and the facesbeing roughed.Cons are that the final card
(the doublefacer)is far from beingnormal.Still worksjust fine however.

-32-
 So PoySfie price
$fie Steo(tlipreöiction

er
StealthIX - Mark Strivings
A smallvariationon the above.The exactsame methodexceptihat the
cardin the box is regular,justroughedon the back.The restof the deckis
roughedon the faces.The backroughedcardis in the box alongwith its
matchingprediction.You wjll needto keepihe box openingawayfrom the
spectatorsso as not io flash.Have a cardselectedand placeit into the caseas
before.The roughedgr,rrfaces will adhereand you can compleiethe handling
exactlyas in StealthVlll.

Commentary- Samesong,differentverse.Prosarea cleanerfinish.The

deckis practicallynormalexceptfor the roughingand the box is clean.Cons are
thatthe box cant be seenbeforethe selection is placedinto it. Dependswhat
you like and don't like as to wheiherthisversionor the previousone are for you.

StealthX - Mark Strivings

Here'sa wonderfullysimpleidea that playslike a charm.For this you will
need a regular(!)card casä,a singlebilletanä f rough/smoothforcingdäck.
You'realreadgway aheadof me.

It'sprobably alreadyobviousto you whats about to happen.Your

predictionbilletwill namethe forcecard for the deck you are using.Simply
overhandshufflethe deck.Spreadand have the spectatortouch a card.
Separatethe selectionfrom its roughedmate and place the card in the box. You
can now show the cardon eachside of the selectionlocationas beinqrandom.
f-r,mnlafa a< 6o{'r,ro

Commentary- Probablythe simplestof all the methodsdetailedhere.

Prosare a very clean looking procedureand easeof performance.Cons are a
massiveiygimmickeddeck that doesn'tshow enough cardsfor peoplewho are

-33-
 So ltog $tie pric"
Qlie Steo(t6preöiction
sawy to suchthings.

ra
StealthXI - AKA "Froggie"- Mark Strivings
and RobertWaller
Its just my opinion oi course,but I think this is by far the bestof the bunch
Not onlg becauseof the noveltyand commercialqualiig of the effectand
presentation, but alsobecauseof the method.This ideafell into placeduringa
conversationwith Robert Wallerwherean off-hand comment tiqqered this
entirepresentationin a matierof moments.
You will need the followingto do this. A deck of Budweiser@brand
playingcards,two billetsmade from file card stock,and a pocketwritingset-up
from StealthI inciudingthe clippedstackof billetsand the pencilstub.You will
alsoneed a red and a blue fine poini Sharpie@marker.
Thereis somefairlyextensiveone time preparationto do, as wellas a
minor resetfor eachperformance.We'listartwith ihe deck itself
The deckis markedin a subtle
manner.This is where the Sharpie@ --ffi
penscome into play. lf you look at the
accompanyingillustrationyou will see
the back designof the cards.This
illustrationdoesn'treflecithis,but
practicallyall of the printingis in a deep
blue ink and the solid border around
the outsideof the printing is in a fairly
brightred color. In the top comersare
I
I
rBudweiser.
KINC OF BEERs.
S-."t4^"a-attulb ru I
squares that have eaglesin them. \,. C,t"a-t
4"/.fr'-'.1 ßd! ß"./"/?hx .)
Almostdirectlybelow eachof these 6.- e/"}"'ta ß.tot.!n YL"&'Z &
squaresis a floral type of designwith
leavesand hops. Thesearethe locationsof the markings.

Look at the squareswith the eaglesin them. lmaginethe four comersoJ

the squareas follows:top left = Clubs,top right = Hearts,lower right = Spades,

-3+-
 8o PoyQiie price
Qlie Steofthpreöicrion

itr"äffi

andlowerleft = Diamonds.In otherwords,it'sCHaSeDsequencereading

clockwisefrom the top left corner.The areasurroundingthis squareis redl Take
your red Sharpie@and round off ihe white comer that iorrespondswith the sult
of eachcardin the deck.In the examplepiciuredhere,the lowerleft cornerhas
beenroundedoff, indicating thatthiscard is a Diamond.Had the ,,nnarrioht
cornerbeenroundedo{f, (fä, e*a-ple) the cardwouldU" u H"u.t-!'Äpiä"'
Now look in the centerof the cardand find the letters'AB. They,rein the
circlerightabovethe 'W' in Budweiser.
'The To the left of thiscirclevou seerne
inord.. World.Renowned . and 1orhe righrgou see.Budweiser LagerBeer'.
Furtherout on eachsidefrom thesewords yioulee the floralpattern.If-youlook
closeiyin iowar4:.the centerof the card on'eachsideof this floralpattem,you'll
'3'printed
a smallnumber there.Itblendsin with the pattembut is'plainly';sibie
when you know whereto lookand what to look for. Thiscardis a Threä.In this
case.the Threeof Diamonds.

Mark all of your cardswith the blue Shamie@in ihis spotwith the correct
value..Use 'J' 'K'
.'Q'for queensand for kingsunlesiyou wanrto use
for.jacks,
somethingelseto your liking.Leaveout the jokersfrom the deck.You now have
a completedeck ihat hasbeen markedquite clearlyyet subtly.That'sthe first
part of this.

Nowyou will need to fold an origami frog from the billets.Both billetswill
be folded identically.Sincetryingto describethß processin pdnt is an exercßern
futility,I will leaveyou to the next pageof illustrationsthat show how thisis done.

-35-

FrgureI Fold the top edse downio the
left edse Unfold
\ . / nshtede€ Unlold
\ /
,/\
Fisure3 Foidihe top edseto the back {a
mountainfold)'X
The fold linesoesdrr€ctly
throughthe formedby the firsitwo
{olds Unfold Usinsall oi the creases,
colapsethe iop balfoftbe cardto a point
This is hke colapsinsan umbrella
/r-+ +\
t l
Figure5 Fold in the sidesto the center
How to fold the
OrigamiFrog
Figure 2 Fold the top edge down to the
4 /\.\
_y',.,\
Figure4 Fold the two sharpcornersto
Push
here!
Figure 6 - Make smalt folds
in ihe upper h'o pointed nsure 7 ' Yoü fros should
flaps,formingthe lront look somethinslike this
legs Make a valleyfoldand
a mountain{oldin the
Pressvour {inqeron the
back 6nd of the lrog and
remainingbotiornsectjon let it slipoff The frog wlll
which forrns the back less jumpl
 'Qo
':-l- '
llou'Qfieprice
{ ' h e S r e o t t hp r e ö r c r r o n
The one thingIwould add to thoseinstructions thereis to makea qood hard
creasein everyfold,and dont double-back'on thosefolds.ln otheiwords.don't
makea fold and thenunfoldit and foldit overthe otherwav. or. to the other
side.All of the creasesmustnaturallywantto foldin ONEDIRECTIONONLY.
Thisis criticalro the workingof thiseffecras you will see.

. Here's.howyou set up for this.Takeone of the frogsand placeit inio the

cardcase.with the legs'towardthe faceof the case,awayfrom ihe flap side.you
will find that the naturalsprirginess'(isthat a word?)wili hold the frog in placeat
the bottom of the case.Now tum the casefacedown and tap it flat ön a'table.
T-hiswill havethe effectof placingthe frogflaron its back,its hindlegsin ihe air.
Now carefullytum over the caseand put it somewherewhere gou cän get to it
easily.If you look insi{-e.
the caseit appearsthat the frog is standingat an angle
on hisfront legsonly.The caseis ready.Havethe decknearbgasweli.
You will alsoput the otherfroq inio ihe
pocketwriringger-upas follows.Carefully
unfoldthe frogand placeit underthe paperclip
on the portionof the biiletwherethe leqsare
locatedwhen it is lolded.Seerheillusrrärion for
the location.The illustraiionshowsthe creases
of the billetwhen unfolded.The billetneedsto
be under the clip so that the 'insideof the froq is
rhesurfacethatwill be wdnenon. In a sliqht
departurefromthe normalprocedure. pläcerhe
entirerig in your pocketwith the clip on top (not
on bottomas usual).Put the pencilstubin ihe
samepocketand you'renow readyto performa
little miracle.

Producethe deckand makesonre

commentabout subliminaladvertising.Have the deck shuffledby a specraror.
Eitherhave them spreadthe deck on the table or do it yourself.Wnitä ttis
processis happe-ning, assumea casualstanceand get your hand to the pocket,
readyto write.Have them slidea card out irom thä spieadand slideit into the'
box sitting.onth.etable.Duringthis, get a glimpseof ihe markingson the card.
I he cardshouldslideunobstructed underthe frogin the case.Havethem close
rne case.

Now havethem tum overthe next card or hr",oto show the random nature
of theirselection-All thiswhile, you write the initialsof ihe card on the frog in

:
_37_
a
t
 Qo PoyQlieprice
$fie Steuittrpreöiction
your pocket.If you examinethe diagramof the unfoldedbillet again,you will see
a portion in more or lessthe mlddleof the cardthat resemblesan upside-down
house.This is the portion of the slipyou wantto wfite on.
You will then ditchthe pencilstuband reJoldthe frog IN YOUR
POCKET.im a mentalist and I know what mostof you iusi thought.Ii is
possible,believe me. This is the reasonfor the sharpcreases in the firstplace.
Simply dislodgeihe slip and start to re-fold it along ihe iines of leastresistance.
Mostof it wili basicallyfali right into place.The only poriion you may have
troublewith are the legs.With practice,however.you will be able to get it every
time with relativeease.Fingerpalm the frog and removethe hand from the
pocKer.

During all of ihis, simplykeepihe speciaiorbusywith varioustask. You

can havethem gaiherthe cards,tum over randomcards,whatever,until you are
done with the wriängand folding.You can alsocommenton the various
commercialsusedb9 Bud in recenttimeswith the threefrogs.At somepoint, tell
the spectatorthat Bud hasstartedgivingaway a frog with every deck of cards.
Have them look in the box and tell you what iheg see.Most timesthey will say
they see the card and a frog.This invariablygetssnickersfrom the crowd. Have
thempull out the cardand leaveit on ihe tablefacedown. Have themalso
removethe frog.
'squirt'(for
If you push down on the backlegsof thisorigami{rog and lei it
lackof a betterterm) from under your finger,it will jump. Show them how this
worksand try to shootit (unobtrusively) off the tabie.Once it hasjumped,gather
it up in your LH, assumingthe otherfrog is in your right hand. Performa simple
shuttlepassfrom left to rightand placethe otherfrog on the table.Have them try
to make it jump. Under thismisdirection,placeihe firstfrog in a convenient
pocKer.

Afterthe frog hasjumped a few times,you can now patterabout how you
discoveredthat you got the world'sonly mindreadingfrog with your deck of
cards.Have them open up ihe frog and seewhat'sinside.They will seeinitials.
Interpretihe the iniäalsfor them if they don't immediatelyunderstand.Then
havethem ium over their selectedcard for ihe first time and revealthat the two
matchperfectlylThey can keep the frog for a memento.They love it!

What makesthis work is all of ihe built in misdirectionof the frog jumping
around.Ifs perfectand naturalcoverfor the switchof the frogs.When it'sall over
they will swearthat you nevercameanywherenear anythingin the performance

-38-
 So llou Qneprice
Ony Car0Ot Ony OpenpreOiction
of this.You nevertouchthe cards(whichvou shouldpoint out). ihe caseor the
t r o g( ? 1I.n { a c t h i si s o n eo f r h o s ee l t e c rw
b h e r ei r r e a l l yh e l p sr o k e e ps o m e
distancefrom the action at thosepointswherevou can.This will standout in the
spectatorsmind later.

Commentary- This is a wonderfullycommercialeffect.Its easyto do and

packsa realpunch.There'sa ton of room for comedyand interplagwith the
spectator.What more could you ashfor?Prosare that the effectplaysso clean.
The switchhappensat a psychologically perfectmomentwhen they are
captivatedby the faci that this cardboardfrog actuallyjumps. Everythingcan be
examined.Consare virtuailynil. The cardsare markedbut I haveyet to have
anyoneincludingmagicians seethe marks.The pocketwork is coveredby the
actionthatthe spectator is doing.In my own opinion,everythingis coveredand
very much worth the effort.

By the way, IshouldcreditMichaelClosewith bringingthe magicworld's

attentionto theselitde frogs.ScottyYork hasalso done somecleverwork with
ihe concept.Both of thesefine gentlemenfolded playingcardsinto frogsand
went {rom there.The only resemblancebebrveen their effectsand this one is the
fact ihat a folded frog is usedat ail.Apart from that. they are completelydif{erent
from whatwe havehere.
As you can tell. I am very takenwith this effeci.It has becomea regular
part of my working.repertoire and is a consistentcrowdpleaser.I hope it playsas
wellfor vou. Eniov!

Qny CqrOQt Qny Open

pre0iction
Thereare severalprecursorsto this effect,as well as somedirect
influences. Thisis kind-o{like 'OpenPrediction' meets
'Any
CardAt Any
Number'.li's not reallyeitheronä of those,it'sin the middiesomewherä. The
directinfluenceon the creationof this particulareffectand the varioushandlings
is an as yet unpublished effectby my buddyLarry Becker.LamTgavea bare
bones periormance of a predictioneffectihat was quite cleanfor the Six and

-39-
 Qo PoU$ne price
Ony CorOßt ßny OpenpreÖiction
One-Hal{,ArizonasMentalistBrainTrust.I understand that he is includingit in
his 1997 lectureso I won't tip any of it here.Sufficeto say, like all of Larry's
effects,it is very ciever.
I reallyliked the basiceffect.but didnt feel like ii reaily fit my style.It got
me thinkingand thisis whatI cameup wiih.
A predictionis writien on a billet.It is folded and left in the middleof the
table.Thereis a deckof cardspresentwhichhasbeenshownto be thoroughly
shuffled.A spectatornamesa numberbeh.,,'een 1 and 52. The cardsarecounted
down and the card at that numberis left facedown on the table.For the firsttime
ihe predictionslipis openedbg the spectator and read.Ii containsthe name of
a playingcard.Upon tuming over the card on the table.it is found to be that very
carol

A very simpleplot. You l1noticethat I put a couple of conditionson the

premise.The predictionis written beforeany numbersare named.The deck
mustbe abie to be freelyshown as beingshuffled,or better yet, shuffledon the
spot.And the spectatormustbe ableto pick up the predicäonslip from the table
andreadit themselves.
Of coursethere are severalsleiqhtof hand soluhonsthat come to mind
rightaway.However,beinga menialismpiece.performedin a mentalism
context.I wanted to stay away from any hint of manipulation.That meansthat
thereisn't much opportunityto handlethe cards.ldeally,therewould be no
handlingof the cardswhatever,apartfrom the showingof them initiallyand the
counting.
I alsowanted to avoid touchingihe billet in any way. Once the prediction
is written and folded on the table,it is not touchedagain.This precludesany
billetswitchesand ihe like, although,as you will see there are a coupleof
variationswhere this isn't true in the strictestsenseof the word.

This has gone through many variations,all with the samebasicmodusin

mind. In all of the followingmethodsthe carditself is forced. Of coursethis
makesthe predictionend of the effectas simpleas can be. What I have
concentratedon hereis how cleanand above board I could make the force
without sleightof hand.

Thereare somewho say the cleanestforce with cardsis a one-wayforce

deck.Some of you readingthis who know me well, know that I am allergicto

-+0-
 (o ltog (-fie yJrrce
Ony CoröOt ßny L)penPreöictron
oneway forcedecksfor a numberof reasons. The singlebiggestreasonis that
the deck can'tbe displayedto the audience.Not evencasually.Al1you can do is
flashthe top and bottom cards.boih of which are indifferentin a standardone
way deck.Plusit'sbeenmy expedence thattherearethosein thelay publicwho
know aboutone way decks.I simplydont wantto takea chance.

in discussing thiseffectwith a coupleof my colleagues, the one way deck

wasthe firstsuggestion. It certainlymal{esit easg,but not asconvincing as it
could be. We'll look at other directionsfor the force in this effect.

PredictionI - Mark Strivings

My firstthoughton ihiswasto considerthe numbersselected. Thinkback
wiih me. In your experience. when you aska spectator to namea number
behveen1 and 52, what rangedo theymost pick?In my experiencetheyusualiy
selecta number that is fairlylow in value.Invariablybelow 26. They rarelypick
a number in the low singledigits.
What if ihere was a bankof forcecards.all ihe same?Sunnosewe use the
4 of Clubsasthe examplethroughoutall of this.You could usea stackof 13
4C's.25o/oof the deckas the force cardisn't nearlyas obviousasthe entireihing.

You'll need the 13 4C'sas wellas 39 X cards.Here'sthe stackfrom the top

down.10 X cards,13 4C's,29X cards.With the deckassembled thisway you
couldcasuallyspreadthe iace30 cardsand then skip io the lastfew, givingthe
impressionof a mixed deck.
Write your prediction(4C) and place it folded on the iable.Ask the
spectatorfor a number behveen1 and 52. Try to rush them siightlywithout
beingobviousabout it. Assumingthey name any number beh.r,'een 11 and 23,
you'redone. Count the cardsface down on the table,leave ihe card at the
selectednumber face down. Gaiherthe remaininacardsand nlaceaside.Have
them open the predictionand read it. Turn the ca"rdover and'revealthe match.

Commentary- Thereare obviouslyproblemshere,but we'll dealwith

thosemomentarily.We'll examinethisone ideafirst. Obviouslythe forcebank of

-
-+r
 Qo lloy (tie price
ßny CordQt Qng 01en preöiction
cardscould be anywherein the pack,so if you havedifferentnumberscome up
consistentiy,placethe forcebank in that number rangeand go from there.
Obviouslywhen this worksii is very clean.Pros area subtlemethodthat appears
to be aboveboard.Consarethatthe deckis noi nonnal.but wili passin casual
companyand aititudeof presentahon. Anothercon is whatyou havebeen
thinkingfor the lastparagraph+What if theynamea numberoutsidethe range
ol the force bank?Let's look at that now.

JJ
PredictionII - Mark Strivinqs
In this versionwe'llcombinethe 13 card forcebank with a memonzeo
deck. This will take somementalgymnastics,but for thoseof gou who do
memorizeddeck work, thisis very strong.You'll simply apply your memorized
deck wiih a one ahead system.
Have the forcebankat #'s 11-23.Have the restof the deckin your
memorizeddeck order,justleavingout positions11-23.So you reallydon't have
anythingnew here.

Follow the presentationup to whereyou wdte the fißt prediction.Write

4C (in our example)and fold it. Placeit into a glasson the table.Have them
name a number. Supposethey name a number outsidethe force range?We'll
use 34 as an example.You simplyhave them remembertheirnumber.Calculate
the card at that number and now write a new prediction,namingthe card at
position34. Fold it and placeit into the glass.Tum to anotherspectatorand
havethem nameanothernumber.Chancesare thattheu will namea number
wirhinthe forcerange.Havethemalsoremembertheir Äumber.

Now pick up the deckand count to whichevernumber of the selections

would come fint and leavethat card face down on the table.Once that is done
continueto the next card at the proper number and leave it face down as well.
Dump the billetsout of the glassallowingthem to mix on the table.Have them
openedand read,commentingwhich one correspondswith which selection.For
instanceif they open and read the 4C first,which was actuallyselectedsecond,
commentthat ihis was the slip for spectatornumber 2. lt's simplya mis-call.Tum
the cardsover and the predictionsmatch.

-+2-
 (o PoU(tie ]once
ßny CordOt ßny Olen preöiction
Of courseif theydonI namea numberwithinyour forcerangeon the
secondtry. go for anotherone.Writethe cardat ihe newnumberand placeii in
the glass.Have a third spectatorname a number. i haveyet to have it go past
threetries before hittingthe force range.You simply haveio play it like you
would a good equivoqueprocedure.Your mindsetis that you do it this way
everytimel Play it with the propermentalattitudeand it fliesright by. Plusit
buildsthe impossibilityof the multiplepredictions.
Commentary- The useof a memorizeddeckcanbe one of the strongest
thingsyou can do. Combiningit with the rangingforce here makesfor a very
power{ulcombination.Prosare a very cleanmethod for a (possible)multiple
Consarea (siill)gimmicked
prediction. deckthatcan be shownbut not shuffled.
Plusthere'sthe useof the glass.This couldbe a plus or minusdependingon how
vou look at it.

eaa
PredictionIII - Mark Strivings
Here'sa combinationthat playsvery nicelyand looks quitenormal.The
deckis very gaffed,but doesn'tseemlike it.
For thisyou will needihe 13 forcecardsand the 39 X cards,plussome
roughingfluid. You are goingto end roughthe force cardson the face and 14 X
cardson the backs.End roughingis explainedin ChallengeIII elsewherein this
book. Once this is done stackthe cardsas follows.
From the top down you have 12 X cards,one X cardthatis end roughed,
13 pairsof end roughedcardswith the force cardsas the top of each pair, 13
remainingX cards.The workingis very simple.With thisarrangementany
numberbeh.,reen14 and 38 can be dealtio and qet the force card!This raiher
dramaticallyexpandsthe rangeof the forceinvolved.
It'svery simple.With the cardsroughedin this fashion,they can be dealtas
eithersinglesor doubles!lf the spectatornamesany EVEN number bet'.,,"'een 14
and 38, dealsinglecardsand you will arrive at a force card. The last card dealt
will be your forcecard.If they name any ODD number beh.veen15 and 37, deal
singlesuntil you hit the number14, dealONE DOUBLE at that point, and

-43-
 So IJoy(Äe prtce
ßny Cor0Qt Qny Olen preöiction
singlesthereafterand you will arriveat a force card.Again,the lastcard dealtwill
be a force card. Here'sthe total handling.

Therearehvo scenarios at plav here.One - if thevnamea number

beh.r,een -
14 and 38 and,two if [hei nameany othernumber.We'lldealwith
just the first scenariohereand build on ii in the next section.

The cardsareproducedand shownfaceup as beingihoroughlyshuffled.

Simplyspreadthe deckwith end pressureto displaythis.None of the forcecards
will show.Tum the deckfacedown and writeyour predictionon a slip,fold it
and placeit on the table.Havethem namea number.We'llassumeit's (for
example)22. Dealsinglesallihe way to the 22nd cardand tableit. Have them
openthe predictionand readit. Tum overthe cardto revealthe maich.
Supposethey namean odd number,for instance27. In thiscasedeal
singlesuntil you hit 14 (any evennumber will work, I alwaysuse14 for the sake
of consistency),deala doublewith end pressure{theroughingmakesthiseasy),
and dealsinglesfrom thatpolnton untilyou getto the 27th card.Tableit and
proceeoas aoove.

Commentary- The decklooks quite naturaiwith 39 cardsshowingduring

the spread.Plusthe dealingof singlecardswill alsoihrow off anyonewho knows
about roughing.Pros are as just statedplus the fact that gou can show the card
on eachsideof the selection in the deckto be random.Cons areihat the deck
can'i be shuffled.

eu
PredictionIV - Mark Strivings
Supposethey name a numberihat doesn'tfall bet'ween14 and 38?This is
very simple.You don't even haveto memorizethe deckl For thisyou will need a
glassto put the billetsin.

Let's sayyou havewrittenyour predictionand askthem for a number.

Supposethey say 42. No problem.Count singlecardsfacedown until you get to
42. Tum that card overand reveaithe identity.Now placethai cardon top of the
dealtpile and drop the remainingcardson that. Write your next predicbon

-+4-
 So ltog $ne price
flny CoröAt Qny OpenpreOiction
namingthe cardyou justsaw.Askfor anothernumber.Lets assumethev sav -get
29..Simple.That'san odd numberin yourforcerange.DealsingLes until you
to the 14thcard,deala double.and conbnuewithsingles aftertliatundlyou däal
the 29thcard.Tum it over.it willbe a 4 of Clubs(inour example). Dump outthe
predicüons(asin PredictionII) and readthem.Theywill matchthe selections.

There aresomesubtletieshere. You'llnoticethat dealingali the way

throughthe forcestack(reversing the orderin the process)haä no effecton the
outcome.This is the reasonfor the extraX card thatis end roughedon top of the
siackto beginwith.By dealingsingiesallthe_way through,thäforcestackjust
reversesdnd re-dligns itsell.Whenthisis alldone and rheremainingsrackis
tossedon top. all of the force cardsare shllin evenpositions# 14 thlough 38!

With this stackin position,it makesno differencewhat numbersthev

n a m e .O n c et h e yn a m ea n u m b e irn l h e t o r c er ä n q eg, o ur e d o n e .U n t i lt h i r
p o i n ti Ls a l l o n pa h e a dH
. e r es a n o t h eer x a m p l e .

^ You writeyour prediction, placeit in ihe glassand askfor a number.

Supposethey say8. Count downto the Sthcard andturn it over.Ask that
spectatorto rememberthe card ai that position.Drop 1tback on top and placeall
ihe other dealt cardson it. Write your nextpredichon,namingthä card you just
saw Askthe ne_xt spectatorto name a number.Supposethef say 46. iouni
singlesto the 46th cardand tum it over.Askthe secöndspeciatorto remember
rhat card.Placeir on top of the dtscards andrhe remainingcardson top of all.
Write your ihird prediction,. namingthe card you jusi saw. Ask a third
speclatorro namea number.Ar thispoinryou may want to subtlysteerthem
in the directionof the forcebankb9 iayingsomeihinglike,"Namea number
soqelh;1e in the middle."Supposeihey name 16.eount singlesuniil you get
to the ic'th card.I urn it overto revealthe4 of Clubs.Dump out the predictions
and they will matchwhen read.
-
, . ,.Commentary Becauseof the rotatingnatureof the stack,you could do
thlsaltday-tong.I don t recommendit, but in theoryit'spossible. pro,sare that
the method-isverysimpleand clean.The deck is händledquite casuallyand the
possibilityof a multiplepredictionis presenr.As beforeyou ian show ih2 X cards
on eachsrdeol the selecbon location.Consagainarea gimmickeddeckthar
can't be shuffled,but stillcomesoff as normal.Thereis Jso the possibilityof a
fair amountof dealingin this presentation.Be quick, but accuraie.

-+5-
 Go ltoy Qtieprice
ßng CoröQt Qny OpenPre0iction

PredictionV - Mark Strivings

the abovedeckin a slighdydifferenL
lj5lnq whatis basically configuration'
a surefire öutcomecanbe assuredwith a singlepredichonKepla'Pthe extra
i"r"üJ X cardwith anotherdupiicateforcecardthat has been gluedto another
.uid. rnukinqu thick card.The stackis asfollowsfrom the top down'
The 13 roughedpairswith the forcecardsat the ODD positions1 through
25. tte ioult'ed f -otäs of eachpair areat lhe EVENpositions2 through26
B;i;;,i ;i it ihe thick{orcecard.Belowthatarethe regularX cards ln shon'
l5'i.rgh;Jpui" followed by the thick force card,followed bv 25 X cards

Writeyour predictionand placeit on the table.Pickup the deckand

sproadfufe itp ro'sho* the mixeäcondirionusingpres-slrefor the roughed.
(under
.äiä.-r"i" iiie äeck facodown and geta breakABoVE the rhickcard
the forcebank).Having the thick card makesthiseasy Have-the spectatorname
Letisfirst supposethey name a number under 26'
a ,rl..,mber.
The procedurehereis the exactopposireof that in PredictionlV If they
nurnnin OOO numberbelow2o, dealsinglesunril9ou hirth4r number'deal
inui-iuiat" th" tubleandfinishas above.lf theynamn a.nEVEN number26 or
f"*niä"ui . a.tUle on the count of 1 and singlästhereafteruntil you get to their
number.Finishas above.By the way, if they name26-,usingthis procedureyou
end up showingthe thickcard.which.of course.is a Iorcecard'
SupposeLhevnamea numberhigherthan26? Rememberthe breakyou
oet uf,oiilie initialipread?SimplyEve t-hedecka singleor doublecut to the
BiäJ irni. bringst he thlckcarcj16t-hetop) and followlhe exaclsamerulesfor
or oaa nuLbet asin the firstportionof this lf they name 39 cut the.deck
"uän
and deal39 singles, tumingoverthe 39th card lf they namean evennumber
ä"n. ZO,t"t in.ä"ie 30, däal singlesuntil you get to the number 27, deal a
doubleihere and singlesthereafter.Tum over the card at the proper number
and finishas before.
I realizethis may sound complicatedat first.A coupleof trieswith cardsin
nuna *il üäit it up irivery short oider. There is one exCeptionto all of this and

-46-
 Qo PoyQti" pric"
ßng CoröOt Ony Openpreöiction
for ihisyou haverwooptions.lf theynamethenumber52, cut the deckUNDER
the thichforcecard(bringingit to the bottom.number52), OR doubleundercut
the top cardto the bottom.Eitherone will positiona forcecardat number52.

Commentary- The decklook prettygoodbecauseof only 13 roughed

pairsas in PredictionIV. This procedureassuresthat you will hit your preäiction
on the tirsttry. Prosare a verycleanlookingeffect.Againyou canshowthe X
cardson eachsid€ot ihe selechon location.Consarethatyou DO haveto think
on your feet just a little bit. A few trialswili fit all the piecestogether.

ue
PredictionVI - MarkStrivings
This is probablythe simplesisolutionof them a1l.Simplv constructan end
roughedPop-EyedPopperdeck.Thisspecialroughsmoothforcingdeckplaces
forcecardsat ali of the odd positionsin the deck.Any odd numbei 1 to 51 can
be couniedto singiyand you will hit the forcecard. For even number cards
2 through50 (52 is a specialcase,moreon thatin a moment),deala doubleon
the count of 1 and singlesthereafterand you will hit the force card.

For the number52 you need to doubleundercutthe top cardto the

bonomand dealsingles
as in Prediction
V above.Easyas piei
-
.Commentary.Very sim.pJe. The deck looks fairlygood despiteonly
26 pairsshowing_when spreadfaceup. lsrill likePrediitionV berier,but this
certainiywo.rks.Prosare a very simpleprocedureand clean handling.Another
plus that I didn't mention beforeis that ihis deckcan be shuffledusrnqnressure
in an overhands$le and the X cardson eachsideof the selectioncan"bäshown.
Cons are a very dirty deck.

_47_
 8o PoUQtieprlce
ßng Cnr0Ot Ony Olen Prediction

ule
PredictionVII - MarkStrivings
Here'syet anothervariationihat may find favorwith you. For thisyou'll
needa 50-50 Deck,alsoknownasa Half andHalf Deck.It'ssimplya deckthat
has26 duplicateforcingcardsand 26 X cards,the top one of which hasbeen cut
shortfor our purposes.Placethe duplicateson top of the X cardsand you re
readyro go.
Writeyour predictionand displaythe deckfaceup. Of courseyou can
only spread ihe facehalf, bui done casuallyit will pass.Tum facedown and have
a numbernamed.If you know how to do a 1ogshuffleto retainthe top stock,
nows the time to do it. Virtuallyany of Ham; Lorayne'sfine bookson card work
can describethis move for you. If they name 1 through 26, count to it and tum
over. Placethe deck asideand finish.If they name 27 or higher,cut at the short
card bringingit io the top. Count down to the number and finishas above.

Commentary- Easyto do. Verylitdethinkinginvolved.Prosarea clean

procedure.Cons are a very dirty deckthat can'tbe extensivelyshown.

Thereare obviouslyother solutionsto this particulareffect.My main goals

wereto be able to show the deckto be as normalas possible.I wantedto be able
to shuffleit when possible.I didn't want to haveio do billet swiichesor any
sleightswith the cards.In other words,I wantedthe effectto be self contained.
In varyingdegreesI believeI have attainedmost of thesegoals.For the record
I havedone all of the versionsherebut, as of this writingPredictionIV is the one
I usemost,and occasionaliyPredictionV. They boih plag very cleanand look
fairwith a minimum of fuss.Whateveryou decideto use, I hope you enjoy this
effect.Audiencescertainlylike it!

fiinaf Commentary
I hope you have enioyedall of ihis. I realizeit's a lot of material.You're
probablythinkingby now that I havean unhealthyattachmentto gimmicked

-+8-
 (o PoVQ6e Price
$ino(Conlnentorg
decksand such. Well, in my own defense,one of the reasonsfor-gimmicked
ää.ü. üi" a" t"t ti*orkihat mighttakecomplicated
-"tf,ot*ise. sleightof handto
" in menLalisrÄthe lasrthing you want is.anyhinr.ofsleight
"..o-ofüh preseniedln *real* mertalismthere
;i;;;ä:'il .;;;I"*ty'triiks. J"t*"y. the i.llusion
i.r;il.r fär Theie'siust vour mind and your spectator's'
""äa
All three of the plotspresentedhere are highly commercialand very
otu.ti.J. ihiue co.tcäntratäd on methodsand
(asI do in all my releases)
'realworld'.Thesearenot pie in the sky
äppiouif,n.that are meantfor the
oiäseniahons. lhave builta reputationwith theseand you can too'

I havetried to qivecreditwhereverIwas awareof a precedent Of course,

it uu"nf i"aa ä""4rth"i"gand 1veneverbeenblessedwith totalrecall,so if Ihave
-irä i .täait - ieinvänted'somethingpleaseacceptmy.apoiogies lt certainly
uasnt inrenrional. and ] will do my utmostlo sei
Ler me knou ot any oversights
the recordstraight.
AsI 5rated a t t h eb e g i n n i nog[ a l lo f t h i s t. h e r ea r ea n . a b u n d a n coef
methodshereto givegouäs mulh backgroundas you couldpossiblywant
who complain
'Ho"aeclaäLopetformany or allöl rheseeffectsThose poinr
tlläutavou
many mäthocl'do you neod - will havemissedthe entirelv
"üLrr,
ötui"u.tv vou drenI suppocedIo pertorm ihat same effect wirh multiple
Ä e r h o d isJ n l e s .y o u t e ä l l yw a n rt o l r .b u t r a l h e rp i c kt h e . o n et h a tf i t sy o u . l h e
Ü".t. Itt .v hopäthtougha1lof thisthatyou havefound somethingwodh your
while.
I thanky,oufor your time.investment, and irust in thiswork Who knows,
oerhanssomedavtheiewiil be anotherljke it if thereis enoughinterestAs with
ät"wtiing I pui <lut.I'd like to hearfrom 9ou and get your opinionsand input on
this.Feellreä to contactme at an,' time regardingthisor any of my other .
reieases. Thanksagainand I hopäthat.if we haven'tmet alreadg.we getthe
oDDoriunitv down the roadsomewhere. Takecare

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