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Card and Other Tricks
Out for the Count
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Explain that you have a photographic memory. Ask a person to shuffle the cards and remove a card from the pack without revealing it to you. Go quickly through the pack, a card at a time, as though you were memorizing the cards and then, briefly, a second time before naming the missing card. When going through the pack the first time, add the face value of the cards up to ten. Pictures count as 10 and aces one. For example - If the first card is a 7 and the next a 5, the answer is 12. Once you reach 10 or beyond, drop the 10, carry forward the remainder i.e. 2. The next card may be a 4, which is added to the 2 to equal 6, followed by a Jack to total 16. Drop the 10 and carry forward the 6 and so on through the pack, dispensing the 10 when it is reached and carrying forward the remainder. If you are lucky you may finish with a number from 1 - 9, which when deducted from 10 will give you the number of the missing card. With knowledge of the missing number, scan quickly through the pack a second time to locate which of the four suits has a card missing. If you are unlucky you may finish your count on 10 (odds of 2 - 1 against), in which case the missing card will be a 10, Jack, Queen or King. Naturally this will take a little longer to locate on your second run through. Some advance practice of this trick is recommended as speed and accuracy is of the essence. The faster your mental arithmetic, the more impressive the trick. |