Marucci's Bizarre Bazaar

The Devil's Prayerbook
by Peter Marucci

Effect: The magus takes out a deck of cards (face up) and spreads them,
commenting on them.

"Throughout the ages, playing cards have had a bad reputation, deservedly so or not. They have been called Lucifer's Playthings, the Devil's Prayerbook, and many other names not to be heard in polite society."

The magus fans the faces of the first 20 or 30 cards for a volunteer.

"I don't want you to pick a card or even to point at it. I simply want you to think of one of the cards that you see here."

When the spectator does so, the magus squares the deck and says, "Now, with no 'fishing' or anything like that, I shall name your card."

The magus gives a few seconds for this unbelievable idea to sink in.

"All right," says the magus, "since playing cards are sometimes called the Devil's Prayerbook, I shall name your card 'Satan'."

The audience and the spectator look bewildered.

"Oh," says the magus, "you thought I was going to tell you the suit and numerical value of the card. No, that would be impossible, since only you know that. And, now that I've mentioned that, please tell us, loudly, the name of your card."

When she does (say, for example, it's the 7S), the magus turns the deck face down and shows that all the other cards have different names for the devil on their backs - one per card.

For example, the cards' faces are also shown (and they are all different) and the backs have the names Lucifer, Scratch, Hob, Leviathan, Belial, Beelzebub, and so on - one per card.

The magus then turns the deck face up.

"And what card, again, did you merely think of?"

When she says 7S, the magus goes through the face up cards until he comes to the 7S.

When he turns it over, the back bears the name "Satan".

Working: Take a well-mixed deck of red-backed cards. The reason for using red-backs is because the contrast with the black lettering is much greater.

With the deck face down, write a different name for the devil on each of the top 15 or 20 cards. Some examples are: Belial, Hob, Modo, Scratch, Lucifer, Leviathan, the King of Lies, etc.

Then turn the deck face up and on the backs of 20 to 30 cards from the face (enough to finish off the deck), write the one name, "Satan".

You may now take the deck and show the backs of the top 20 cards as all being different. When you turn the deck face up, and spread about 20 cards, the spectator MUST select a card that will have Satan written on the back.

For presentation, simply follow the wording in "Effect".

Second thoughts: The end result (even though the working may be different) is the same as the trick marketed under the name "Oscar," and now remarketed as "Phil", or one of a dozen other names or no name at all (you fill in your own).

But, for the price of a deck of cards and a felt tipped pen, you can have the same effect for many dollars less.

And you audience will enjoy it as much.

Peter Marucci