Marucci's Bizarre Bazaar

Dodging A Bullet
by Peter Marucci

Effect: A spectator selects a card from a deck; she is also given a tiny chest.

When she opens the chest, after picking a card, a scroll inside says: “The person who picks the King of Clubs will die this very night.”

The spectator turns over her card and it is the Queen of Hearts. No big deal; after all, it’s 52 to 1 odds that say she won’t pick the “fatal” card.

However, the magus fans the deck face up on the table and every card in the deck is the King of Clubs.

Working: No major event here, just a one-way deck with a Queen of Hearts on top.

The scroll and chest are ungimmicked.

Simply force the Queen and carry on as in “effect”.

This is one of those rare occasions where the criss-cross (or “marking the cut”) force will work. Showing the small chest and the scroll are built-in time killers, so the spectator will not remember exactly which half of the deck is which. (For those unfamiliar with the force, it is in Second thoughts, below)

Presentation: (Magician takes out a deck of cards and does a couple of false shuffles and false cuts) A deck of cards. At one time, the simple possession of which in some jurisdictions would be worth your life. In some areas today, they are still called “The Devil’s Prayerbook” and the like – and with good reason.

(To a volunteer) Please cut the deck at any point. Thank you, and we’ll mark it by putting half across the other half sideways. And here we have a small box; inside is a scroll, but we won’t unwrap the scroll just yet. Let’s see what card you cut to first. (Taking the current top – really the bottom – part of the deck, you say: ) This is where you cut the deck? (You get a “yes” answer) So take the top card (you say, as you remove the current top section of the deck and leave the original top card to be selected.)

Now would you please open the chest and unwrap and read aloud the scroll. (She does, and it reads something like: “The person who selects the King of Clubs shall die this very night.”) Now would you please turn over the card you selected so that everyone can see it (She does and it is the Queen of Hearts)

Well, you dodged a bullet that time. But that’s not the truly amazing part. You see, it wasn’t a case of having 51 out of 52 safe choices (fan the deck face up); you really only had one out of 52 safe choices, because all the other cards WERE the King of Clubs.

Second thoughts: The cross-cut force is not one of my favorites because it uses a degree of confusion to deceive the spectator; and, as Vernon pointed out, confusion is not magic.

However, this is a rare time where it can be used.

Have the deck set up so that the Queen is on top. Have a spec cut the cards and mark the cut by placing the bottom section across the top section so that they form a cross or X (Hence the name “criss cross” or “Xing the cut”.) The Queen is now the top card of the current bottom section.

When it comes time for the spec to take her card, after she has done something else so she doesn’t remember which half is which, remove the current top half, exposing the face-down Queen on the current lower half, and have her select “the card where you cut”, which will be the Queen.

Ask her to open the box and read the scroll, then turn her card (the Queen) face up.

Now you point out the odds and fan the deck face up on the table, showing ALL Kings of Clubs.

You may want to soften the “dire” prediction in the box; after all, you are supposed to be entertaining your audience, not scaring them!

Enjoy!

Peter Marucci