The
following routine originally appeared in
The New York Magic Symposium Collection
3, by Stephen Minch, in 1984. At that time
it was one of my staples at the bar in Gainesville,
FL where I worked nightly at Farah's on
the Avenue Cafe. The place had about a 60
foot bar, a dining room, and a patio cafe
out front. I handled all the bar business
with food, drink, and magic, and also all
the bar service for the wait persons two
dining areas. The magic I did had to be
fast, impressive, and fun - no time for
cups and balls or McDonald's Aces here!
In fact, the longest routines I ever did,
in terms of the length of time it took to
do them, where the Multiple Selection Routine
(see the 11/97 column) and the card on the
ceiling. When I left the place you almost
couldn't see the ceiling tiles through all
the signed cards up there - what a great
repeat-business routine that was!
"Counting
On It" sounds complicated. It really isn't.
Go through each of the numbers from 11 to
19 a few times and you'll see that the worst
calculation you might have to make is adding
or subtracting a couple of cards. This routine
has spurned rather a few variations, noted
at the end of the article, which is cut
and pasted from my lecture notes. Jim Swain
and Bill Malone perform unpublished personal
versions that serve them very well, which
I take as high praise indeed! I hope you
enjoy it and give it a try....
COUNTING ON IT
This
effect is the brainchild of Bill Herz, who
showed it to me in March of 1984. The method
described here is 100% original, and I have
used it since then with terrific success.
Apparently others have been enamored of
the effect too, but created their own methods!
Versions in print of which I am aware are
listed at the end of the article.
Have
a card selected from a shuffled deck in
use and control it to the bottom of the
deck. I use a straight Prayer Cull (see
M.I.N.T. Volume 1, Marlo, p. 232).
Hold
the deck for an overhand shuffle and pull
off the top and bottom cards counting to
yourself "two." Run 6 more cards, mentally
counting to eight, and pause, asking your
spectator to, "...think of a number between
10 and 20..." Continue running cards and
injog on the mental count of 13. Outjog
on the count of 17 and shuffle off. Square
the deck without disturbing either jog,
then push the out jogged card into the deck
using any technique for obtaining a break
above it (see J.K. Hartman's Friction Jog,
Means and Ends, Hartman, p.13 for a simple
but excellent technique). Your situation
should be as follows: you have a pinky break
above the bottom 17 cards, the 13th card
from the bottom is injogged, and the bottom
card is the selection. To add a little time
misdirection at this point, I usually ask
the spectator if she likes the number she's
chosen or if she'd like to change numbers.
When
the spectator has decided upon a number,
ask her to name it. The idea here is to
get a break above that number of cards very
quickly. For the numbers 12, 13, 14, 17,
and 18 the break is obtained almost instantly.
For 11, 15, 16, and 19 the deck must be
quickly spread and closed. I'll describe
what to do for each number in a moment,
but for now assume the spectator says, "..thirteen.."
Drop the pinky break, push down on the jogged
card, and obtain a new break there. Say,
"...all right, I'll cut exactly 13 cards
from the deck..." Regardless of the number
chosen, perform the following cut: pick
up the deck from above with your right hand,
your right thumbtip maintaining the break.
Swing cut the top third of the deck into
your left hand; place the cards below the
break onto the left hand cards but outjogged
for half their length; place the remaining
right hand cards on top of all but even
with the lowermost third. Immediately place
your right second finger against the left
long side of the outjogged group and begin
to pivot that group clockwise around your
left second finger. When the outjogged packet
is about to clear the deck, nip it between
your right first and second fingers and
pull it out. Table the left hand cards to
your left and take the right hand packet
into left hand dealing position.
Count
the cards to the table slowly, letting the
suspense build, but hold onto the last card.
At this point people almost forget they
have chosen a card because they are so impressed
that you have cut exactly the amount of
cards they designated just a heartbeat after
they announced it, so say, "...and what
was your card?..." When they name it, drop
the card you hold face up onto the tabled
pile and say, "...how did you know it was
13th?.."
My
experience has been that 12, 13, and 17
are chosen more often than the other possible
numbers, and I've arranged the procedure
to capitalize on that. Fairly frequently,
the spectator will say "seven," to which
I simply reply, "...I'm sorry, a number
between 10 and 20..." The spectator will
almost always say "oh!, okay - seventeen,"
which works out perfectly, as you'll see.
The simple method for each number follows:
If
any of the following numbers are chosen,
then DROP YOUR BREAK.
11.
Pull up on the injog; quickly spread the
deck and say, "any reason you chose eleven?"
and obtain a new break one card below the
existing break. Go into the cut.
12.
Pull up on the injog and go into the cut.
13.
Push down on the injog and go into the cut.
14.
Push the card above the jogged card slightly
to the right with your pinky, then get a
break above it. Go into the cut.
15.
Push down on the injog and spread quickly
while asking, "any reason you chose 15?"
and get a new break two cards above the
existing break. Go into the cut.
If
any of the following numbers are chosen,
then SQUARE THE JOGGED CARD.
16.
Spread quickly and get a new break one card
below the existing break while asking, "any
reason you chose 16?" Go into the cut.
17.
Go into the cut.
18.
Push the card above the break slightly to
the right with your pinky; then get a break
above it. Go into the cut.
19.
Spread quickly asking, "any reason, etc..."
and get a new break two cards above the
existing break. Go into the cut.
Although
this may seem complicated, it is actually
very simple once you realize what you are
doing from a logical standpoint. For numbers
ten and twenty, you may use the old line,
"...I said between 10 and 20.." but I prefer
to spread quickly and obtain a break above
the appropriate cards. Avoid thumb counting
at all costs; it looks exactly like what
it is - and you are not supposed to have
to count. I've tried using crimps too, but
they are not as expedient as the jog and
breaks. Finally, you will rarely miss, but
if you do it will be by one card. I have
missed, and these are two outs I've used
successfully: assume the spectator says
13 and you count 13 cards to the table but
still hold one! Don't pause or skip a beat,
just ask for the name of the card, drop
it face up onto the pile and say, "...How'd
you know it was thirteen down?" Or, if the
number is 13 and you get to your last card
on the count of 12, again, don't pause or
skip a beat, just take it into your right
hand counting "12" then turn it face up
with a flair and toss it onto the pile,
triumphantly counting "13!"
Other
versions of this effect in print that you
may find of interest are:
Count
Me In (Gary Plants)
Precursor, Miesel, October, 1989
How
Did You Know (Randy Wakeman)
Randy Wakeman Presents, Wakeman, p. 29
Sybil,
The Trick (Chris Kenner)
Out of Control, Kenner, p. 157
Re-Count
Demanded (Randy Wakeman)
Apocalypse, Lorayne, March 1993, p. 2193
Kick-Counting
On It (Jon Racherbaumer)
MO, Racherbaumer, June 1993, p. 21
Count
on the Variation (Roger Klause)
Apocalypse, Lorayne, February 1996, p.
2609
As
usual, my lecture notes are available to
GeMiNi members at $20.00 ($5.00 off the
regular price), and I pay Priority Mail
or Global Priority Mail postage anywhere
in the world. There are over 70 pages describing
32 items, 26 of which use cards and 6 that
are coin routines. As usual, I welcome any
comments on the above routine or any others
that have been posted to GeMiNi.
Paul
W. Cummins 3703 Foxcroft Road Jacksonville,
FL 32257 USA
