Until 2021...

Well, here we are again, my dears. It’s that time of year. The time of year when many of us will be visited by that man in the red suit who loves to have children on his lap.

It’s also the time of year when The Jerx winds down for a little while. That’s right, the 2020 Season of the Jerx has come to close. I’d like to think that this year we all learned a little about magic… and a lot about love.

I will be back with the occasional post in January, and then we’ll pick things up again for real at some point in February. Next year there will be a new schedule for everything. A new posting schedule, a new newsletter schedule, and a new supporter reward schedule (assuming the supporters decide to keep the site going for another year). I’ll get to those details sometime next month.

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So, we’ve got 10 days until the new year. Are you making some resolutions? Do you have some plans and goals for next year?

As someone who is naturally a happy person and generally pretty excited by life, I’m always looking for the ways in which my mindset differs from those I see around me who don’t feel this way. And hopefully, if I can find those differences, I can maybe elucidate them in a way that might be helpful to others who don’t naturally have my same predisposition.

Today I want to share something I’ve been thinking about in regards to some of the people I know who seem a little dissatisfied with their life.

So maybe you find yourself in a decent relationship, you have a good job, and a couple of sweet kids. And even though that is all you ever wanted, you still feel like something is lacking. And it doesn’t really make sense to you because you feel something is lacking, even though you’re not sure what it could be. Well… how important could it possibly be if you’re not sure what it is you’re lacking? How could something you can’t even put your finger on be the thing that’s standing between you and greater happiness?

Well, I think it might be because the thing you’re missing is a little abstract. It’s not something obvious like family, a house, financial security, etc. It’s not something you can immediately recognize in other people, so it’s not something you necessarily notice about yourself either.

So what is this missing ingredient for a happy, exciting life?

A scheme.

I know I have a number of readers who don’t speak English as a first language, so I’ll explain what I mean by a “scheme” if the word doesn’t translate exactly.

A scheme is like a plan to achieve a goal, but it’s a particular type of plan. It’s a plan to achieve a goal that is somewhat romantic or reckless in some manner. And a scheme should have some element to it that is a secret. Something known only by you.

• I’m going to lose 20 pounds.

• I’m going to learn how to crochet.

• I’m going to set aside $500/month for my child’s college fund.

Those are all fine goals or resolutions to make for New Years. But they’re not schemes.

• I’m going to wake up an hour early every day without telling anyone and work on my first novel.

• I’m going to win that woman’s heart.

• I’m going to rob a bank.

Those are schemes.

A scheme really has to have some sort of aspect of sneakiness to it. “I’m going to lose weight and get healthy,” wouldn’t qualify as a scheme. But, “I’m going to lose 80 pounds. Buy the tightest yoga pants I can find. Then ‘accidentally’ bump into my boyfriend at the grocery store,” is a scheme. Even though the outcome may be no different than “I’m going to lose weight and get healthy.”

Here’s why I think a scheme is valuable. A lot of adult life is just about treading water. You’re just doing what you’ve been doing for some time in order to keep yourself in the same position. Even if you’re successful at this, it can be unsatisfying. Being an adult is about making smart decisions and sensibly pursuing the goals that will set you up to meet your future needs.

A scheme, however, is geared towards adding something to your life. Something you don’t necessarily need, but something you’re passionate about that will bring you pleasure. That might be: money, sex, revenge, fun, or some sort of new achievement/experience. No, you don’t necessarily want to devote your life to any of these things. But you should have some part of your life that is spent in their pursuit.

I’m not saying it’s just about doing things you enjoy. It’s about having some sort of plan in place to get you something you desire. “I’m going to pay that prostitute for sex,” is not a scheme. “Over the next six months, I’m going to seduce that prostitute to the point where she pays me for sex,” is a scheme.

A lot of people romanticize their young adulthood. It’s often a time they look back on fondly even if things weren’t going great for them at that point in time. I think that is, in part, because young adulthood is a time for scheming. “I’m going to start a band.” “I’m going to find a way to get some money to buy that motorcycle.” “I’m going to practice every night this week and get the lead part in the school play.” “I’m going to get out of this dead-end town.”

When you’re sixteen you might think, “I’m going to ask that girl to prom.” You might think that months in advance, even if you never spoke to her before.

When you’re young you spend a lot of time thinking of ways to capture new objectives. New skills, new friends, new loves, new jobs, new interests, new experiences. As you get older, it becomes more about maintaining what you have, or—if you have kids—putting your time and effort into helping them achieve their goals. If that’s where you are, and you’re perfectly happy, then you don’t need to change anything. But if you feel like you’re missing out on something, you may be missing the act of pursuing some private goal. Not a goal of lowering your cholesterol or getting a promotion. Being healthy and making more money are pretty much universal goals that are just a normal part of being an adult for everyone. What I’m talking about is something personal.

This is not a selfish act. It’s a way to keep yourself engaged in the world and growing.

You can be the most devoted husband/wife, and your family can be your number one priority, and you can still have your own little scheme going on in the background.

And I think it’s important that it’s something you keep secret. Or, at least, that you don’t divulge what you’re doing entirely to anyone else. Your scheme is your own little project or objective. The only one who has a complete understanding of it is you. Once your scheme concludes, then you can share it with anyone you want (as you will be on to the next scheme). But while it’s still active, I think it’s best if it’s something you keep to yourself.

Again, if you’re very happy and feel excited with what’s happening in your life, this advice isn’t for you. This for anyone who feels unfulfilled.

Will working on a scheme make you happy and fulfilled? I don’t know. I just know that part of what keeps me fully engaged and loving life is that I always have something up my sleeve that I’m working on. Something I can focus on, daydream on, and act on. Some schemes last weeks, others years. But I like to always have something in the works.

(In addition to your little schemes, I also recommend having one big unachievable goal as well, as I wrote about here. In fact, often my schemes are a part of my unachievable goal. They can work together.)

So there’s your 2021 mission. Get yourself a scheme and start implementing it.

That’s all for this year. Supporters have one more newsletter coming their way. You should have it by New Year’s Day.

Hope your holidays are a delight. I’ll see you in 2021.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

The Juxe: Hark! Part Two

Just a few more Christmas favorites before the holiday comes.

Baby It’s Cold Outside from Neptune’s Daughter

Baby it’s Cold Outside isn’t really a Christmas song. Like, “Let it Snow,” it’s just a song about wanting to get freaky when it’s cold out.

It’s hard to beat this version of the song, from the film where it originally became famous, Neptune’s Daughter in 1949.

My favorite take-off of this song is this sketch from Saturday Night Live featuring Jimmy Fallon and Cecily Strong. It never fails to crack my shit up.

I Wish It Was Christmas Today by Julian Casablancas

Speaking of Saturday Night Live, Horatio Sanz made it a tradition for a number of years to sing an intentionally dumb Christmas song called “I Wish It Was Christmas Today,” on the show.

Now, I wouldn’t ever listen to that version of the song just as an audio track. It really only works if you can watch the stupidity that surrounds it. But Julian Casablancas from the Strokes released a surprisingly listenable version of the song that does stand on its own.

Christmas Party by Dr. Dog

This 60’s-inpsired, upbeat, lo-fi Christmas song, is a pretty good encapsulation of my personal esthetic. This year really has me missing gatherings of even just, like, 15-20 people. Hopefully in the not-too-distant future things will return to normal and in 2021 there will be good old fashioned Christmas parties again.

8 Hours of Department Store Christmas Music

This isn’t even something I realized I missed. This is the sound of wandering through a department store at Christmastime when I was a kid. These days, I think most stores play a more modern mix of songs. But I wouldn’t really know because there aren’t that many department stores left.

This might be good background music for your Christmas day celebration.

Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade

I’ll leave you with this modern Christmas classic. While this song reached #1 in the UK (and continues to chart most Christmas seasons) it never cracked the charts in the US. So this isn’t something I heard regularly until a decade or so ago. It’s now the song I blast once all the presents are open, while we’re cleaning up the torn wrapping paper and organizing our gifts.

Tying certain songs/albums to particular moments of your celebration (e.g., an album you listen to after the kids have gone to bed on Christmas eve, an album you listen to during Christmas morning breakfast, and album you listen to while you decorate the tree) is an easy way to create a sense of tradition. (And that goes beyond Christmas.)

Improvised Tricks: The One With the Clue Game

I was at a small socially-distanced Christmas gathering last night where I improvised a couple tricks and I figured I would write one up for you here. This is not something I normally do, because—by their nature—you wouldn’t expect improvised tricks to be as strong as ones that you’ve planned. (Or else, why ever plan anything?) But while I wouldn’t put the trick I’m going to share with you into the upper echelon of tricks I’ve performed, it went over very well, got a laugh, and people seemed to be more fooled and taken with it as the night went on.

My friend has a decent collection of board games, so that’s what I utilized when coming up with what I would perform for them.

I took down the game Clue and offered to show them something.

I had the group shuffle up the cards (with the characters, weapons, and rooms on them) while I wrote something down on a sheet from the pad used in the game. I then tore the sheet into three piece and put those pieces in the envelope from the game.

I collected the cards and shuffled them some more, then had someone cut the pack into three piles.

“The cards on top of the piles you cut will tell us who was the killer, what the weapon was, and in what room it happened.”

“So…” I turned over the top card of the first packet to reveal Miss Scarlett.

“The killer was Miss Scarlett…”

I turned over the next top card to reveal the Billiard Room.

“In the Billiard Room. With the…,” I turned over the last card to reveal Mr. Green.

This seemed like a mistake. With Clue you need a killer, a room, and a weapon. And while there’s no reason why three random cuts in a pack of Clue cards would get you one from each category, it just felt like that was what we were going to get because I was leading up to it so confidently. “It was Miss Scarlett, in the Billiard Room, with the ______.” You just expect a weapon to come up, not another character.

So I paused and pretended I was stumbling to make sense of what we had. “Okay, Miss Scarlett killed the victim in the Billiard Room with… uhm… with… well, I guess she beat him to death with Mr. Green’s fat fucking head. It’s kind of the perfect crime when you think about it.

“Now, before anything happened, I made a prediction. And I think even if I just got two out of three right, that would be pretty impressive.”

I removed my prediction from the envelope to reveal this…

Method

It’s pretty straightforward. I stole out the three force cards beforehand while I was looking through the cards and then palmed them back in after the shuffling. (You could also ring them back in under the “Detective Notes” pad.) Then I used John Bannon’s Directed Verdict to force the three cards. There you have it.

This type of thing—where it appears you’re going to do some sort of prediction, but then something goes wrong during the process, and then you show that you’ve predicted that thing that would go wrong—almost always gets a good reaction in a group situation. It’s not something I would typically do one-on-one, but I use it frequently when I’m performing for a larger group.

The nice thing about this format is that it adds an element of surprise to tricks that might not otherwise have one. If I just predicted the Clue cards you’d cut to, you might be fooled, but you wouldn’t be surprised by that, because you would likely put it together that that’s what was going to happen. But with this format, if you can pull off the idea that something went wrong, you get the “surprise” of them realizing that you actually predicted this “mistake.” And then, on top of that, you get the benefits of fooling them. So it’s two nice moments from the same effect.

The Three Most Inspiring Live Lectures of 2020

Carisa Hendrix Penguin Live Act

I have zero desire to perform magic on stage. But if I were ever to do so, this is the person I would look to for inspiration. I really admire her ability to embody her character so completely. It’s nice to see a character on stage that isn’t either the suave, dashing gentleman, or the intense, weirdo. And because she’s chosen a persona that is so specific and well-defined, she is able to breath new life into classic effects just by making them conform to her character. You can’t do that if you have a bland character.

You can certainly make a living doing magic by doing standard tricks in a standard manner. But I think if you really want to do something transcendent, then you either have to have material or a persona that an audience will see as unique. Then you can mold your personality around the material, or the material around your personality and you will have a show that is distinguished from what everyone else is doing. But if you’re just doing the same things a lot of other people are doing, in the same style, then it’s like trying to make an impression of Play-Doh with Silly Putty. (That metaphor may have worked better in my head. I just mean you can’t expect to create something precisely-defined by utilizing two amorphous, formless things.)

What I enjoyed most about watching Carisa perform was that she seemed so comfortable in her own skin, and in the skin of Lucy Darling, the character she performs as. I love a confident performer (and magic is not filled with a lot of them). She is so at home in that persona that she is able to ad-lib (or seemingly ad-lib) with ease, which is a lot of fun to watch. And it also makes her character feel three-dimensional, like a genuine person—even though the character is highly theatrical in most other ways.

One of the more frequent questions I get over email is how to incorporate some of my performance ideas into a professional show. But I don’t think that’s really a worthwhile pursuit. A lot of my “style” is about stripping away the elements that make something a “performance.” I don’t think that makes much sense to do on stage. Instead, I think people would be better off following the path Carisa Hendrix has chosen and lean into the performative aspects of a professional show with a stronger character (or if character isn’t your thing, then a stronger story-line). Of course that’s a much more difficult path than just saying, “Screw it. I’ll just put a bill in a lemon and recite some jokes I heard other performers say.”

So, yeah, while I don’t have any plans to perform on stage, or professionally in any capacity, I thought Carisa made it look fun. Whereas with most shows I see, it looks like a fucking nightmare.

Blake Vogt Masterclass

Blake Vogt is one of the premiere gimmick inventors/makers in the art today. I was not expecting to get much from his Masterclass as I’ve avoided making gimmicks for, literally, decades now. It’s not that I’m against putting in the work. It’s just that I never felt particularly well suited for that type of work. It’s the type of thing where half a millimeter can be the difference between a good looking gimmick and having to start over altogether. I don’t like anything that delicate.

But Blake made it seem very doable and his enthusiasm for the process won me over. The second card I tried to split after watching him, I split perfectly. It was very satisfying. I’ve since picked up the basic gaff making supplies he recommends in the Masterclass and I plan on putting them to work in the new year.

Mario the Maker Penguin Live

What the previous lectures have in common is that in each case I didn’t expect them to speak to me in the way that it did. Mario the Maker’s Penguin lecture was a surprise in a similar way. Mario’s lecture covers the material he uses in his act which is primarily geared towards children. His target audience and his esthetic aren’t anywhere near mine, but I found his philosophy on making magic to be inspiring and his enthusiasm infectious.

Like all great children’s performers, Mario has the type of manic energy that you normally associate with our finest crack addicts. But he has harnessed that energy and directed it into an affinity for tech/electronic-based DIY magic making. It was fascinating to see the things he has built for his show. Things that are somehow simultaneously wildly complicated and stupidly simple.

And I was really inspired by his passion for this type of magic. I want to start building electronics and learning Arduino (whatever the hell that is) and seeing if there are ways to incorporate that into a more laidback style of magic. Even if not, I think it will be fun to learn. I’ll be ordering his book on Amazon, which will hopefully set me off on the right path. And I plan on buying some of those “build your own” electronics kits that are made for eight-year olds and/or dumb people like me. I’m excited for it.

The Young Magician's Guide to Gift Receiving

This is advice for everyone, but it’s especially targeted at any younger magicians who might read this site. First, because they’re more likely to run into the situation I’m going to describe. And second because they’re more likely to handle it poorly.

If you’re, like, a 15-year old kid, and word gets out that you’re into magic, you will undoubtedly encounter a situation where you get a Christmas present from your aunt and she’s like, “I got you this book because I heard you like magic!” and it’s some piece of garbage beginner magic book she found at Barnes and Noble.

Or someone will say, “I know you like magic so I got you this deck of playing cards.” And it’s some weird souvenir deck of cards that’s bridge-sized and the cards don’t spread well and there’s no border. It’s the sort of deck you’d never use for a trick.

Or they might even be like, “I know you like magic so I got you this cool Criss Angel Magic Kit!”

In your heart you might be bummed out, but the game you should play is to try and make the person feel great about their gift.

“But I don’t really like the gift.”

I know, but who gives a shit about your dumb feelings?

If you get a gift you don’t love, don’t sulk like a three year old. Instead, take this opportunity to make the other person feel good by being a gracious gift receiver, and set yourself up to perform a trick in the future.

When You Get A Deck You Don’t Like

Bad Reaction: “Mommmm! I told you I need cards printed by the US Playing Card Company! These aren’t going to fan right! Jeez louise. I’m not going to use these cards with the Grand Canyon on the back. I wanted those Ellusionist cards with the cool skulls on it. Dang!”

Good Reaction: “Oh, nice! These are cool. I’ve never seen anyone with this deck. I will think of you every time I use them.”

Set Yourself Up: “I’m going to find a trick that these will work well for, and I’ll show you something soon.”

If they ask any further questions about what you mean about a trick “these will work well for,” you say something like: “Well, all decks are different. They have different finishes, different weights, slightly different sizes, that sort of thing. A lot of beginner tricks can be done with any deck. But some of the more advanced stuff you can only do with decks that work well for that particular trick. I’m going to find something that these cards would be perfect for.”

Not only does this suggest that you’re doing some advanced and interesting stuff (not just card tricks you could learn at the library). But now, when you gather your gift givers to show them a trick (and you’ll want to show them a truly great one), they’ll feel like they’re seeing something special that maybe you’re only able to do because you have this particular deck—the one they gave you.

When You Get A Book or Magic Kit You Don’t Care For

Bad Reaction: “What the…? Joshua Jay’s Big Magic for Little Hands? What the crap is this? I don’t want this kiddie bullshit by this weirdo who’s creeping on kids and their hand sizes! I’m 12-years-old, for cripe’s sake! I’m practically a man. Ask me what I flippin’ want before you spend money on this stuff, you stupid idiot. Sorry, but you are. This Christmas sucks.”

Good Reaction: “Oh, sweet! This looks very interesting. Thank you, Grandma! You’re the best.”

Set Yourself Up: “As soon as I can, I’m going to learn something from this and show it to you.”

Now, what you do is you perfect the best trick you can think of—something far better than anything that can be found in the gift they gave you. And the next time you see the gift giver, you say, “Hey, I have something to show you from that book (or magic set).” And you show them your most amazing trick. They should be excited because you learned this great trick from their gift. With any luck, they’ll buy themselves a copy of the gift they gave you and look for the secret to the trick, and be bewildered when they can’t find it.

I’ve written in the past about the subject of Hooks. That is, something you have, or do, or say, that can lead you into a trick. Instead of looking at a junky deck or a beginner book as a bad gift, look at it as an ideal Hook for a future performance. “Hey, I wanted to show you something from that book you got me.” There’s no better way to get into a trick and bring them some joy, even if the reality is that it doesn’t come from that book or that magic kit or whatever. You see, the truth of the matter is that there are no bad magic gifts. Even a bad gift can be a good Hook. So put a smile on your face and be grateful. And then, at some point in the future, use their gift as a Hook to break their brain.

Now, you might say, “Okay, but what if it wasn’t a bad gift from a well-intentioned loved one? What if it was a bad gift from someone who just put no thought into the gift at all? They just said to themselves, ‘Ah, he likes magic. I’ll get him this deck of cards and be done with it.’”

Well, in that case, my advice is just the same. Turn the gift around and use it as a Hook for a future performance.

You see, this isn’t just magic advice. This is good practice for a mindset that you should develop where you are able to take everything you’re that comes your way—whether that be gifts you’re given, comments someone directs towards you, bad breaks you get, or life situations that are dealt you—and turn them into something positive.

Second Helpings #3

In this installment of Second Helpings, Joe Diamond offers up what he feels is the second best thing from his recent Penguin lecture. The lecture currently has 44 reviews and they’re all 5-stars. So either it’s a really good lecture or Joe has 43 alternate accounts on Penguin. As his lecture is, in part, about gaining publicity, I wouldn’t put it past him. This review, from Doe Jiamond, sounds particularly suspect:

“Joe’s lecture was great. And he is a vigorous, yet tender lover, who always leaves his partner satisfied. Take him for a spin, Carla, even if he’s not your type.”

That’s weird. Who is Carla? And why take such a circuitous route to send her this message?

Well, whatever. Below you can see a live performance of his effect, Half Twins. And here is a pdf with the write-up from Joe.

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If you’d like to offer up the second best thing from your book or download in a future installment of Second Helpings, just send me an email. Make sure you’ve read this post first, if you don’t know what this is all about.

Monday Mailbag #36 - Santa's Super Sack Edition

This is the last week of posting for the 2020 Jerx Season. And 2021 won’t kick off with regular posting until February (assuming the supporters decide to go for another yerar), so I figured I’d go with an extra-large mailbag post today.

Love your rabbit's foot angle for the trick (a huge improvement) but for me HIT has another, bigger problem. Anyone who plays blackjack even a little will be put off by the weirdness of trying to decide a "winner" based on only two cards. Literally a major component of blackjack is that you can "HIT" your hand to get another card, with the chance of busting out over 21.

The blackjack theme is kind of built into the premise of the trick. I suppose you could just say, whichever of us has a higher total of two cards wins...but then you just have a random procedure untethered to a real gambling game.

So for me it feels awkward and contrived regardless, a fatal flaw. Plus, you need two full arm sleeves and ink up your neck to really sell it. —JS

Yeah, I found that fairly confusing as well. In the demo he talks about how blackjack is a game where the winner is the person closest to 21 “without going over.” But they only ever get two cards so the possibility of going over 21 doesn’t exist (so why bring it up?). Anyone who has played a single blackjack hand would not say, “Ah, your hand of 12 beats my 11.” They would say, “Hit me.”

It’s odd that the trick is called “HIT” when that’s the one thing you don’t do in the trick.

As I mentioned in that post, I don’t own this trick, but I know Luke is a pretty thorough teacher, so I assume he goes over this issue in the download.

Here is the tactic I would use for the “lucky charm” version I described in the previous post.

“We’ll play a game to demonstrate the power of this rabbit’s foot. It’s sort of like Beginner’s Blackjack. In Beginner’s Blackjack, each player gets two cards. The person with the highest total wins. Usually it’s a game to teach addition to kids. There is no hitting, there is no strategy, there is no card counting. It’s barely a game, but to the extent that it is a game, it’s one based solely on luck. So you’ll really get a feel for how this charm influences the game.”

In the spirit of “take your weaknesses and make them strengths,” this presentation would make the lack of hitting an enhancement to the effect. We want to see the power of this lucky object, so we’re going to simplify the game so that it is just a matter of luck. We’re going to take out all the other variables.

In last week’s mailbag post, JT was looking for some options on how to unload some magic. Below are a couple ideas that were sent to me in regards to that.

Responding to JT's question in today's Mailbag about offloading a lot of old magic: I recommend the Facebook group Surplus Magic Exchange. (groups/surplusmagicexchange). Lots of people there sell in bundles like "these fifteen decks for $X.XX" or "five Tenyo item for $Y.YY" or "twelve unassembled Sans Minds tricks for eight cents." —EK

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In response to your reader who asked about donating magic tricks to a charity, our magic club in Omaha, Nebraska is a 501c3 non-profit that accepts gently used magic tricks which are then tax deductible at fair market value on the giver’s taxes.

We use many of the tricks with our Junior Magician’s programs and/or our after-school onsite programs. Some we sell to help fund those programs which can be read about on our website: https://TheOmahaMagicalsociety.org —DA

Regarding the post And Found

I was wondering, is it stronger to perform the ritual in the likely location of the lost objects (i.e. in your home, if the items were last seen there) or would it be better to do the ritual somewhere else? Of course, that's merely academic until we can actually go somewhere else, but just planning ahead... —CK

I think either option will work fine. If I had my druthers, it would probably be stronger to make someone’s cufflink—which they lost at their home in Reston, Virginia—reappear in a card box some months later when we’re vacationing in Aruba while I’m casually showing them a card trick late one night. That’s going to hit harder than if it reappeared back in Virginia. But I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

There are two variables here that will impact the strength of the trick: time and distance. So, how long ago the object was lost, and how far away the object was lost. But the most impactful variable is the time one. If I make a pin you lost reappear 5 years later—even if we’re in the same place you lost it—that’s going to be very powerful.

But if you lose your cufflink while we’re packing to go to Aruba and the next day I make it appear in Aruba, that won’t be anywhere near as strong.

So time is the necessary variable and distance is a “nice to have” option.

Finding missing objects alongside a missing card is very magical. I think that Martin Gardner wrote about searching your friends' couches for lost objects in his encyclopedia. If you're looking to improve the odds of performing Leigh's trick without really stealing anything, it's probably a good place to start. —IM

Great idea. Thanks, IM. And thanks, Marty G.

In the interest of handling cards like a regular human (i.e. Neolift)….have you made any adjustments to how you false count/steal the cards for Las Vegas Leaper? Counting with the Biddle grip just seems unnatural in that regard. —ZA

No, I don’t. Here’s why…in most instances, with a double-lift, you want to draw no attention to the moment, so it makes sense that the handling should be natural to the point of being invisible (in my opinion, that is—I know other people prefer flourishy double-lifts, but I’m not sure what their rationale for that is).

But this moment in LVL is not one we want to go by unnoticed. So it doesn’t really matter if the count is unusual, what matters is that the unusual-ness is justified.

How would someone normally count cards? They’d spread them from hand to hand or count them on the table. What are the potential vulnerabilities in those ways of counting? Well, you could miss cards spreading from hand to hand. And if you count into a pile, I could maybe do something to the pile when you aren’t looking.

So, while I don’t mention those potential issues out loud, I frame the counting procedure in a manner where if someone were to give it some thought, they might conclude the counting procedure I’m suggesting is more sure-fire than the “natural” way to count cards. “I want you to hold the cards like this and we’re going to count them one at a time and in your own hands.” So I’m stressing the idea that each card will be dealt with singly and will never leave their hands (unlike the other unspoken options of spreading or dealing the cards). I don’t think this normalizes the counting procedure, but I think it justifies it enough. And later in the effect they will just count the cards into a pile on the table and we’ll get a repeat of the effect, which I think takes any residual heat off the counting process.

What I don’t do is say—as Paul Harris does—”This is how they count cards in Vegas.” Anyone who has been within 500 miles of a casino, knows that’s not true.

I was playing with a tiny blank book I bought a year or so back. (The idea was a 1x1.5 inch mini erdnase, with real Erdnase text and pictures shrunk down.)

And I thought, what if I have some old magic manuscript -- some rare magic trick a weird magician once sold. And the instructions were written in code, so you have to figure them out. And you went through it all, decrypted the instructions, and it ended up being a pretty good trick. Not great, and maybe not worth all the effort, but it was fun to figure it out. Do they want to see it?

The overall idea is to specifically and openly downplay the trick part of the experience in favor of the story of how you learned it. But still there’s a trick, which the audience is underestimating a little. And you can use it to intro any trick that uses common objects.

Also you can have parts where you are not sure of your decryption. That could produce some good moments. —PM

Yeah, I like it.

I would probably have a point where, as you suggested, your decryption isn't exact. So you may have two possible interpretations for a certain step, you try it the first way and nothing happens, then you try it the second way and you get some sort of result that tells you you're on the right track.

Or perhaps something happens slightly when you do it the first way and then you “perfect” it the second way.

For example, let’s take a look at the trick in the previous email, “Las Vegas Leaper.” Imagine you’re reading some instructions you decoded (“Fore Which To Tranz-pose Gaming Cards Betwixt Packets”). You ask the person to count their cards. Then they hold them in their hands. You have them name a number between 1 and 5. They say 3. You tell them to rotate their packet around clockwise while you turn your packet counter-clockwise.

“Okay,” you say, “I think that’s all we need to do. Count your cards, do you have three more now?”

They count their cards. They have 11. You have 9.

You go back to the instructions. “Okay, yeah, I thought maybe this is what we needed to do, but I wasn’t sure. I think we need to rotate our packets around one time for each card that we want to go.”

Now the other person rotates his pack three times clockwise, while you do yours three times counter-clockwise.

This time, three (more) cards have transported. So they now have 14 and you have 6.

This type of thing always goes over well. Any manner in which you can flesh out the world of how tricks are learned and passed on and how you learned this particular trick can do nothing but enhance something that might otherwise just be a good but “standard” magic trick.