The Clever Adding Trick

by Macsen Russell
(Bournemouth, Dorset, England)

THE EFFECT: The magician is able to predict the card that the spectator will end up creating

THE SECRET: You don't need to have the cards in any particular order, so hand the deck to the spectator and ask them to shuffle it thoroughly. After checking that they are happy with the shuffles they have made, tell them to place the cards on a table. (Or other flat surface)

Ask them to hold up the pile so that the cards are facing you (the magician) and away from them (the spectator.) Starting from the back, ask them to fan the deck so that you (the magician) can see all the cards.

Slyly look at the back two cards, for example, say the back two cards were the 3 of Hearts and the 10 of Spades, without informing the spectator you are doing so, add the two cards together using the very back card's number, and the second to back card's suite. In this instance, the 3 of Hearts and the 10 of Spades would become the 3 of Spades. If the back two cards either have the same two suites, or the same two numbers, tell the spectator you forgot to tell them to cut the deck, and then start again.

As the spectator is fanning the cards, try and find the card you made. When you do, without showing the spectator, remove the card from the deck and place flat face down on the flat surface. Tell the spectator that that is your prediction card. Close up the fan of cards and place them down on the flat surface face down.

Tell the spectator to deal 9 cards from what is now the top of the deck. This means that the two cards that made your prediction card are at the bottom of the 9 cards. Take the 9 cards and deal them into 3 piles going along for each line starting at the left-hand-side. That now means that the two cards that made your prediction card are the two top cards of the two piles to the right-hand-side.

Take the pile on the left-hand-side and place it back in the deck, you no longer need this pile, take the two top cards of the two piles and place them face down in front of the spectator and take the rest of the cards and place them back in the deck (except the prediction card and the two top cards.)

Turn over the two cards and tell the spectator to add the number of the card that is on your right-hand-side and the suite from the card on your left-hand-side. In this instance the total card will be the 3 of Spades. Then turn the prediction card over, it will match the total card the spectator added together.