The Setup
Before performing this trick, you will need to set up the deck of cards. First, take out all the face cards (kings, queens, and jacks) and aces. Shuffle the remaining cards thoroughly and place them face down on a table or any flat surface.
The Trick
To perform this trick, ask a volunteer to pick any five cards from the deck without showing them to you. Once they have done so, ask them to place the cards face down in a row.
Next, ask the volunteer to secretly select one of the five cards and remember it. Then, ask them to rearrange the cards in any order they like, again keeping them face down.
Now, pick up the five cards and take a quick look at them. You should be able to spot the missing card, the one that the volunteer has chosen to remember.
Place the cards back in a row, face down, and ask the volunteer to point to the card they remembered. Once they have done so, turn over that card, and voila ??? you have correctly guessed the chosen card every time!
The Secret
The secret to this trick lies in the setup. By removing all the face cards and aces, you are left with 32 cards in the deck. When the volunteer selects five cards, there is a high probability that at least one of the cards will be missing from the deck.
When you take a quick look at the five cards, you can easily spot which one is missing. From there, it???s just a matter of having the volunteer point to the card they remember, which you have already identified.
Variations
There are many variations of this trick that you can try. One popular variation involves using a deck of cards with all the face cards and aces removed, but with one extra card added. The extra card can be any card, but it should be different from the rest of the deck.
In this variation, the volunteer selects six cards instead of five. Once they have done so, they choose one card to remember and rearrange the cards, again keeping them face down.
You can then take a quick look at the six cards and identify the extra card, which will not match any of the other cards. When the volunteer points to the card they remember, you can easily identify it by process of elimination.
Conclusion
This card trick is a classic that never fails to amaze. With a little bit of setup and some quick thinking, you can impress your friends and family with your mind-reading abilities. Give it a try and see how many people you can fool!
