Blackstone's Card Trick Without Cards

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Blackstone's Card Trick Without Cards is a magic trick. As the trick requires only that a card is thought of, it does not require the use of a deck of cards.

[edit] Method

A spectator is instructed to think of any card (other than the joker). The magician then gives the following instructions:

• Take the card's face value (with aces counting as 1 and royal cards counting as 11, 12 and 13 respectively)
• Double it.
• Add 3.
• Multiply by 5.
• If the card the spectator is thinking of is a heart, add 1.
• If the card the spectator is thinking of is a spade, add 2.
• If the card the spectator is thinking of is a diamond, add 3.
• If the card the spectator is thinking of is a club, add 4.

The spectator then tells the magician the number the spectator is now thinking of. The magician then names the card.

[edit] Secret

The series of mathematical manipulations results in any given card producing a unique number. The multiplication by 2 and 5 means that the final number is ten times the card's value, plus a fixed 15 (for the addition of 3 and the multiplication by 5) and an additional suit-dependent figure. Thus both suit and value are readily identifiable.

[edit] Literature

• Harry Blackstone, Blackstone's Tricks Anyone Can Do ISBN 0-8065-0862-0
• John Scarne, Scarne on Card Tricks ISBN 0-486-42735-8

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