Math-Magic

Description: A spectator chooses a card from three columns and is then led through several steps that seem to make him (or her) find his own card from piles of face down cards.

1. Deal three cards face up in a horizontal row. Continue dealing three cards across, overlapping the cards so that they are all visible, until you have three vertical columns of seven cards each.

2. Ask the spectator to choose one of the cards mentally and tell you only its column.




3. Square up the columns one at a time (without disarranging their order) and assemble them in your hand so that the pile with the spectator's card is between the other two.

4. Deal the cards across again into three columns.

5. Ask the spectator again in which column his card appears.

6. As in step 3, assemble the deck with the spectator's pile between the other two piles.

7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 once more. (The spectator's card is now the 11th card from the top of the pack.)

8. Remove three cards from the deck as a group (not dealing them singly) and lay them on the table. Place another group of three to the right of the first group, and one more group to the right of these. Directly below these, make another row of three piles of three cards each. Put the last pile of three cards under the middle column.

9. Ask the spectator to touch any three of the seven piles.

10. If the piles he touches include the pile at the far left of the second horizontal column (PFLSHC) then pick up the other four piles and lay them aside. If the spectator's choice does not include the PFLSHC pile, then pick up the three that he touched and lay them aside.

11. Rearrange the remaining piles but remember where the PFLSHC pile ends up.

12. Ask the spectator to touch any two piles.

13. Continue removing piles according to the spectator's choices, but never removing the PFLSHC pile, until only the PFLSHC pile is left.

14. When only the PFLSHC pile is left, spread the three cards and ask the spectator to choose two.

15. Remove cards according to what is picked but always leave the middle card.

16. When only the middle card remains, turn it over. If all was done correctly it will be the card that the spectator first chose.

Hints: If the card shows up in the middle the first time that you lay the cards down by doing three across then you should pick up the middle pile first and lay the cards down by laying the first seven cards in a vertical column then the second seven in another vertical column and so on until you have three columns like you began with. The trick can then be continued from step 5.