EFFECT:

The magician lays out a row of eleven face down cards onto the table. He instructs a member of the audience to move any number of cards from one end of the row and place them at the other, one at a time. This all takes place while the performer has his back turned or while he is out of the room!

When the magician returns he moves his hand back and forth over the row of cards, suddenly he stops at one card, slowly the performer turns over the card, the number on the card is the same as the amount of cards moved!

The trick can be repeated immediately and as often as desired. In fact the more often it is done the more baffling it becomes.

At some point a spectator will try and out fox the magician by not moving any cards at all, when this happens, the card turned over will be a Joker!

Fifi tells you how:

Take from a deck eleven cards from Ace, to Ten and one Joker (any suits). Lay the cards out face down on the table in the following order:

The card at the right hand end of the row is your KEY NUMBER. In this instance it is the number 7. Tell your spectator to move ONE AT A TIME as many cards as he likes from the right end of the row to the left. You can turn your back or leave the room. (lets say he moves four cards)

The position will now be as follows:

The cards in red are the ones that have been moved. Remembering that your KEY NUMBER was 7, move your hand back forth over the cards , as if to pick up magic vibrations, as you do this count to the seventh card from the left hand end of the row and turn over the seventh card. It is a 4, from this you have magically worked out that the spectator moved 4 cards.

It is now a simple matter by counting along the row to the right from your KEY NUMBER 4 (4 3 2 1 J ) to realise that the card on the right hand end of the row is a Joker (J). The J, which represents eleven, now becomes your NEW KEY NUMBER. When you repeat the trick, all you do is to count to the eleventh card from left to right, and turn over the eleventh card. This card when turned over will tell you how many cards have been moved.

Five simple rules to remember are:

* Always know the number of the card at the right hand end. This is your KEY NUMBER.

* After the cards have been moved, count your KEY NUMBER from left to right and turn up that card.

* This card denotes the amount of cards that have been moved by the spectator.

* As you turn it down, mentally calculate which card is now at the right hand end because this will your NEW KEY NUMBER.

* If you turn up a Joker it means that the spectator has tried to catch you out by not moving any cards.