Effect: You shuffle and cut a deck of alphabet cards. You next ask someone to take the deck and administer any number of complete cuts, stopping whenever they like. When they stop, you ask that they deal the top four cards into a tabled face down pile. You take back the rest, return them to the card case and pocket it. You now ask that they pick up the cards and, if they can, rearrange them so that they form a four letter word, but they are (jokingly) asked to make it a clean one! If they can't use all four letters, you explain, they can use three or even two in order to form a word. You now mentally divine the word that they are thinking of.

Preparation: Stack 20 alphabet cards in the following order... N, G, W, I, T, R, F, O, K, L, C, U, E, P, D, 'A', S, M, Y and a second letter A card. The letter N card is the top card of the face down deck, and the letter 'A' represents an A card that has been needle scratched on it's face. Print out the crib sheet below right and glue it to your card case or slip it beneath the opened cellophane wrapper.

Performance: Show the faces of the cards to bear letters of the alphabet, then execute any false shuffle(s) that you can. Next show them how you would like them to make as many complete cuts as they like. Hand them the cards. When they stop cutting, and have dealt off the top four cards to the table, take back the rest and, as you replace them into the card case, you'll see the letter at the face of these cards. The top line of the crib sheet is the original order of the alphabet cards for when you need to reset. The other lines begin with a single letter (alphabetically listed) and these represent the letter that you will see at the face of the deck when you case the cards. The word immediately following the single letter is the only possible word that can be formed from their four cards. The jumbled four letters following the word represent the order that their four cards must be in before returning them to the top of the deck to reset. Notes: If the letter S is at the face, they can actually form the words MANY or MYAN - you'll have to pump. The cards must be in the order MYAN before they're returned to the deck. If you spot one of the two letter A cards, you can differentiate between them because of the needle scratch on one of their faces.

'4 Letter Words' was inspired by Lyndon Wainwright's 'The Magic Alphabet' which appeared on page 22 of the May 1998 issue of The Budget magazine.

Ask someone to think of ANY playing card.

They are now asked to imagine calling a help-line and that the calculator you hand them is a phone. Have them hold it so that you can't see the display.

Say, "Thank-you for calling. If you are thinking of an ace press '1', if you are thinking of a two press '2', get the idea? If you are thinking of a jack press '1, 1' a queen press '1, 2' or a king press '1, 3'.

If you are thinking of a club press '1', for a heart press '2', a spade press '3' or a diamond press '4'.

Press 'x, 5, 0' now.

Press '+, 2, 2, x, 2, 0, 0' now.

Your call is important to us. Press '+' now.
If you have already celebrated your birthday press '1, 0, 9', if you have not press '1, 0, 8'.

Finally, press '-' followed by the year of your birth, then press '=' and look at the number now displayed".

Incredibly, the final two digits of the total displayed is their age in years! The middle two will ALWAYS be 25 and the first two (or three) will tell you their thought of card. Example:113 = 11 and 3 = the 11 tells you it's a jack and the 3 (using CHaSeD) gives the suit as spades.

Example 2: 24 = 2 and 4 = two of diamonds.

Example 3: if the final number is 822551, then their thought of card is the 8 of hearts and they are 51 years old.

Introduce a small packet of about a dozen or so of your business cards. The cards are all printed (information) side uppermost and the blank underside of the top card has the number 25 already written on it. Spread over and remove the top four cards, but don't mention how many you have removed, as they will later believe that you only removed three cards. Table the rest of the cards in a pile with the printed (information) sides uppermost. Flip the four cards in your hand over so that they are blank sides uppermost and hold them in a squared packet in your left hand. Remove your pen and ask them to concentrate on the entire number. After a few seconds say, "There are six digits in the number aren't there?" They will agree. Ask them to now concentrate ONLY on the first two digits of the six digit number. You now mime writing 'something' on the blank surface of the upper card, but in reality... you write nothing on the card. Remove the card and place it printed (information) side up onto the tabled packet of business cards. Ask what the first two digits are. When they tell you that they are 82, you know that they thought of the 8 of hearts, and you can also say something like, "I thought so!" Ask that they now concentrate ONLY on the final two digits of the number. You now write 82 on the blank surface of the next card in your hand then remove the card and place it printed side up (number side down) onto the tabled packet of business cards. Handle the final two cards in your hand, from now on, as if they are a single card. Ask what the final two digits are. They tell you that they are 51. Again, say that you thought as much, but also comment on the coincidence that the last birthday they celebrated was their 51st Ð they will be surprised by this. Finally, ask that they now concentrate ONLY on the central two digits. You now write 51 on the upper surface of the card(s) in your hand (keep them squared as if they are only one card!). Place the card(s) number side down on top of the other tabled business cards. Ask what the remaining two digits are. They tell you that they are 25.

Immediately pick off the top card of the tabled pile of business cards and show that you 'just' correctly predicted the number 25! Table it number side up to one side. Pick off the next top card and remind them that it is a prediction of the final two digits. Show it's face and... you have also correctly predicted the number 51! Table it number side up with the other. Finally, Pick off the next top card (it predicts the first two digits, you remind them) of the tabled pile of business cards and show that you also correctly predicted the number 81! Table it number side up with the others.

Due to the procedure, the three numbers are revealed in the order you 'apparently' wrote and then placed them onto the tabled packet of business cards! AND... EVERYTHING can now be examined!

Just when everyone thinks that the effect is over, ask the person to concentrate on the card he thought of, then s-l-o-w-l-y reveal it.

Note: If you perform this effect in the year 2010, you must increase (by one) the numbers 109 and 108 in the above instructions. Then, every subsequent year you must increase these two numbers by one.

Note: The following was inspired by one phase of a red/black ace transposition that my friend Andrew Hawkes and I were working on. With aces... you'd show the ace of diamonds, table it face down, table the black aces face up to one side, then hold onto the 'assumed' face down ace of hearts. You'd then cause the two red aces to transpose. Read the following and... all will become clear.

Effect: Three people each choose a playing card, the rest of the cards are set aside, and will not be used for the rest of the effect. They are each asked to remember their cards (and sign their faces if they like - the cards not each other!) then shuffle them all together before handing them to you in a face down packet.

You now show one of the cards and ask who selected it. Someone says they did. You deal the card face down to the table and ask this person to place a finger on it. You now show the face of one of the other cards and ask who chose this. One of the remaining two say they did. You leave it face up on the table, as you look at the third card and say, to the remaining person, "Then you must have selected the 6 of Clubs" (or whatever card they did select). They agree. You deal this card face down to the table and ask them to place a finger on it.

You explain that you'd like to try 'something' with the two face down cards, currently guarded by the fingers of two of your spectators.

You continue... that you will try to make them change places. You snap your fingers... ouch! ... then ask that they flip their closely guarded cards face up... they HAVE changed places!

Method: When you show the first card, you execute (without spilling a drop of blood!) a double turnover. If you now raise the upper card of the two slightly... YOU will catch a glimpse of the second face up card, let's assume it's the 6 of Clubs. You flip the double face down and deal, what they assume to be the card you just showed them, to the table asking the person who selected it to place a finger on it - pinning it to the table.

Remove the bottom card, show it's face and ask who selected it. Someone will say that they did. Deal it face up to the table, then look at the face of the remaining card (without letting anyone else see it) and say, to the remaining person, "Then you must have selected the 6 of Clubs". They agree. Deal it face down to the table and have them put a finger on its back.

The work is now done, but in order to include the third person, you could have them wave their card (like a magic wand) over the other two cards before showing that they have transposed!

Another thought... To include the third person, you could force the card they will choose. I do this by having the card to be forced on top of the deck. This card is also marked on its back so that you can tell it apart from the other two selections. Simply ink in the central dot (if using Bicycle cards). I find it best to use a red fine-tipped indelible marker if using a red backed deck and a blue pen if using a blue backed deck (joke?).

False shuffle, then table the deck face down for someone to cut it into three piles. Have each of the three spectators remove the top card of one of the piles, as their selection. No one will realise that the original top card has been forced. Have the three cards signed on their faces then shuffled together. Take them back and, if necessary, get the marked card to the bottom (face) of the face down packet. Now perform the routine exactly as detailed above. At the end, the person with the marked card is waving his card over the other two, which then transpose. End by showing a prediction of the card the third person selected. The name of their card could be printed on the barrel of the pen used to sign the three cards, as there are many companies who offer the service of printing a message on the barrel of pens.

Finally, for those still scratching their heads, Noitisopsnart is transposition spelled backwards... d'oh!

Effect: Someone thinks of ANY playing card. You remove 'nothing' from a real card case and explain that it is an invisible deck of cards. You handle the 'nothing' as if it were a deck of cards and eventually reveal the actual card thought of!

Required: an empty card case with the prompt sheet, detailed below, stuck to the lower narrow edge of the card case.