Most common card choice

[Jager]

Has any one noticed one card more than any other chosen by a spectator when given a free choice? Queen of hearts? Ace of spades?

[Tortuga]

Jager, there is probably material written up on this question, but I cannot cite any references.

I would look at works on mentalism for starters. Probably Max Maven has explored this question.

It used to be cliche that the ace of spades was frequently chosen. Don't know how accurate it is. Never has happened to me in performance, but who knows. It is logical that it would be the first card to "jump into someones head."

The queen of hearts is said to be a favorite choice among women. Can't vouch for that either, although personal experience with that choice shows it beating out the ace of spades in actual practice.

You don't specify what you mean by free choice. Do you mean without looking at the cards? I would think that there might be a different result if you simply asked a spectator to "name any card" versus, name any card from amongst those that I am showing you. There is work on influencing choices amongst a small group. This can be done by positioning, covering up certain cards so that they aren't really visible. Dingle had work on this, published by Kaufman in the Complete Works book. Dingle used positioning technique to "narrow down" the choices and then used the specators eyes as a gauge of what card might have been chosen. It is not 100% sure fire, but has the opportunity for "outs" that make it practical.

Another "free choice" that really isn't is the old thing where you riffle the cards and slow up on the queen of hearts, or diamonds, I suppose. The spectator really only gets a good look at the one card and when asked what card they saw will typically mention the force card. That doesn't constitute a free choice per se, but it is related to what you are asking I think.

Just some thoughts, hope that helps.

[Ray Eden]

I have noticed a trend for women to pick the QUEEN OF HEARTS as well, but I also "lead" them to the choice. I don't use a deck of cards, but I ask the woman to think of a card that she thinks most represents her. Then show the prediction. It works for me.

[Bob Cunningham]

I suspect that the phrasing of the question and the background and personality of the spectator all make a difference.

As I ask the question, the most common answer is the Ace of Spades. For context, here is the who, what and how:

I perform almost exclusively to engineers. I begin my ambitious card routine (which is their first exposure to my performing magic) by asking my spectator, "What is your favorite playing card ... that will tell me something about your personality"

Whatever card they name I tell them that people who choose the "X of X" frequently knowing a better way of solving problems but that sometimes their superiors will not listen to them. [Engineers ALWAYS believe that they know better, but the "suites" do not listen to them.]

During this time I cull the named card and prepare for a classic force.

I have done this hundreds of times, and at least 70% of the time the spectator names the Ace of Spades.

[Bill Mullins]

Engineers ALWAYS believe that they know better

Bob -- I'm an engineer. Trust me on this, we DO know better.

[Bob Cunningham]

Engineers ALWAYS believe that they know better

Bob -- I'm an engineer. Trust me on this, we DO know better.

Absolutely no degeneration intended - simply observation. I am a proud propeller head and I make my living teaching other propeller heads ;-)

[Jager]

Thanks for all the replies. I am working on a routine using the spectator's thought of card. I was planning on four possible outcomes and different outs if one of those four were not chosen. I kind of figured that the A/S and Q/H would be the top two responses.
I really like Ray's idea of asking them to choose a card that most represents them. That would almost guarantee a face card or joker would be selected.
I want to be pretty sure of the four best possible responses because the reveal would involve one of four tattoos or the appropriate out.

[Ray Eden]

Glad you like the idea. I got it from doing Tarot card readings. One card is always drawn to represent the person being read, so the idea translated well into a card selection.

[Dale Shrimpton]

I have noticed a trend for women to pick the QUEEN OF HEARTS as well, but I also "lead" them to the choice. I don't use a deck of cards, but I ask the woman to think of a card that she thinks most represents her. Then show the prediction. It works for me.

Nice. Your missing a trick here though, that would be more powerfull than a simple reveal.

before you say anything at all, you take a deck of cards, and riffle through them... in front of your lady.

you then ask the question, Think of any one of those cards... one that most represents her".. she says the queen of hearts....

they then deal the cards off.. and one card is missing. their named card.

now you see,anybody watching would assume that she saw the queen during the riffle, and that you had asked her to name a card that she saw.

and your victim, will be amazed that her named card has gone. :)

on the subject of most popular choices, i expect that John Thompsons naked books, will have the ansewr.

[Ray Eden]

Good idea. I normally remove the Queen of Hearts from the deck before asking her to name her representative card and then show the "prediction", but I like your idea of having it the only card missing from the deck. I think I'd eliminate the riffling the deck in front of her eyes though, and just put the boxed deck on the table before she names the card. She could then take the deck from the box and discover her card is missing. I'll play with it a bit. :-)

[Dale Shrimpton]

having it missing builds up the suspense, because there could be other reveals..BUt the fact that its not there only hits home when the last card is dealt.

[Adam Brooks]

I don't have it handy, but Simon Lovell has a write-up on this very topic in Son Of Simon Says called, I believe, "The Risk of the Frisk!" Page reference, anyone?

[Chris Deleo]

jack of spades comes a lot