Creators of forcing techniques

[Alice Pailhes]

Hello everyone!

I’m writing because I’m currently working on a taxonomy of forcing techniques and I would like to make sure I give appropriate credits to the inventors of the forces I discuss.
If you know who I should credit for the following techniques or at least the earliest reference that you know for them, it would be amazing:

-Visual riffle force (discussed in Banachek PS1)
-Spread of cards with one card more exposed/salient (Banachek PS1)
-Circle/triangle force “ draw/choose two simple geometric shapes, one inside the other”
These three are discussed in Banachek’s PS1 but there’s no reference to the creators.

-Hindu shuffle force
-Criss-cross/cross-cut force
-The Equivoque/magician’s choice technique

Many thanks in advance!

[MagicbyAlfred]

It is oftentimes difficult, if not impossible, to know, with certainty, who originally created a particular move, artifice or trick, as the first to publish may or may not have been the one who first came up with the idea. It is laudable that you are seeking to give appropriate credit. That said, here is what the bit of research I did today reveals:

Cross-Cut Force
According to Conjuring Credits, Max Holden published this force within his “The New Knife and Selected Cards” in Edward Bagshawe's "The Magical Monthly," Vol. 2 No. 10, July 1925, p. 199-200.
https://www.conjuringcredits.com/doku.p ... -cut_force


Hindu Shuffle Force
According to Conjuring Archive, the creator is "unknown," but the artifice was published in Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (1937)
https://www.conjuringarchive.com/list/category/1163
According to Magicpedia, “Encyclopedia of Card Tricks was based on two volumes compiled by Doctor Wilhelm von Deusen in collaboration with Glenn G. Gravatt (in fact Dr. Wilhelm von Deusen was a speudo of Gravatt) under the titles Encyclopedia of Self-working Card Tricks and The Second Encyclopedia of Card Tricks (1936). They were originally mimeographed on large pages and sold for ten dollars, selling over eight hundred copies."
In compiling/editing the Encyclopedia of Card Tricks, "Jean Hugard completely rewrote and added more tricks (also leaving some intricate slight of hand routines out). The Associate Editor was John J. Crimmins, Jr. and it was illustrated by Nelson C. Hahne.”
https://www.geniimagazine.com/wiki/inde ... ard_Tricks


Equivoque/Magician’s Choice
Earliest known references:
"Le Choix du magicien," page 150 in Testament de Jérome Sharp by Henri Decremps (1785)
"In Case of Failure," page 118 in Sleight of Hand by Edwin Sachs (1877)
https://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.ph ... =Equivoque

[Joe Mckay]

Jamy Ian Swiss credited the circle/triangle force to... Uri Geller.

[Max Maven]

Sorry, but going to a couple of websites that have compiled work by others does not qualify as "research."

[MagicbyAlfred]

Sorry, but going to a couple of websites that have compiled work by others does not qualify as "research."

"Sorry," to me means an apology. I accept, since I don't believe in holding grudges, even when people say offensive (as opposed to constructive) things. I only tried to help Alice in good faith because she is sincerely trying to give proper credit. I can't go directly to the creators or publishers of the items in question as they have all passed into the great magical beyond. The websites I cited (Conjuring Archive, Conjuring Credit and Magicpedia/Geniimagazine.com) are all quite reputable, but if they are wrong, the record should be corrected. In any event, here's what Conuring Credits, which I cited in my prior post, states, verbatim, about the Cross-the-Cut Force:

"Cross-the-cut Force
(From Max Maven)
Max Holden published this force within his “The New Knife and Selected Cards” in Edward Bagshawe's The Magical Monthly, Vol. 2 No. 10, July 1925, p. 199-200."
https://www.conjuringcredits.com/doku.p ... -cut_force

However, since you don't believe that what I did qualifies as research, if you are willing to teach me how to do it the proper way, then I am willing to learn.

[Max Maven]

The proper way might have been to mention the person who had actually done the research, instead of dropping that name from your cut-and-paste.

[Alice Pailhes]

That's great Alfred, thank you very much!

[Alice Pailhes]

Jamy Ian Swiss credited the circle/triangle force to... Uri Geller.

Interesting... Thanks Joe !

[MagicbyAlfred]

The proper way might have been to mention the person who had actually done the research, instead of dropping that name from your cut-and-paste.

That was my oversight. It wasn't intentional. The research was excellent. I will be more careful in the future.

[MagicbyAlfred]

That's great Alfred, thank you very much!

You are most welcome, Alice!

[Joe Lyons]

Earlier Hindu Shuffle Force accreditation from Conjuring Credits:

Hindu Shuffle Force
This force is described in R.P.'s Ein Spiel Karten, 1853, p. 43 of the Pieper translation. There, in “The Non Plus Ultra,” it isn't done with a Hindu Shuffle, but rather a variant overhand shuffle, with the deck turned on end. But the underlying method of forcing the original bottom card is identical.

Carl Shome adapted this force to the Hindu Shuffle in The Sphinx, Vol. 32 No. 7, Sep. 1933, p. 205. This is the force commonly performed today, with the only difference being that the spectator is invited to insert his finger into the deck during the shuffle rather than call out, “Stop!”