Easy to Execute Card Trickery #4 (PDF) by Jace Jack $8.00
16 pages, 11 illustrations
Available at: http://shufflethedeck.weebly.com/etect4.html
Prior to receiving this product for review, I had never heard of Jace Jack or his series of card magic PDFs. Now I have.
Mr. Jacks writing is rough. Some of his instructional passages are difficult to understand.
He dutifully cites his recent inspirational sources, but he doesnt provide primary attributions.
Eight of the illustrations are awful. Simply dreadful.
Impromptu Observation Test with Aces: The performer tables the four Aces face-up and the participant selects a pair, say the red Aces. He loses one black Ace in the deck. He places the other black Ace face-up on top of the face-down deck. He waves his hand over the deck and the Ace vanishes.
He places the Ace of Diamonds face-up on top of the deck, followed by the face-down Ace of Hearts. He turns over the pair of Aces onto the deck and asks the participant which Ace is below the top card. He deals the red Aces face-up onto the table and comments appropriately regarding the participants response.
The performer places the Ace of Hearts face-up on top of the deck and the Ace of Diamonds face-down on top of it. He flips the pair over and asks the participant which Ace is beneath the top card. He reveals that the top two cards are now the black Aces. He tables them face-up.
The performer cuts off about a dozen cards, flips them face-up onto the deck and then deals them onto the table in a face-up row. The participant freely chooses one of the cards. The performer places it face-up on top of the deck, turns it face-down and removes it. He turns it face-up, revealing one red Ace in his hand and the other red Ace face-up on top of the deck.
The principle cards are constantly in contact with the deck. Why place a freely selected card into the deck just to turn it face-down? I dont like it.
Random Thot Expanded: The performer turns his back. A participant cuts off about half of the deck and sets the other half aside. She deals as many cards as she likes into a face-down pile, silently counting the cards as she deals. She remembers the top card of the pile and then drops her in-hand cards on top of the pile.
The performer turns around and shuffles the pile twice. He picks up the portion of the deck that was set aside earlier, turns it face-up and shuffles it into the face-down portion.
The participant announces that she initially dealt seven cards. She takes the deck and deals the face-up cards into one pile and the face-down cards into another pile, counting the face-down cards as she deals. She stops dealing when she has dealt the seventh face-down card. She turns it over and discovers her selection.
The author states, I thought Karl Fulves' Random Thot [Notes from the Underground] was too automatic. This my attempt to make it look less automatic.
Mr. Jack certainly succeeded in making Fulves effect look less automatic. His added handling also succeeded in making the effect less direct. I dont like it.
B+D Revisited: The performer shuffles the deck and turns the top card face-up, displaying the King of Hearts. He turns the King face-down on the deck and writes Box on its back. As a reminder, a participant writes KH = Box on a slip of paper.
The performer shuffles the deck and writes Deck on the back of the top card. He turns the top card face-up and displays the Seven of Clubs. He turns the deck face-up, orienting the Seven face-down on the bottom of the deck. He removes the face-down Seven and places it into the card box. He cuts the deck and tables it face-down.
The performer slaps the card box down onto the deck and spreads the deck. The Seven of Clubs is face-up in the middle of the spread. He removes the face-up King of Hearts from the card box. He turns the cards around, showing that Seven now has Box written on its back and the King now has Deck written on its back.
If a face-up card is on top of the face-down deck and you want to turn it face-down and stick it in the box, you simply turn the card face-down onto the deck and then stick it in the box. You dont turn the deck face-up and remove the face-down card from the bottom of the deck.
Theres nothing new here and superior methods exist. I dont like it.
Prediction and Change City: The performer tables three prediction cards in a face-down packet. A participant freely selects a card, say the Five of Spades, which is lost in the deck.
A second participant freely selects a card, say the Ten of Clubs. The performer places it face-up on top of the face-down prediction packet, flips the packet over and places it on top of the deck. He spreads the now face-up prediction cards and they are the other Tens. He tables them in a face-up pile.
He turns the deck face-up and removes the Ten of Clubs from the now bottom of the deck and tables it near the other Tens. He turns the deck face-down and cuts it several times.
The performer sandwiches the face-down Ten of Clubs between two of the face-up Tens and deals the cards in stepped fashion on top of the deck. He squares the three cards and tables them again.
He spreads through the face-down deck and cuts it several times.
He spreads the deck face-down on the table and states that they will use three of the Tens to find the first selection. He hands the two face-up Tens to the two participants and instructs them to turn them face-down. He keeps the face-down Ten for himself. He and the participants insert their cards part way into the spread.
The participants look at the cards above and below their inserted Tens, but they dont find the first selection. A participant looks at the card below the performers Ten and finds the Ten of Clubs. The performer turns his inserted Ten face-up and reveals that it is the Five of Spades.
This is a methodological mess. If a card is on top of the face-down deck and you want to table it face-up, you turn the card face-up and table it. You dont turn the damn deck face-up and then remove the bottom card face-up and table it!
When the Tens are already happily reposing on the table, ready for use, why make a sandwich out of three of them, put it on the deck, then put it back on the table and disassemble it? Because the ill-chosen method demands it.
He offers several variations that arent worth mentioning. I dont like it.
No Turn Away Overtime: The performer lifts about half of the deck and fans the cards. A participant freely selects a card. The performer reassembles the deck and holds it face-down.
He places the selection face-down on top of the deck and pushes down on it, claiming that he has pushed it into the deck. He turns the top card face-up and it is not her card. He asks the participant how many cards he turned over. She says, One.
The performer spreads the deck, revealing one face-down card on top, followed by half of the deck face-up, followed by the remainder of the deck face-down. He flips the face-up portion onto the face-down portion to reassemble the deck.
He tables the deck face-up. Then he turns the deck face-down and asks the participant how many cards he turned over. The participant says, All of them.
The performer spreads the deck on the table, revealing the participants face-up selection in the middle of the face-down deck.
The display of the face-up/face-down deck with a face-down card on top is aesthetically unpleasant. It also tips a sentient participant to how her card got reversed in the deck. I dont like it.
From Nowhere to Here: Participants freely select four cards which are lost in the deck. Another participant selects a card which is tabled face-down, sight unseen.
The participant freely chooses a number between two and twelve, say five. She deals five pairs of cards into a face-down pile on the table. She turns the top card of the dealt pile face-up and places it on top of the cards in her hand. Then she drops the dealt pile on top of the cards in her hand.
The participant deals pairs into a pile on the table again, until the performer stops her. One of the pairs contains a face-up indifferent card.
The performer picks up the dealt pile and spreads it beneath the face-down tabled selection. Then he spreads the remaining cards onto the table beneath the previous spread.
One selection is seen face-up in the bottom spread. The participant turns over the face-down tabled card and it is the second selection. The performer turns the cards to the right and the left of the face-up indifferent card face-up and reveals the other two selections.
The authors handling is procedurally overwrought. I dont like it.
Mr. Jack offers a money back guarantee on this material. Thats a rare gesture in the magic marketplace. Such a grand offer usually suggests that the author has supreme confidence in the strength, construction and value of the material.
With this product, I dont think thats the case. I hope not.
Not Recommended