David Alexander's 'Holy Grail' Open Prediction

[Leonard Hevia]

It seems there are two choices here: (1) An effect which, under the stated conditions, "seems impossible" (by the OP's own admission) is, in fact, impossible; or (2) although the effect seems impossible, it actually is possible because it's alleged creator and his (as yet unknown) supporters, all of whom are reputed magicians or mentalists, say that it is.

Absolutely Alfred, and I don't blame the OP if he wants to believe the impossibility of meeting James' conditions and pulling this off. That's part of the fun of magic. If Tom performed this for a spectator on video chat, I suspect he might have relied on some mathematical force where a number is forced and the card dealt to that number is the face down prediction. Possibly culled from the no hands, self working school of card effects, which by the way, James was quite fond of.

[MagicbyAlfred]

Yes, Leo, good point. The fun of magic! That is (and always has been) why I'm in the game...

[Pete McCabe]

Stewart James's published solution may meet all the conditions, but it is not the Open Prediction. It's a different effect, and not just because it has been routined with other tricks (in a very clever way, but still). It is, sadly, an effect that is much less impressive and less interesting than the Open Prediction.

Meanwhile, Guy Hollingworth's "Cassandra Quandary" is still the only presentation for the trick that really makes sense of it all. That I've seen, anyway. I'd love to see another.

[Jonathan Townsend]

...Meanwhile, Guy Hollingworth's "Cassandra Quandary" is still the only presentation for the trick that really makes sense of it all. That I've seen, anyway. I'd love to see another.

Combining a card vanish with a fated appearance - impressive. Thanks for the reminder about Guy's item.

[Leonard Hevia]

I recently discovered the 24 page Karl Fulves manuscript 51 Faces North in my library and read several methods that do meet all of James' conditions. The hands off force of the prediction that's credited to Lin Searles is very interesting. There must have been a time when solutions to this effect were pouring in from card magicians. Fulves writes:

Introducing his version of the open prediction in Ibidem #26, Lin Searles made this amusing observation: "Every time I see another version of this effect, I think of the Kansas preacher whose prayers for rain were answered by a torrential downpour that flooded the countryside. "We need rain Lord," he said, "But, my God, this is ridiculous!"

[info45]

Hello, I know this thread has been dead a while but circling back in case anybody has information on knowing a for similar to the one described as the post mentions!

The participant is then asked to deal the cards face up one by one, and to, somewhere along the way, deal one card face down aside, and then to continue dealing the rest of the cards face up. The predicted card never shows up among the face up cards, and at the end the participant or someone else (other than the performer) flips over the one face down card to find that it is the predicted card.

[Richard Kaufman]

info45: there are many methods around for The Open Prediction. Just Google it.

[katterfelt0]

info45: there are many methods around for The Open Prediction. Just Google it.

Or use Denis Behr's Conjuring Archive.

[jason156]

info45, the following links might prove useful in your research ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICIwEoweL-U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_FPkB45C0I&t=165s

[info45]

Apologies for not clarifying. Yes, I know there are many methods for open predictions, which is why I was inquiring on this specific force as it sounds incredibly clean, especially within the context of an open prediction. I have already check Conjuring archives and all of my books and can’t find a force with the spectator dealing that sounds this clean/fair within the premise of the open prediction I am working on. Again, apologies.

[Brad Henderson]

The Robert Parrish method meets the dealing condition

[info45]

Thank you so much!!