Ein König findet die Karte by Jochen Zmeck

Zauber-Abc (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 114 et seq.

Personal Comment: Another one from that very good children's book on magic. A spelling trick. I had to change the effect slightly, as I needed to convert this to English. The actual trick is self working. This uses a force. In the actual trick the German word for king is spelled out (KÖNIG) which has five letters. That means that four cards wind up on the table. And those happen to be the four aces. This makes no sense, yet feels very good and makes the selection of the card a free choice. Normally the selection or the spectators name is spelled out to find the selection. This here makes it so easy. And I think the audience doesn't care.

Difficulty: Self Working

Das feine Gefühl by Jochen Zmeck

Zauber-Abc (German book) by Jochen Zmeck
Page 124 et seq.

Personal Comment: Finding gold in a book on magic for children is always something special. You can actually stack conditions over conditions on this trick. You can be far away as the shuffling happens. You body could be examined for extra cards before, in the middle and after the trick. The hat and everything is ungimmicked. The cards pulled out of the hat were actually inside the deck. Hell... you could even have a bunch of cards being signed in the beginning, then lose them in the deck and then pull them out. You don't even have to use the hat. In fact the book suggests a simple grocery bag.

Do I like this trick? You bet I do. And guess what, the trick is self working. If you think about the theatric of this trick you will see that it is gold. It is a stage card trick (and we know how rare they are) not being a glorified force. It has a motion and sound, the possible element of fail, the many condition that you can include and many other little components that make this a great stage trick. It packs flat, yet plays big. The cloth adds a touch of old school mystery and you can frame it any way you like.

This is seriously good. Even though a kid could do it.

Difficulty: Self Working