29. The Spelling Bee
class: tweener | impressiveness: 3/5 | factors: this trick fools yourself! | requires: deck of cards | watch full episode
Grab a deck of cards right now, and we’ll see if this works:
Start with any nine cards from the deck and place them face down into three piles of three cards each. Pick up any pile and look at the bottom card: that’s your card, so remember it.
Place the pile you selected on top of either of the other two piles, then drop that combined pile onto the last one. Now things get interesting:
For each letter of the value of the card, deal one card face down onto the table as you spell it out. In other words, if your card is king, you would deal down four cards as you spelled “K-I-N-G.” When finished, drop the rest of the cards on the pile you just dealt.
Next, spell “O-F” as you deal two more cards to the table. Drop the remaining cards on top.
Then spell the suit of the card as you deal down one card for each letter. Remember, suits are plural, so for clubs, you would deal five cards, spelling “C-L-U-B-S.” Again, drop the remaining cards on top.
Finally, pick any five letter word and spell it our as you deal. It could be “S-C-A-M-S,” or “M-A-G-I-C,” or even your own name (as long as it’s five letters long).
Ready for the reveal? Turn over the last card you dealt… if you followed the instructions carefully, it should be your original card.
Watch Demonstration (External link)
As we explain in the episode, this works on a couple of simple mathematical principles, and will work for any card in the entire deck. No matter what cards are selected, no matter how much they’re shuffled, no matter which deck you pick… as long as you follow the steps correctly, it’ll work.