52. How to Predict the Future
class: tweener | impressiveness: 5/5 | factors: small pre-work | requires: deck of cards, pen, paper | watch full episode
What’s better than a card trick? Predicting the freaking future, which is exactly what you’ll do in this scam.
How it Looks: Your mark shuffles the cards as they like, while you write a simple prediction. Once the cards are shuffled, the mark turns over the cards two-at-a-time, and sorts them in three piles, according to these rules:
-
If both cards are red, place them in a “red” pile.
-
If both cards are black, place them in a “black” pile.
-
If both cards are a mix of one red and one black, toss them into a “discard” pile.
Once the deck is sorted, have them count and tell you the number of cards in the “red” and “black” piles. For example, let’s say there are 14 red cards and 10 black ones. Now, show them your prediction, which clearly reads “THERE WILL BE 4 MORE RED CARDS THAN BLACK”
The Follow-up: Even better, you can repeat the effect: Write a new, different prediction. Have the mark repeat all the same steps. This second time, both the red and black piles will be even…and that’s exactly what your prediction will say: “BOTH PILES ARE EVEN”.
The Work: First off, you might have trouble believing this, but with a full deck of 52 cards, no matter how much you shuffle them, when you pull off the top 2 cards and separate them into piles as we described, you will always end up with two even piles of red and black cards. (If you think about it mathematically, it makes sense. If you don’t want to think about it mathematically, just try it a few times and you’ll see this is true).
So how do you get 4 more red cards than black ones? By removing 4 black cards and leaving them in the box before you do the trick. Now, no matter what the mark does, if he counts correctly, there will be 4 more red cards in the piles than black cards (which is exactly what your first prediction will say).
The second time you perform this trick, make sure to add in the 4 extra black cards. (the easiest way to do so is to place the cards back into the box as soon as your first performance is finished). When you pull out all 52 cards, the number of red and black cards will be even. Just make sure your second prediction reads “the piles are even” and you’re home free.