Hof-Mini-Maxi
This is not an earth-shaker
but it can be a nice interlude to something
heavier. I'll explain the basic idea with small
and regular cards. The basic plot belongs, I
believe, to Roy Walton,
the clever cardman from Glasgow, Scotland. Several
other magicians have explored this effect and
have come up with good variations (see the one
by my friend Simon Lovell
which uses Jumbo cards).
Effect
A card is selected from a miniature deck and
placed onto the table. The four Aces from a
regular deck are displayed. Then the magic happens.
You cause the Ace that matches the suit of the
selected card to reverse itself. Then the matching
Ace and the selected card magically change places.
The regular card is seen to be the selection
and the miniature card is seen to be the Ace!
Requirements
A regular deck and a miniature deck.
Set-Up
The A is on top of the miniature deck followed
by the J . Remove the A
 , A , J and A from the regular deck. Set them in
this order from top down: A
, A both face down, J face up and A face down and
keep them in a separate packet.
Performance
Shuffle the small deck keeping the A
and the J
on top, then force the J . To wit: Cut the deck and keep a little
finger break. The right hand cuts small packets
from the top placing them on the table. At the
same time ask a spectator to say 'stop.' At
the 'stop' the right hand cuts all the cards
above the break and tables them on top of the
tabled cards. Perform a Double
Turnover showing the J . Turn the double face down and deal
the top card (A) face down onto the table.
Pick up the four regular cards
and do a face down Elmsley Count
to show four backs. Casually move the top two
cards to the bottom without reversing their
order. Flip the packet face and do an Elmsley Count but place the last card on the bottom. You have
shown four Aces. The A is seen twice but the
color sequence alternates properly.) Table the
squared packet face up.
Ask for the suit of the selected
card (Heart) and spread the Ace packet to show
that (apparently) the matching A has turned face down.
Turn over the miniature card
and show that it is now the A.
Turn over the face down card
in the Ace packet and show that it is now the
J
.
NOTES
The same effect can be presented with a regular
deck and four Jumbo cards.
You can actually display the
four Aces at the beginning of the trick by using
Ed Marlo's Atfus Move. This
move was taught on page 25 in Colorado but briefly,
the J is the top card of the deck and the
four Aces are in your right hand. Place the
four Aces face up onto the deck (the A
is the uppermost card.) Square the Aces while
secretly adding the top card of the deck (J ) below them so that the right hand
now has a five card packet. At the same time
the right thumb lifts up the top card of the
deck (indifferent card) but you keep it separated
from the five card packet with the right thumb
tip.
The left thumb peels off the
top card onto the deck (A) and apparently
you re-take this card below the right hand packet.
What really happens is that the right hand brings
its packet over the face up A to apparently pick
it up below the packet. immediately the right
thumb drops the face down card onto the A and the right hand is taken away. On
top of the deck a face down card is seen and
the illusion that you have taken the A
face up under the packet is perfect. The left
thumb peels off the next Ace onto the deck and
this Ace is taken face up under the right hand
packet. Similarly the third Ace is peeled off
onto the deck and then taken face up under the
packet. The J is face down, second from the top of
the right hand packet and the A is second from the top of the deck
proper. Table the deck.
Turn the packet over and perform
an Elmsley Count, placing
the last card on the bottom. Table the packet
face up and proceed as above.
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