TRICKS FOR THE CHRISTMAS PARTY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14250, 22 December 1909, Page 8 (Supplement)

TRICKS FOR THE CHRISTMAS PARTY.

A MYSTERIOUS DIVINATION. £ Tins is a new and interesting card tricV bewildering in effect, that can bo ] earne J in a few moments once one is in pot**, t sion of the secret of the mode of opera. tion. After it is understood between the tw, !' former and. the interested persona thai clubs will be represented by the figure 1diamonds by figure 2, spades by 3, I hearts by 4, pass an ordinary pack 0 » cards to an onlooker, requeuing him after $1 thoroughly shuffling to secretly count down from the top and note any c,d' (picture cards excepted) that takes hit ■ I'' fancy, and make a mental note of if* fiw j* value, denomination, and position in ft! pack Now, supply pencil and pap. and •' ask him just to double the number thaAV^'' is situated at in the pack. Multinlv 41, . <1 1 by five, add 25, add face value of notedcard, mult-ply by 10; add colour number (one, two, three, or four, according to whether it is a club, diamond, spade 0 heart), and then give you the total. We * will suppose the answer is 3033: secretl* h deduct 250, total 2783. Divide the iin • swer thus, 27-8-3, which shows thaUM' 27th card, which is the eight of spades : ' is the noted card. ' f It must further bo particularly noted that when a ten card has been selected il«'facie value is always given by a nought • and it is necessary at such times to del r ( duct one from the remaining left-hand ¥ figures to get the position of the noted card in the pack. For instance, if the final answer is 15-1-4 it tells us that the selected card, which is the ten of hearts is 14th from the top of the pack. 4 b" " THE INFALLIBLE PROPHET." f j In tliis trick ono of three articles ii m secretly taken by three persons, and it ! is proposed to discover, with Ihe assistance' of a number of cards or counters, which article each person has taken. r |i j We will suppose the articles to be i, -!\ watch, key, and chain, which the per* former must in his own mind term a, e and i, the name in each article assisting i<t the memory. The three persons seated in v - a row must also be mentally distinguished as one, two, and three. Now take 24 cards, and after giving one to the first per-;.) ,y son, two to the second, and three 'to tlw . third, place the remainder upon the table with the instructions that the person who'. i takes the watch is to take as many carda i... as he already has from this pack, he who takes the key twice as many as'in'!;' his possession, and the one who takes the \ chain four times as many, the performer'?!, turns his back or leaves the room. , ,■ Each person having appropriated an. k article the performer advances, and under, cover of picking up or shuffling the cards | secretly notes how many are left, and according to the number and the underneath line, which must be previously com- :; mitted to memory, he instantly tell* in whose possession each of the different articles now are. ■'

'• -mmm 1 2 3 5 6 1 Wandering. Easily. Raise. Medical. Liable. IfletL a, e, i. c, a, J. a, i, e. e, 1, a. . i,a, e. 1,4,1, Thus, if there had been a remoinder of J six cards the position of the" TOW'eU 4 the word *' liable *' shows that the first person took i (the chain), the second person took a (the watch), and the person,': e (the key). ■ ■" ' .. It must be observed that in no iustance can there be a remainder of four cards, and that the first named represents the first per. | son, the second named number two, andfs so on. The different positions of the thq*'?" vowels .ire made easy of ■ recollectioh $by committing to memory the six above giro words in their respective .rotation.-. ''Isttl? A GOOD WATCH TRICK. \ §j| This is a trick which anyone can learn ill ■ half a minute, and yet .it is a.trick that will baffle ninety-nine people out of a bulk dred. ■ v . ■-v ' ' % 'ifpiij Take out a watch,' put it on the table, and ■ ask someone to think of an hour, and then to consider that they have counted up to that number., - Tell them that you will tap on the watch and that they, are to, stop you j when the hour they thought of ana tie number of ' taps that you made 1 added i to*2 gether camo to. twenty; ■ It is then found that the performer always stop* on the hour that the person thought of. > We will' suppose that someone has mentally chosen the hour ,of' eight. ' . When 'the . performer has made twelve taps on his watch - the audience tell him to stop, and his pencil , stops, at this ■hour. ' ■ '• >■■■- •' The secret of .the trick lies, in the fact' ■ that the performer's eighth tap must always i be on twelve, and that he must from there go backward round the watch from twelve to eleven, then to ten and sa» on. i|. will always be found that the • hour secretly thought of-will be the 'hour at* which the pencil stops, when the number of-the hour . abided ■; (o the number of ' taps*, amount W twenty. 1