FAMILY FUN

New Zealand Tablet, 15 July 1909, Page 1118

FAMILY FUN

The Spelling Bee Trick. — This is a variation of the alternate card trick which appeared in our issue of July 1. The performer, taking one of the thirteen cards a, -s before, begins to spell ' 0-n-e, one,' passing one card underneath for each letter, and turning up the fourth, which is an ace. He then spells ' T-w-o, two,' passing three cards more beneath, and turning up the next in succession, which proves to be a two. ' T-h-r-e-e, three,' and so on. The order of arrangement for producing the cards as above Is as follows: Three, eight, seven, ace, king, six, four, two, queen, knave, ten, nine, five. If it is desired to produce, as is sometimes done, the card with the last letter of the word spelt, instead of immediately after it, the formula will in such case be: Knave, four, ace, eight, queen, two, seven, five, ten, king, three, six, nine. The Trick of ' Thirty-one.' — This is in form a game of cards, though it partakes a good deal of the nature of a trick. It depends upon a certain ' key,' or secret, th? possessor of which will infallibly get the better of his uuinstructed adversary. From an ordinary pack the aces, twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes are selected, and laid face upwards on the table. . The players then begin to draw or turn down cards alternately, the object of each being, after the manner of cribbage, to either reach the number thirty-one, or to get so near it that the other player cannot turn down any other card without overpassing that number. The secret is to bear in mind the numbers 3, 10, 17, and 24, and to aim at making those "numbers ; ji succession. Thus, if the one player has marked 24, it is obvious that whatever number the other plays he cannot on the one hand reach 31, or on the other prevent the first marking that number, when it is again "his turn to play. In like manner the player who marks 17 has a similar command of the number 24 at his next turn. Ten gives a like command of 17, and 3of 10. If your adversary is a tyro, you may safely play indifferent numbers at the outset, trusting to his ignorance to let you mark 17 or 24, but as his knowledge of the game increases he will gradually get to realise that 24 is a critical number, and to play for it accordingly, and you will have to secure your position earlier in the game. If both the players are acquainted with the secret, the first to play must necessarily be the winner, as he will, as a matter of course, begin with 3, which gives him the command of the whole game,