Barrie Richardson's ACAAN (Any card at any number) from his book Theater Of The Mind

What The Audience Sees:

'This week Jamie told me to think of any playing card I wanted and to say it out loud. He then asked me to think of a number and say it out loud as well. He then took a deck of playing cards, that he had put on the counter before I had said anything, and counted down to the number I had picked. And, at that number, was the card I had chosen!'

How It Went:

Like Steve Dusheck's 'Ringer', this was an effect that I wasn't sure I was ever going to review for a Magic Friday because I love it so much. There has been a lot of talk these days about the best ACAAN method and I wish I could tell you definitively that this is the best but, to be honest, I have no idea. I picked up Mnemonica a few months ago but decided I should perfect my faro first and have been working on that (with the help of Michael Close's e-book) ever since. So Barrie's is the one I use (with the help of Martin Joyal's Six Hour Memorized Deck) to great effect.

I made a conscious effort today to really make a connection with my audience and I struggled a bit in the morning experimenting with different presentations. I've performed this hundreds of times but I thought today would be a good day to try and mix things up a bit to see what I could accomplish. I found that the best method for me was to give it more of a magic angle as I would ask for a card and number and then say, "Can you see it? The card you named is moving through the deck right now. It's going to the number you told it to go to." I found this played very strong for me.

The best performance of the day was when I sincerely thought I had made a mistake. It was the biggest office of the day as well, with a record shattering 13 people gathered to watch. I put the deck of cards on a table in the middle and asked someone to name a card (they chose the Queen of Hearts which, interestingly, over 50% of the people today chose). I then asked someone else to name a number, which they did (13).

I mentioned that the card was now moving through the deck, and I picked up the deck and proceeded to count the cards. A few cards before the selection, I start turning the cards face up saying,

"This would have been 10, this would have been 11, this is 12, and this..." when I came to the realization that I had made some sort of error.

I'm staring at the 12th card CONVINCED that the 13th wasn't the Queen of Hearts. "You know what, this isn't going to work." I said.

Someone said, 'Yeah right.' and I replied, "No seriously, this isn't going to work..."

...

"Look." and I turned over the 13th card and it was the Queen of Hearts. Complete pandemonium broke out. And what's funnier is that I was more surprised than any of them. I don't know what I was thinking. Toooo funny.

Best Lines:

I don't think I can accurately describe what it sounded it like in that office. A kind of: "WHHHOAAOOA AAHHHHYEYEYYYYE AHHA WHOOHOO OOHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Angry Bob Rating:

I have a co-worker (Bob) whose uncle was a magician and thereby has a good working knowledge of how magic works. He's pretty grumpy but likes Magic Friday's because he can tell me how he figured out how the effect is done... A high rating means he'll never figure it out.

'Huh.' 5/5.

My Rating:

Well it's no secret that I only perform, what I think, to be the best magic available for Magic Fridays and this is one of the best of the best. However, I have to dock a mark due to it's nonresetabiliteness (I actually just like saying that word- A Jamie D. Grant original by the way :) ) Now that I think abou it, this really isn't the kind of trick I would do over and over again anyway- I perform it on special occasions and for special moments so let me retract my previous comment and give this a 10/10.

The JDG Tip:

I always use a Rider Back deck so that there is no question as to which way the deck is up. The half moon flap can accomplish the same thing but be sure!

Closing Thoughts:

I think today was my first Magic Thursday. I hope everyone liked it!

HAPPY EASTER!

Jamie D. Grant
www.whatizit.net

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