The theme of the Meeting was "Packet Tricks"
(including gimmicked decks). John
Ferguson was the host for the evening, and led off with "Deckstress",
in which a card *freely* chosen by the spectator is turned over, and reveals a
prediction written on its back that the spectator would choose *that*
card. He also had a card chosen, and
then produced a picture frame full of sand.
When the frame was turned upside down, the sand drained down to reveal the
chosen card.
Joel Howlett (of JD Magic) performed Twisting the Aces, then
a Wild Card item using cards with Chinese symbols on them, and progressively
all the cards changed to the same design.
He confused us with "Three Confusing Cards". He showed us the classic item "Twisted
Sisters" with four magic queens, and finished with having lots of fun
dealing poker hands and repeatedly dealing himself a royal flush !
Steve Irwin had a card chosen, and then produced a folded
card out of thin air, and it was the chosen card!
Several innovative items were performed by Jeffrey Clarke –
a card trick in which a small number of cards were dealt out, and when they
were turned over, they formed a picture of a rat, which agreed with the
prediction. He asked a spectator to pick
a card, and put the card in the pack. Then he took an iphone picture of the
spectator, and when we looked at the resultant photo, the chosen card had appeared in the
spectator's hands ! Then a card was
chosen, replaced in the pack, and any 12 cards were chosen by the spectator,
and dealt in a circle (like a clock dial) on the table by Jeffrey. Pointing to the 12.00 position, he turned the
card over to show it was the chosen card.
Andrew Pickard did two items involving card reversals. A chosen card, placed in the pack, was the
only one that reversed itself. Again, a
chosen card was placed in a small talon of cards, and that also reversed
itself.
Our President, David Whitson excelled himself with Packet
tricks and Gimmicked Decks ! Starting
with the "Mystic Kings" and the Irish 3 card trick, he moved on to
the 6 card repeat. A chosen card rose
eerily out of the Rising Cards pack.
Your reporter was asked to push his finger into a riffled pack, and
David could predict the card I chose (a Svengali Deck). David moved on then to the Diminishing
cards, which shrunk to half size four – or was it five – times. He demonstrated the use of the 52 card
predictor card.
To round off a very enjoyable evening, David related
"The Adventures of Diamond Jack" and Joel Howlett spoke for all of us
when David announced this story, saying "Oh, good!" – and it was.
