Running Count - Tutorial

Hello again everybody. Today I'm going to show you a tutorial for an original effect that I came up with along with Andy Field Magic, called Running Count. So as usual, I'd like you to watch his performance first. His video is only 2 minutes and 14 seconds, so click on the link in the description box below, or click on the link right over here, but I will not be pausing the videos anymore. It seems to be upsetting people. So, watch Andy Field Magic's 2 minute and 14 second performance of Running Count, then come back and I'll show you how this trick is done. Okay, if you haven't figured it out, the trick requires a setup deck, and it's actually very easy to set the deck, because at the end of the trick, the spectator's card is sandwiched between two cards that add up to the total number of cards that the spectator cut. So here is how you set up the deck. You're going to take four random cards and they're going to go on top of the deck. It doesn't matter what four cards you choose. I'm going to be using these four cards right here. The next two cards you want to add up to 4, and you want to start with a 3. So 3 and Ace is 1, equals 4. And now you want to do a Running Count. You want to add up to 5. So 1 plus 4 is 5. 4 plus 2 is 6. 2 plus 5 is 7. 5 plus 3 is 8. 3 plus 6 is 9. 6 and 4 is 10. 4 and 8 is 13. 8 and 6 is 14. 6 and 9 is 15. 9 and 7 is 16. 7 and 10 is 17. 10 and 8 is 18. 8 and Jacks are 11 is 19. 11 and 9 is 20. Queens are 12. 9 and 12 is 21. 12 and 10 is 22. Kings are 13. 10 and 13 is 23. That's it. So if the spectator cuts between 4 and 23 cards, then the trick will work. We're going to ask them to cut 1 third of the deck. So if they cut more than half the cards, then all you can say is, that's not 1 third of the deck. Cut the cards again. And if they cut less than 4 cards, then the same thing. So you set the cards on top of the deck. It's actually a 25 card stack. So it's actually really easy because all you have to do is just add. You should be able to do the stack in just 30 seconds just like I did. So now what Andy does is he says we're going to have you pick a card. He spreads the cards out. Turns the cards over. And he doesn't want to disturb the top of the deck. So he just takes a portion of the bottom and just shuffles them and then just turns the cards over and tells the spectator, what I'd like you to do first is cut about a third of the deck. So the spectator cuts a third of the cards. Now just to show you, if the spectator cuts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 cards, the next two cards are a 6 and a 9, add up to 15. So anywhere between 4 and 23, it will add up to the spectator's amount. So the spectator cuts these cards right over here. And then what you're going to do now that you know that the spectator has cut 16 cards, you don't know that because you're not going to look at the cards. But what Andy does is he turns the cards over in his hand. He does a wrist kill and he slides the top card off, catches a break while his wrist is turned over. Then he converts that break into a thumb break and now you want to do a double undercut so you can control the 9 to the bottom. So you'll have the 9 on the bottom and the 7 on the top. You have the thumb break so you take half the cards, move it above the break and the remainder of the cards and move it above the break. So now you have the 9 on the bottom and the 7 on the top. So now you're going to tell the spectator to select a card. Make sure they do not pull a card out and look at it. All you want them to do is touch any card. So you say to the spectator, just touch any card. So they touch this card, you slide it out, you out jog the card and you tell the spectator, you are going to guess what that card is. You're now going to perform what's called the packet turnover bookmark move. You're going to flip this card over and this is just misdirection. It doesn't matter what this card is. So you can guess it wrong or you can peek at it and say the card you selected was the 4 of diamonds. And they'll think that you're being a wise guy and that was really stupid. But what you've just done is you've sandwiched the selection between the top and bottom card of the deck. So you now say, well actually what I'm more concerned about are the two cards that you happened to cut the card between that are sandwiching your card. And those two cards are the 9 and 7, that's 16, which means you've cut 16 cards. And you have them count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 cards. So that's it. I think this is a pretty cool effect and like I said, even though you have to set up 25 cards, it's pretty fast. You should be able to stack the cards pretty quickly and it's a pretty cool trick. Let me know what you think. That's it. I'll see you next time.