One of the classic card effects in magic is The Ambitious Card, and many close up workers use one variation or another of it.

I was looking for an in-the-hands card routine that I could introduce into my strolling work, and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe you could do the Ambitious Card in reverse!

HIDE AND SEEK is the routine that I came up with and which I have been using in my commercial work ever since. Here’s the plot.

A spectator selects a card, let’s say it is the 3C. The minute you see the card you express concern because you explain that this particular card really doesn’t like being chosen and thrust into the limelight. In fact, the card will do anything to escape the attention!

The card is flipped face down on top of the deck but moments later when the top card is turned over again, it is no longer the 3C! Spreading the deck face up reveals the 3C is now hidden away back in the centre of the pack.

The 3C is taken out again and placed face up on top of the pack. You explain that even if it is not actually on the top of the deck, but perhaps second from the top, it still doesn’t like it. One card is dropped face down on top of the face up 3C, and instantly the 3C vanishes and is immediately found face up in the deck centre again.

If the card is taken right out of the deck, this doesn’t help either. Holding the 3C in your right hand, the card is passed momentarily under your arm and instantly it changes to a completely different card – the deck is spread and the 3C seen face up in the middle once more.

Finally, the 3C is laid face up on a spectator’s palm and he is asked to say “I want the 3C”. This makes the card so embarrassed that when the spectator turns the 3C over, it now has a red back thus making it impossible to use with the blue deck!

This effect is supplied as a Premier E-Routine, which is a downloadable pdf text file with colour photo illustrations, and it also contains a link to further online video instructions. You will need to supply a regular blue backed deck and one matching red backed card.