Illustration by Todd Detwiler
It’s no illusion that St. Louis is home to Assembly 8 of The Society of American Magicians—an organization whose membership includes “local university faculty, business consultants, professional performers, and anyone with an interest in magic,” says president Steve Barcellona. Though the group may not teach you how to cut your beautiful assistant in half or pull rabbits out of hats (although that will happen from time to time), it does focus on exposing the art of magic to aspiring and seasoned magicians through tips, tricks, and bringing in guest experts to share whatever they’re keeping up their sleeves. Here, the members of Assembly 8 walk us through “Will the Cards Match?”—a classic trick sure to amaze party guests if your jokes fall flat.
Illustration by Todd Detwiler
1. From a regular deck, choose five pairs of mated cards (four of spades mates with four of clubs, etc.). Think of the first set as ABCDE and the corresponding mates as abcde. Arrange them in that order (ABCDEabcde) and place them face down in a single pile.
Illustration by Todd Detwiler
2. Cut the deck (don’t shuffle!), then separate the cards into two equal piles, with one pile face up. Spell “will” aloud, picking up one pile and moving the top card to the bottom for each letter you say. You may move between piles to spell one word, but always move the top card to the bottom for a single letter. After the first word is complete, we still have two piles—one face up, one face down. Now remove the top card from each pile and place them side by side, out of the way.
Illustration by Todd Detwiler
3. Repeat the process with the remaining piles of four by spelling the next word, “the.” Then, as before, place the top cards side by side, out of the way, after spelling the word. Repeat for “cards” and “match” until there are five piles with one card face up and one face down.
Illustration by Todd Detwiler
4. Now flip over the face-down card of each set. Each will be with its mate! Impossible!
Assembly 8 meets at 7:30 p.m. on every second and fourth Thursday at the St. Louis Activity Center.
