TIIINKING THF.

IMPOSSlBLE

FIBST CASE: Referring to the approximate halves of the key

packet as A and B, and to the other two as C and D, let's say
they turn up A and O (PHOTO 2).
Tell them to shuffle piles A and C together (one is face up
and the other face down).
Have tbem shuffle piles B and O together, also face up and
face down (PHOTO 3).

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1U1'1ÓN lUOBÓO

Instruct them to turn over one of tbe resulting portions

and shuffle it together with the other.

SECOND CASE: Let's say they turn up A and B, the two that
malee up the eighteen-card key packet.
Now have them shuffle either of the face-up packets
together with either of the face-down packets. The two
resulting packets are then shuffled together.

After this has been done you will bave all the cards of the
key packet reversed in the deck and shuffled together with the
other cards.
Tell them to divide the deck again into four piles and to turn
over two of them.
Point to the two piles turned over and have them shuffled
together. The other two packet.s are also shuffled together. Have
one of the resulting packets turoed over and shuffled into the other.
You may now, if you wish, again have the deck cut into four
piles and shuffled together, or you might use the more subtle
actions I suggest in Note 1, below. In any case you have created an
impression of an uncontrolled chaos in the cards.
During the last shuffle, note one of the face-up cards. If that
card doesn't belong in the key packet, not being one of the top
eighteen cards of the stack, say, "Under these conditions, no one
in the world can have the fa intest idea of how many cards are face
up or Cace down. But I have a hunch that there are eighteen cards
face down and ali the others are face up." If the key packet has
ended up Cace up, you can always tell them to follow "the ritual",
which requires that they turn over tbe whole deck.
Turn your back to the audience while they confirm your state-
ment and separate the eighteen cards from the rest. While they
do this, mentally review the colors of the first eighteen cards of

199
 THINKL."1G THE IMPOSSIBLE
the stack, until the astonisbed spectators tell you that there are, in
fact, eighteen cards face down.
Without missing beat, and while still turned away from the
audience, announce, "Nine of them are red and nine are black ... "
They verify this and can hardly believe it. Meanwhile, you mentally
review the number of cards of, let's say, the heart suit, and con-
tinue, "... and among them are six heart cards-the Two, the Four,
the Five, the Queen, the Eight and the Nine; and no other hearts."
The puzzled spectators confinn this, upon which you ask, "Would
you please name another suit?" Let's say they call for spades. You
continue, "Spades? I can see the Ace, the Nine, the Two, the Six, the
Five--and I don't see any others because there aren't any." As you
turn to face the audience you will find sorne people looking at you
as if you had come from another planet. Sorne will simply be wor-
shipping you; and others won't even be paying attention because.
poor souls, they are paralyzed by your greatness.
I OTE 1
ff you don't want to repeat the exact cutting and shuffling process
a third time, here are sorne even more misleading actions you may
wish to use.
Instruct the spectators to cut tbe deck into four piles and to turn
over any of them: They may turn over one pile, two piles, three, ali
four piles or none. You simply note which piles are turned. There
are three possible cases:
A) They turn over all of the piles or none of them: This is very
easy. Tell them to sbuftle any two piles togetber, then the other
two together, and finally the two combined piles together.
B) They turn over two piles: Have these two piles shuffled
together. Then have the other two piles shuffled together.
Then bave either of the resultant piles turned over and
shuffled into the other one.

200
 RAMÓN RIOBÓO
C) They turn over one pile or three (I'11 re fer to the three piles
that have been turned or left unturned as the group of three,
and to the other pile as the single pile): "To mess things up,
turn over another pile, whichever one you want. The choice
is yours." Note whether the pile they turn over belongs to
the group of three. If that is the situation, you're back to
Case B, above. If they turn over the single pile, you're in the
same situation as in Case A, so you have them shuffle any
two piles together, then the other two, and finally the two
combined piles. Continue as described.
OTE 2
The most important thing in ali this is that you behave as if you
don't care which piles are turned or shuffled. Your goal is to com-
municate a sensation of freewheeling chaos.
NOTE 3
The shuffling of the piles by twos may be done by tabled riffle shuf-
fles or by adding the piles togetber and shuffling them overhand or
in in-the-hands dovetail fashion. In this case, make sure the piles
are not turned over when they are picked up and replaced. Keep in
mind that the piles contain face-up and face-down cards, and that
you need to prevent genuine chaos.
Malee sure, likewise, that no cards are fumbled and dropped.
Should that happen, pick up the dropped cards and replace them
face-up or face-down, as appropriate. depending on whether or
not thcy carne from the top eighteen of the stack.
OTE4
If, in the. beginning, the spectator cuts a pile that is too small,
such as ten to thirteen cards, you don't really need to have it
replaced and have them cut deeper. You can simply say, "This
will be the first of four packets. Let's see ... " Address another

201
 THINKlNG THE IMPOSSlllLE

spectator. "Will you please cut another packet, leaving enougb

cards for two more?" Your key card wUl then be the bottom card
of the second packet cu t.
NOTES
Don't be misled by the apparent complexity of this description. It's
much simpler than it reads, and audiences find it m arvelous.
A FINAL NOTE
Here ends Juan Tamariz's clear and excellent write-up from Mne-
monica. I just want to add that while Juan and I u se bis Mnem onica
stack, you may use any memorized stack.
Wbile practicing, you can separate the deck into red cards and
black. Carry away all the black cards in the first cut. If ali the black
· cards end up face up, and the red cards face down, or vice versa,
you' ll know you have done everything correctly.

202
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You shuffle the deck and show its randomized condition. To erase
any doubts, you allow someone to shuffle as well. Then you spread
the deck face clown, and your helper takes a group of five to ten

203
 THINKING THE lMPOSSIBLE

cards, which he distributes among several people. You leave the

rest of the deck on the table and turn away. After an intense
moment of concentration, you name all the cards being held by
mernbers of the audience.

METHOD ANO SUBTLETIES

The deck is stacked in any memorized order that is not evident, like
the Mnemonica stack. After a false shuffle, you give the deck sev-
era} straight cuts and spread the deck face up to show its alleged
random condition.
You next allow a participant to shuffle, but you lead him into
doing a single riffle shuffle. A good way to do this is set the cards
in front of him in the right position, signal him to cut it and tben,
accomparued with a gesture, instruct him to shuffle both halves
together. He complies.
Despite the shuffle, the cards are still in order, but the order
has been broken into two interlaced series of cards in sequence.
Sprcad the deck face down on the table and have someone take a
group of cards that are together. Gather the spread, casually cul-
ting at the gap where the cards have been removed, and run three
or four cards from the top to the bottom, as if shuffling sorne more.
While your helper distributcs the cards he took, giving them to
others in the gro up, palm about seven or eight cards from the bottom
of the deck. Then leave the deck on the table and turn away. While
you claim to be turning your back so that you can' t see, you are also
cónveruently in position to examine the cards you have palrned and
determine the identities of ali the cards held by the participants.
Let's say that after the cut you have run four cards to the bot-
tom and palmed eight cards from there. And suppose the cards
you palmed are 2 7, 28, 29, 6, 33, 34, 11 and 12 from the stack.
You can clearly see that there are two series in seguence, each

204
 RAMÓN RIOBÓO

with a gap in it. One of the series is 27, 28, 29 ... 33, 34; and the
other is 6 ... 11, 12.
Then the cards in the group taken should be the ones missing
in the gap of each series, which are 30, 31, 32, and 7, 8, 9, 10.
Proceed to name the cards as dramatically as you want.

NOTE
Needless to say, we don't n eed cards 2 7, 28, and 34 to know the
ones missing-having 29 and 33 would be enough. Likewise,
cards 6 and 11 in the other series would suffice. Yet it is advisable
to palm more cards than needed to make sure you h ave the cards
surrounding the gap of each series.
You could do w ithout running cards to the bottom and palm
only a few cards from the top or from the bottom. Then, if you
know how many cards he took, you would still be able to name all
of them with almost absolute certainty.
Let's say that they have taken seven cards and, after the cut,
you have palmed fo ur cards off the bottom: Cards 2 7, 28, 29 and 8
of the stack. ow you know that the cards in the group taken will
follow the laston es in each series, but you don't know h ow many
come from each series.
What you do here is begin naming one card of each series
alternatively, claiming that you telepathically see the one corre-
sponding to the stack number 9, then 30, 10, 31, 11, 32 and 12.
If you are lucky, you might hit them ali. But at some point they
might say they don 't have the card you have named. You then
know that all the cards left to be named belong in the other series.
Thus, if you n ame card 11 and they say they don't have it,
after a brief apology you confidently name cards 32, 33 a nd 34,
explaining that someone was probably thinking of the card you
mistakenly named and this caused sorne interference.

205
 THTNI~[NG TfIB IMPOSSIBLE

WARNING
When you look at the palmed cards with your back turned, avoid
moving your arms in a way that can be seen from behind you. It's
an important detail that is easy to overlook. This problem is elimi-
nated in the following variation.

AN EASIER VERSION
After the participant has taken his group of cards, gatber the
spread and turn the deck face up, saying, "Remember that you have
shuffled tbe cards yourself, that they are aJl different, and that you
could have taken any other cards." As if emphasizing your words,
spread the cards slightly and note the cards from the top or the bot-
tom that you need. Square up the deck and set it face down on the
table. Then concentrate and proceed with the divination.

206
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up with this spelling trick after reading Frederick Mosteller's
IeAME
"Encore" in My Best by J. G. Thompson, Jr. (p. 103). WhatI derived
from this doesn't have a lot to do with Mosteller's ideas, involving
waxed pairs of cards. What I did use was a varialion on the stack
employed by Stewart James in his "Evolution-of a Dream" (Stewart
James in Print: 1'he Pirst Fifly Years, p. 71), which cleverly advances
a count-and-spell principle first suggested by Walter B. Gibson in

207