Memorized Deck Magic      Article 21

Out of My Mind
(Out of This World with a Mem-Deck)

    I’ve been on pins and needles, waiting for the release of Dean Dill and Michael Weber’s new version of Out of This World. They call it New World, and it is a great new effect. Certainly one of the cleanest versions of this classic ever released. You can get it through Loomis Magic, if you like.

    What I was worried about was that I heard a rumor that the Aronson Stack was involved. I was afraid that I had accidentally stumbled onto their method. It turns out that my thinking and theirs are completely different. So, my subject for this month will be “my” version of Paul Curry’s masterpiece, Out of this World.

Paul Curry

    Out of This World is the effect where the spectator appears to successfully separate the red cards from the black cards in the deck without looking at the faces. You put a couple of indicator cards onto the table, one black and one red. They are separated by several inches, and the spectator holds the face down deck and deals cards onto one or the other of the indicators. At about half way through, two new indicators are placed down. The red one goes onto the pile where the black cards are, and the black one goes onto the pile where the red cards are. Then, the spectator continues through to the end. When he’s finished, the cards are turned over to reveal that he has apparently placed every card correctly. It does require that the deck be set up.

    The original is described in Paul Curry's Book: Magician's Magic, available from Loomis Magic.

    Years after the Curry Version was published, U.F. Grant released his version which could be done with a shuffled deck. He called it “Nu-Way Out of this World.” It was almost as clean, and most lay audiences would not see any difference. But, in his version the magician chose each card for the spectator. The magician looked at the faces of the cards as he did so. After about half the deck was used up, he could then hand the deck to the spectator who could simply use the cards in order, or randomly pull out cards.

    While the Grant version is excellent, it is a trade off. You are not quite as clean, but you don’t have to use the special Curry Set-up.

    My version requires a set up, as well. But, it’s a memorized deck. As my regular readers know, I use the Aronson stack, but you could do this with any memorized deck. The advantage is that while the deck is stacked, it can be fanned or ribbon spread face up and to the spectators it appears to be well mixed. Since I seldom go out of the house without a deck set in Aronson order, I’m ready to do this version at any time.

    The magician does select the cards for the spectator to place, but he doesn’t look at the cards as he does so. You’re going to have to know the original trick so that you can do the “move” at the end, and you are also going to have to know the Nu-Way version. I find that most magicians are familiar with these. If not, you are well advised to learn them.


    To do my version, the deck is shown to the audience, and is apparently well mixed. Do some false shuffles and cuts, ending by bringing the Nine of Diamonds back to the bottom. I have a scallop short cut in the Top card so that I can do this at any time. You can also just fan the deck face up, showing how thoroughly they are mixed, and you spot the Nine of Diamonds and cut it to the bottom.

    A simpler way to begin is just to keep the deck in Aronson Stack original order.
 
    The effect begins by placing two indicators cards on the table face up, a few inches apart. Thumb over to the 4th card, pull it out and turn it face up. (It will be the 2H.) We are going to take advantage of the fact that in the Aronson Stack, only 3 of the first 11 cards are red. We will be depleting red cards from the top 24 cards of the deck, and so we take our red indicator from there. This appears to be a random choice to the spectators, but since you now need a black card, you tip up the deck with the faces toward you. You thumb over the bottom card (9D) and remove the next card. (2C)

    When you have explained the premise to your volunteer assistant, your ready to begin having them "read" the colors of the cards. You will apparently pull cards at random from the face down deck. In fact, you will pull only red cards right up to the 22th card. (AH)
 
    To begin, thumb over the first three cards and the next card will be the 9S. You do not reveal that, but in your mind you say "Nine of Spades" and push it over, the you say "Ace of Spades" as you push over the next card. You know these because the deck is memorized. As you start to push over the next card you say "Three of Hearts," and since it's red,  you outjog it. You now ask the spectator whether he things that card is red or black. If he says "Red" you place it face down onto the face up 2H. If he says black, it goes onto the 2C.  You will repeat this process, building up two piles of face down cards on top of the face up deuces until you reach the 3D. I'll give you a couple more examples. As soon as you've placed the 3H on the pile based on the spectators "guess," you thumb over the next card in your hand. Internally you say "6C." As you push the next card you say "8D" and since it's red, you outjog it and let the spectator guess the color. You place it onto the appropriate pile. You then thumb over the AC and 10S, saying their names to yourself, and outjog the next card which you know to be the 5H. The spectator designates the color and you put it onto the proper pile. You continue in this fashion until you  place the 22nd card onto a pile. It's the AH.

    As you go along, you may find that you lose your place. Or you're just not sure where you left off. There is an old "touch" with Out of This World which not only plays well, but will allow you to get a check of where you are. Since all of the cards you are pulling out are red, when the spectator calls one as "black" you can say: "No, i'm afraid you got that one wrong." And then you turn it face up. If you are proceeding properly, it will be red. If you have gotten confused about where you are in the stack, it could be black. But either way, you see the card. Then you know exactly where you are.
    When you have placed the AH, the situation will be that you have two piles with a face up deuce on the bottom, and typically 4 or 5 cards on top of each one. At this point you will place the two new indicator cards. One is a face up black card on top of the pile which has the red deuce on the bottom. The other is a face up red card on top of the pile which has the black deuce on the bottom. The next two cards, in the spreading process, are the 8S and the 3D, so you can just turn them up and use them.

    If you now square the deck, you will have 12 black cards on top.  You now hand the deck to the spectator and instruct him to continue as before, just taking cards off the top, and placing them down on either pile without peeking. As he does this, you count the cards and stop him when he's done 12. This will be about the same number of cards as were used before the new indicator cards were placed. The cards on the table are now in the standard Out of This World layout and you finish by showing the "correct" stack, doing the switch move (many have been devised) and showing the other stack.

    The spectator has devined all of the cards correctly.

    Note that this version of the effect does not use the entire deck. So, it's a little less time consuming. But, if you prefer to do the original effect and have all 52 cards used, you simply continue the first part until you have placed the 6D onto a pile. You then square up the deck and turn it face up. The two cards on the face will be the 9D and the QC. You use these for the two new indicators. The remainder of the pack will be all black cards.

   

UPDATED OCTOBER 9, 2006