Principle · Apprentice
The Force
Free choice that isn't — the spectator takes the card you want.
Definition
A force is any procedure that makes a spectator 'freely' select a card the performer has predetermined. Methods range from bold sleight-of-hand to entirely self-working counting and cutting procedures.
Why it fools people
Once the spectator's card is known to you in advance, prediction, telepathy, and coincidence become trivial. The audience's certainty that the choice was fair is exactly what sells the miracle that follows.
What it lets you do
- Predictions written before a card is 'chosen'
- Two-person coincidences where both arrive at the same card
- Any effect that needs a known card to start from
Beginner drills
The cut-deeper force
Crimp or remember the top card. Have a spectator cut off a packet, then cut deeper into the lower half. The card you want ends up where their handling 'chooses' it. Rehearse the patter so the procedure feels casual.
Success: A friend believes the cut was entirely their own.
Common mistakes
- Over-explaining the procedure, which invites suspicion.
- Rushing — a confident, slow force is far more convincing.
Tricks that use The Force
Cards Of Chance
Three named cards vanish from the deck, and your written predictions match them perfectly.
Stampedo
A postage stamp marks a chosen card placed among ten others, yet the stamped card vanishes from the packet and reappears in the deck.
The Vanishing Pair
Two named cards vanish from a shuffled packet and reappear inside the card case sitting in plain view.
Spelling A Card
A freely shuffled deck spells out the spectator's chosen card, landing on it letter-perfect.
Farelli's Impromptu Speller
A chosen card is shuffled back into the deck, yet it spells out perfectly on the final letter.
Frank Squires' Speller
A chosen card finds itself as the spectator answers simple questions about it, letter by letter.
Lazybones
Two spectators each lose a card, then one finds the other's card reversed in the deck and spells straight to its match.
Do As I Do In The Dark
In total darkness two people each draw a card from the other's pack, and the lights reveal a perfect match.
Everybody's Card
Several people each pull a card from a freely shuffled deck, yet every single one of them names the very same card.