Impossible to Find by Volker Dittmar

Imagine: The performer shuffles a deck of cards. He hands them to a spectator, who shuffles them once more. The magician turns away, and the spectator fans half the deck before him and selects any card from the fanned cards. He remembers the card and puts it back into the deck face-up - anywhere. He now makes a total mess of the cards: half of them face-up, the other half face-down. He shuffles the cards again, and again, and again - as often as he likes. Furthermore, he flips the deck so frequently that he has no idea which way his card is facing.

The performer, who could not have seen anything, turns around once more. He takes the deck and starts flipping through it. Not a word is spoken, there is no pumping or fishing. He simply pulls out one card and places it in front of the spectator. He leans back and, for the first time, inquires as to which card the spectator has chosen. The spectator names his card and flips over the single card on the table, which is staring him in the face.

There is no peeking and only one sleight. You will recognize the sleight if you are not a complete beginner. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll explain it to you, and you'll be able to perform the sleight in five minutes. Yes, that is simple! There is no card counting, no key cards, no peeks, and nothing to remember. You can do this for one or many people. There's no need for stooges, marked cards, or anything else. If you do it in front of a group, they may mistakenly suspect a stooge because the effect appears to be impossible. I'll even show you a completely sleight-free variation.

And yes, it is true, the spectator himself shuffles the cards before he selects one. The only restriction is to choose a spectator who does an overhand shuffle. (How to find such a spectator is explained in the ebook.) It is a free choice, there is no force involved. He puts the card back anywhere in the deck. And after this, he can shuffle as long as he wants, in any way he wants. You might think that this is exaggerated, that this is advertising jargon, and I know, it sounds like that. But it isn't the case.

1st edition 2021, PDF 27 pages.