Originally released by Nick Trost in the 1970's, these packet tricks are all great examples of how Trost could combine card gimmicks with relatively easy sleights and create surprisingly deceptive packet magic. Of course, the original sets that Trost put out through his Trik-Kards company are now highly collectible and hard-to-find. But in the early 2000's, Nick Trost struck a deal with L&L Publishing to re-issue many of his classic packets. They put out nine of his classic packets, and here are SEVEN of those L&L re-issued effects.
The L&L cards are poker size, Hoyle back and face designs. Although not too many card workers use Hoyle decks, none of these packet effects requires a matching deck. They are all self-contained -- just take the packet of cards from your pocket and dazzle your audience with a ton of magic from a small packet of cards.
You get the following SEVEN effects, each packaged separately and complete, just as they were issued by L&L about 15 years ago:
4FLUSH!, MISSISSIPPI MONTE, BIGFOOT, MAXI-TWISTO, THE UNKNOWN CARD, DEALER'S CHOICE, and AUSTRALIAN ACES
4 FLUSH!
Magi shows five blank faced cards and one regular 4 of spades. In a sort of magical printing/wild card effect, the blanks all get faces to match the Four of Spades.
MISSISSIPPI MONTE
Magi shows four cards, Ace through Four in value, and places them in a facedown fan. The spectator tries to place a paperclip on the Ace but keeps clipping one of the other cards. To make it easier, one card is set aside, and the Ace is shown cleanly in the middle of the other two cards. But when the spectator clips that card, it ends up being one of the indifferent Club cards. The Ace is on the table.
BIGFOOT
Magi shows five blank cards and one with a large footprint -- the backs of all the cards are also blank, so when the footprint is turned downward, that card can easily be lost in all the other blank surfaces. The cards are mixed and spectator chooses a card at random -- it is the legendary bigfoot. This is repeated and again she finds the bigfoot. In the end, she gets a blank card, but all the other cards are now seen to have bigfoot prints on them.
THE UNKNOWN CARD
The magi shows a six card poker hand (from the little known game of "Arkansas Fold 'em"). Three cards in the fan are faceup -- three Fours -- and the other three cards are facedown. The packet is squared and turned over, then re-fanned to show those "hole" cards -- three Tens! Per the game's rules, you get to draw one extra card ("the unknown card"), so you take a card from your pocket and add it facedown to the fan. And per the rules, you discard three cards, so you deal the three facedown Fours onto the table. When the facedown Unknown card is taken off the three Tens and put back in your pocket, the Tens are now seen to be Blanks! To make your hand even worse, the tabled Fours are turned faceup and they also have become blanks! The unknown card is removed from your pocket again, and now its face is shown: it is a mishmash of pips and card values from your poker hand!
DEALER'S CHOICE
The magi shows six cards, which are blank on both sides, and as they are shown, they are dealt into three pairs of two cards. The magician makes a magical gesture over one of the paired blank cards, and turns them faceup, revealing they have magically printed faces -- two red threes. "Not a great poker hand, so I folded". He waves his hand over another pair of blanks, and turns them face up -- they are now a Two and a Ten. "Even worse! I left the poker table and went to play blackjack" The last pair of blanks is turned up, showing they have changed to an Ace and a Ten. "A blackjack --21. My luck had changed!" Picking up all six cards, the magi decides to play poker again. "I only need five cards, so..." he takes one of the cards and rubs it on the table where it again reverts to blank on both sides. This leaves five random cards -- not a great poker hand. But with one more magical gesture, the hand turns into four Tens!"
MAXI-TWISTO
The magi counts through a packet of four faceup Aces. The Ace of Spades is visibly turned facedown on the faceup packet. Now the packet is counted again, and the Ace of Hearts has magically turned over to join the "leader" Ace of Spades. The packet is counted again, and a third Ace (Clubs) is also facedown. The packet is counted one more time, and the Ace of Diamonds joins the rest -- all four Aces are now facedown. The magi then snaps his fingers and says "In poker, four aces is a good hand, but if you have a great fifth card, you can always win." The packet is now dealt faceup onto the table and it is a Royal Flush of Spades.
AUSTRALIAN ACES
The magi fans out four cards -- three Ace of Diamonds and one Ace of Clubs. One of the AD is placed facedown on the table, and the other three cards are mixed facedown. When turned up, the AC is no longer among them -- just three AD. The tabled card is turned up and it is the missing AC. This is immediately repeated, and and again the AC somehow ends up on the table. The third and final time, the tabled card is turned up first, and it is still an AD. But the cards in the hand are now seen to be THREE Ace of Clubs.
THAT'S ALL FOLKS. SEVEN GREAT EFFECTS IN ONE LOT AT A GREAT PRICE!
All these packet effects are from New-old dealer inventory, so in new and unused condition, complete with all props and original instruction sheet.
