An exciting mentalism effect in which the spectators themselves, after naming any card in the deck, imagine in their mind that they can find it as the only one still in its 'right' place in a shuffled deck, giving rise to an amazing "A.C.A.A.N."
This is an "Any Card At Any Number" type effect, but most likely it will be different from anything you have ever seen before!
"... Kudos for coming up with this stack that lets you find any card in its place... And congratulations also for the method you used... Everything is explained very well and in an understandable way! Great!!! ... When you showed me my card... I only saw shuffled cards... You really fooled me! You did it... Well done, bravo!" - Laura Chips
The mentalist places a deck of cards in its case on the table. After briefly recounting Erwin Schrödinger's cat paradox, he explains that the case contains the very deck of cards that the scientist used to entertain his cat, which was forced inside the famous box.
All the cards are there, from Ace to King for each of the four suits, but no one knows, after the cat has been playing with them, in which of the many possible arrangements they were left before being put back in their case. He therefore invites a spectator, chosen at random, to say any card aloud. Immediately afterwards, the same spectator indicates which number (from 1 to 52) could, in his imagination, represent its precise position in the deck.
The illusionist takes it out of the case, keeping it face down, spread the cards from the top, counting them, and turns over only the card with the chosen number for a moment, demonstrating the extreme difficulty of guessing the order of the cards in a deck relying solely on one's imagination.
After putting that card back in the deck, the mentalist explains that everything would have been much simpler if they had been able to imagine that the cat was very well-behaved and took care never to mess up the order of the cards... Or at least it was so intelligent that, before letting them be put back in their case, it rearranged them in the order in which it had found them: the typical order of a new deck, i.e., arranged in sequential order, from Ace to King, for each of the four suits...
He therefore identifies the position that the chosen card would occupy in this case and, keeping the cards face down, draw only that one card, setting it aside (still face down), then immediately squares the rest of the deck.
However, he insists, rightly at first they all imagined the deck was shuffled; he immediately picks it up again and opens it in his hands, spreading the cards, but this time showing them face up, to demonstrate how they are perfectly shuffled together!
"Anyway, wouldn't it be incredible if all we had to do was imagine for a moment the deck arranged in order, so that the card you chose would be the only one in the case still in its original place in the deck, amidst the total chaos of all the other fifty-one cards?"
Once the card is turned over, everyone will be amazed and astonished by such an unexpected magical event!
Strengths:
- The effect can also be performed remotely (in a video call using Zoom, WhatsApp, etc.), with the deck of cards placed under the watchful eye of the camera from the start and throughout all the experiment.
- The case and deck of cards are not cheated in any way whatsoever.
- Inside the case there are all the cards, and there are no duplicates.
- No deck switch is allowed.
- The magician must not manipulate the cards in any way.
- No complex mathematical calculations or particular memory efforts are required.
- The deck is on the table from the beginning (before any selection is made) and will remain visible at all times.
At the end, a second, even more engaging presentation and performance model is proposed, in which two or more spectators actively participate and a second deck of cards is brought into play, which can be borrowed and freely shuffled.
1st edition 2025, PDF 11 pages.
word count: 5647 which is equivalent to 22 standard pages of text
