An intriguing and offbeat card effect, Peter Eggink's Lottery Card allows you reveal a spectator's selection in an unusual manner. The player's chosen card is turned into a virtual lottery card that allows you rub off a revelation on its back with a coin. It's different, but is probably not a stunner.
Choose a Lottery Card
In classic magician fashion, you bring out a deck of cards and ask a spectator to select one. As an example, we'll say that the spectator chose the queen of clubs. You tell the spectator that you predicted the chosen card and prove it by rubbing the back of the selected card with a coin and scratching off its surface, which reveals an underlying layer that says "Congratulations, you chose the Queen of Clubs." You then restore the card to its original, undoctored state.
The Good
The trick relies on a gimmicked card and you receive two such cards that provide two different card outcomes. While the cards come in red and blue Bicycle backs, you can’t choose the color that you would like.
First the good. With some basic card handling skills, you can easily perform this one. And the reset is fast. You can reset this as you put it away with the spectator watching. One thing to note, the spectator doesn’t actually see you rub off the playing card in the fashion of a lottery card. It’s a feign.
The So So
What bothers me about this effect is the psychology. As you have already deduced, the choice of the card is not a free one and you're limited to two outcomes. But what is to prevent the spectator from thinking that every card simply carries a message on its back that says he or she would choose it?
You do restore the card at the end of the trick to its original state, all looks good and the spectators can carefully examine the restored card, there's nothing to find. But wonder if the effect would be stronger if another card, say a joker, were to predict the selected card and not the card itself.
I think that there are lay people who won’t get this one. I can hear them saying, "but every card just says its name on the back."
This one is definitely different.
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
MSRP: (US) $20
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Dealers can purchase from Murphy's Magic Supplies, Inc.
