BARRY’S DECEPTIVE DIARY
Barry Ray
ABOUT DECEPTIVE DIARY
Back in the latter part of the 1980’s, I was using an effect of mine called “Deceptive Diary”. In 1990, I put this effect on the market. It was the first diar diary y tric trick k to use use only only one one diar diary… y…ha havi ving ng a sele select ctio ion n of over over 40 card cards! s! Before that, the diary trick either used two or four (sometimes six) diaries, forcing anything from two up to eight cards. As I said, “Deceptive Diary” allowed for any one of 42 cards for any given date, but the major dilemma with this, was that it required mental gymnastics to work out the value of the card for any given date.
Over the years this got harder and harder for me to do…and I invented it! It wasn wasn’t ’t just just the the brai brain n cell cells…m s…may aybe be I was was inte intera ract cting ing too too much… uch…pe peop ople le would butt in…waiters would bump you…the usual distractions, plus the noise didn’t help. So, I then created “Easy Diary” and started using that instead. But every now and again, I would go back to “Deceptive Diary”, hoping to find a better way of performing it. I tried a crib sheet, stacking the deck, you name it, but I still wasn’t happy.
But the stacked deck was the closest I came to a solution, although I felt it made the effect seem mathematical, counting down to their card. Then I had a brainwave, or to be honest, it was more in desperation than anything else. What if I reversed the stack and ran through the cards face up and found their card? The only problem with this, you had to count the cards silently and it looked looked like you were counting. counting.
th
th
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So, I thought, what if I marked every 5 , 10 , 15 card etc. With this, I would only need to count a few cards…but how to mark the cards without the marks being seen and you could see the marks, even in bad light?
It was then I discovered something so astounding, it completely took me by surprise. Those positions were already pre-marked! And I’ve been using this effect for twenty five years and never noticed it! Ah well, such is life.
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THE OLD WORKINGS
“Deceptive Diary” is mathematically generated…otherwise you would never be able to work out their card for any given date of the year. But don’t let that frighten you…the mathematics have been done away with…and so has the memory work! Here is a brief description of how it works.
1: Imagine the 52 cards of the deck laid out in the SHCD formation and each suit running from ace to king. The top card (01) is the AS and the bottom card (52) being the KD. (All single digits have a zero prefix, this means, means, that all numbers contain contain two digits and can be reversed). reversed). rd
2: When a date is given, say, the 23 of August, add 23 (the date) and 8 (the month) together to make 31. Reverse this number, giving you 13. th The 13 card in the stack is the KS. 3: If the reversing reversing calculation calculationss exceeded exceeded 52, say, 63…you 63…you would subtract 5 th from the 6 and add it to the 3, making 18…and the 18 card in the stack is the 5H.
Now that you have read the above, you can forget it…because you will never use it! Instead, the deck will be doing all the work.
However, if you wish to do it this way…by all means do so.
Over the years, the imaginary stack and the maths have been modified, but it still needed mental gymnastics to work out the card!
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THE OLD STACK
As I used a deck of cards for the revelation, why not stack the deck, this would take away all the mathematics. So, I stacked the deck as laid out below.
Face down this is the old deck stack. X indicates an indifferent card
X…7H X…7H…4C… …4C…AD AD… …JD JD… …2H 2H… …QH QH…9C… …9C…6D 6D…AS…JS… …AS…JS…8H 8H…5C …5C 2D… 2D …QD QD… …3H 3H… …KH KH…10C… …10C…7D 7D…2S…QS… …2S…QS…9H 9H…6C… …6C…3D 3D… …KD KD… …4H AC…JC…8D AC…JC…8D…3S…KS… …3S…KS…10H 10H…7C… …7C…4D 4D…8S… …8S…5H 5H…2C…QC… …2C…QC…9D 9D 4S…AH 4S…AH… …JH JH…8C…X…X…X…X…X…X…X…X…X …8C…X…X…X…X…X…X…X…X…X
The second card from the top is the 7H, which is January the 1
st
rd
If someone gave you the date of March the 3 , you would count down to st
that date, without reversing reversing the cards, like so: January, so: January, February, March, 1 , nd
rd
2 , 3 removing a card for each count. At the end of the count, you would turn this counted packet face up onto the deck…and there would be the card that was written alongside that date in the diary.
However, the above did seem a little bit mathematical in the execution of the revelation. This still wasn’t quite the answer I was looking for. But the real revelation came when I reversed this stack!!
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THE REVERSED STACK
The whole object of reversing the stack was to run through the cards face up, silently counting the cards, and cut their card to the face of the deck. So far, so good. But when you got to the higher numbers, you looked like you were th
th
counting the cards. Not so good. What if, I thought, I marked the 5 , 10 , th
th
15 , 20 card etc? And that’s when the revelation hit me.
On reversing the old stack, I found those positions were already marked! And don’t forget, this was a mathematically generated stack. On running through the deck, counting the cards, at positions 10, 20, 30 and 40 I found the AS, 2S, 3S and the 4S respectively, the AS being position 10 and the 4S position 40. Running through the deck again, I noticed that the cards at positions 5, 15, 25 and 35 were indicated by the JD, QD, KD and the 8S (where did that come from?) So the only odd card amongst this group was the 8S at position 35…easy enough to remember that.
As you can see from the above, counting to any card is dead easy. You want rd
rd
position 33? Find the 3S and the 3 card to the left is the 33 card, the 7C.
This led me to thinking…I didn’t need the old mathematically generated stack anymore. anymore. I could use any 42 cards, cards, including my own marking marking cards.
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THE NEW STACK
From a deck of cards I removed the AS, 2S, 3S, 4S and all the fives. Then I gave the remainder of the deck a good shuffling. Once that was done, I went through the deck placing the cards I removed at their new locations. The new deck is stacked, face up, as follows:
X…10D X…10D…2C…8S… …2C…8S…5D…7C…KC…7D …7C…KC…7D… …QD QD… …AS…8H 8H…JC… …JC…2H 2H 9H… 9H …5S…8D 8D… …3H 3H…AC… …AC…KH KH… …2S…4D 4D…9S…KS…8C… …9S…KS…8C…5H…10C 7S…JH 7S…JH… …AH AH… …3S…6D 6D…4C… …4C…KD KD… …6H 6H… …5C…10H 10H… …QH QH…10S… …10S…9D 9D 4S…JD JD… …4H 4H… …AD AD…X…X…X...X…X…X…X…X…X …X…X…X...X…X…X…X…X…X
I have highlighted the placement cards with a blue font. Also note that the card cardss on eith either er side side of the the plac placem emen entt card cardss are are of the the oppo opposi site te colo colour ur,, making them easier to spot. The fives have also been placed strategically. The 5S (1) is placed at position 15. The 5H (2) is placed in position 25. The 5C (3) is in position 35. As there is no 45, the 5D is placed in the singles, at position 5.
The 5 positions of the 5’s are easily remembered as spades have one point. Hearts have two humps. Clubs have three humps and diamonds have four sides, but as I said, there’s no 45, so it goes at position 5 in the stack.
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THE NEW WORKINGS
With this updated version, the deck does all the work for you. All you need th
to know is the date. Let’s take the 6 of May. In your head, add together the day and the month and that’s the card you go to in the stack. So, in our example, 6 (day) + 5 (month) = 11. With the deck face up, go to the 11
th
card
in the stack, the 8H, and cut that card to the face of the deck. This card will th
match the card written alongside the 6 of May in the diary.
There are two ways to perform this effect. The first way is with a simple addition of adding the month and date together…and the second way is to count down to the card. So, let’s have a look at both methods. th
First Method: You are given any date…say the 15 of September. Add the th
15 (date) and the 9 (month) together, giving you a total of 24. Run through the deck face up, looking for the 5H and cut the card immediately to its right to the face of the deck. This card is the 8C. st
Another example would be the 31 of December. Add the date and month together and you get 43. Run through the deck face up, looking for the 4S rd
and cut the 3 card to its left to the face of the deck…the AD.
So, the first method is easy enough…but the second method is like falling off a log! It’s a no brainer!
Second Secon d Meth Method: od: For For this this,, you you will will need need to comp comple lete tely ly reve revers rsee the the card card
stack, so that the 10D is the second card from the top of the face down deck. As there’s no mathematics in this, proceed as follows. You are given a date, th
say the 7 of April. You will remove a card from the top of the deck, for each word, without reversing their order as you say: January, January, Febru February, ary, st
nd
rd
th
th
th
th
March, April. The 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 and then turn this packet face up on top of the face down deck. This card will be the 8H. When finished, flip the face up packet face down on top of the deck and you are re-set.
If you look at what you have just done, you have turned the 11
th
card face
up. It’s the same as method one in that regards. In method one you would th
have cut the 11 card to the face.
Had Had the the month onth been been Octo Octobe berr you you woul would d have have coun countted from from Janu Januar ary y to October and then the number days for whatever the date.
Two methods for performing the effect…you can take your pick
You don’t have to use my stack…you can shuffle the cards yourself and make a new stack. You can also have any placement cards you like and place them at those positions. I have done this for completeness, because later you will need to fill the diary out in a particular way to make it work and you will be able to see the coalition between the stack and the diary.
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THREE PRESENTATIONAL IDEAS
Many years ago, the prophets, seers and sages allocated lucky playing cards to each day of the year. Wouldn’t you like to know the lucky card that has been allocated to your birthday…or indeed, any other date that is personal th
to you? To do so, just give me th thee date of your birthday, say, the 6
September, the year doesn’t matter, just the day and the month. When they have given you a date, hand them the diary and remove the cards. This diary contains an exact copy of the playing cards for each day of the year, as laid out by ancients. Look up your birthday…and note the card written alongside it. Are there any duplicates of your lucky card on the pages you are looking at? Any duplicates on the pages before or after your birthday? As you can see, there is a playing card written alongside each date in the diary…all 52 playing cards are here and they are repeated randomly a few times throughout the diary…after all…there are only 52 cards in a deck and 366 days in a leap year! Finish year! Finish as in method One or Two.
Old Moore’s Almanac: Have you have heard of Old Moore’s Almanac?
You have! But have you heard of Old Moore’s Diary? In this diary, he allocated lucky playing cards for each day of the year. To know the lucky card allocated to your birthday…or indeed, any other date that is personal to you…just give me the date of your birthday etc. Finish as above.
The diary and the year: Many years ago people used playing cards as a
calendar. If you look at a deck of cards and a diary…or even a year and a deck of cards…you will find an uncanny similarity between the two. You’ve got 13 cards in each suit…the number of lunar cycles in one year. There are four suits…the number of seasons in one year. Twelve court (or picture) cards…the number of months in one year. There are 52 card rdss in a deck…and 52 weeks in one year. To know which lucky card was allocated to your birthday, just give me the date of your birthday, not the year, just the date da te an and d mo mont nth. h. Afte Afterr they they have have give given n you you a date date.. Last night, I had a premonition that I would meet someone like you…meant in a nice way! way! Here Here you describe the person before you and finish as above.
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THE DIARY ENTRIES
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Jan 10D 2C 8S 5D 7C KC 7D QD AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C
Feb 2C 8S 5D 7C KC 7D QD AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D
Mar 8S 5D 7C KC 7D QD AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H
Apr 5D 7C KC 7D QD AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H
May 7C KC 7D QD AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H 5C 10H
Jun KC 7D QD AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H 5C 10H
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Jul 7D QD AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H 5C 10H QH 10S
Aug QD AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H 5C 10H QH 10S 9D
Sep AS 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H 5C 10H QH 10S 9D
Oct 8H JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H 5C 10H QH 10S 9D 4S JD
Nov JC 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H 5C 10H QH 10S 9D 4S JD
Dec 2H 9H 5S 8D 3H AC KH 2S 4D 9S KS 8C 5H 10C 7S JH AH 3S 6D 4C KD 6H 5C 10H QH 10S 9D 4S JD 4H AD
