I miss card-problems. I asked a friend once if he would give me a card problem. He joked, Steve, you have enough problems. Fair enough.
But, I miss the days of problems with parameters. A couple years ago, in a session, my friend Kent suggested one with a very specific objective:
“I don’t like the Mercury Fold.”
Others in the session had opinions on the timing, cover, angles.
But I’ve learned over the years that not every problem is best solved head-on. So instead, I asked myself:
When’s the earliest I can start folding this thing? That led me to consider Roger Klause’s idea of Half Moves.
I started backtracking — all the way to the moment the card first goes into the deck. And that was the start of one of the most direct card folds I know.
Two decks down, a pile of folded cards on the table and ten minutes later — each card an experimentation inching along to a solution — I had it.
You can find this finesse, along with some other card stunners in my latest PDF of Output 18. Also in this issue:
A NIGHT IN N'AWLINS - a updated version of the classic Hotel Mystery
LOOK! ANOTHER ILLUSION - an off-beat handling of the Larry Jennings routine...yes, another one!
MARLO'S RED-BLUE CARD WARP - Ed Marlo's previously unpublished handling of the Busby/Walton effect; now part of the upcoming Olram File book. Consider this a sneak peek.