I’ve never been particularly fond of the spelling plot. Then my friend Antonio Bourgeois showed me a clever placement idea—and I instantly fell in love with it. I developed a presentation around it and added a handling that has turned the routine into something I genuinely look forward to performing.
Here’s Adam’s demonstration:
Effect
A spectator selects a card and is immediately handed the deck to shuffle. The magician explains that there is a classic card trick in which a spectator selects a card, shuffles the deck, and then spells the name of their selection, dealing one card for each letter. Somehow, despite the shuffle, the spelling leads directly to the chosen card.
The spectator is then asked to freely name a different card, say, the Six of Clubs. The magician begins spelling S-I-X O-F C-L-U-B-S, dealing one card for each letter. Before turning over the final card, the magician pauses.
“But you didn’t choose the Six of Clubs. And that,” pointing to the final face-down card, “is not the Six of Clubs. What was your card?”
“The King of Diamonds.”
The final card is turned over. It is the King of Diamonds.
Then comes the epilogue: The magician reaches for the card box, which has been sitting on the table throughout, and produces the freely named card from inside.