Fan Collectors aka “The Trick I Would Show Ray Kosby”

A sleight-of-hand marvel, the trick Rodríguez “would show Ray Kosby”

Sara Rodríguez
A deck of playing cards fanned out with Queens sticking out
Photos by Sara Rodríguez

Effect

Four cards collect three. That doesn’t explain much, so let me elaborate: The magician removes the four Queens (or whatever four-of-akind you want) from the deck and places them to one side of the table so they can be used later. Three helpful spectators each take a card, and these selections are lost into three separate parts of the deck.

The magician fans the cards and places the Queens face up into four separate parts of the deck, sticking out for half their length. The fan is closed with the Queens still protruding and, after announcing that the trick is going to occur in a flash, the Queens are removed from the deck and immediately fanned to show three face-down cards interspersed between them. To everyone’s surprise—except the magician’s—the cards turn out to be the three cards previously selected.