Effect:
All four Aces change into the Ace of Spades. Then they instantly change into the four Kings. Check out a Video Demo.

Preparation:
Openly remove the four Aces from the deck. As you are doing this, get the four Kings to the top. Or you can simply prearrange the deck this way. Either way, before starting, the four Kings must be on top of the deck in any order.

Presentation:
Openly place the four Aces face up on top of the deck. Get a pinky break below the eight cards. Now spread just the four face up Aces and ask the spectator what his favorite Ace is. Whatever Ace he chooses, get that card (we’ll use Ace of Clubs) to the back of the four Ace stack (do this openly). So the situation is now, from the top down: three face up Aces in any order, the face up selected Ace, four face down Kings in any order, your little pinky finger. Square up the eight cards as four. Pick them up with the right hand from above in Biddle grip. Use the left thumb to slide off the top Ace to the left and pivot it over face down underneath the right hand’s packet (see fig. 1). Hold a thumb break here above this card (see fig. 2).

Show this bottom Ace to the audience by tilting your hand so they can see it. Make some minor comment about the Ace (see comments section at the end of the description). Repeat with the second Ace, and the third Ace. On the fourth Ace, perform the same move, but when the right hand’s packet is above the deck and the left thumb is about to take the top Ace, let all the cards below the break fall flat and flush on the deck. Once you’ve dropped the three Aces to the deck, continue to pivot over the selected Ace (in our case, the Ace of Clubs) to the bottom of the right hand’s packet. There is no need to hold a break at this time. Now you have a deck in your left hand and in your right hand is a packet of five cards face down; from top to bottom, four Kings in any order and then the selected Ace. Set the deck aside. Place it in front of you toward the audience and to your right.

Now tell the audience that you are going to test their memory and that you are going to arrange the Aces (actually the Kings and an Ace) in a particular order and they must try to remember it. Now as you tell them this, here’s what you do: hold the cards face up in right hand Biddle grip but tilt the cards so that only you can see the face. Now side jog the card (selected Ace) that is facing you to the right about 3/4 of an inch, just enough to see the identity of the card directly behind it. The card behind it will obviously be one of the four Kings.

If it’s the King that matches the suit of the selected Ace (in our case King of Clubs) then you do nothing more, but if it is another King, simply slide the King out to the left and place it at the back of the packet. Continue this until you have the matching King directly behind the Ace. Then square up the cards, and slide the cards out from the bottom to the left until you have three Kings and an Ace exposed (see fig. 3). The extra King will be concealed behind the Ace. Make sure that you still have not shown the face of these cards to the audience yet. Now comes the subtle sneaky part. Use your left thumb to cover the indices (see fig. 4).

Now the time has come to show the audience, but all they see at this point is your thumb and the face of the Ace of Clubs. When you are showing the audience, you are holding the cards at the top with your left hand and at the bottom with your right fingers behind the cards and your right thumb in front. The packet is held parallel to the floor. Now you tell the audience that you are going to show them the four suits. Tell them to get ready to memorize the order. Then you slowly roll your left thumb to the left, exposing only the indices and the lower portion of the “K” on the Kings (see fig. 5).

Notice that the bottom of a “K” looks exactly like the bottom of an “A.” This little subtlety is the key to the success of this effect. You’ve apparently just shown them the four Aces. Now ask them if they have the order memorized. When they do, cover the indices with your thumb again. Then turn the whole packet face down and square up the cards. Now hold the packet face down in left hand dealer’s grip and the magic begins. Ask them if they remember the bottom card. No matter what they say, slide the bottom card out to the right. Take it with your right hand and show them that it is the Ace of Clubs. In the mean time, your left hand is buckling or pulling down the bottom card (King of Clubs).

You now apparently return the Ace of Clubs to the bottom. Actually, it goes above the buckled card, so now it becomes the fourth card from the top. Now you ask them if they remember the top card. No matter what they say, you say, “No; actually it’s an Ace of Clubs too.” Then you do a block push over (basically a quadruple lift) to show the Ace of Clubs. Then turn it back over and place the top card (apparently the Ace of Clubs, but actually a King) onto the table. Repeat with the next card and the next card placing each card on top of the one on the table. Be careful when you’re doing the third card because if you expose any extra cards, the effect is dead. Once you’ve placed the third “Ace of Clubs” onto the table, you have a double in your hand.

Simply place the double on top of the tabled packet of three “Aces.” Then square up and turn over the top card to show that the last one was an Ace too. Place the Ace on the bottom of the packet. So now you have four Kings and an Ace below them all face down. Hold the cards in Biddle grip in the right hand and perform the frustration count. Show the bottom card (“Ace of Clubs”) then turn the pack face down and thumb off the top card (apparently an Ace of Clubs) into your left hand. Repeat two more times, thus leaving a double in your right hand. Show it, and place it second from the top in the packet in your left hand. Square up and get ready for the surprise ending.

Tell the audience, “I know it looks like I used four Ace of Clubs, but actually I didn’t use any Aces. I used a Club, but it was a King of Clubs.” Turn the packet over in your left hand to reveal the King of Clubs. Then you say, “in fact, all I used were the Kings.” Then do an Ascanio spread to show four Kings. The Ascanio spread is as follows: hold the cards face up by the corners in the right hand (see fig. 6). Then with the left fingers, slide the bottom card to the left and jog it downward (see fig. 7).

Then with the thumb, slide the top card up and to the left (see fig. 8), and finally, with the left fingers, slide the next-to-the-bottom card to the left (see fig. 9).

You will now be holding what appears to be four Kings, but actually the King in your right hand finger tips is a double. At this point the effect is over, and the audience is recovering from their coronary. Now you just have to clean up. It’s real simple: first, slide the top card down so that you’re holding the cards like figure 10. Then just let go with the right hand, and hold the four (actually five) cards, with your left hand still in the Ascanio spread pattern (see fig. 11).

Then with your right hand, grab the double with your fingers on top and thumb on the bottom (see fig. 12). Turn it over onto the deck as you count, “one King” (see fig. 13) now repeat with the other three Kings. Show them very openly as you count them onto the deck.

Comments about the Aces:

Hearts - Romantic, Love, etc
Spades – Power Ace, Control Ace, Death Card, etc
Diamonds – Rich people, Money Ace
Clubs – Lucky Ace, Sandwich Ace (Club Sandwich)

I always use this little guide when I patter at the beginning when I have them choose a favorite Ace. Let’s say they chose the Clubs. And when I show the Aces by pivoting them around the packet, they fall in this order Hearts, Diamonds, Spades. My patter would be, “So you’re not the romantic type. They usually choose the Hearts (pivot and show the Heart), rich people usually choose the Diamonds (pivot and show the Diamond), and you’re not dead, so you didn’t choose the Spade (pivot and show), but only lucky people choose the Clubs (pivot and show), so you must be lucky.

This patter has no other use, but to make the effect a little more interactive. You don’t have to use it. For that matter, you don’t even have to have them choose an Ace; you can just pick one. However, I’ve found that it adds entertainment value and makes the effect more fun and interesting for the audience.

This effect is a reputation maker. Please treat it with the respect it deserves. Practice, practice, practice before you show this to a real spectator. Good Luck! Check out a Video Demo

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