The Escher Escalator
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The Escher Escalator By Federico Arteaga C.
This is one of the first card routines I have created, but the feedback I’ve received after performing it has been so good that it encouraged me to type down the instructions and share it. One of the common references the lay museum-attending crowds have about Escher is his famous sketch of the hand drawing a hand drawing the drawing hand. The endless quality his graphic loops can reach very rarely fail to create a disturbing feeling in the spectator since there is a definite expression of entrapment in a good part of this revolutionary artist’s work. That is exactly what this routine is about: providing the spectator with a magical loop where, after a display of visual speed and spurious artistic theories, an old act is re-enacted as a feat of coordination and rhythm.
Effect The spectator is asked to draw a card from one half of a fairly-shuffled deck and then is offered to place the selected card in any place of the deck. The cardician will offer to speed-count the cards on the top packet after placing the card in the deck. He counts along with the spectator and is off by one card if he doesn’t ace it. Once the deck is reassembled the cardician will explain that, just like in Escher’s Escalator, it is possible for any card to magically reach a desired position simply by attending their own chaotic laws. The cardician then performs a triple back-swivel, the spectator follows the moves and when a packet of cards seems to be missing during the shuffle, the cardician reveals the selected card by holding it next to his face as if it had always been there.
Method
One of the most endearing characteristics this routine possesses is its fairness. The deck is not pre-arranged (you can actually do it with a borrowed deck and not know the card until the end of the presentation) and it is sleight-free, so it is perfect for a close up presentation with audiences as big as they get. Generally I will begin my presentation by explaining a few pointers about the work of Escher to give solidity and integrity to the illusion. During this short talk I am constantly shuffling the cards using different methods, as if to underline the fact that there is no preparation, plus it commonly relaxes sceptical subjects. After this prologue comes to an end, this is what you want to do: offer the person to cut the deck and ask him or her to take the two packets and hand you one. Take the packet the person has given you and spread it in a fan in your hand. “Take any card you want, one that you feel may walk up and down the escalator and not get too lost.” This may sound as a verbal subtlety would, but it is not. The person will try to catch you out by picking a card far from the center, but it doesn’t make a difference. Ask the person to burn the card in the mind and to hold on to the image as a painting on a wall at the end of one of those sprawling Victorian flights of stairs. The more the person gets distracted by concentrating on this image, the easier it will be to act more naturally at the moment of a bold move. Riffle through the deck and let the person tell you when to stop; cut the deck at their command and grab one packet in each hand. “One of the memory stunts I like to indulge in as a professional practice is to count the steps on any given flight of a stairs with a simple five-second glimpse and I am now able to give an accurate reading of the
number, but when the weather is too hot I am usually one number off. I have wanted to implement this memory gymnastics in something new for some and I think I have something. What would you think if I tell you I can count the cards in my hand –raise your left hand holding one of the packets- simply by looking at the side of the packet? Here –reach out for their card offering your left hand and the person will place the card on top of this packet-, let me try to do it.” Once the selected card is first on the packet, put it down on the table and concentrate the person’s attention on the cards in your right hand. Moving the deck around a little or saying “OK” out loud will get their looks back at your eyes. Lift the packet on your right hand to your eye level and consider the size of the full deck in comparison to the thinner one you are holding now. The chances are that the person has stopped you somewhere in the middle of the riffle (twenty-seven cards) or at a third of the deck (around eighteen). Make an approximation that sounds plausible. Personally, I do train for this part and I get it right fifty percent of the time. The worse you will be doing after a couple of days of practice will be one or two cards off. “There are twenty-three cards in this packet.” Confidence at this point is extremely important because it will focus the person’s attention on the experiment of your statement. Remember that there is usually a positive reaction to memory feats even when the result is not absolutely precise. Then count the cards along with the person. If you want to compromise their attention a little more, ask them how many cards they think you are holding. “…Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty… three and twenty… four.” While you organize the cards you just counted, explain how it is easier with staircase steps because of the perspective. Place this packet in your left hand and pick the remaining cards from the table and put them on top of the others in your left hand. Now the selected card is first again. “Speaking of perspective, you haven’t forgotten about that card you chose earlier, have you? And you remember where it is, framed at the end of one of those sprawling Victorian flights of stairs, yes?” Now hold the cards with your right hand and get ready for the triple-swivel.
The Triple-Swivel
I am not entirely sure, but I don’t think I have seen these kind of shuffling as of yet so I would love to claim I invented it. But if it already exists, I think this routine would marvellously justify its existence. Here is how to do it. Let’s imagine that the person you are working with chose the Joker. It is highly unlikely but it will have to do for the sake of the explanation. This is our initial situation: ace of hearts is the front and the selected card is in the back. Right here, The Escher Escalator starts to spin and twist. Remind the person to keep the image of the flight of stairs on his mind and now the two of you are going to run hand in hand all the way to the framed card.
Hold the deck with your right hand, placing the thumb on one of the narrow edges and hold the other with the pads of your index, middle and ring fingers. “This is the first step of our escalator; can you see the framed card up there? It is extremely important that you keep that image bright and vivid in order to get up there and grab that picture on the wall.”
Turn your hand over as it is shown in the picture and cut the top third of the deck with your index finger. Roll it off outwards on your thumb. So that it is easy to follow I am authorized to tell you that the card we randomly cut to for this example is the eight of spades. You must remember this card, because this is the pack on top of which the person has placed the selected card.
Now, back-swivel the top deck around your right thumb pushing it with your left thumb. In this process, as you can see, the index finger has been released and you are holding the remaining cards with your middle and ring fingers. “This is one of the famous turns in the famous escalator designed by famous Escher. A model of it is built in Hogwarts, Harry Potter’s boarding school for young wizards.” (The last remark is a geek point that awards credibility to your presentation due to the mention of a pop icon.)
Place the packet you back-swivelled on your left hand and cut the deck in your right in two more using your index finger. Now the top packet is held between index and thumb and the lower one is held by middle finger and thumb. The cards have started to loop now. “There are turns to left and right and up and diagonal in this escalator but you still see that framed card at the end of the confusing flight. Now, please answer me with a lie. What color is your card?”
Having the person answer quickly with a lie is a very good way to deprogram their attention from what they are seeing because, truly, all they are seeing is a loop. Grab the pack in your left hand with the pad of your ring finger and the base of your thumb. The lower packet has the selected card on top, the one in the middle was the front group and it is held with middle and thumb. And the one high up is clipped between index and pad of thumb. “Is it a number or a figure?”
“Hearts, diamonds, spades or clubs?” You are going to repeat the same procedure two more times until the packet containing the selected card goes back to the top. The triple-swivel is a false shuffle. Then keep the last packet you swivelled on the palm of your left hand, so that you have two left in your right hand. “Count with me to three as we leap our last steps in the revolting escalator.” Slam down the packets on your left hand and keep their eyes on your left hand.
Slam the middle packet announcing the last three steps, the final packet you slam will be the one with the card on top. Clip the top card with the pad of your middle finger and the base of your thumb while you let go off the last packet and then pretend to slam a final packet. Raise your hand at the same speed while the person is still watching the deck on your left hand and display the card next to your face. “Our framed card at the end of our revolting yet sprawling Victorian flight of stairs was the Joker.”
The Escher Escalator is a very sober routine that will not fail to amaze a normal close-up audience. Remember, so that your trick is not revealed, avoid using the
triple-swivel in other illusions that require a false shuffle during the same performance.
02.02.2K7
This is one of the first card routines I have created, but the feedback I’ve received after performing it has been so good that it encouraged me to type down the instructions and share it. One of the common references the lay museum-attending crowds have about Escher is his famous sketch of the hand drawing a hand drawing the drawing hand. The endless quality his graphic loops can reach very rarely fail to create a disturbing feeling in the spectator since there is a definite expression of entrapment in a good part of this revolutionary artist’s work. That is exactly what this routine is about: providing the spectator with a magical loop where, after a display of visual speed and spurious artistic theories, an old act is re-enacted as a feat of coordination and rhythm.
Effect The spectator is asked to draw a card from one half of a fairly-shuffled deck and then is offered to place the selected card in any place of the deck. The cardician will offer to speed-count the cards on the top packet after placing the card in the deck. He counts along with the spectator and is off by one card if he doesn’t ace it. Once the deck is reassembled the cardician will explain that, just like in Escher’s Escalator, it is possible for any card to magically reach a desired position simply by attending their own chaotic laws. The cardician then performs a triple back-swivel, the spectator follows the moves and when a packet of cards seems to be missing during the shuffle, the cardician reveals the selected card by holding it next to his face as if it had always been there.
Method
One of the most endearing characteristics this routine possesses is its fairness. The deck is not pre-arranged (you can actually do it with a borrowed deck and not know the card until the end of the presentation) and it is sleight-free, so it is perfect for a close up presentation with audiences as big as they get. Generally I will begin my presentation by explaining a few pointers about the work of Escher to give solidity and integrity to the illusion. During this short talk I am constantly shuffling the cards using different methods, as if to underline the fact that there is no preparation, plus it commonly relaxes sceptical subjects. After this prologue comes to an end, this is what you want to do: offer the person to cut the deck and ask him or her to take the two packets and hand you one. Take the packet the person has given you and spread it in a fan in your hand. “Take any card you want, one that you feel may walk up and down the escalator and not get too lost.” This may sound as a verbal subtlety would, but it is not. The person will try to catch you out by picking a card far from the center, but it doesn’t make a difference. Ask the person to burn the card in the mind and to hold on to the image as a painting on a wall at the end of one of those sprawling Victorian flights of stairs. The more the person gets distracted by concentrating on this image, the easier it will be to act more naturally at the moment of a bold move. Riffle through the deck and let the person tell you when to stop; cut the deck at their command and grab one packet in each hand. “One of the memory stunts I like to indulge in as a professional practice is to count the steps on any given flight of a stairs with a simple five-second glimpse and I am now able to give an accurate reading of the
number, but when the weather is too hot I am usually one number off. I have wanted to implement this memory gymnastics in something new for some and I think I have something. What would you think if I tell you I can count the cards in my hand –raise your left hand holding one of the packets- simply by looking at the side of the packet? Here –reach out for their card offering your left hand and the person will place the card on top of this packet-, let me try to do it.” Once the selected card is first on the packet, put it down on the table and concentrate the person’s attention on the cards in your right hand. Moving the deck around a little or saying “OK” out loud will get their looks back at your eyes. Lift the packet on your right hand to your eye level and consider the size of the full deck in comparison to the thinner one you are holding now. The chances are that the person has stopped you somewhere in the middle of the riffle (twenty-seven cards) or at a third of the deck (around eighteen). Make an approximation that sounds plausible. Personally, I do train for this part and I get it right fifty percent of the time. The worse you will be doing after a couple of days of practice will be one or two cards off. “There are twenty-three cards in this packet.” Confidence at this point is extremely important because it will focus the person’s attention on the experiment of your statement. Remember that there is usually a positive reaction to memory feats even when the result is not absolutely precise. Then count the cards along with the person. If you want to compromise their attention a little more, ask them how many cards they think you are holding. “…Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty… three and twenty… four.” While you organize the cards you just counted, explain how it is easier with staircase steps because of the perspective. Place this packet in your left hand and pick the remaining cards from the table and put them on top of the others in your left hand. Now the selected card is first again. “Speaking of perspective, you haven’t forgotten about that card you chose earlier, have you? And you remember where it is, framed at the end of one of those sprawling Victorian flights of stairs, yes?” Now hold the cards with your right hand and get ready for the triple-swivel.
The Triple-Swivel
I am not entirely sure, but I don’t think I have seen these kind of shuffling as of yet so I would love to claim I invented it. But if it already exists, I think this routine would marvellously justify its existence. Here is how to do it. Let’s imagine that the person you are working with chose the Joker. It is highly unlikely but it will have to do for the sake of the explanation. This is our initial situation: ace of hearts is the front and the selected card is in the back. Right here, The Escher Escalator starts to spin and twist. Remind the person to keep the image of the flight of stairs on his mind and now the two of you are going to run hand in hand all the way to the framed card.
Hold the deck with your right hand, placing the thumb on one of the narrow edges and hold the other with the pads of your index, middle and ring fingers. “This is the first step of our escalator; can you see the framed card up there? It is extremely important that you keep that image bright and vivid in order to get up there and grab that picture on the wall.”
Turn your hand over as it is shown in the picture and cut the top third of the deck with your index finger. Roll it off outwards on your thumb. So that it is easy to follow I am authorized to tell you that the card we randomly cut to for this example is the eight of spades. You must remember this card, because this is the pack on top of which the person has placed the selected card.
Now, back-swivel the top deck around your right thumb pushing it with your left thumb. In this process, as you can see, the index finger has been released and you are holding the remaining cards with your middle and ring fingers. “This is one of the famous turns in the famous escalator designed by famous Escher. A model of it is built in Hogwarts, Harry Potter’s boarding school for young wizards.” (The last remark is a geek point that awards credibility to your presentation due to the mention of a pop icon.)
Place the packet you back-swivelled on your left hand and cut the deck in your right in two more using your index finger. Now the top packet is held between index and thumb and the lower one is held by middle finger and thumb. The cards have started to loop now. “There are turns to left and right and up and diagonal in this escalator but you still see that framed card at the end of the confusing flight. Now, please answer me with a lie. What color is your card?”
Having the person answer quickly with a lie is a very good way to deprogram their attention from what they are seeing because, truly, all they are seeing is a loop. Grab the pack in your left hand with the pad of your ring finger and the base of your thumb. The lower packet has the selected card on top, the one in the middle was the front group and it is held with middle and thumb. And the one high up is clipped between index and pad of thumb. “Is it a number or a figure?”
“Hearts, diamonds, spades or clubs?” You are going to repeat the same procedure two more times until the packet containing the selected card goes back to the top. The triple-swivel is a false shuffle. Then keep the last packet you swivelled on the palm of your left hand, so that you have two left in your right hand. “Count with me to three as we leap our last steps in the revolting escalator.” Slam down the packets on your left hand and keep their eyes on your left hand.
Slam the middle packet announcing the last three steps, the final packet you slam will be the one with the card on top. Clip the top card with the pad of your middle finger and the base of your thumb while you let go off the last packet and then pretend to slam a final packet. Raise your hand at the same speed while the person is still watching the deck on your left hand and display the card next to your face. “Our framed card at the end of our revolting yet sprawling Victorian flight of stairs was the Joker.”
The Escher Escalator is a very sober routine that will not fail to amaze a normal close-up audience. Remember, so that your trick is not revealed, avoid using the
triple-swivel in other illusions that require a false shuffle during the same performance.
02.02.2K7
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