All the tricks in this chapter involve the magical reversal of playing cards.
The first two tricks in this chapter rely on a no-gaff handling of the “Christ Force”. Invented by Henry Christ and first published as “The 203rd Force”, this clever concept uses a doubled-backed playing card to force one or multiple cards onto a spectator in a very fair manner.
I’ve always liked this force, but I rarely carry the required gaff on my person. So a few years ago, I started to experiment with handlings that only use regular playing cards. The main problem with this approach is that, after the forcing procedure is completed, a card is left reversed in the centre of the pack.
There are two ways to deal with this problem: 1) secretly right the reversed card using sleight of hand, or 2) incorporate the reversed card into the magical effect that follows the force. This second solution is my favoured approach, as the clean-up happens in front of your audience without the need for additional manipulation.