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The “1 of 21” card trick is very simple to learn, but very difficult for your friend to figure out. Here’s how it’s done:
Shuffle a standard 52-card deck and lay out seven rows with three cards in each row. This will create three columns of cards with seven cards in each column. All cards are to be face-up. Ask your friend to mentally pick one card out of the 21 shown. He is to remember the number and the suit of the card he picked throughout the trick.
Ask him to tell you which column the card is in. You then need to pick up all the cards in that column, turn them over (face-down), keeping them in the order you laid them down. You then pick up one of the other columns (doesn’t matter which one) and put those cards (face-down) on top of the ones you’re already holding. Pick up the cards in the last column and put those (face-down) on the bottom. It’s important to remember to keep all the cards in each column in the order that you laid them down.
You then deal the cards again the same way as the first time...seven rows with three cards in each row, forming three columns with seven cards per column. After all 21 cards have been laid down, ask your friend which column the card is now in. Again, you want to pick up that column first while putting one of the other columns on top of that one, and the last column on the bottom.
For the third (and final) time lay the cards down in the same manner...seven rows with three cards in each row, forming three columns with seven cards per column. Here’s where you solve your trick. Ask your friend again which column his card is in. Whichever column he says it’s in, look at the fourth card down in that column. If you’ve done everything correctly to this point, that will be his card.
The trick works the same way every time. It’s always going to be the fourth card down in the column he says it’s in after the third time. To make it less obvious, once you know which card is his, pick up all the cards, shuffle them together, then go through them and pull his card out. And don’t give away your secret! It will baffle your friend for a long time!!
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