"Truly inspiring." - Ben HarrisThe performer announces that he wants to perform two classic effects with a deck of playing cards: ACAAN and Think of a card."If you are a serious student of card magic and love to delve into the intricacies of one of card magic's greatest plots - the ACAAN - then Tommaso Guglielmi's SUBTLE SCAM was written JUST FOR YOU." - Vlad, Magic Cafe
"Having been a keen follower of the ACAAN plot for a number of years, I was fortunate to befriend Tommy Gugliemi who shares the same passion and is almost obsessed by the plot, this is not necessarily a bad thing as he has shared some of the most ingenious handling's I have ever seen, many completely hands off and impromptu. One handling that stands head and shoulders above the rest is Subtle Scam, this is without a doubt from the mind of one who has sold his soul. I have performed this and its variants over the last year or so to various members of the public and to magician friends, all have been badly burned.....has Tommy found the holy grail that many have been chasing (?) I don't know, not even sure if it exists, but if it does this has to be a contender!" - David Gemmell
"All of Tommy's thinking re: ACAAN and Open Prediction are worth studying, and Subtle Scam gives you a clean, practical method that is very direct. It'll be interesting to follow the continuing evolution of Tommy's card explorations". - T. Baxter
"I have watched this project grow over a period of time. Tommy's smart thinking caught my attention immediately, and this - the final product is one great collection of clever ideas and subtle approaches to the popular CAAN and ACAAN plot. Subtle Scam is essential reading for anyone remotely interested in this thought provoking card problem." -- Peter Duffie
In order to do this, he asks the first spectator to name any card and any number and another one to shuffle a borrowed deck of cards. When the second spectator finishes to shuffle the deck, the performer instructs the spectator to look through the deck and to think of one of them.
Now the performer asks the first spectator to take the deck and to count as many cards as his named number. At the named number will be the named card.
After the ACAAN part the magician takes the deck and spreads it on the table. He asks the second spectator to check the location of her card. He turns his face away. Then in a classic manner the performer divines correctly the card thought of.
This method works without any stooges or pre-show work and with any deck.
The updated version includes two more effects "Mind Scam" and "Game Over".
Bonus effect: OPARN
This is just a simple hands-off Open Prediction effect. The effect is as follows:
The performer asks the spectator to shuffe a borrowed deck of cards and then he makes a prediction openly. Now, with a random process, a number is selected. The performer instructs the spectator to deal face-up the cards and to put the card at the selected number face-down and to continue to deal all cards face-up.
The only card face-down will be the prediction.
Additional bonus effects:
- Arcane Coincidence: An interesting handling for ACAAN or OP effect.
- Destiny is back
- Behind the Scam
- Duplicity (If this version interests you then you should also check out Double Scam by Michael Daniels.)
- Mental Trip
- Mental Trip 2
- Beyond Subtle Scam
- TC ACAAN (This this very pratical and direct for a full impromptu "Any" Card At "Any" Number routine.)
"Tommy has some really great ways of approaching the Any Card At Any Number problem. His thinking is always very clever and original. If you are an ACAAN fan then you'll enjoy reading and performing his ideas." - Marc Paul"A terrific PDF chock full of creative ideas for the ACAAN effect. I'm already working on my own version based on some of these concepts!" - Cameron Francis