The 75% Production and The Trick With No Metho by Justin Higham

Our friend Justin Higham has written several books about improvisation specifically in the realm of card magic such as Secrets of Improvisational Magic and The KOSBE System. The 75% Production and The Trick With No Method is his brand new booklet of ideas and methods detailing how to put his theories into practice. 

The booklet explores ways to produce four of a kind from a genuinely shuffled deck without relying on culling (including shuffle-culling) or excessive use of memorisation or calculation. Unlike the deliberate, linear methods which, almost by definition, involve ‘brute force’ (manual or mental), Justin's approach involves letting the cards ‘decide’ what to do and how/when to do it. 

But don't confuse this as simply a dissertation on four-of-a-kind productions. It is instead a lesson in improvisational mindset used to create them. The 75% Production is a form of ‘trick with no method’, in as much as a key element of the method (without which an effect may not be solved or reconstructed) is missing.

This is a standalone product; you don't need to have read Justin's previous booklets to understand and apply the techniques discussed here. Although if this area interests you as much as it does us, we highly recommend that you read his booklets, Secrets of Improvisational Magic and The KOSBE System.

Contents of The 75% Production and The Trick With No Method

• The 75% Production
• Culling in Advance
• Non-Linear Culling
• Shuffling After Culling

• Recycling Knowledge
• The Key to Improvisation
• Other Approaches
• Leaving the Selection Till Last

• Without a Selection
• Pseudo-Memory Presentation

• 100% Production
• 50% Production
• Other 50% Productions
• 50% Ambitious Production
• The Previous Effect
• Spread-Cutting
• The Trick With No Method
• Time Stretching
• Freestyle Card Tricks
• Conclusion

• Mono Do As I Do Plus
• Estimation Kicker
• IRF Open Prediction (Roger Crosthwaite)

• Semi-Improvised Effects
• Mindreader’s Lucid Dream Plus
• Reflected Do As I Do
• Gemini Cull (Crosthwaite)
• Improvisation Through Ignorance
• Bibliography