7/31/2019 Robert E. Neale - Satan's Solitaire

1/2

Satan's Solitaireby Robert E. Neale

Robert Neale should not be a stranger to anyone in magic, but just in case... Robert Neale is theauthor of "Life, Death, and Other Card Tricks" and "Tricks of the Imagination" and co-author of "The

Magic Mirror" with David Parr. He's also written a few dozen other things you should read, but thoseshould get you started. There's a lot I could say about Robert Neale, but I'll just say the one thatembarasses him the most: he's a damn fine thinker and one of my greatest influences in magic. Ihope he's blushing. The following piece is typically Neale: simple magic with a simple story thatmakes for a neat performance piece. I think you'll like it. -- Shane

Would you mind too much playing the Devil? Right now and for just a moment? You might even gainsome little sympathy for him. Please? Thank you.

Suppose that you are Satan. And your mood is bad. What can you, the Lord of Chaos, do to achieve

your goals on earth? Nothing. Human beings on their own are doing it all for you. So you have nothingto do but watch our behavior over and over as an insomniac. The only issue is: how can you avoidboredom? The solution? Solitaire. You can play solitaire, a version of your own invention with thesenine cards. Satan's Solitaire is all about what stimulates you mostthe chaos caused byrandomization.

You game has three parts, after which you will discover if you win or lose.

The first randomization. Please cut and complete the cut. Deal the cards alternately into two piles.Place either one on top of the other. Decide whether to do the cut and deal again or not. Again? Ok,cut, deal into two piles, and place one pile on top of the other. You have randomized the cards.

The second randomization. Take the top or bottom card and table it. Do this two more times so that

you have three cards in a pile. Do it again, making a second pile of three cards so, and taking eitherthe top or bottom card each time. Set down the remaining three cards to make a third pile. You haverandomized the cards again.

The third randomization. Take any one card from the first pile and set it above them to the left. Takeany one card from the next pile and set it to the right of the card previously set aside, forming a row oftwo cards. Take any one of the three cards in the remaining pile and set it to the right of the row of twocards, forming a row of three cards. Repeat this selection of a card from each pile to form a secondrow of three cards under the first one. Place the last cards in the same manner to form a final row.You have randomized the cards still again.

You have randomized the cards three times. Did you win or loose? Turn them face up. And add the

nine digits to get the total. 666the Devil's Digits. It happens every time with no risk, no gamble, andno threat of chaos. It is all so very orderly! On earth, chaos rules, while in Hell, order prevails. Bywinning, you lost. Just as you always do. So, for the Lord of Chaos, absolute boredom. Hell is cursed.Maybe Satan deserves a little sympathy. Having been there, don't we think?

Routine

Stack three aces, three twos and three threes in any serial sequence, for example, ace, two andthree, ace, two and three, ace, two and three.

Run the cards facedown in an overhand shuffle that maintains any such sequence. For example, runthree cards and toss the remainder on top. Repeat this action twice.

Use the procedure described in the above script. Sufficient order is maintained during eachrandomization so that the total of three rows of cards will always be 666.

Sources

Page 1 of 2Visions, The Online Journal of the Art of Magic

09/04/2012http://www.online-visions.com/effects/0702satan.html

7/31/2019 Robert E. Neale - Satan's Solitaire

2/2

Shane has a very surprising, shocking, and theologically provocative routine in which the Devil nolonger has any work to do and feels unneeded. See Weeping, An Old Man in his Pentalogy (VolumeThree). His routine inspired mine, although the trick and mood are different. Poinc would have loveShane's contribution.

The first randomization. I do not know who first dealt a small packet of cards into two or more piles,gathered them, and repeated the dealing and gathering, yet maintained some kind of order. Phil

Goldstein would know. You will find many uses of the approach in his Redivider.

The second randomization uses the Rusduck Principle. See Outer Space by J. Russell Duck in theJuly 1958 issue of his publication, The Cardiste (No 10).

The third randomization might be credited properly to Jack London. Sometime in early 2005, LarryWhite resubmitted to the Shadow Digest his fine piece, The Power of Fives. As he indicated, this is anold principle. I believe Jack London was the first to employ it. He used borrowed bills. Many othershave simplified his approach to using digits one through nine, Larry Becker being one of them. I cansimplify it even more than either Larry. Call it The Power of One, Two and Three.

I have fussed with this routine before, once at least using the Gilbreath Principle, and may well haveput it on the Shadow Digest, but will probably not do so again. Enough!

obert E. Neale

Page 2 of 2Visions, The Online Journal of the Art of Magic

09/04/2012http://www.online-visions.com/effects/0702satan.html