Twisted Sisters by John Bannon

This was one of the first packet tricks I purchased after I moved to the USA in 1990 and it is still amazing today as it was then.

Effect: Two packets of face-down cards are shown, each four cards. One packet is red-backed and the other blue. A spectator selects the red packet or the blue packet. Whichever one he picks is used. The spectator is asked to imagine his packet consists of four face-down queens. He then thinks of any one of the four queens – a totally free choice. A second spectator now concentrates on the other four-card packet and is allowed to think of a different queen.

Without touching the cards, the performer claims he has caused the two selections to transpose (trade places). The first spectator names his card, the performer spreads the packet, and the queen he merely thought-of is reversed face up in the packet! This astounding feat is repeated with the second spectator’s queen! It’s an absolute miracle!

BUT IT’S NOT OVER YET! The performer points out that if each spectator’s queen really traveled across, then the backs (color) of the selected queens would have also traveled across. The face-up queen in the red packet is turned over – it has a blue back! Now the face-up queen in the blue packet is turned over – it has a red back! The effect is truly unbelievable!

BUT IT’S NOT OVER YET! The performer points out that it is interesting the two spectators selected the particular two queens they did… BECAUSE THE REST OF THE CARDS AREN’T QUEENS – THEY’RE JOKERS! And you turn them all face up to prove it! Let’s cut to the chase. How many ‘moves’ does the routine require? NOT EVEN ONE! No sleight-of-hand is necessary. The method is simple and elegant, the plot is clear and concise, and the effect is about as close to real magic as you can get!

In A-1 Multimedia’s first foray into the trick arena, two packets of cards, one red and the other blue, are placed on the table face down. The performer, claiming that both packets each contain four queens, asks a spectator to choose a packet. The other packet is assigned to another spectator.

The first participant is asked to name a queen. The other is asked to name a queen of a contrasting color. The performer then claims that he has made the queens change places. The first packet is spread to show the second spectator’s queen face up; the other is spread to show the first spectator’s queen face up. The queens are then turned over to prove the performer’s claim; both queens have contrasting back colors. To finish, the remaining six cards are all shown to be jokers.

This trick has been unfairly described as “two B’Wave’s stuck together.” I must disagree wholeheartedly, though I have to confess a fondness and preference for the simplicity of Mr. Goldstein’s creation. Mr. Bannon’s trick does bear a methodological common ground with B’Wave, but its presentational framework is totally different. B’Wave is a feat of mental magic and should be presented as such. Twisted Sisters is a card trick and I mean nothing disparaging when assigning that term to it.

I have gotten wonderful but different reactions to both effects and, while I wouldn’t recommend doing both of them in the same set, I think that both could find a place in a performer’s repertoire, each to be used when the the occasion calls for it.

(Jim Sisti – The Magic Menu, May/June 1994)
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