Duffie's Card Compulsions

Recently dug out my copy of this brilliant tome by the one and only Peter Duffie – one of magic greatest thinkers with a pack of cards. I always love it when you re-discover something you already own and get the same buzz that you did the first time around – who needs to buy new books – just re-read the ones you’ve already got!

59 compulsions in 269 annoyingly wide pages (including a section on sleights) I’d say this is a must have book. Like all books on card tricks (except those by Roy Walton) there are a few items which I don’t really care for but overall the standard of the effects in this book is incredibly high.

Some favourites –

The Three Packet Shuffle – a great four ace opener in which you cut to three of the aces from a triumphed deck and find the last one in the centre face up – all the other cards have corrected themselves.

Mis-Read Palmistry – a bold version of Alex Elmsley’s “Between Your Palms” using the mis-show principle – brilliant.

Sherlock Never Married – the best royal marriages trick I’ve ever read – entertaining, baffling and with a kicker ending which fits the routine and patter perfectly.

Divisory Capacity – a classic Duffie trick – very easy to perform but devastatingly good – can also be used to fool magicians.

The Ultimate Truth – a lie detector trick using reverse plunger move. Very difficult to figure out and very entertaining.

Triggered Hofzinser – not as commerical as a lot of other routines but I like this purley because it uses a brilliant underused move – Roy Waltons “Trigger Move”.

Caprice – Two jokers in both pockets change places with two selected cards on the table – the cards are removed cleanly from each pocket. Uses a genius principle Duffie calls “Double Fantasy” – great to play with and with practise the trick would be a killer.

The sleights section contains some precious Duffie wisdom including a brilliant bold multiple shift – The Grift Shift – have yet to try this but I’m sure it works great.

Get this book while you can.

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