Supplies You Need
• An ordinary deck of cards
Setup
Find the four Jacks from the deck of cards and take them out. Now take any four cards and put them behind the Jack closest to you. They must never show to the audience, who will be directly in front of you
How to Perform Do this trick quickly, and tell the story to the audience so they are entertained and do not focus on how you are doing the trick.
Picture 1
Picture 2After setting up the cards, fan out the four Jacks, keep the other cards hidden behind the Jack, and show the Jacks to the audience. (See Picture 2)
Start to tell the story of the 'Four Robbers.' Say, "There were once four robbers who were caught and sent to jail. But no matter what the guards did, they kept escaping. No jail could hold them. This deck of cards represents the jail."
Fold up all the cards in your hand and place them on the top of the deck, face-down. Continue with the story. "The first robber escaped and the guards couldn't find him." Take the top card (which is not a Jack) and put it all the way into the deck, towards the bottom. Keep the face of the card hidden from the audience as you do this.
Now say, "The second robber got out in the middle of the night and the guards chased him until the morning when he finally got away." Take the top card and put it all the way into the deck somewhere in the middle. "The third robber dug a hole and got out of the jail while the guards thought he was inside." Take the top card again and put it all the way into the deck near the middle. Say, "The fourth robber disguised himself as a guard and walked right out past them." Again move the top card into the deck.
Now finish the story and the trick. "A few days later, the guards got lucky. They were searching in a nearby town and-- what do you know? All four robbers were caught together!" As you say this, tap the deck and take the first four cards one by one and place them on the table, face up so everyone can see that they are the four Jacks!