Jokers Diary By Steve Cook MERLINS EXCLUSIVE

You display a pocket diary and a deck of cards. You ask a spectator to think of and name ANY date, of some personal significance to them (birthday, anniversary etc.) You remove the deck from its case and run through to find the joker while you explain that everyone will have significant, favourite date. However, it is not so well known that everyone also has a significant, favourite playing card. Here you openly reverse the joker and stick it face down, randomly into the face up deck. The joker is left protruding from the deck and remains in view. The spectator is handed the diary to examine, they will find that there is a random playing card written alongside every date in the diary. The spectator finds their selected date but keeps the card a secret for now. You ask the spectator to confirm that the playing card would have been totally different if they had selected the date before or after the one they selected. When they confirm this you ask them to name the card written by their freely selected date. When they do you draw their attention back to the isolated joker. The joker is cleanly removed and slowly turned over….it is now the very card found by the spectators selected date!!

This effect does not require any difficult sleight of hand. No forcing, no counting, genuine free selection of date, different card every time, only one diary is used.