Any Card at Any Number (ACAAN)

The May issue of MagicSeen included a feature on the Any Card at Any Number plot – which is something I have been slightly obsessed with for a while now. It traced a little of the history of the effect (in the UK and probably further afield permanently associated with the name David Berglas who’s trademark effect has almost become the thing of legend) and included reviews of a number of the modern versions of this effect, and a slightly updated version of Marc Paul’s marketed version (Affected by Berglas – available at Kaymar Magic).

Well known cardman and very nice man, David Britland, has done a lot of thinking about this effect, and if you search his website (well worth a look any way; search on ‘not the Berglas effect’) you will find some stimulating stuff. If you ask him nicely he may still be supplying a free pdf on the effect which he has produced, but I think the offer is officially over now.

Neither of these articles mentioned Barrie Richardson’s impromptu method, which, for my money, is one of the best solutions to this I have seen. Barrie always routines things well, so that the couple of ‘moves’ in his solution are brilliantly covered in the routining. I love it and think it is well worth a look (if you are in the US you can get it here for $24 Impromptu Card at Any Number; if you are in the UK, it is £14.99 here – UK Link).

If you do the effect or have any ideas on it, I’d be glad to hear them.