INTRODUCTION

Trickshop.com is pleased to bring you this publication on

Floyd Shotts’ truly unique and baffling brand of card magic.
Many of these effects have the kind of twists and surprise
finishes that audiences really enjoy and find entertaining.
Yet, all are crafted from the most subtle of means with a
minimum of sleights, if any. As a result, any magician with
even basic card handling skills will be able to do these
tricks right away.

In addition, we’ve completely rewritten all of the explana-

tions for these effects to make them easier to follow and
learn than any descriptions which exist in the literature.

We hope you will enjoy “Taking a Few SHOTTS” the next

time you pick up a deck of cards.

NOTE: You’ll find Mr. Shotts’ original title for each effect, where known,
in parenthesis directly underneath our new titles.

© COPYRIGHT 2019 - 2023 BY TRICKSHOP.COM.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOTT
(Happy Birthday by Magic)

EFFECT: You hand a shuffled deck of cards to a spectator, asking him to place the deck behind
his back and move one card from the top to the bottom of the deck for whatever month his
birthday is in (from one to twelve cards). For example, January is the first month, February
the second, March the third, etc. He stops transferring cards whenever he reaches his birth-
day month.

The spectator then hands you back the deck, which you shuffle before placing it behind your
own back. You explain that you will bring one card at a time from behind your back and the
spectator is to again, count each card as a month, starting with January. When you arrive at
the card that represents the his birthday month, he is to first say, “STOP,” and then point his
hand at the card you are holding like it’s a pistol and say “BANG!” as if he is firing a gun.

He does so and when you turn the card you are holding around, it is the Joker with the words,
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY.” It also has a “bullet hole” in the center!

METHOD/PREP: The Joker has “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” written on it and a small hole is burned
through the card. Place this card on the bottom of the deck. The cards can easily be over-
hand or riffle shuffled without disturbing it. Let us assume the spectator’s birthday is in April.
He moves four cards, one card at a time, from the top to the bottom of the deck. When you
receive the deck back from the spectator, give it a quick shuffle – taking care to leave the
bottom quarter of the deck or so, intact. Place the deck behind your back and as soon as it is
out of view, move one card from the bottom to the top. You’re all set. You now take one card
at a time from the bottom of the deck and bring it forward with the back of the card to the
audience. When you reach the Joker, the spectator will stop you. Hold your finger over the
hole in the card to conceal it. After the spectator pretends to “fire” at the card, flip it around
and show it to the surprise of all!

A FANTASTIC SHOTT
(Shotts’ Fantastic Effect)

You’ll need two spectators for this next effect. We’ll assume you are using a young man and
woman as your helpers. First have the young man helping you shuffle the deck and then cut
the cards anywhere he likes. Have him place the cut off portion against his chest, so no one
can see the card he selected.

Next, ask the young lady helping you to cut off some cards from the remaining portion of
the deck. Have her secretly count the number of cards she took. Turning back to your male

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helper say, “Please look at the card you cut and remember it, then place your cards on top
of the young lady’s pile. You know it is impossible for me to know what card you cut, or even
how many cards the young lady had, as these cards are now all together.”

Continue, “Miss, I want you to concentrate on the number of cards you cut off. Think of it as
a number with a mystic circle around it. I will place these cards behind me.” Take the newly
assembled packet (with both spectators’ cut portions, his on top of hers) and place it behind
your back. “I will count off the numbers 1, 2, 3, and so on. When I reach your number with the
mystic circle, please stop me.”

One at a time, bring cards forward until she says “Stop.” Ask her to touch the back of the card.
“Did you get any psychic impression as to what this card is?” Whatever her reply, place the
card in your pocket. Now, point to your business card on the table. It has been in full view the
whole time. Ask her to turn it over. It says, “You will stop at the Nine of Hearts.” Reach into
your pocket and remove the card. It is the Nine of Hearts.

Turning your attention back to the young man helping you, say, “You are thinking of the card
at which you cut. It would be impossible for me to know the name of that card. Isn’t that
right? Let’s see if we can get it by TELEPATHY. Close your eyes and concentrate as hard as
you can on your card. I get the impression your card is a red card...a diamond...yes, it’s getting
clearer now...the Three of Diamonds. Is that correct?” (It is.)

“Will you kindly take your card out of the deck? What’s that...you can’t find it?” You openly
reach into your pocket and remove a card. It is the missing Three of Diamonds!

METHOD: Before you perform the effect, write on the back of your business card, “You will
stop at the Nine of Hearts” and place the Nine of Hearts in your pocket. When you place the
cards behind your back, while the young lady in concentrating on her number in the mystic
circle (the number of cards she cut off); move the bottom card to the top (as in the Happy
Birthday Shott effect). Now take the cards from the bottom of the deck and bring them for-
ward, one by one, until she says “Stop.” Ask her to guess what the card is and without show-
ing it to her, place it in your pocket. Glimpse this card which is actually the young man’s card.
Have her read your prediction and remove the Nine of Hearts you had in your pocket all along.
You’re now all set to reveal the card the man took. Have him look for it, only to discover it’s
missing, before removing the card from your pocket for the incredible, surprise finish!

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 A SYMPATHETIC SHOTT
(What a Coincidence!)

Here’s another effect with two helpers. You begin by jotting something down on a slip of pa-
per, which you fold up and leave in plain sight on the table. Next, you have a card selected and
returned to the deck. You ask the spectator to remember his card and hand him the pack to
shuffle. The deck is returned to you and you proceed to fan the cards to yourself – studying
the selector’s face and the cards, as if trying to read his mind. You then place the deck behind
your back and cut some cards off. These are fanned and a second spectator is allowed to
mentally select any one he sees. You drop the fanned cards on top of deck, and cut the pack
several times. You now attempt to divine the second spectator’s thoughts – studying the
cards and the spectator’s face.

Next, the deck is dealt into six, face-up piles. As you deal the cards, you ask each spectator to
silently note which pile their respective cards fall into, but not to say anything. You now take
the first spectator’s hand and slowly pass it over each pile. Suddenly, you sense a vibration
and his hand stops. The spectator admits that his card is in that pile.

All of the piles are turned face down and you turn your back, instructing the second spectator
NOT to touch his pile or the first spectator’s, but to pick up all of the remaining cards from the
other four piles and shuffle them together. Once this is done, he cuts the shuffled cards into
two halves. Each spectator puts his face-down pile on one of the halves. You ask them to
turn up their cards, one at a time in unison, until you say “Stop.” When you do, they are both
holding their selected cards. Someone now reads your prediction slip. It says, “You will both
turn up your thought of card at the same time.”

METHOD: The first spectator’s card is forced. You can use whatever method you prefer. This
can be as simple as having the force card on top and performing a Cross Cut Force. To use this
method, have the spectator cut the deck anywhere he likes and then place the bottom half
on top of the cut-off half, sideways to “mark the cut.” Create a little time misdirection, then
lift off the top half and allow him to take the top card of the bottom half. This is, of course,
the former top card of the deck which you knew beforehand.

After the card is forced, allow the spectator to shuffle the cards. We’ll assume you forced the
Queen of Hearts. Take back the shuffled deck and fan the cards to yourself, apparently study-
ing the faces of the cards and the first spectator’s face. What you are really doing is finding
the Queen of Hearts and bringing it to the top of deck. Place the deck behind your back and
remove five cards from the bottom. Fan these and allow a spectator to mentally select one of
them, then drop them on top of the deck. This places the force card (QH) sixth from the top
of the deck.

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The spectator is now allowed to cut the deck several times. Take back the deck and fan
them to yourself, studying the cards and the second spectator apparently trying to divine his
thoughts as well. This time, what you actually do is position the force card 24th from the top.
This process also places the five cards (one of which the spectator mentally selected) above
the force card (19th thru 23rd from the top).

Deal the deck into six face-up piles. Each pile in the fourth face-up row will have one of the
six cards (the QH plus the five mental selection cards). You will see what pile the force card
goes into, which is the pile you stop the first spectator’s hand over when there is apparent-
ly a vibration. The first spectator confirms that his card is in that pile. Next, turn all six piles
face down, turn your back, and instruct the second spectator to pick up all of the piles EX-
CEPT the one with his card and the pile with the other spectator’s card. He gathers all of the
other cards and shuffles them, then cuts them into two halves. It doesn’t matter how many
cards are in each. Each spectator now places the face-down pile with their card in it on top
of one of the halves. The chosen cards are fourth from the top in their respective piles. Have
the spectators deal their cards, face up, in unison. As soon as you see the force card, you say
“Stop,” and know that the other card showing will be the second spectator’s thought of card.
Slip is opened and says both will turn up their thought of card at the same time.

ONE SHOTT AHEAD

(Jack and Joe from Idaho)

As with the last effect, Floyd Shott often combined written predictions with his card mag-
ic and in many cases would work “one ahead.” This next effect is one of the best and most
direct examples of his work in this regard. It’s quite bold, but Mr. Shott said it played very well
for lay audiences.

You’ll need two helpers for this one and in keeping with Mr. Shott’s original description of the
effect, we’ll call them Jack and Joe. Start by ribbon spreading the cards on the table and ask-
ing Jack to think of any card he sees. Study his face for a moment, then jot down a prediction
on a slip of paper. This is folded and given to a third spectator to pocket for safekeeping or
dropped in an empty glass. Now have Jack push out the card he was thinking of and give it to
the third spectator to put in his pocket as well. Pick up the cards and shuffle them, directing
attention to your other helper, Joe. Riffle the pack until Joe says “Stop,” and break the deck at
that point – lifting the top half so that Joe can see the bottom card of that half, the card he
stopped on.

Hand the pack to Joe to shuffle. You ask Joe to concentrate on his card and attempt to divine
his thoughts – writing something on another slip of paper. Give this folded slip of paper to
the third spectator to pocket, then have Joe remove his card from the pack and also hand it

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to the third spectator, who now has two folded slips of paper and two playing cards in his
pocket. You talk about minds in tune, experiments in mental telepathy, and then ask the third
spectator to remove the slips of paper and cards from his pocket. One slip reads “Jack” and
lists Jack’s card. The other slip reads “Joe” and lists Joe’s card. In both cases, you wrote the
name of the person and the card, before the person’s card was known, so according to Mr.
Shott, it creates a great deal of talk.

METHOD: The deck is spread on the table face up and Jack is asked to think of a card. You
study Jack’s face and then write on a slip of paper which is then folded. On the slip, you ac-
tually write the name, “Joe,” and the last card in the spread (bottom card of deck). Hand your
slip to the third spectator who places it in his pocket. Jack is told to push his card out of the
deck and the spectator places it in his pocket (so now know the card). Picking up the cards,
you direct your attention to Joe. You’re now going to force the bottom card (you wrote on the
first slip). Here is Floyd Shotts’ description of his handling:

“The deck is held face down and the bottom card is slid back. Magi riffles the deck with the
right thumb traveling toward the floor and the cards springing upward. Joe says “stop” and
the right fingers pull the bottom half of the deck out while the bottom card of the deck slips
to the bottom of the top half of the deck. Then Joe is shown the card and he then shuffles all
of the cards.”

A Hindu (Shuffle) Force is also an easy way to force the bottom card. Holding the deck from
overhead with the right hand, simply draw off a series of packets from the top of the deck
into the waiting right hand. When the spectator stops you, the right hand simply turns up and
shows the bottom card. Drop the cards in the right hand on those in the left, and hand Joe the
deck to shuffle.

Now pretend to divine Joe’s thoughts and write something on another slip of paper and fold it
up. On the slip, you have actually written “Jack” and Jack’s card, which you have known since
he removed it from the spread earlier. This slip is also given to the third Spectator to place in
his pocket with the other slips. Joe picks out his card which is also placed in the third Specta-
tor’s pocket.

You’re now all set to build up to the big climax and revelations.

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 TIME SHOTT
(Based Upon Two Minds as One)

The following effect is a variation of a Floyd Shott effect, “Two Minds as One.” Ask a specta-
tor to visualize in his mind any hour on a clock (1 – 12). Then have him place the deck behind
him and take cards one at a time from the top of the deck and place them on bottom until he
counts to the hour he is thinking of. At that point, he is to stop and after holding the last card
for a moment, shove it anywhere into the deck, square up the pack and hand it back to you.
You immediately shuffle the deck several times.

You and the spectator now turn back to back and each draw a clock face on a card. You ask
him to draw both hands of the clock showing the exact hour he was thinking of and to con-
firm when he has done this. He concentrates on his time and you explain that you will try to
visualize his clock drawing in your own mind. After a moment or two, you draw the hands in
on your card. You both turn around and face each other again. After he shows his card, you
dramatically turn yours around to reveal you have the same time drawn in on your clock!

METHOD: Arrange the Ace thru Queen of Spades in order (Ace face up, followed by 2-3-4-5-
6-7-8-9-10-J-Q). Turn this 12-card stack face down and place on top of the deck, then place
any card on top. The cards will now read from top down, indifferent card, then Ace to Queen.
Now when the spectator, transfers one card at a time from the top to the bottom, the card
left on the top of the deck will indicate the hour he had in mind (1 – 10, or J = 11, Q = 12).
When the deck is handed back to you, all you have to do is retain the top card and glimpse at
some point while shuffling to destroy the spade stack. Or, you can overhand shuffle the top
card to the bottom and glimpse. The rest is showmanship.

MISSED SHOTT
(Original Title Unknown)

Floyd Shott felt his audiences enjoyed this effect more than any other card trick he did. He
added, it helped to be a little bit of an actor to really “sell” it.

Start by dribbling the cards from your right hand into your left, and ask a someone to call
“Stop.” A person does and you break the deck at that point, lifting up the upper half. Everyone
sees the bottom card of top half and remembers it. Let’s say it’s the Ten of Clubs. You shuffle
the cards.

Now, holding the faces of the cards to the audience, you say, “I will show you these cards one
at a time. If you see your card say nothing, just think “That’s my card.” Show bottom card and
deal it onto the floor (or table top). Raise the deck again and show the bottom card. People

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see it is the Ten of Clubs – their card. You turn the cards face down and deal the Ten of Clubs
on floor, they think. Now, keeping the deck face down, you proceed to quickly pull cards out
from the bottom, show them and tossing onto the floor. The audience quickly loses interest
as they know the Ten of Clubs is on the floor. Finally pull out a card, say the Eight of Hearts,
from bottom of deck. Tip it up and say, “Ahhh, here it is, the 8 of Hearts!” Then bring it out of
the deck holding it face down.

Audience: “That’s, not it!”

You: “Where is it?” (Apparently crestfallen.)

Audience: “On the floor!”

You: “What card was it?”

Audience: “Ten of Clubs!”

You: “In that case, I’ll need some real magic. Watch!”

You snap the card and turn it around – it’s now the Ten of Clubs!

The audience grabs for the cards on the floor, and they’re amazed the Ten of Clubs they saw
earlier is no longer there.

METHOD: Dribble cards from right hand into left. When they say “Stop,” turn up top half
showing bottom card of top half. At the same time, pull back top card of bottom portion in
left hand with left thumb, injogging it. Drop top cards on deck. Right thumb goes under deck
pushing up on injogged card. Cards underneath injogged card are shuffled to top. The card
looked at is now second card from bottom. Show bottom card and deal it onto floor. Raise
deck up again and show second card. It’s their card. Turn deck face down, perform the Glide
(drawing back the selected card), and pull out card underneath face down and toss to the
floor. Leave selected card secretly drawn back under deck and pull out a few more cards, one
at a time – showing each, before tossing face down to floor. Pull out one last card, look at it
and remark that this is their card (whatever it is).

Holding this (incorrect) card in the right hand, use your left little finger to push the select-
ed card square with the deck underneath. As the audience begins to inform you that you’re
wrong and that’s not the card they chose, bring your hands together and bottom change the
incorrect card for the selected one under the deck. This exchange only takes a moment and
is facilitated by placing your right forefinger on top of the card, so you can easily draw out

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 the selected card (above) and leave the incorrect card on the bottom of the pack. No one is
looking for this and no one ever sees the switch. Needless to say, there is ample cover and
misdirection at this point. All that remains is to flick the face-down card with your free
middle finger and cause it to “magically change” into the correct card.

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