Historical information:

As advertised in 1909:

"One of the card hits of the century,

the nearest approach to the
supernatural yet discovered, a
spectator looks at any card in the deck
and suite name, etc., is found written on
a piece of paper in a sealed envelope in
another spectator's possession."
Monte Cristo Pack or ("Peerless Monte Cristo Cards") is a forcing deck developed by
Henry Hardin, produced by Theodore DeLand and put on the market in December
1908.

A later development of the deck was the Telomatic Deck and was an early version of
the Tossed Out Deck.

References:
• Edwards Monthly, Vol. 1. No. 1, Feb 1909
• 202 Methods of Forcing by Theodore Annemann (1933)
• Conjurers' Magazine, Vol 1, No. 1 , Feb, 1945

The CARDMAKER Monte Cristo Deck Information Version 2 - January 2011

Copyright © 2011 CardMaker/Bernd Maucksch. All rights reserved. Unauthorized distributing and/or
copying by any means is strictly prohibited.
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The CARDMAKER Monte Cristo Deck Your notes

What is it?
A unique deck of ordinary looking Bicycle Riderback 808© poker playing cards,
which has been printed in a very special way. It was offered for the first time in 1903
by a fellow called Henry Hardin - at least, that's what "The Jinx" wrote in an article
dated 1940. Same and similar decks were sold from time to time up to now under the
following names: Monte Cristo Deck (N. Lester, Bicycle© cards), Dr. Kersten Magic
Deck (Dr. Peter Kersten, non-Bicycle© version, but 3 indices), Mastermind Deck (C.
Kenworthey, now Bicycle© cards) and last not least the CARDMAKER Monte Cristo
Deck (Bicycle© cards).
I never claimed to be the inventor of this deck; but since I took the pain to have it
made by the United States Playing Card Company, I felt free to call it the
CARDMAKER Monte Cristo Deck. No one should be offended now!

What can I do with it?

Have a look at the 2 photos below - This is the same deck!
The cards on picture A. are spread this way, the cards on picture B.are simply spread
the other way. Look for the orientation of the Joker!

A.

B.
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© ACAAN No. 1467 (Jan Forster) The secret

… not yet translated. Will be available as a seperate future download. Each and every card, except for the 2 regular Jokers and the regular forcing card
(the 2 of Diamonds), is printed mis-indexed. Just look at the photo to understand it:

Now let's do a basic trick with it!

Pull out the deck, but leave the lowermost card (2D with blank back) in the case, it is
not needed now.
Fan the deck face-up to show all 52 different cards in perfect factory order. Place the
prediction card (the blank card with the question mark on ist back) onto the table,
?-side up of course. Turn the deck bookwise face down and do some real overhand
shuffling. Fan it again face-down and let the spectator freely(!) choose a card by
sliding it out a bit. Show this card (by covering the wrong index) to your audience and
let the spectator turn over the prediction card.

They do match! Each and every time.

That's only one very simple trick among the countless possibilities of your
CARDMAKER Monte Cristo Deck.

Now enjoy & explore this booklet!

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Handling this deck © The Misbehaving Card (Jim Patton)

Due to the way it is gimmicked, you can not show any of the cards in full-face, except Remove the deck from the box, face up. 2D is the first card, on top, with the Joker on
for the regular forcing card (the 2 of Diamonds) and the 2 regular Jokers. When the the face. The Joker stays on the face of the deck.
deck is face up, you need to have at least 1 regular card on top to hide the card's face Say „Oh, darn it. I brought the wrong deck. I wanted to show you a good card trick,
below – you guess it: always keep one or both Jokers on the top! but I can’t use this deck. It has a ’Misbehaving card’ in it. It’s the two of Diamonds.”
Spread the deck face up. „See, there is, the 2D, right on top. I can’t get it to stay
And always shuffle the deck face down! One of the regular cards in this deck is then anywhere else. It always comes to the top.”
automatically the face down bottom card and this card can easily be controlled during Give the deck a nice fan-spread.
an overhand shuffle to remain the face down bottom card. Slide the 2D out, face up and square the deck. Turn the deck face down by turning it
Now when the deck is turned over face up again, the regular card is still on top! front edge to the rear (not like turning the page of a book).
Then you can spread or fan the shuffled deck. „Here let me show you how it misbehaves.“ Count off 3 cards, place the 2D on top of
the deck and put the 3 cards on top of it. Square up the deck. „See, it is there already!“
The spectator's selected card should be displayed as seen on the photos below: (card 1) Pick up the top card with thumb and first finger and do a „snap turnover,‟
hiding the fake indices with the thumb. Show the 2D.

„Here, watch. I’ll put the card further down“ (about 1/3 of the way). Slide it in, face
down, and square up. (card 2). Wait a few seconds and then say, „It is already back on
top.“ Pick up the top card and do a „snap turnover,‟ showing the 2D.

„Now, watch. I will put it way down here, near the bottom.“
Insert the mis-indexed end and leave the card sticking out. Pick up the deck (Joker on
the face). Show clearly, where the 2D is and slowly slide the 2D flush. (card 3) Put the
deck down, give it some time and then ask someone if they think it will be on top
Your thumb or your index finger covers the false index. again. Whatever the answer, ask them to take the top (real 2D) card off of the deck.
This is … and … looks natural. Leave it face up on the table. „I’ll tell you what. Just to prove there is no ’trickery ’
being used, what if you signed that card, we put it way down in the deck and it came
up to the top, all by itself. Would you be amazed?“ Hand them a magic marker and
say, „OK, go ahead and sign it.”

BUT, before they can do anything, stop them and say „Wait a minute, do you want to
sign just that one card“ – (pick up the deck and end-for-end it, to face up, and give it a
really wide / long ribbon spread as you say) – „or would you like to sign the other 51
cards too?“

Enjoy the reaction!

When shuffling the deck, you must keep the orientation of the false indices; they must I have watched some of the best card men, at the Magic Castle, and their jaws nearly
always be in the same direction. Once you internalized that, you can do a tabled riffle hit the floor, when Jim spread the deck – showing all 2D's. Afterward, they would tell
shuffle, a Hindu shuffle, and so on. Jim, “When the hell did you switch decks ? I didn‟t see you do it !!!
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© The Vanished Card (Joe Fox) Tips and recommendations

Using a 2 of Diamonds force card, for example: © The Jokers
*Instead of a Joker on the bottom, I like to have either a 5H or a 7H on the bottom; and Some of you prefer not to have any Jokers in their decks – no problem at all! Just
I use it‟s center heart pip as my guide as to how to orientate the deck for the spectator. remove any of the false indexed cards (I would choose a spot card; no court card and
For me, if the “point” of the center heart points to me, I know the deck is safe to spread no Ace) and replace it with the matching card from a regular deck. Now you have a
or fan face-up to the spectators. Of course, beforehand, remove the fake 2D/5H card or regular card on top of any gimmicked card's face.
2D/7H card from the deck, to avoid duplicate cards in the deck. Also, having a full-
face card visible on the bottom – is a subtle way of showing that all of the cards are © No regular 2 of Diamonds at all?
normal (wink, wink). Yes, get rid of it! A missing 2 of Diamonds will always go unnoticed when showing
the deck; either shuffled or in new-deck order. Remember: your spectator will select
FOR AN INSTANT VANISH OF A SELECTED CARD: the 2 of Diamonds whatever he picks!

After "the" card is freely selected & shown to the spectators, & shuffled….spread face- © How can/should the prediction be made?
up cards and comment that you‟re having trouble finding their card. Have them help Use a written prediction. Use a matching but odd backed card. Or, as you already may
you look for it too as you spread the cards face-up…their card is gone! have discovered, the CARDMAKER Monte Cristo Deck comes with 2 extra cards:
Since there are 51 cards in the deck (because you removed the regular 2D a blank backed 2 of Diamonds where you can write the word PREDICTION or similar
beforehand)….a spectator can count the face-up cards as you slowly spread them, or on it's back; and a 2 of Diamonds with a big question mark on it's otherwise blank
count the face-down cards as you deal them onto the table. Where‟s their card? ..in back.
your Sand Frame, of course! Or wherever you like it to reappear.

Idea: Also disgard the fake 2D/2H and replace it with a real 2H. As you spread the
cards face-up in your hands and can‟t find their card…have them name their card (the
2D), and you say “Mmm, you're sure it wasn‟t the 2 of Hearts” – at which point you
separate the deck at the real 2H – showing it‟s full face to the spectators (another
subtlety that your deck is legitimate). Highly unlikely that a spectator will select the Place the chosen card face down onto the top of the prediction card as shown on the
face-down real 2H, but have an “out” just in case. left photo below. The photo on the right is only meant to show you the orientation of
the gimmicked card.

Now turn the 2 cards together face up (like you would turn a page from a book) and
you will have this setup on the table:

If you had X-Ray eyes, you would see the hidden portion of the gimmicked card.
See photo on the right.
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Of course you can use any odd backed 2 of Diamonds as your prediction card; if it has Routines
no red back, the better. Just use what you feel comfortable with! © One Way Forcing Deck
You can't do a cleaner force!
Want some more? This deck can always be shown to be a full deck of 52 different cards + the 2 Jokers.
Look at the tuck case, under the barcode on the bottom of the case you can read Start with it in new-deck order, so it is easier to convince the spectator that these are
"2 OF DIAMONDS" really 52(54) different cards! Do not underestimate this fact! Shuffle the cards face-
down. Turn the deck face-up again if you wish, to show that the deck is now well
mixed. As long as there is a regular card (e.g. a Joker) on top of the deck! Now let the
spectator choose a card:
- by saying Stop, when you deal the cards face-down onto the table
- by having him slide out a card from the face-down fan
- by saying a number between 1 and 52(54) - just deal the cards face down to that
number on the table
Isn't that cool dude? -…

© Easy controlling the force card © Koran Style (Joe Fox)

Cut the short side of the yet ungimmicked force card or its corners slightly OR glue Use only half of the CARDMAKER Monte Cristo Deck: (26 cards): make your own
any other card on its back to get a thick card. Now you should be able to control that stacked deck stacked with every other card being a Monte Cristo force card (2nd, 4th,
special card within the deck with ease. 6th, 8th, and so on. From top of the deck). Thus, show all of the faces at the start, and
then do a “Koran prediction deck routine”. The spectator deals the cards face-down
Please do not… onto table and stops at ANY card. If the card stopped at is an “odd” or “even” number
- you‟ll know if the gimmicked Monte Cristo card is on the table OR in the spectator‟s
© Don't show all the cards to be the same; like one can do with a Svengali Deck.
hand. That's clever!
THIS kills this deck!
Now before revealing the Monte Cristo card, fully turn over the cards “just before” and
© When doing a riffle shuffle, don't upset the correct direction of the false indices.
“just after” the stopped-at card (showing their full faces). Then, reveal the Monte
Or you are in a mess!
Cristo card and see if it matches your prediction – which it should!
© Don‟t perform Torn & Restored Card.
I can‟t think of a cleaner version than this.
Sure you could do that. I'd be glad to sell you another CARDMAKER Monte Cristo
Deck.
©“Koran Deck Prediction” Effect:
The spectator holds the face-down deck in their hands and deals the cards face-down
Final Thoughts
until he/she wants to stop. That card is placed aside, as you then fan-spread the deck
I made a lot of research regarding this deck and its similarities. But I bet I haven't face-up and remind them that they could have stopped at any card, etc. A different
revealed all what can be done with it. So if you have additional ideas and routines, and colored-back card on table is shown to match their card, etc.
you want to share these for free, drop me an email and I can add yours to the routines As a subtlety…I have a thick, but otherwise regular 5H card (thanks, Neil) somewhere
in this booklet as an additional download. near the top of the deck. As I demonstrate how to hold the cards and how to deal – I
I gave credits where I could. And I apologize for not having given credits because lack deal several face-down cards onto the table…and I stop when I feel the thick card, and
of knowledge – or my ignorance ;-) I turn it face-up on the table, saying something like “you can stop anytime you want,
like this”. The thick card is then placed on the bottom of the deck (I make sure it‟s
„center heart‟ is orientated correctly for me to know which end of the deck is which).
Magically Yours, Also, because it‟s face is unfaked…and it being seen openly on the bottom of the deck
– is a subtle suggestion that all of the cards are legit.
CARDMAKER/Bernd Maucksch Instead of the thick card – you can also just “secretly mark” a regular card (but a thick
card is great for low-lighting conditions & poor eye-sight).