It all began with a piece called the "Ranch Bird", which bobbed and weaved in a circle until it stopped on a selected card. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon and came out with their own creation that did essentially the same thing. Today we have little cars that will stop on the selected card. Some are electronic in nature, others mechanical and the ones that I will describe which are nothing but more eye candy for the audience.

The series of pictures show different wind up toys that accomplish the same thing. The exception to the presentation that I have used for different occasions has to do with the change of characters. The rabbit was used in Easter time shows for example.

The robot works in trade show applications while the set of teeth were used in Nursing Home situations.

The bat is perfect for Halloween and the grizzly hand works for bizarre settings.

The pair of sneakers plays well with the younger crowd and the bird is for general audiences.

 The toy car is battery operated and has lights and a siren chip that sounds when activated by pressing down on the unit.

I must confess that this is about the only "card trick" as such that I ever performed with any regularity. I explained to the audience that the Magicians Union requires that one card trick be performed in every show or they will come and take away my wand. It covers a multitude of excuses why I don't do card magic.

I have recently added an electric toy which walks the path and when arriving at the selected card, barks and wags it's tail. Check the toy stores for this one. It is about four inches tall and uses two pen light batteries in the control at the end of it's leash.

I used no slight of hand with this presentation. I used a one way forcing deck. Every card is the same except for three or four on the face of the pack. The selected card was put back into the deck and the deck spread face down either ribbon spread or sometimes in a circle. The toy placed either in the circle, as is the case with the bird, or at one end of the runway of cards. Don't wind the toy too tightly as you only want it to go a short distance. Since the cards are all the same if it doesn't go to the middle of the spread it is OK. You are still going to perform a miracle or the toy will and you will get the credit.

My favorite is the small pair of shoes into which the index and second finger are inserted. These came from a doll shop and are tiny oxfords that have been fitted with a cylinder of white card stock to look like stockings. The led line at the top matches that of many athletic cotton stockings. In the U.S. there is a television commercial about letting your fingers do the walking through the Yellow Pages of the phone book and they use a set of shoes like these attached to someone's fingers and filmed them doing the walking. If a spectator is to do this some blue tack or other sticky substance must be placed at the bottom of the cylinder so the shoes will stay on someone else's fingers. It is just stupid enough to be cute and the ladies love this version for some reason. Takes them back to childhood I guess.

The pictures tell the story.

In the Craft,
Ed Solomon +++ Collector of the weird and maker of messes