Fourgone Conclusion
Reading time: 9 minutes
✨ Overview (TL;DR)
Date: 12 May 2010 (Updated 1 August 2026)
An impressive small-packet version of the ambitious card plot that uses any Ace, Two, Three, and Four.
- Effect Type: Ambitious Card
- Difficulty: ★★★☆☆ (Intermediate)
- Duration: 2-3 minutes
- Setup Time: None
- Reset Time: None required
- Props: A deck of playing cards
- Key Moves & Principles: Elmsley Count
Introduction
This small-packet ambitious card effect was directly inspired by David Britland’s “Fourlorn”, which was published on his Cardopolis blog in 2006. He recently returned to the trick in his newsletter of the same name (see “The Four Tops” in Cardopolis Newsletter #54).
| David Britland performing “The Four Tops”. Video Credit: David Britland from Cardopolis Newsletter #54. |
Coincidentally, in David’s new and improved handling, he makes the Four appear face up above a chosen card in the face-down deck, which is similar to what I’ve done with “Fourgone Conclusion”, albeit without the selection. I’ve provided a way, in Performance Tips & Additional Ideas, to include a freely selected card in the routine, so “Fourgone Conclusion” has the same magical plot as “The Four Tops”.
Effect
The magician removes the Ace, Two, Three and Four of Diamonds from the deck. The rest of the cards are discarded. The Ace of Diamonds is placed on the bottom of the packet but somehow jumps back to the top. The magician repeats this feat, first with the Ace, then with the Two and finally with the Three. The four cards are then placed under a spectator’s hand. The Four fails to rise to the top. It then vanishes from the pile, and reappears reversed in the middle of the pack.
Requirements & Preparation
No advanced preparation is required for this trick. All you need is a regular pack of playing cards. Additionally, if you would like the Four to be signed by a spectator, you will need a pen, such as a Sharpie marker. For one of the suggested alternative handlings, a card box will also be necessary.
Method & Presentation
Remove any Ace through Four from the deck—I prefer to use the Ace, Two, Three and Four of Diamonds—and arrange the cards in numerical order, with the Ace at the face of the packet, on top of the face-down deck. Spread the cards to display the four cards to your audience as you say, “For this trick, we will only be using these four cards.”
As you square the cards, create a break using your left little finger below the Three. Hold the top three cards in right-hand end grip. Keep your right hand stationary and swiftly rotate your left hand palm down, taking care not to reveal the face of the Four to your viewers. As soon as you have done this, release the three-card packet, dropping the cards onto the table.
To reposition the deck, start by holding it with your right-hand thumb and fingers, with the thumb on top and fingers below. Now, loosen your left hand’s grip on the pack and move it below the deck to return the cards to left-hand dealer’s grip.
Swing-cut the cards to secretly centre the face-down Four and then place the cards aside. Alternatively, you can perform a standard in-the-hands cut, transferring half the cards from the top to the bottom of the pack. If you prefer, you can also return the deck to the card box; this will make the re-appearance of the Four more impossible at the end of the routine.
Next, slide the three-card packet into left-hand dealer’s grip and then flip it face down. Display the Ace on the bottom of the packet by turning your right-hand palm up before transferring the cards to left-hand finger-tip rest. Elmsley Count the three cards as four, apparently bringing the Ace to the top of the packet. Double turnover to display the Ace on top. Everything appears copacetic.
Turn the double face down, then openly transfer the top card of the packet to the bottom. Snap your fingers once, then slowly turn the top card face up. The Ace has jumped back to the top of the packet.
Turn the Ace face-down and perform another Elmsley Count. This will give the impression that the Ace is now on the bottom of the packet. Next, snap your fingers, then turn the top card face-up to reveal that the Ace has, once again, risen to the top.
Holding the packet from above in end grip, use your left thumb to move the Ace to the bottom of the packet, revolving it face-down in the process. This is just a fancy way of displacing the top card to the bottom of the packet. However, you can turn the Ace face down and then place it on the bottom of the packet without using this flourish if you prefer a simpler approach.
Perform another double turnover to apparently display the Two on top. Repeat the turnover and openly move the “Two” to the bottom of the packet. Snap your fingers twice, and then turn the top card over to show that the Two has also magically jumped back to the top of the packet.
Thumb the Two to the bottom of the packet using the same technique as before. Perform another double turnover to display the Three on top. Turn the double face down, and then openly shift the top card to the bottom of the packet. This time, snap your fingers three times to make the card return to the top of the packet.
You’re now going to perform a third Elmsley Count to further prove that you have four cards when, in fact, you don’t! Start by counting the first three cards in the usual way. As you do this, say, “While it’s easy to do this trick with the Ace, Two and Three...” keeping the final card in your left hand. Then, flick the final card with your right thumb and say, “...the Four can be a little difficult.” Finally, slide the “Four” (which is actually the Three) under the two cards you’re holding in your right hand.
Carefully place the packet on the table and instruct a spectator to place her hand on top of the cards. Next, snap five times over her hand, as you say, “How many times did I snap? Oh dear, I think I messed up.” Have your participant lift her hand to discover that the Four has completely disappeared!
Take the deck of cards and spread it slowly to reveal a solitary face-down card. Remove it, holding it up to your chest. Then, turn it around to display the face of the Four to your audience. This will signal the end of the routine and, hopefully, prompt a round of applause.
Cleanup & Reset
None is required!
Performance Tips & Additional Ideas
Instead of ending with the Four reappearing reversed in the pack, you can produce it from your pocket. To do this, use David’s original handling for the trick. When you place the deck aside, put it in your left jacket pocket.
At the end of the routine, reach into your pocket and retrieve only the top card of the deck, leaving the rest of the cards concealed. Your audience will forget that you had the entire deck in your pocket. This clever subtlety is a Brother John Hamman idea.
Here’s an alternative method that doesn’t require the deck to be pocketed. Remove the four cards from the deck and place the talon on the table. Next, “look” for the card box on the table (a little bit of acting is required here). When you fail to locate it, put your left hand into your left jacket pocket and your right hand into your right jacket pocket. Thumb off the top card of the left-hand packet into your pocket. Remove the card box from your right jacket pocket. As the box comes into view, remove your left hand from your jacket pocket.
Finding the card box this way gives you the motivation to put both hands into your pockets and the opportunity to ditch the Four in a very subtle manner.
🔥 Hot Tip
It is possible to ditch the Four without actually putting your hand into your pocket, so long as your angles are good. Simply turn the left side of your body away from your audience as your left hand dips into your left pocket to retrieve the card box. This motion will obscure your left hand from view, giving you ample cover to slide the Four off the top of the packet and into your pocket. Another option is to retrieve a pen from your pocket so that the Four can be signed and use this action as an excuse to ditch the Four.
After you have made the Ace, Two and Three rise to the top of the packet, place all “four cards” (?) into the empty card box. This will isolate the cards and make the vanish more impressive. This idea was inspired by a handling of Vernon’s “Twisting the Aces” in Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz. Next, mime removing a card from the box and then tell your participant to open it to reveal the disappearance. Finally, produce the Four from your left jacket pocket.
Alternatively, if you wear a hat during your performance, you can palm the Four from your pocket and load it into your hat as you take it off. To do this, retrieve the card using a left-hand gambler’s cop and then transfer it to a right-hand full palm. This will free up your left hand to remove your hat, and your right hand can then reach into the interior and pretend to remove the card from it. This is my preferred ending to the trick.
Finally, if you’d like to perform “Fourgone Conclusion” so it better resembles David’s “The Four Tops” routine, there’s a fairly easy way to do that. Display the four cards on the face of the deck in 4-3-2-A order, with the Ace at the face. Spread the cards as you talk, taking the Ace, Two and Three in your right hand, and side-jogging the Four to your right. In one continuous action, return the three cards to the deck, sliding them underneath the Four, then flip all four cards face down (bookwise). This casual display shows the four cards in numerical order, but then displaces the Four to the bottom of the four-card packet, which is now face down on the face-up deck.
Spread the four face-down cards, as you say, “I don’t want you to pick one of these, so we’ll put them aside.” Square up, getting a little-finger break below the top three cards. Grasp the top three cards in right-hand end grip. Keep your right hand stationary and swiftly rotate your left hand palm down, taking care not to reveal the face-down card to your viewers. As soon as you have done this, release the three-card packet, dropping the cards onto the table. Reposition the deck by taking it with your right-hand thumb and fingers, with the thumb on top and fingers below. Now, loosen your left hand’s grip on the pack and move it below the deck, returning the cards to left-hand dealer’s grip.
You can now spread the cards, ask a spectator to select one in the usual way, then return it using a key card placement, such as the Hindu Shuffle (or a simple Swing Cut). This positions the face-up Four above the chosen card.
You can now carry on with the routine as described above, then reveal that the Four has appeared in the deck above the chosen card.
Background & Credits
The routine is based on a trick by David Britland called “Fourlorn”, which was published on his Cardopolis blog in 2006. However, it first appeared in Cardopolis Magazine and then was reprinted in Cardopolis by David Britland and Marc Russell in 1984. This book is still available as an ebook from Lybrary.com. It is well worth the modest asking price of $10.
David’s effect represents very clever thinking. For the lion’s share of the routine, he uses three cards instead of four. This makes the multiple double turnovers required during the routine very easy to do. The missing card also provides a strong finish (a very clean vanish of the Four).
I have made some minor improvements to the trick by removing a few unnecessary sleights. In addition, I have included a new feature where the Four is reproduced, reversed in the centre of the pack. This isn’t an original idea; David suggested this as an alternative ending in the original write-up for the trick.
To make the conclusion more theatrical, I have also changed the ending so that the Four vanishes from underneath the spectator’s hand. While I like the ending that David uses, I think having the magic happen in a spectator’s hand results in a more powerful effect. Finally, I have included several alternative ways to reproduce the Four, such as from a pocket or hat.
David revisited the trick, re-engineering it a little, in Cardopolis Newsletter #54. See “The Four Tops”.
Final Thoughts
The final sequence is much stronger if you get your volunteer to sign the Four at the beginning of the routine because this eliminates the possibility that you’re using a duplicate Four. Having the card signed is a good idea if you’re going to remove it from your hat. If not, you might as well have a duplicate Four in your hat to eliminate the need for any palming. The large area of white space in the middle of the card makes the signature highly visible, too.
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