What is TOCATON?

TOCATON, the word, is an acronym for "thought-of card at thought-of number." It's pronounced "talk-a-ton." The word was coined by Nick Conticello to describe his new approach to the classic David Berglas effect "Any Card at Any Number." Nick feels the word is more descriptive of his effects because he does limit the choice of numbers and the choice of cards. But his approach has the virtues of speed of presentation and lack of preparation. Like most of his published work, TOCATON can be performed impromptu, with any reasonably complete pack of cards.

TOCATON, the e-book, contains four effects utilizing this approach. Each effect is slightly different, but "TOCATON for Two" is representative of the lot.

TOCATON for Two

Effect: Working with a borrowed, shuffled deck, the performer asks two volunteers to assist in an experiment of imagination. Each volunteer is requested to think of a number from ten to twenty, one an odd number, the other an even number. Five cards are shown to the person who chose an odd number, and she is asked to link her number with one of the cards. Six other cards are shown to the volunteer who chose an even number. He also links his number with a card. At no time does the performer see the faces of any cards, nor are the cards tampered with. The deck is assembled and mixed by the performer.

The performer notes that after all the mixing, it is extremely unlikely that the mentally chosen cards have arrived at the positions equal to the numbers the volunteers chose. He asks the volunteers to imagine the cards arriving at the chosen numbers. After a brief pause, the performer openly and cleanly counts to the chosen numbers and removes the cards that fall at those positions. The spectators turn the cards face up and they are the mentally chosen cards!

Two effects in the book are mathematical, two effects are based on simple sleight-of-hand. Two effects are performed for one selector, two others may be performed for more than one person simultaneously. All the effects break new ground, and will be of interest to magicians and mentalists alike.

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