Make the box
Take the empty tuck box. On the back face (the side without the window or main logo, if your box has one), cut a small hole about the size of a fingertip, centered horizontally and about a third of the way up from the bottom. This side always faces you. Ask an adult to help with the knife if you are younger than the knife.
- Offer a free choice. Spread the face-down deck and let the spectator take any card. They look at it and show it to everyone except you.
- Return it to the top. Ask them to place the card face down on top of the deck. Square the deck.
- Box the deck. Slide the deck into the box with the backs of the cards facing you, toward the hole. Their card is now the card nearest the hole. Close the flap, or tuck it inside the box for an easier rise.
- Hold it up. Hold the box upright in your right hand at eye level, the hole side facing you, with your index finger resting over the hole. The front of the box faces the audience.
- The rise. Press your fingertip through the hole against the back of their card and slowly push upward. The card rises out of the top of the box, its face toward the audience. Go slowly; the slowness is the trick.
- The finish. Pull the card the rest of the way with your other hand and give it to them. Keep the box’s back toward yourself as you set it down.
The secret in plain clothes: The hole lets your finger reach the back card in the box. Because the selection was put on top and the deck was boxed backs-toward-you, the selection is the one your finger touches.
Make the return less obvious
Once you can do the key-card revelation, you can let the spectator cut the deck after returning their card, then find the card with the key and quietly cut the deck so it is back on top before boxing it. Learn the basic version first.
Angles and care
Keep the hole side toward you at all times. If the card does not rise, the box is too tight; cut the flap off or leave the flap open. Use an old deck; this box will never be pretty again.
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