Quinta By Phill Smith is a way of forcing a single item from five. The method allows a spectator to select any number (literally any number) but the problem is that if then number is too big, the procedure takes a long time and gets really, really boring. I had an idea to increase the apparent fairness while breaking up the tedium by repeating the procedure multiple times but each repetition would be limited to 6 via dice roll. I remembered the concept of a “poisoned card” from the 10 card poker deal and conviniently, five perfectly divides ten so combining the two felt logical. The spectator would take the force card first and then alternate with the magician taking other cards until all ten cards were gone.
Unfortunately, I think the result doesn’t really work. The procedure is not really worth the payoff of getting a better poker hand. There’s not enough drama in the process compared to the outcome. The strength in the ten card poker deal is the ability to offer fairer and fairer options to the spectator and still win. I think there’s more to be explored but for now this blog post shall be the only fruit of the labor.
P.S. The 10th card in the ten card poker deal is also called the “Jonah card”. Sailors called anyone who could bring bad luck “Jonah” after the biblical prophet who was swallowed by a whale. Bring back sailing slang into the common vernacular.