The magician puts a packet of cards on the table. He says to the spectator, "Let's play a game of imagination. Imagine that these are four queens. "He pantomimes plucking a card with each hand from the packet. "Imagine that I have removed two of the queens. Do you think that they are black ones or red ones?" The spectator says for example, "red". "That's amazing - you're correct," says the magician. "Now, I will turn one of these queens face-up."
He pantomimes turning one card over, then putting the imaginary cards back into the packet. He then says, "Which red queen do you think I turned over, the heart or the diamond? "The spectator says for example, diamond. "That's amazing - you're correct again," says the magician. "Of course, if it is really true then the queen of diamonds must be reversed in the packet. Let's see..." He spreads the cards. One is face up. It is the queen of diamonds.
"I want you to be sure that this magic was accomplished by imagination, not sleight-of-hand. Therefore I used a queen of diamonds with a different back." He turns over the queen of diamonds, showing that it has a contrasting back color. "Also because I knew you would pick the queen of diamonds, It was not necessary to use any printing on the faces of the other cards." He turns over the three face-down cards, revealing that the faces are blank.
