CARD-SPELLING TRICK (#54)

The magician shuffles the deck and takes the top thirteen cards. Holding the cards face down, he proceeds to spell the first card name, Ace. "A-C-E," and for each letter, he puts one card under the packet of thirteen cards. He then flips over the next card (the fourth,) and it is an Ace. He repeats this process for each card number, Ace through King. At the end, he has all thirteen cards face up on the table, in sequential order.

SECRET
Remove and arrange 13 cards in the following setup, top card down: Three, Eight, Seven, Ace, Queen, Six, Four, Two, Jack, King, Ten, Nine, and Five. Put these on top of the deck.

Use this tiny story to help you remember: "Three hundred & eighty seven years ago there lived a Queen that was sixty four years old. She had two children. One named Jack, the other named King. Jack was ten years old and King was nine years old and the were both in the fifth grade."3,8 7,A,Q,6,4,2,J,K,10,9 , 5

To start, pretend to shuffle the cards, leaving the top thirteen untouched (young children can skip the shuffling part and just begin with the 13 cards.
Remove the top thirteen cards as a group and arrange them like a fan, so that your audience can see their faces. Square up the cards, and hold them face down. When you spell out each card, do it as follows: let's say you're spelling the word ACE. Spell A, remove the top card and place it on the bottom. Then spell C, and remove the top card and place that on the bottom. Next spell E, remove this top card and place it on the bottom. Flip the new top card and show that it's an Ace, and place it ON THE TABLE (not on the bottom of the deck).
Continue in this manner until all the cards are face up on the table. (eh: You spell the cards in order: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K) Your audience may realize that the cards must have been set up beforehand, but this only adds to the mystery - and you can treat it as a puzzle for them to try to figure out.