I was reluctant to perform this, being sure that someone in my audience would catch on to the "how else?" (courtesy Carl Ballentine) method but to my great surprise, no one batted an eye!!! The words-made-with-one-less-letter ploy. from STARTLING through STARING & STRING down to IN & I captured their attention. I experienced more discussion as to how the playing card was "freely selected" so I would recommend starting with a good force and then take advantage of time misdirection while removing letters and making smaller words.

I point out that these are not SCRABBLE letters (no point values) but are the sort of thing you can pick up at an awards or engraver's shop … or at a thrift store. Since I am known for "thrift store" magic, this introduces the brass letters reasonably.

However, NINE LETTERS will fit across a wooden Scrabble tile holder! This makes an across-the-table display easier.

Might of been a nice piece if it was complete with all letters.. Not Happy.