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.