[Note: The original title for this post was “Fixing Kolossal Killer”. For self-evident reasons, I have changed it to better indicate the state the trick is left in.]

Kolossal Killer, by Kenton Knepper, is a widely acclaimed and widely criticized trick. It has a little to offer, and plenty to hate.

First, a little equivocal thinking.

A complaint people often have is that the “suboptimal” outcome happens two-thirds of the time. A common counterpoint is that the “optimal” outcome is actually more suspicious, since they will rightly wonder what you aren’t showing them, and wonder if the other side is a different card.

Remember, the person you’re showing it to doesn’t need to figure out more than 10% of the trick to feel like they’ve figured out 90% of it.

Really, neither outcome is very optimal. But with a little tweak, two out of three times it could be.

Consider the difference between a note that reads “Off by one!” or one that reads “One before!”.

The benefit of this is clear: The former directly indicates two cards… Is it the 2 of clubs or the 4 of clubs? Nobody knows, as Max Maven might say. (RIP) On the other hand, one before? Well, that has a clear meaning. It’s obviously predicting that the card they would name would be one before the card you pulled out. Or, it predicts that your card would be one before the card they named.

Then you just say “I was so close, but in the end I/you chose the card that was… (Here you turn around the card with a shit-eating grin) One before!”

One after, of course, is also an option. Comes down to taste.

Secondly… Ok, you got me, it’s more equivocal thinking. Another issue is the contents of the wallet. The other side of the card could only account for one other value that they know of, but the wallet? Who knows how many cards could be hiding in there? Not your spectator, that’s for sure, but they’ll know there’s plenty.

Ideally, you would only have eight cards in there, which is much easier to conceal. But as you probably know, you need 16. What do you do?

I’ll write this up proper in an upcoming post, but this is where something I like to call “half equivoque” or “twin equivoque” comes into play.

You simply equivoque for a color, and then… Ask the same exact question for the suit. You’re set up for either of the two remaining options, so what’s the harm?

Imagine this:

“Do you want to take away the red cards or the black cards?”
“Red.”
“Alright, so you’re taking the red cards, right?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, now do you want to take away the hearts or the diamonds?”

See what I mean? You don’t even have to say “take” instead of “take away”, it’s actually better if you use the exact same wording. At that point, with the simple use of a two-way multiple out, any possibility of equivoque will be gone from their mind. Even some magicians will be fooled by this finesse.

Now, you may protest, the beauty of Kolossal Killer is that they can just freely name “any” card on the spot.

Well, that’s why you ask them to name the value afterwards! It’s not quite the same, but it’s free enough, and Kenton’s thing of being ready to do it at all times if anyone names a card is just ill-advised if anybody who’s tried it on you sees someone else try it, for obvious reasons.

If you’re using it as a universal out for some reason, you should be able to swap the card you need in anyway, so this equivoque is unnecessary. At that point, just have an index. Like Annemann’s homemade one!

In the end, in that 2 out of 3 best case scenario, you take out the card, show that it’s “off by one”, then solemnly say “I got so close, but in the end you chose the card that was… One before!” as you turn around the card with a shit-eating grin on your face.

Or, “I got so close, but in the end I chose the card that was… One before!”

Get the idea? Good, now we can be done with this.

So, is Kolossal Killer a good trick? No. Is it one I would ever perform again? Probably not. But, my friends, this is how I performed it when I did perform it, and now you can too.

Until next time, killer.