Editing Ambitious Card (section)

{{Short description|Magic effect}}
The ''' Ambitious Card''', or ''' Elevator Card''', is a [[magic (illusion)|magic]] effect in which a [[playing card]] seems to return to the top of the deck after being placed elsewhere in the middle of the deck.<ref name=you_tube>{{cite web | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6o3T91CNgI | title = Ambitious Card Routine Kamm | access-date = 2008-01-05 | author = kammagic | publisher = YouTube }} One of many versions of the Ambitious Card Routine available on internet video.</ref><ref name="wilson">{{cite book|title=Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic|last=Wilson|author-link=Mark Wilson (magician)|first=Mark|publisher=Courage Books|year=1988|isbn=0-89471-623-9|orig-year=1975|title-link=Mark Wilson's Complete Course In Magic}}<!--| accessdate = 2008-01-06--> The Elevator card, p. 85</ref>  This is a classic effect in card magic and serves as a study subject for students of magic. It is also known as the "Trick that Fooled Houdini", as [[Harry Houdini]] was unable to determine how a variation of the trick was done when it was performed for him, multiple times, by [[Dai Vernon]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://chambermagic.com/blog/hand-of-fate-the-trick-that-fooled-houdini/ |title=Hand of Fate – Card Trick that Stumped the Great Harry Houdini |website=chambermagic.com |date=June 13, 2011 |first=Graeme |last=Wood |accessdate=December 11, 2023}}</ref> Most performing card magicians will have developed their own personal Ambitious Card routine.

The effect is often credited to French magician [[Gustav Alberti]], in the mid-19th century.<ref name=gus_alberti>{{cite web | url = http://www.magictricks.com/bios/whoswho-a.htm#Alberti | title = Who Invented It? | access-date = 2008-01-05 | publisher = Magic Tricks .com | quote = Alberti ... French magician, late 1800s, said to have invented Ambitious Card. | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071231181925/http://www.magictricks.com/bios/whoswho-a.htm| archive-date= 31 December 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> However, there is a related idea in Jean Nicholas Ponsin's ''Nouvelle Magie Blanche Devoilée'', published in 1854, that might precede that. Many magicians base their routine on Darryl Martinez's version, as he issued a comprehensive [[VHS tape]] on many variations of accomplishing this effect.