Have the sixteen-card set-up on top of the deck and proceed as follows:

For a simple prediction, write the number eighteen (twice the value of your Stay Stack number) on a slip of
paper and place this, folded, on the table. Push off sixteen cards and place the rest of the deck aside.
With the cards face down, deal the packet into two piles, dealing alternately as you would in a two-handed
game. Invite a spectator to pick up either pile and place it on top of the other.
Now that the spectator has seen how to deal, he can do the deal-mix himself as many times as he wants.
Alternatively, you can mix the cards yourself using either Faros or Reverse Faros; it matters not whether
these are "in" or "out."
You can now proceed in one of two ways, Matrix or Piles. We'll explain the Matrix first.
MATRIX FINISH: Take the packet and deal into a four-by-four grid on the table. Each row must be dealt in the
same direction, as in the example below.
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16
You now proceed with the Matrix Force: The spectator turns over a card, then all other cards in that row and
column are eliminated. He does this again. Then a third time. This leaves four cards. Have the values added
together. They equal eighteen. Finally, show your prediction.
FOUR PILES FINISH: This alternative way of doing the Matrix Force is useful when you don't have a lot of
table space. Ask the spectator to deal the packet into four piles, dealing rotationally as in a four-handed game.
Give him the option to move the piles around into any order. Then, say, "Four piles, so we'll number them
one, two, three, four."
Ask him to pick up pile number one (he can start at either end) and transfer one card from top to bottom,
then replace the packet, at its position, on the table.
He then picks up pile number two and transfers two cards from top to bottom. He does likewise with pile
number three, transferring three cards to the bottom. Finally, he picks up pile number four and transfers
four cards from top to bottom.
Turn over the top card of each pile and have the values totaled. Again they equal eighteen. Alternatively, you
can flip the four piles face up and have the face cards totaled because they equal eighteen also.
FINAL COMMENTS: The above procedures force the number eighteen. If you move the stack up a notch: 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, this will force the number 22 (2 x 11). A further notch upward will
yield a total of 26. If you don't mind having court cards present you can further set the cards to force 30,
34 or 38.

ALLCJN /Ldight
I recently acquired Martin Gardner's 1985 Prometheus publication The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix, which
contains Gardner's Scientific American columns on this incredible numerologist, spanning a period from 1960
to 1980. There I encountered the intelligence that in the forty-sixth Psalm in the King James version of the
Bible, the forty-sixth word is Shake and the forty-sixth word counting from the end is Spear. Dr. Matrix espoused
the incredible theory that William Shakespeare worked secretly on part of the King James translation of the
Bible. Matrix fortified his position by revealing that Shakespeare was forty-six when the King James version
was completed in 1610, and that he was born on April 23rd and died on April 23rd and that twice 23 is 46.

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This information, coupled with a careful reading of Shakespeare (1956) by P. E. Halliday, led to the following
unusual demonstration.
"Critics and scholars have argued for years over whether the Bible or the work of Shakespeare contains the
finest writing in the English language. These comparisons are invariably made using the King James ver-
sion, a copy of which I have here. Let me put the debate to rest by proving to you that William Shakespeare
himself actually was the anonymous author who translated and rewrote the King James version of the
Bible. Shakespeare hid a series of telling clues while preparing his translation, and I will attempt to reveal
them through numerology.
"Naturally, we will refer to the Book of Numbers, and we will make a square of sixteen numbers. If we read
in order from the table of contents, we have Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. As Numbers is the fourth
book in the Bible, we will start our numbering with four."

4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19
"And I will have you choose four numbers freely. Please circle any of the sixteen numbers, then draw a line
through the other numbers in that row and that column. Now circle any number which has not been elimi-
nated, and draw a line through that row and column. Do this a third time. There is one number left, so please
circle it."

In the above example, the spectator first circled 9 and then drew lines through the other numbers in that
row (8, 10 and 11) and the other numbers in that column (5, 13 and 17). He then circled 14 and did the
same thing (eliminating 12, 15, 6, 10 and 18). He then circled 7 and repeated the elimination of the remain-
ing numbers in that row and column (4, 11 and 19). Only 16 was left, and that was the fourth number he
circled.
The spectator is then instructed to total the four circled numbers. The result is always 46, regardless of num-
bers chosen via this process.
"Your freely chosen number is 46, but you will soon realize that—in numerology—no choice is totally free and
without consequence. Please open the Bible to the first chapter of Numbers, and find the 46th verse. Read it
to us."
The verse is: "Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand five hundred
and fifty."
"Let's jot those numbers down and add up those digits."
6 + 0 + 3 + 5 + 5 + 0=19
"Isn't it interesting that the last number in our square is also nineteen? Now please refer to the table of
contents again, and name the book in nineteenth position. Psalms? Please open the Bible to Psalms and use

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your freely selected number, 46. Find the forty-sixth Psalm and count to the forty-sixth word. What is the
word? Shake. Now count to the forty-sixth word from the end and call out that word. Spear. Shake-spear.
"Through numerology, you have discovered one of the scores of clues Shakespeare cunningly concealed when
he was translating what became the King James version. However, there are skeptics today who still main-
tain that others wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare. Bacon or Marlowe, for example. There is one way
of determining if this theory is accurate or false, and that is by using the other numbers in our square of
sixteen. Please total the twelve numbers you did not circle. Your answer is 138?
"Please look at the 138th psalm, but I won't ask you to count to the 138th word! Just total the three digits in 138:
1+3 + 8=12
"Count to the twelfth word in the 138th Psalm. What is the word? Will! Will Shake-Spear. Proof positive.
"Should you wish for more evidence through numerology, let me mention that Shakespeare was born on April
23rd and died on April 23rd. April is the fourth month, just as Numbers is the fourth book. And the day of
birth and death, both 23, total 46, which is the numerical key you discovered. And it should be mentioned
that 23 is the number of the best-known psalm.
"In addition, the first of Shakespeare's plays to be published with his name credited was Love's Labour's Lost
in 1598 and those digits total 23! And the folio of all his plays was first issued in 16831 Of course, these two
23s total 46. Another point: The King James version was completed in 1610—when Shakespeare was forty-
six years old!
"And, finally, if we assign numbers to the letters in Shakespeare like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
s H A K E S P E A R
E
"You will find they total—46. It is rather amazing that you also chose the number 46."
COMMENTS AND CREDITS: My first objective was to uncover a technique to force the number 46 in a manner
compatible with the rest of the scenario. The matrix concept to force 34 with numbers from 1 to 16 led rather
easily to the 46 outcome with numbers from 4 to 19.
I'll confess that unearthing the number 19 in the forty-sixth verse of the first chapter of Numbers to lead the
spectator to the Book of Psalms generated a momentary thrill, but that was small potatoes when compared to
the discovery that the eliminated numbers in the matrix always totaled 138 and logically produced the word
will. Of course, Dr. Matrix would have stated it was inevitable that assigning numbers, as described, to the
letters in Shakespeare would produce that particular total.
Maybe this should be more appropriately titled "The King James Subversion."
•

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