John Bannons The Royal Scam is recognised to be a super packet trick.

John put a load of work into it. I like it a lot.

Over the years I have changed the narrative somewhat and have a variation that I think is worth sharing. I will be brief, so this explanation will work best for those who already are familiar with the modus operandi of Johns great effect.

To enhance the effect and unify the reasoning for the final two revelations, i.e., colour back changes and the discovery of a royal flush, which goes over the heads of some lay audiences where I work, I have changed the cards and added a new narrative.

I have replaced aces with Jokers from blue backed bicycle cards and have used four kings from different coloured bicycle backs -red, orange, green, purple- instead of the customary 10-jack-queen-king set up. To those who know the effect you will know what I mean.

I begin the narrative by displaying the Jokers and bring attention to the fact they are all riding their bicycles. I mention they are Trick Cyclists and, moreover, if you look closely, they are actually kings on bicycles. They do tricks, I say.

It does not matter what way they are up they can still do their tricks, they are versatile, and if I turn one face down, they all turn face down etc. etc.

That takes us through the turning sequence which is brilliant and always get gasps.

At the end of the turning sequence, I replace the last two cards into separate packets. John places the last two onto the same packet. Essentially, I work it so that what was the Royal Flush pile in Johns original working only has four cards in it- in this case the king pile. And the coloured backs pile has five cards.

This allows me to justify the reasons, for what the spectators are about to see in the unfolding narrative, as being motivated and logical.

With one pile of four cards face down and another pile of five cards face up, I say.

The face up trick cyclists are still at it, if you look closely, you can even see the colour of their bicycles.

I wait a beat. The spectators are left wondering what that I mean by this. I release them from their confusion by saying.

They have to be different so we can tell them apart. You might not be able to see it on this side but if we look at the back. See !!! this one is red, this one is orange, this one is green, this one is blue and this one is purple.

This comes as a great and amusing surprise.

The next bit works well because it ends in a nice line that makes the spectators laugh.

I say something along the lines of, these other face down kings, have gone home, they are tired after so much cycling, and have gone to bed. They are so lazy. Look, you can see them under their eiderdowns.

I point out that the bicycle card design is the beautiful pattern on their eiderdowns.

Would you like to see what the kings look like in their pyjamas?

I turn over the cards, as if pulling back the covers, to reveal the kings. The surprise at seeing four kings and the eccentricity of their coloured pyjamas brightens the end of the effect and comes as an amusing surprise.

That is it.

I feel I may have rushed this brief explanation. But to those that know it ought to make sense. What I have offered is, of course, not better than John Bannons original, it is just a tad different. I thank John for inventing something that we have all had fun with over the years.

Best wishes all.

Count, thanks for sharing. This long ago release from Bannon is one of my favorites, so magical and entertaining. I like your ideas and presentation here. It’s logical and I will try it out.

Hope you enjoy it Rizzo.
The plot using crazy trick cyclists allows the effects to make sense and seamlessly unifies the presentation.
It becomes a cascade of tongue in cheek humour and unbelievable surprises.
In short, great entertainment