The magician takes the four Jacks from the face-up deck and holds them face-up in his hands.
He begins his story: 'Tonight, these four burglars are going to do this house.' He points at the deck. 'They will climb up the roof and go in via the chimney.' He turns the Jacks over and places them face-down on the face-down deck. 'The first Jack is standing guard, and will notify the others if someone is coming.' The magician takes the first Jack and places it face-up on the table, next to the deck.
'The second Jack is going into the living room to steal the television.' He takes the second Jack and places it somewhere in the deck. 'The third Jack goes to the bathroom; he will take the toilet seat because it's made out of gold!' He now places the third Jack somewhere in the deck, at random. 'The last Jack went to the bedroom, where the vault is hidden behind a painting.' The magician now takes the last Jack and places it in the middle of the deck.
'You hear that? The Jacks are really doing a thorough job, aren't they?' While he says this, the magician shuffles the deck. He places the deck down, and points at the card box. 'Oh no, police! Someone called the cops!' He takes the Jack that was standing guard, and places it face-down on top of the deck. The magician starts to yell: 'Get out! Cops! The police is here!'
The magician takes the first Jack, the one that was standing guard, and places it face-up on the table. 'He did his job, he warned his friends. No let's see if his friends listened to him and came to the roof.' The magician takes the next three cards and turns them over. Of course, they are three Jacks!
You can change the patter if you like, and take any four cards that will jump to the top after they are placed anywhere in the deck. This trick is impromptu, does not require any fancy moves and there are no duplicates. Really, there are no duplicates!
