How To Entertain Children With Magic You Can Do
1. The mystic fifteen
The spectator merely thinks of a card and the performer finds it.
Deal out three piles of five cards each. Ask someone to choose any pile, look at the cards in it, and mentally select one. Sandwich the spectator's cards between the other two piles. Now, from this pile of fifteen cards, deal off five cards in a row. Deal another card onto each of these five cards, working from left to right, and then a third card on each pile.
Ask the spectator to find the pile that contains his card and place it in his pocket. "Remember," you tell him, "that you selected a card merely by thinking of it. Now think of the name again." Touch his forehead with your fingers while he is thinking, as if picking up the vibrations. Then reach into his pocket and remove one face-down card. Don't look at it.
"That's not yours." Bring a second card from his pocket. "And it's not that one. Name your card, please. And let us see what you have in your pocket." The single remaining card is the mentally selected one.
The selected card will always be the middle card of the three, so you merely remove the first and third.
2. instant hypnotism
A spectator chooses one of two piles of playing cards and, without fail, selects the one the performer has predicted he will choose. This is a barefaced but puzzling swindle.
The performer places two small packets of cards before a spectator, then writes something on a slip of paper, folds it, and lets the spectator hold it.
"I have just written something I want you to do. Some children never seem to want to do what they are told, but I have a way to fix that. I hypnotize them — like this." Look the spectator in the eyes and snap your fingers. "There! You're hypnotized, and this is such a good brand of hypnotism that you don't even know it. But I'll prove it. Just touch either one of those piles of cards, and remember — the paper you hold tells which pile you will touch. No matter how hard you try you won't be able to touch the other one. It's absolutely impossible. Just try it. Touch one."
When he does, say, "That one? Are you sure? Would you change your mind if I gave you the chance? You can, if you like. No? All right, open the paper and read what I wrote." The prediction reads: "You will choose the six pile."
You can't lose. It doesn't matter which pile is chosen nor how often he changes his mind. One pile contains four sixes, the other contains six cards. If he chooses the first, turn the cards face up and spread them, showing that they are all sixes. Then show that there are no sixes in the other pile. If he chooses the other pile, don't show the faces. Simply pick up the chosen pile and count them face down, showing that there are six cards. Spread the remaining pile, showing only four cards.
3. the lazy magician
The magician never touches the cards but succeeds in finding the one the spectator is thinking of. There is no preparation. Just follow the procedure below and it works automatically.
Give the deck to a spectator and then turn your back. "Take a dozen or so cards and put the rest of the deck aside. Shuffle the cards thoroughly. When you have finished, look at the bottom card and remember it. And show it to the rest of the audience so they can help you remember it." This last instruction is always good. It insures that the person who chose the card won't ruin your climax by forgetting it.
"Now select a number between one and ten — any number at all — and transfer that many cards from the top of the pile to the bottom. Since I don't know that number, your card, as far as I am concerned, is lost." Turn and face the audience.
"Next, deal the cards face down into a pile, one at a time. Keep thinking of your card and I'll try to stop you when you come to it."
Pretend to concentrate but let the spectator deal all the cards without stopping him. Shake your head. "You're not concentrating hard enough. I didn't get a thing. Let's go back a bit. Take the same number as before and transfer that many cards from top to bottom." Turn away as this is being done so you can't see how many cards are moved.
When he has done this, the remembered card will always be the top card of the packet he holds. But don't stop here; continue as before.
"Deal the cards again one at a time and keep thinking of your card." Watch the deal, mentally count the cards, and after he has dealt, say, five cards, stop him.
"Wait! Youve gone past it. Put those cards back on the deck and deal again slowly."
If you stopped the deal after five cards were dealt you now know that the chosen card is now fifth from the top. So on this deal, as he takes off the fifth card, say, "Stop! Name your card!"
He does this, and when he looks at the card he holds he finds that it is his.
4. Automatic detection
The performer finds a card on which the spectator is concentrating without ever seeing the faces of any of the cards.
The feat appears to be quite impossible but the method is as simple as they come. It works automatically.
Let a spectator shuffle the deck and ask him to think of a number between one and twenty-five. Turn your back and tell him to deal that many cards from the deck into a face-up pile. Caution him to do it silently so that you get no clue as to the number.
When he says that he has finished, tell everyone to remember the card on the top of the face-up pile. Ask the spectator to turn the dealt cards face down and replace them on the deck.
Face your audience again and take the deck. "I am going to try to find the card you are thinking of without looking at any of the cards and while the deck is behind my back. You must all help by concentrating on the card as hard as you can."
Hold the deck behind your back, turn it face up, and mentally select a number of your own — ten, let us say. Count this many cards off the face of the deck and put them under the others. Then shake your head and tell the spectators, "You are obviously not concentrating very hard. The thought waves I'm getting are much too faint for any good use."
Give the deck back to the spectator. "But I never give up. Welll do it a bit differently. Deal off the same number of cards you dealt before, but face down this time so I can't see any of them." Turn away as he does this.
When he says he has finished, face him again, and tell him to continue dealing. Mentally count the cards as they are dealt. If the number of cards you moved from the face to the top of the deck behind your back was ten, then the chosen card is now the tenth card down. Stop the deal when the count reaches nine and have the chosen card named.
The spectator turns the next card face up and finds that it is the one he selected.
5. The spectator does a trick
For a change, the magician chooses a card and the spectator finds it!
Select a spectator to assist you and tell him, "Magic is very difficult work and I'm tired. This time, I will choose a card and let you be the magician and do the magic."
Count off twenty cards, hand them to your assistant and ask him to shuffle them. "Now spread the cards so I can choose one." Take a card and look at it, making sure that the "magician" doesn't see what it is. For that matter, make sure no one else sees it either, because you are merely acting and this card has nothing to do with the trick at all. Push the card back among those the "magician" holds and tell him to shuffle them thoroughly.
Children always hope to be able to outwit you and most of them will shuffle so long that you have to put a stop to it. "Remember," you say, "that you are the one who is going to have to find that card. Aren't you making it a bit tough?" When he finally agrees that the shuffling has been completed, ~ ask, "Do you know what my card is? And do you have the faintest idea where it is?" He admits he is totally in the dark. "Good. Now since you probably don't trust me at all, I'll write down the name of my card so that there can't be any argument about it later." Take out pencil and paper and start to write.
Then stop. "This is a pretty kettle of fish! People are always forgetting their cards when I do tricks — and now I've done it!"
Reach out, take the cards, look at the faces very quickly. Get a look at and remember the top card. "Oh, yes. Now I remember."
Write the name of the top card on your paper, fold it and give it to someone to hold.
Turn to the "magician" and say, "One of the best ways to find a card whose name you don't know is to call out the first number you think of between one and ten. Try that."
It doesn't matter what number he calls; any one will do. If he calls six tell him to deal off six cards, one at a time, and turn the last one face up. Be sure he deals them one at a time; this is important because it reverses the order of the dealt cards and puts the top one where you want it.
Scowl at the card he turns up. "Maybe that isn't the best way to do this after all. That's not my card. Please replace those cards on the others. We'll try something else." Turn to another spectator. "You look psychic. Perhaps you can do better. Give us a number between eleven and twenty. Higher numbers are usually better anyway."
Again it doesn't matter what number is called. Suppose it is seventeen. Tell the "magician" to deal off sixteen cards one at a time and turn up the seventeenth. "That," you say, "is still not my card." Have him turn it down again and replace the dealt cards on the others.Say, "I can't understand why this doesn't work. Let's try something different. Let's take that first wrong number and subtract it from the second wrong number. Maybe that will work. Six from seventeen is eleven. Deal ten cards and turn up the eleventh."
This will be the right one, but look at it dubiously. "Do you know I've forgotten my card again? It's a good thing I wrote it down." Ask the spectator who holds the paper to open it and read aloud what he finds there. Tell the "magician, "I thought for a minute that you were never going
to make it, but you did fine. You won't tell anyone how you did that, will you?"
6. Find it yourself
A spectator performs a card trick himself without knowing how he did it.
Tell a spectator that you will teach him how to be a magician in one easy lesson. Give him a deck of cards to shuffle, then ask him to return about half the deck to you. "Since you: are going to do this trick without any help from me, I'll turn my back so that I can't see what happens and can't help you." Face the other way and instruct him to cut the cards he holds several times. Then tell him to look at and remember the top card and replace it face down on top.
While he is doing this, hold your cards close to your body so that no one behind you can see them and keep your elbows pressed against your sides so that there is no telltale movement. Without looking down at the deck, turn the bot tom card face up under the deck. Then lift the top card, turn the second card from the top face up, and replace the top card. Square the deck neatly.
When the spectator says he is ready, face him. Put your cards on those he has, saying, "We'll bury your card in the deck. Now put the deck behind your back and face the audience. You are now going to try to find your card while the deck is behind your back and in less than three seconds. Are you sure you can do that?" The answer is bound to be "No."
"Don't say that. If you really believe you can do it, you will. A magician has to have self-confidence. It's impossible, of course, but it's not really hard. Take the top card from the deck and give it to me so I can show you just what to do."
Hold the card he gives you face down and instruct him, "Take the next card off the top of the deck and turn it over face up, like this." Turn your card over. "Then push it face up into the center of the deck. Nothing hard about that, was there Now give me the deck." Place the deck on the table or floor and spread it out. One face-up card shows in the center. This is the card you secretly reversed on the bottom of the deck earlier, but the spectator thinks it is the card he just reversed.
"Now let's look at the card just below the one you inserted." Remove the card below the face-up card. Ask the spectator to name his card and then turn over the card you hold.
"Congratulations! You did it on the very first try!"
7. The secret number
Clairvoyance is the faculty of obtaining information directly by the mind without the use of any of the senses. This trick, a guaranteed baffler, will convince anyone that you have that ability. The performer never touches the cards at any time and the trick works itself.
Have a spectator shuffle the deck, then say, "I'll turn my back so that I can't see anything you do. Please cut a few cards off the top of the deck. Not too many; otherwise the trick will take too long. Then count the cards you removed. Count them silently so I can't hear what is happening. Remember the number, and put the counted cards out of sight in your pocket.
"You now have, buried in your mind, a secret number that no one else can possibly know. Now count down from the top of the deck to that number, look at the card at that number, and remember it. Leave the card at that position, and square the deck."
Turn and face the spectator. "I want you to begin dealing cards, one at a time, from the top of the deck face down into a pile on the table. I am sure you will admit that I can't possibly know the name or location of your card. I have seen nothing, heard nothing, and know nothing; yet I will attempt the completely impossible feat of stopping the deal when you have your chosen card in your hand. Put on your best poker face and make sure you give me no clues. Now deal. Not too fast, please. And don't stop until I ask you to."
Place one hand to your forehead, as if concentrating, and cover your eyes almost completely, but not so much that you can't surreptitiously see below the hand and watch the cards" as they are dealt. You want this deal to go beyond the chosen card, and, since you asked him to cut off a small number, he probably took less than fifteen cards.
Mentally count the cards as they are dealt and stop him after fifteen have been dealt. "I think I missed your card. I have gone past it, haven't IP" If he says, "Yes," you are all set.
If he says "No," ask him to continue dealing and stop him after another half dozen cards have been dealt. Continue your mental count. Ask the same question again. Repeat, if necessary, until he admits that you have gone past his card.
Be sure to remember how many cards have been dealt; this is the secret clue you need.
"This is such a difficult feat that I think Ill have to go into a trance. Put the cards back on the deck and we'll try once more."
After he replaces the cards, add, "Let's make it even tougher and lose your card even more thoroughly in the deck. Put the cards in your pocket back on the deck, too." This last instruction is what does the trick. Although you never discover the original number that was selected, you now know the exact location of the chosen card.
Have him begin to deal again. Count the cards. If the number dealt on the previous deal was fifteen, let him deal fifteen cards and stop him just as he picks up the sixteenth. He must always deal the same number of cards as he did on the previous deal, whatever it was — and you stop him on the next following card. This card will be the chosen one.
Have him name his card first, then turn it face up. This is about as close as you can come to real clairvoyance.
8. The reluctant card
A selected card, lost in the deck, reveals itself in an odd way.
Shuffle the deck. Then, as you step toward a spectator, begin running the cards from the left to the right hand. Mentally count them as you do so. Feed them across as rapidly as you can, counting by feel, and without looking at them. If you do this in an easy, natural way no one will realize that you are counting.
Ask the spectator to take a card whenever he likes. When he removes one, keep the cards in the right hand (which you have counted ) slightly separated from the rest of the deck.
Turn your back and tell him to look at the card, remember it, and show it to the others.
While your back is turned, continue counting the cards until you reach twenty-one. Face the spectators again, separate the deck below the twenty-first card and have the chosen card replaced between the two packets.
If the spectator is slow to take a card, and you reach the count of twenty-one before he has done so, simply retain a slight break in the spread of cards at that point and continue pushing cards across, without counting, until one is selected. Then, when your back is turned, separate the deck at the break so that your right hand holds only twenty-one cards.
Square the deck and give it the false cut explained on page 99 so that no one will suspect that the card is being controlled in a certain location.
"One doesn't really need to be a magician to do card tricks. If you concentrate on your card hard enough, sometimes it will find itself. Let's try it."
Quickly deal all the cards into two piles as though you were about to play a two-handed game. Always deal the spectator the first card.
"Look at the cards you have and see if yours is there." He looks and does not find it. "We'll discard those cards and try again."
Deal the remaining cards into two new piles. Again the chosen card is not found among those the spectator receives and he again discards his pile. This is repeated until, on the last deal, the spectator receives only two cards, neither of which are his.
The performer holds only one card, and this proves to be the chosen one.
Note: be sure to use a full deck of fifty-two cards.
9 . Multiple reverse
On command a number of chosen cards simultaneously turn face up.
_ "Would anyone," you ask, "like to learn how to do a trickP" Every child in the audience will undoubtedly raise his hand and holler, "Me!" If you are performing for a small group of five or six say, "Okay, you can all try it." If the audience is larger, use five or six spectators in the front row.
Shuffle the deck as you go forward, then spread the cards and ask the first spectator to take one. "But don't look at it yet. Hold it face down." Have each of the others also take a card. Then turn your back and tell them all to look at their cards, remember them, and turn them face down again so that you won't be able to see any of them.
While your back is toward the spectators, turn the deck face up and then turn the top card face down. Keep the deck neatly squared so that you seem to be holding a face-down deck.
Now go to the first spectator, take his face-down card from him and push it into the deck — not too far from the top. Do the same with each of the other chosen cards in the order in which they were selected, replacing each one a bit farther down in the deck. Keep the deck neatly squared throughout, so that none of the face-up cards show. Don't use a deck with an all-over back design; use one that has white margins.
Now ask the first spectator to step forward and assist you. As he does so, lower your left hand (which holds the deck) to your side momentarily. Then bring it up in front of your body again, palm down, and transfer the deck to your right hand. This action has casually and surreptitiously turned the deck over.
Tell the assisting spectator, "Now we'll see how good a magician you are." Replace the deck in your left hand and keep it tilted forward a bit so that no one can see the bottom card faces the wrong way. "Name your card aloud and command it to turn over." Criticise his manner of doing this. "You must speak louder. I don't think the card could hear that." And remind him he forgot to snap his fingers. Have him do it again. "That's much better. It might even work."
Then either have each child in turn command his card to turn over or have them all do it at once. "Now, let's see how many of you were successful."
Ask the first spectator to name his card again, and then begin pushing the cards off the top of the deck into the left hand. When the first face-up card appears, lift off all the cards above it and give them to the assisting spectator to hold. Lift the face-up card, show it and compliment the spectator on his magic powers.
Replace it face down on the deck, ask the second spectator to name his card, and push over more cards until this one also appears face up.
Each time give the pushed-off cards to your assistant to hold, and be sure to keep the cards in your left hand well squared throughout so that they always cover the bottom face-up card and it is not seen.
When the last chosen card has been found and shown, congratulate the spectators. "You all do that very well; I'm amazed. I hope that you are all as well trained as these cards, and obey orders from your parents just as promptly."
The audience participation makes this one of the most entertaining card tricks you can do.
Retrieve the cards the assisting spectator holds and replace them on the cards you have left. The single face-up card on the bottom of the deck must be secretly reversed again at the first opportunity. Even better, leave the card face up, and perform The Upside-down Miracle, which follows. Since it makes use of a face-up bottom card, you are all set for it.
10. The upside-down miracle
The two halves of a deck of cards are placed face to face, and all the cards mysteriously turn face down on command.
Before beginning, secretly reverse the bottom card of the deck so that it is face up. If you do this trick immediately after the Multiple Reverse, the bottom card is already in that position.
"These are probably the best-trained cards in captivity. Watch them now as they perform a completely impossible feat of acrobatics!"
Bring your right hand above the deck, grasp it at the ends, and cut off half the cards (fig. 28A). Then, simultaneously and quickly, turn your right hand palm up and your left hand palm down (fig. 28B). At the same time say, "I turn half the deck face up and place it on the bottom." Put the cards in your right hand under those in your left hand and square the deck.
"The two halves face each other." Turn the deck over three times showing backs on both sides. Actually, all the cards now face the same way except for one, which, after the third turn, is on the bottom.
Pull the bottom card out from beneath the deck. "If I take one of the face-up cards and wave it gently over the others, all the cards mysteriously and invisibly turn face down!"
Drop the single card face down on the others. Then run all the cards from hand to hand, showing that they are all face down. This is a quick trick but a startling one.
11. X-ray vision
A spectator cuts a deck into three piles. The performer claims
he has X-ray vision, and apparently proves this by naming the card on the bottom of each pile.
Have the deck shuffled, and secretly glimpse the bottom card as you take the deck and place it on the table. Ask someone to cut it into three piles. We'll call the piles A, B, and C. You know the name of the card at the bottom of pile A because it formed the lower portion of the deck.
Gaze intently at pile C and announce that its bottom card is the ——— of ———. (Name the card you know. ) Pick up pile C, your right thumb at the inner end, fingers at the outer end, and bring it back to your left hand. As it comes back, tip it up just enough so that you get a quick passing glance at the bottom card (fig. 29). Try this a few times and you'll find that you need only the briefest of glimpses to identify the card. The slight tilting up of the packet won't be noticed if you keep your right hand moving.
Pull off the bottom card with the fingers of the left hand and put the pile back where it was.
Turn your X-ray vision on pile B, and name the card you just glimpsed. Then pick up pile B, again sighting the bottom card. Pull the bottom card off onto the card already in your left hand. Do the same with pile A, except that you do not need to glimpse the bottom card. Place pile A below rather than above the two cards in your left hand so that when the bottom card is pulled off it lies beneath the other two. This puts the cards in the proper sequence.
Turn the three cards toward yourself, name the card facing you again, and deal it off, face up, onto pile C. Do the same with the others, putting them on piles B and A.
Do the whole trick rather quickly and then proceed to something else. If you are asked to do it again, do it later, not right away.
12. Cherchez la femme
An easy non-sleight-of-hand version of the famous Three Card Monte swindle with a surprise finish. You use it, not as a swindle, but as an observation or alertness test which looks dead easy but which no one ever passes.
One bit of secret preparation before you begin: Place a red Queen face up on the top of the face-down deck, and cover it with any other card, face down.
"Did you know," you begin, "that a great many people walk in their sleep? They go around that way for days sometimes and never know it." Select one spectator. "You, for instance. Are you quite certain that you are really wide awake? You are? I'm not so sure about that. Id like to give you a test to find out."
Turn the deck face up and run through the cards. Find and throw out another red Queen and the two Aces. Keep the last few cards on the bottom of the face-up deck squared so that the reversed Queen won't be seen.
"Can you identify these three cards?" The spectator names them. "Very good. You seem to be partly awake."
While the attention is on the spectator, square the deck, turn it face down and tilt it toward yourself. Slide the top card off and place it on the bottom of the deck. Don't try to hide this action, just do it casually. Then slide the face-up Queen (now on top of the deck) down so that it projects over the inner edge of the deck about a half inch (fig. 30).
Tell the spectator, "Your job is to try and keep your eye on this odd card." Point to the face-up Queen on the table. "In fact, keep both eyes on it — and keep them both wide open."
Pick up either Ace and put it, face up, on the deck, directly on the face-up Queen already there. Run your right thumb along the lower edge of the two cards to line them up exactly.
Pick up the Queen on the table, and place it on the Ace at an angle so that the index of the Ace is still visible. Put the last Ace on the Queen in the same way.
"Please notice that the important odd card is between the other two." With the right hand (thumb on the faces, fingers underneath at the bottom) lift these cards off the deck. You appear to hold a fan of only three cards, but you have an unsuspected fourth card behind the last Ace.
Turn the fan face down and place it on the deck. Square the deck and then deal off three cards, face down, in a row. Don't do this quickly; fast motions are suspicious. If you do it slowly everyone should be convinced that the odd card, the Queen, is in the center between the two Aces. Actually, the situation is quite different: You have an Ace between two Queens.
"Now we'll find out if you are awake enough to see what is happening right under your nose. I'll move these cards around a bit — all in slow motion. You try to follow the odd card." Don't call it the Queen. Always refer to it as the odd card; you'll see why in a moment.
Slowly transfer the center card to the left end of the row, Then slide the card now in the center to the right, and put the right-hand card in the middle.
The Queen is now, apparently, on the left. "Can you tell
me where the odd card is now? Just point to it." The spectator indicates the card on your left.
"I suspected that you weren't really very wide awake." Turn the card up, showing it to be an Ace. Then turn up the card in the center, showing the Queen. This is surprise number one. (Don't show the third card yet. )
Turn the Ace and Queen face down again. "Perhaps that was too complicated. I don't want you to fail this test completely, so I'll make it easier." This time, merely transpose the left and center cards.
"I hope you followed that. Where is the odd card now?" The spectator again points to the card on your left.
"Now I know you are sound asleep." Turn up the center card, showing the Ace. "This is the odd card." The spectators now think you are the one who is confused. Pause a moment.
"The card you chose can't be the odd card ..." Turn up the left-hand card, showing the Queen."... because it is like this one." Turn up the third card, showing another Queen! This final unexpected transformation of an Ace to a Queen is, since everything was done in such slow motion, an eyepopper.
Note that the spectator can't possibly cross you up by not choosing the card you want him to select. If he chooses a Queen the first time, simply end the trick there, showing that it is not the odd card.
The spectator merely thinks of a card and the performer finds it.
Deal out three piles of five cards each. Ask someone to choose any pile, look at the cards in it, and mentally select one. Sandwich the spectator's cards between the other two piles. Now, from this pile of fifteen cards, deal off five cards in a row. Deal another card onto each of these five cards, working from left to right, and then a third card on each pile.
Ask the spectator to find the pile that contains his card and place it in his pocket. "Remember," you tell him, "that you selected a card merely by thinking of it. Now think of the name again." Touch his forehead with your fingers while he is thinking, as if picking up the vibrations. Then reach into his pocket and remove one face-down card. Don't look at it.
"That's not yours." Bring a second card from his pocket. "And it's not that one. Name your card, please. And let us see what you have in your pocket." The single remaining card is the mentally selected one.
The selected card will always be the middle card of the three, so you merely remove the first and third.
2. instant hypnotism
A spectator chooses one of two piles of playing cards and, without fail, selects the one the performer has predicted he will choose. This is a barefaced but puzzling swindle.
The performer places two small packets of cards before a spectator, then writes something on a slip of paper, folds it, and lets the spectator hold it.
"I have just written something I want you to do. Some children never seem to want to do what they are told, but I have a way to fix that. I hypnotize them — like this." Look the spectator in the eyes and snap your fingers. "There! You're hypnotized, and this is such a good brand of hypnotism that you don't even know it. But I'll prove it. Just touch either one of those piles of cards, and remember — the paper you hold tells which pile you will touch. No matter how hard you try you won't be able to touch the other one. It's absolutely impossible. Just try it. Touch one."
When he does, say, "That one? Are you sure? Would you change your mind if I gave you the chance? You can, if you like. No? All right, open the paper and read what I wrote." The prediction reads: "You will choose the six pile."
You can't lose. It doesn't matter which pile is chosen nor how often he changes his mind. One pile contains four sixes, the other contains six cards. If he chooses the first, turn the cards face up and spread them, showing that they are all sixes. Then show that there are no sixes in the other pile. If he chooses the other pile, don't show the faces. Simply pick up the chosen pile and count them face down, showing that there are six cards. Spread the remaining pile, showing only four cards.
3. the lazy magician
The magician never touches the cards but succeeds in finding the one the spectator is thinking of. There is no preparation. Just follow the procedure below and it works automatically.
Give the deck to a spectator and then turn your back. "Take a dozen or so cards and put the rest of the deck aside. Shuffle the cards thoroughly. When you have finished, look at the bottom card and remember it. And show it to the rest of the audience so they can help you remember it." This last instruction is always good. It insures that the person who chose the card won't ruin your climax by forgetting it.
"Now select a number between one and ten — any number at all — and transfer that many cards from the top of the pile to the bottom. Since I don't know that number, your card, as far as I am concerned, is lost." Turn and face the audience.
"Next, deal the cards face down into a pile, one at a time. Keep thinking of your card and I'll try to stop you when you come to it."
Pretend to concentrate but let the spectator deal all the cards without stopping him. Shake your head. "You're not concentrating hard enough. I didn't get a thing. Let's go back a bit. Take the same number as before and transfer that many cards from top to bottom." Turn away as this is being done so you can't see how many cards are moved.
When he has done this, the remembered card will always be the top card of the packet he holds. But don't stop here; continue as before.
"Deal the cards again one at a time and keep thinking of your card." Watch the deal, mentally count the cards, and after he has dealt, say, five cards, stop him.
"Wait! Youve gone past it. Put those cards back on the deck and deal again slowly."
If you stopped the deal after five cards were dealt you now know that the chosen card is now fifth from the top. So on this deal, as he takes off the fifth card, say, "Stop! Name your card!"
He does this, and when he looks at the card he holds he finds that it is his.
4. Automatic detection
The performer finds a card on which the spectator is concentrating without ever seeing the faces of any of the cards.
The feat appears to be quite impossible but the method is as simple as they come. It works automatically.
Let a spectator shuffle the deck and ask him to think of a number between one and twenty-five. Turn your back and tell him to deal that many cards from the deck into a face-up pile. Caution him to do it silently so that you get no clue as to the number.
When he says that he has finished, tell everyone to remember the card on the top of the face-up pile. Ask the spectator to turn the dealt cards face down and replace them on the deck.
Face your audience again and take the deck. "I am going to try to find the card you are thinking of without looking at any of the cards and while the deck is behind my back. You must all help by concentrating on the card as hard as you can."
Hold the deck behind your back, turn it face up, and mentally select a number of your own — ten, let us say. Count this many cards off the face of the deck and put them under the others. Then shake your head and tell the spectators, "You are obviously not concentrating very hard. The thought waves I'm getting are much too faint for any good use."
Give the deck back to the spectator. "But I never give up. Welll do it a bit differently. Deal off the same number of cards you dealt before, but face down this time so I can't see any of them." Turn away as he does this.
When he says he has finished, face him again, and tell him to continue dealing. Mentally count the cards as they are dealt. If the number of cards you moved from the face to the top of the deck behind your back was ten, then the chosen card is now the tenth card down. Stop the deal when the count reaches nine and have the chosen card named.
The spectator turns the next card face up and finds that it is the one he selected.
5. The spectator does a trick
For a change, the magician chooses a card and the spectator finds it!
Select a spectator to assist you and tell him, "Magic is very difficult work and I'm tired. This time, I will choose a card and let you be the magician and do the magic."
Count off twenty cards, hand them to your assistant and ask him to shuffle them. "Now spread the cards so I can choose one." Take a card and look at it, making sure that the "magician" doesn't see what it is. For that matter, make sure no one else sees it either, because you are merely acting and this card has nothing to do with the trick at all. Push the card back among those the "magician" holds and tell him to shuffle them thoroughly.
Children always hope to be able to outwit you and most of them will shuffle so long that you have to put a stop to it. "Remember," you say, "that you are the one who is going to have to find that card. Aren't you making it a bit tough?" When he finally agrees that the shuffling has been completed, ~ ask, "Do you know what my card is? And do you have the faintest idea where it is?" He admits he is totally in the dark. "Good. Now since you probably don't trust me at all, I'll write down the name of my card so that there can't be any argument about it later." Take out pencil and paper and start to write.
Then stop. "This is a pretty kettle of fish! People are always forgetting their cards when I do tricks — and now I've done it!"
Reach out, take the cards, look at the faces very quickly. Get a look at and remember the top card. "Oh, yes. Now I remember."
Write the name of the top card on your paper, fold it and give it to someone to hold.
Turn to the "magician" and say, "One of the best ways to find a card whose name you don't know is to call out the first number you think of between one and ten. Try that."
It doesn't matter what number he calls; any one will do. If he calls six tell him to deal off six cards, one at a time, and turn the last one face up. Be sure he deals them one at a time; this is important because it reverses the order of the dealt cards and puts the top one where you want it.
Scowl at the card he turns up. "Maybe that isn't the best way to do this after all. That's not my card. Please replace those cards on the others. We'll try something else." Turn to another spectator. "You look psychic. Perhaps you can do better. Give us a number between eleven and twenty. Higher numbers are usually better anyway."
Again it doesn't matter what number is called. Suppose it is seventeen. Tell the "magician" to deal off sixteen cards one at a time and turn up the seventeenth. "That," you say, "is still not my card." Have him turn it down again and replace the dealt cards on the others.Say, "I can't understand why this doesn't work. Let's try something different. Let's take that first wrong number and subtract it from the second wrong number. Maybe that will work. Six from seventeen is eleven. Deal ten cards and turn up the eleventh."
This will be the right one, but look at it dubiously. "Do you know I've forgotten my card again? It's a good thing I wrote it down." Ask the spectator who holds the paper to open it and read aloud what he finds there. Tell the "magician, "I thought for a minute that you were never going
to make it, but you did fine. You won't tell anyone how you did that, will you?"
6. Find it yourself
A spectator performs a card trick himself without knowing how he did it.
Tell a spectator that you will teach him how to be a magician in one easy lesson. Give him a deck of cards to shuffle, then ask him to return about half the deck to you. "Since you: are going to do this trick without any help from me, I'll turn my back so that I can't see what happens and can't help you." Face the other way and instruct him to cut the cards he holds several times. Then tell him to look at and remember the top card and replace it face down on top.
While he is doing this, hold your cards close to your body so that no one behind you can see them and keep your elbows pressed against your sides so that there is no telltale movement. Without looking down at the deck, turn the bot tom card face up under the deck. Then lift the top card, turn the second card from the top face up, and replace the top card. Square the deck neatly.
When the spectator says he is ready, face him. Put your cards on those he has, saying, "We'll bury your card in the deck. Now put the deck behind your back and face the audience. You are now going to try to find your card while the deck is behind your back and in less than three seconds. Are you sure you can do that?" The answer is bound to be "No."
"Don't say that. If you really believe you can do it, you will. A magician has to have self-confidence. It's impossible, of course, but it's not really hard. Take the top card from the deck and give it to me so I can show you just what to do."
Hold the card he gives you face down and instruct him, "Take the next card off the top of the deck and turn it over face up, like this." Turn your card over. "Then push it face up into the center of the deck. Nothing hard about that, was there Now give me the deck." Place the deck on the table or floor and spread it out. One face-up card shows in the center. This is the card you secretly reversed on the bottom of the deck earlier, but the spectator thinks it is the card he just reversed.
"Now let's look at the card just below the one you inserted." Remove the card below the face-up card. Ask the spectator to name his card and then turn over the card you hold.
"Congratulations! You did it on the very first try!"
7. The secret number
Clairvoyance is the faculty of obtaining information directly by the mind without the use of any of the senses. This trick, a guaranteed baffler, will convince anyone that you have that ability. The performer never touches the cards at any time and the trick works itself.
Have a spectator shuffle the deck, then say, "I'll turn my back so that I can't see anything you do. Please cut a few cards off the top of the deck. Not too many; otherwise the trick will take too long. Then count the cards you removed. Count them silently so I can't hear what is happening. Remember the number, and put the counted cards out of sight in your pocket.
"You now have, buried in your mind, a secret number that no one else can possibly know. Now count down from the top of the deck to that number, look at the card at that number, and remember it. Leave the card at that position, and square the deck."
Turn and face the spectator. "I want you to begin dealing cards, one at a time, from the top of the deck face down into a pile on the table. I am sure you will admit that I can't possibly know the name or location of your card. I have seen nothing, heard nothing, and know nothing; yet I will attempt the completely impossible feat of stopping the deal when you have your chosen card in your hand. Put on your best poker face and make sure you give me no clues. Now deal. Not too fast, please. And don't stop until I ask you to."
Place one hand to your forehead, as if concentrating, and cover your eyes almost completely, but not so much that you can't surreptitiously see below the hand and watch the cards" as they are dealt. You want this deal to go beyond the chosen card, and, since you asked him to cut off a small number, he probably took less than fifteen cards.
Mentally count the cards as they are dealt and stop him after fifteen have been dealt. "I think I missed your card. I have gone past it, haven't IP" If he says, "Yes," you are all set.
If he says "No," ask him to continue dealing and stop him after another half dozen cards have been dealt. Continue your mental count. Ask the same question again. Repeat, if necessary, until he admits that you have gone past his card.
Be sure to remember how many cards have been dealt; this is the secret clue you need.
"This is such a difficult feat that I think Ill have to go into a trance. Put the cards back on the deck and we'll try once more."
After he replaces the cards, add, "Let's make it even tougher and lose your card even more thoroughly in the deck. Put the cards in your pocket back on the deck, too." This last instruction is what does the trick. Although you never discover the original number that was selected, you now know the exact location of the chosen card.
Have him begin to deal again. Count the cards. If the number dealt on the previous deal was fifteen, let him deal fifteen cards and stop him just as he picks up the sixteenth. He must always deal the same number of cards as he did on the previous deal, whatever it was — and you stop him on the next following card. This card will be the chosen one.
Have him name his card first, then turn it face up. This is about as close as you can come to real clairvoyance.
8. The reluctant card
A selected card, lost in the deck, reveals itself in an odd way.
Shuffle the deck. Then, as you step toward a spectator, begin running the cards from the left to the right hand. Mentally count them as you do so. Feed them across as rapidly as you can, counting by feel, and without looking at them. If you do this in an easy, natural way no one will realize that you are counting.
Ask the spectator to take a card whenever he likes. When he removes one, keep the cards in the right hand (which you have counted ) slightly separated from the rest of the deck.
Turn your back and tell him to look at the card, remember it, and show it to the others.
While your back is turned, continue counting the cards until you reach twenty-one. Face the spectators again, separate the deck below the twenty-first card and have the chosen card replaced between the two packets.
If the spectator is slow to take a card, and you reach the count of twenty-one before he has done so, simply retain a slight break in the spread of cards at that point and continue pushing cards across, without counting, until one is selected. Then, when your back is turned, separate the deck at the break so that your right hand holds only twenty-one cards.
Square the deck and give it the false cut explained on page 99 so that no one will suspect that the card is being controlled in a certain location.
"One doesn't really need to be a magician to do card tricks. If you concentrate on your card hard enough, sometimes it will find itself. Let's try it."
Quickly deal all the cards into two piles as though you were about to play a two-handed game. Always deal the spectator the first card.
"Look at the cards you have and see if yours is there." He looks and does not find it. "We'll discard those cards and try again."
Deal the remaining cards into two new piles. Again the chosen card is not found among those the spectator receives and he again discards his pile. This is repeated until, on the last deal, the spectator receives only two cards, neither of which are his.
The performer holds only one card, and this proves to be the chosen one.
Note: be sure to use a full deck of fifty-two cards.
9 . Multiple reverse
On command a number of chosen cards simultaneously turn face up.
_ "Would anyone," you ask, "like to learn how to do a trickP" Every child in the audience will undoubtedly raise his hand and holler, "Me!" If you are performing for a small group of five or six say, "Okay, you can all try it." If the audience is larger, use five or six spectators in the front row.
Shuffle the deck as you go forward, then spread the cards and ask the first spectator to take one. "But don't look at it yet. Hold it face down." Have each of the others also take a card. Then turn your back and tell them all to look at their cards, remember them, and turn them face down again so that you won't be able to see any of them.
While your back is toward the spectators, turn the deck face up and then turn the top card face down. Keep the deck neatly squared so that you seem to be holding a face-down deck.
Now go to the first spectator, take his face-down card from him and push it into the deck — not too far from the top. Do the same with each of the other chosen cards in the order in which they were selected, replacing each one a bit farther down in the deck. Keep the deck neatly squared throughout, so that none of the face-up cards show. Don't use a deck with an all-over back design; use one that has white margins.
Now ask the first spectator to step forward and assist you. As he does so, lower your left hand (which holds the deck) to your side momentarily. Then bring it up in front of your body again, palm down, and transfer the deck to your right hand. This action has casually and surreptitiously turned the deck over.
Tell the assisting spectator, "Now we'll see how good a magician you are." Replace the deck in your left hand and keep it tilted forward a bit so that no one can see the bottom card faces the wrong way. "Name your card aloud and command it to turn over." Criticise his manner of doing this. "You must speak louder. I don't think the card could hear that." And remind him he forgot to snap his fingers. Have him do it again. "That's much better. It might even work."
Then either have each child in turn command his card to turn over or have them all do it at once. "Now, let's see how many of you were successful."
Ask the first spectator to name his card again, and then begin pushing the cards off the top of the deck into the left hand. When the first face-up card appears, lift off all the cards above it and give them to the assisting spectator to hold. Lift the face-up card, show it and compliment the spectator on his magic powers.
Replace it face down on the deck, ask the second spectator to name his card, and push over more cards until this one also appears face up.
Each time give the pushed-off cards to your assistant to hold, and be sure to keep the cards in your left hand well squared throughout so that they always cover the bottom face-up card and it is not seen.
When the last chosen card has been found and shown, congratulate the spectators. "You all do that very well; I'm amazed. I hope that you are all as well trained as these cards, and obey orders from your parents just as promptly."
The audience participation makes this one of the most entertaining card tricks you can do.
Retrieve the cards the assisting spectator holds and replace them on the cards you have left. The single face-up card on the bottom of the deck must be secretly reversed again at the first opportunity. Even better, leave the card face up, and perform The Upside-down Miracle, which follows. Since it makes use of a face-up bottom card, you are all set for it.
10. The upside-down miracle
The two halves of a deck of cards are placed face to face, and all the cards mysteriously turn face down on command.
Before beginning, secretly reverse the bottom card of the deck so that it is face up. If you do this trick immediately after the Multiple Reverse, the bottom card is already in that position.
"These are probably the best-trained cards in captivity. Watch them now as they perform a completely impossible feat of acrobatics!"
Bring your right hand above the deck, grasp it at the ends, and cut off half the cards (fig. 28A). Then, simultaneously and quickly, turn your right hand palm up and your left hand palm down (fig. 28B). At the same time say, "I turn half the deck face up and place it on the bottom." Put the cards in your right hand under those in your left hand and square the deck.
"The two halves face each other." Turn the deck over three times showing backs on both sides. Actually, all the cards now face the same way except for one, which, after the third turn, is on the bottom.
Pull the bottom card out from beneath the deck. "If I take one of the face-up cards and wave it gently over the others, all the cards mysteriously and invisibly turn face down!"
Drop the single card face down on the others. Then run all the cards from hand to hand, showing that they are all face down. This is a quick trick but a startling one.
11. X-ray vision
A spectator cuts a deck into three piles. The performer claims
he has X-ray vision, and apparently proves this by naming the card on the bottom of each pile.
Have the deck shuffled, and secretly glimpse the bottom card as you take the deck and place it on the table. Ask someone to cut it into three piles. We'll call the piles A, B, and C. You know the name of the card at the bottom of pile A because it formed the lower portion of the deck.
Gaze intently at pile C and announce that its bottom card is the ——— of ———. (Name the card you know. ) Pick up pile C, your right thumb at the inner end, fingers at the outer end, and bring it back to your left hand. As it comes back, tip it up just enough so that you get a quick passing glance at the bottom card (fig. 29). Try this a few times and you'll find that you need only the briefest of glimpses to identify the card. The slight tilting up of the packet won't be noticed if you keep your right hand moving.
Pull off the bottom card with the fingers of the left hand and put the pile back where it was.
Turn your X-ray vision on pile B, and name the card you just glimpsed. Then pick up pile B, again sighting the bottom card. Pull the bottom card off onto the card already in your left hand. Do the same with pile A, except that you do not need to glimpse the bottom card. Place pile A below rather than above the two cards in your left hand so that when the bottom card is pulled off it lies beneath the other two. This puts the cards in the proper sequence.
Turn the three cards toward yourself, name the card facing you again, and deal it off, face up, onto pile C. Do the same with the others, putting them on piles B and A.
Do the whole trick rather quickly and then proceed to something else. If you are asked to do it again, do it later, not right away.
12. Cherchez la femme
An easy non-sleight-of-hand version of the famous Three Card Monte swindle with a surprise finish. You use it, not as a swindle, but as an observation or alertness test which looks dead easy but which no one ever passes.
One bit of secret preparation before you begin: Place a red Queen face up on the top of the face-down deck, and cover it with any other card, face down.
"Did you know," you begin, "that a great many people walk in their sleep? They go around that way for days sometimes and never know it." Select one spectator. "You, for instance. Are you quite certain that you are really wide awake? You are? I'm not so sure about that. Id like to give you a test to find out."
Turn the deck face up and run through the cards. Find and throw out another red Queen and the two Aces. Keep the last few cards on the bottom of the face-up deck squared so that the reversed Queen won't be seen.
"Can you identify these three cards?" The spectator names them. "Very good. You seem to be partly awake."
While the attention is on the spectator, square the deck, turn it face down and tilt it toward yourself. Slide the top card off and place it on the bottom of the deck. Don't try to hide this action, just do it casually. Then slide the face-up Queen (now on top of the deck) down so that it projects over the inner edge of the deck about a half inch (fig. 30).
Tell the spectator, "Your job is to try and keep your eye on this odd card." Point to the face-up Queen on the table. "In fact, keep both eyes on it — and keep them both wide open."
Pick up either Ace and put it, face up, on the deck, directly on the face-up Queen already there. Run your right thumb along the lower edge of the two cards to line them up exactly.
Pick up the Queen on the table, and place it on the Ace at an angle so that the index of the Ace is still visible. Put the last Ace on the Queen in the same way.
"Please notice that the important odd card is between the other two." With the right hand (thumb on the faces, fingers underneath at the bottom) lift these cards off the deck. You appear to hold a fan of only three cards, but you have an unsuspected fourth card behind the last Ace.
Turn the fan face down and place it on the deck. Square the deck and then deal off three cards, face down, in a row. Don't do this quickly; fast motions are suspicious. If you do it slowly everyone should be convinced that the odd card, the Queen, is in the center between the two Aces. Actually, the situation is quite different: You have an Ace between two Queens.
"Now we'll find out if you are awake enough to see what is happening right under your nose. I'll move these cards around a bit — all in slow motion. You try to follow the odd card." Don't call it the Queen. Always refer to it as the odd card; you'll see why in a moment.
Slowly transfer the center card to the left end of the row, Then slide the card now in the center to the right, and put the right-hand card in the middle.
The Queen is now, apparently, on the left. "Can you tell
me where the odd card is now? Just point to it." The spectator indicates the card on your left.
"I suspected that you weren't really very wide awake." Turn the card up, showing it to be an Ace. Then turn up the card in the center, showing the Queen. This is surprise number one. (Don't show the third card yet. )
Turn the Ace and Queen face down again. "Perhaps that was too complicated. I don't want you to fail this test completely, so I'll make it easier." This time, merely transpose the left and center cards.
"I hope you followed that. Where is the odd card now?" The spectator again points to the card on your left.
"Now I know you are sound asleep." Turn up the center card, showing the Ace. "This is the odd card." The spectators now think you are the one who is confused. Pause a moment.
"The card you chose can't be the odd card ..." Turn up the left-hand card, showing the Queen."... because it is like this one." Turn up the third card, showing another Queen! This final unexpected transformation of an Ace to a Queen is, since everything was done in such slow motion, an eyepopper.
Note that the spectator can't possibly cross you up by not choosing the card you want him to select. If he chooses a Queen the first time, simply end the trick there, showing that it is not the odd card.
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