Psychic Solution

Effect: You tell a person to pick the top card of the pile and to memorize it, then to put the card back into the pile. Taking the deck, you act like you are trying to get "psychic" messages from it. While they concentrate on their card, you name it.

1. Take an ordinary deck, and ask the spectator to shuffle it.

2. Spread the cards like a fan, face up, telling the spectators that the deck is in no particular order. While doing this, look at and remember the top card.

3. Have the spectator cut the deck into three piles. Be sure you keep an eye on the card that was on top of the deck. Arrange the piles so the first cut pile (the top of the deck) is in-between the other piles.

4. Ask them to look at the card on top of the middle pile, and to memorize it. Then they are to put it inside one of the piles. (You already know what this card is.)

5. Put the deck back together and shuffle the cards.

6. Have the spectator concentrate on the color of the card they picked, you tell them the color. Have them concentrate on the suit, you tell them the suit. Then the number, you tell them the number.

The trick is done; you should have them stunned at your psychic abilities.

Spelling Bee

Effect: The magician shuffles the deck and takes the top thirteen cards. Holding the cards face down, he proceeds to spell the first card name, Ace. "A-C-E," and for each letter, he puts one card under the packet of thirteen cards. He then flips over the next card (the fourth,) and it is an Ace. He repeats this process for each card number, Ace through King. At the end, he has all thirteen cards face up on the table, in sequential order.

Preperation: Remove and arrange 13 cards in the following setup, top card down: Three, Eight, Seven, Ace, Queen, Six, Four, Two, Jack, King, Ten, Nine, and Five. Put these on top of the deck.

Presentation:

The trick almost works itself. To start, pretend to shuffle the cards, leaving the top thirteen untouched. Remove the top thirteen cards as a group and arrange them like a fan, so that your audience can see their faces. Square up the cards, and hold them face down.

When you spell out each card, do it as follows: let's say you're spelling the word ACE. Spell A, remove the top card and place it on the bottom. Then spell C, and remove the top card and place that on the bottom. Next spell E, remove this top card and place it on the bottom. Flip the new top card and show that it's an Ace, and place it on the table.

Continue in this manner until all the cards are face up on the table. (eh: You spell the cards in order: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K) Your audience may realize that the cards must have been set up beforehand, but this only adds to the mystery - and you can treat it as a puzzle for them to try to figure out.

Mind Reader

This card trick is very easy but it fools alot of people.

1. Shuffle the deck or get the spectator to shuffle it.

2. Take the card on top of the deck and look at it, without letting the spectator see it, and place it, face-down, in front of him.

3. Ask the spectator to pick a color: red or black.

4. (example: if the card was the Three of Hearts, a RED card.) If the spectator says black, then you say: "Well, that leaves red." If he says red, you say: "Good Choice"

5. Now you ask: "Which suit do you like better, Hearts or Diamonds?" (Remember, the card you looked at is RED.)

6. If the spectator says Hearts, you say: "Good choice." If he says Diamonds, you say: "That just leaves Hearts." Either way, you then say: "Pick five cards in that suit you like the best."

7. If the five cards he picks don't contain your card, say "Okay, now from the remaining cards pick five cards you like the best."

8. If these five cards still don't contain your card, say: "That just leaves three cards." Name the three remaining cards.

9. On the first or second try, five cards will have been selected. On the third try, only three cards. Ask him: "Out of the five (or three) cards which, two do you like the best"

10. (example: out of the five cards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 he picks the 5 and 6.) You say: "That leaves the 2, 3, and 4."

11. Now you ask him which he likes out of those three. If he says the Three of Hearts, you turn over the card and amaze him!

12.If he does not pick the card, you ask him out of the remaining two, which one he likes the best. If he still doesn't pick it, you say, while turning over the card: "Well that just leaves the Three of Hearts," and you amaze him!

The trick seems simple, and you think any one will get it. They don't. Try it on a friend. The trick is this: the spectator gets so caught up in picking everything, he doesn't realize that you are making the choices, so he thinks he picked the card. It amazes him!

Four Islands

Effect: There are four islands in an ocean. Each has a king, queen, a son named Jack (the Jack will be used,) and a dog named Ace (the Ace will be used.) One day, a hurricane storms through the ocean, creating complete chaos and wiping everything on the islands away. Finally, each king lands on his own island, each queen on her own island, etc.

Card Trick:

To perform this trick, you need to remove all Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Aces. Create four "rows" of cards going down as you would in solitaire. Each row should have a King, Queen, Jack, and Ace all of one suit. Explain the setting as you set them up on their islands.

When you tell about the hurricane, sweep the cards up from the bottom of the "island" (the Ace) up. Do this to each row, in order from left to right. Hold the cards face down. The order will be King, Queen, Jack, Ace (of each suit.) Have a member of the audience cut the small deck in half, and complete the cut (top half of deck goes beneath the bottom half.) This may be done with several audience members. Don't let them make more than one cut at a time. Now just deal them out, one at a time, onto their four different islands (four piles.) If you have done it right, each island will have all of one type of card.

Seven Detectives

Effect: This is a story of seven detectives chasing a murderer (the selected card).

Procedure:

1) Take any four of the same face cards out of the deck, (Kings make good detectives.)

2) Shuffle the deck and memorize the bottom card.

3) Spread the cards like a fan, and ask the spectator to take one.

4) Tell the spectator to look at the card, remember it, then place it on the top of the deck.

5) Ask the spectator to cut the deck.

6) Explain that the card they selected is a murderer and the four face cards you took out are detectives to find him.

7) Look through the deck, the selected card will be the next card after the bottom card you peeked at.

8) Place the four face cards so that they're sticking out of the deck about half way and in the order of: face card, original bottom card, face card, selected card, face card, card after selection, face card. Explain that the detectives are searching in those places.

9) Fold the deck back up and leave the four cards sticking out. Turn it on edge and hit the four cards against a table. The three alternate cards should pop up, with the selected one in the middle. Say the detectives called on these three guys to help them and show them to the spectator.

10) Take those three cards sticking up and hit them against the table; two face cards should pop up. Hit those against the table and the selected card should pop up.

Note: When hitting the cards against a table, hold the deck on the sides, not the face and back. Also, don't hold it too tight or your cards will bend and not work.

Magic Riffle

Effect: Performer shuffles the deck and then riffles through it (see below.) A spectator is asked to say stop before the end of the deck is reached. The performer separates the deck at that point, shows the card to the audience (without looking) and "guesses" the card.

The Riffle:

Hold deck horizontally, place thumb on bottom of deck, and middle, ring, and index fingers on top of deck. Place unused hand around deck with thumb on the back of the deck (not the bottom, the back...) Pull top of deck back with top fingers and smoothly lift fingers from top of deck so the cards flip forward one by one.

The Trick:

The trick is in the initial shuffle. When you shuffle, note the bottom card. As they tell you to stop while riffling, separate the cards, but use your thumb to pull the bottom card out, along with the top half of the deck. Hold the chosen half up, facing the audience. Don't look at the card. Tell them the card that you saw when you shuffled. That is their card. When they ask you to do it again, which they will, do it without looking at the deck. That will amaze them.

This trick takes a bit of practice, but once mastered, makes an awesome sleight of hand trick.

Easy Eights

You will need someone to be an accomplice in this trick. Arrange eight cards in the pattern of the symbols on the face of an eight. One of the eight cards must be an eight. While you look away, have a spectator choose a card. When you look back, have your accomplice point to a few cards, saying "was it this one?". Make sure they point to the eight, and to the symbol marking the position of the card the spectator chose. You will get it right every time.

This trick is much more effective after perplexing the spectator by doing the trick several times. The average person will think it is something the accomplice is SAYING, so they probably won't figure out the trick for a while.

Count Down

Trick Description: You shuffle the deck several times and then ask a person to tell you when to STOP when they think you drop ten cards. You then count the correct amount of cards actually dropped. You then tell them to memorize the top card and put it back into the deck shuffling anyway they want to. You then fan all the cards out in a spiral towards the middle and pick their card out for them.

How Its Done

1. Shuffle the card deck a lot, memorizing the bottom card. Depending on the war you shuffle, you should be able to keep a certain card always on the bottom. I usually lead with the right hand first so that is always the bottom card no matter how many times you shuffle. If you lose the card, keep shuffling until you memorize the bottom card.

2. Since you now know what the bottom card really is, it is a simple job getting the other person to pick the card. When you drop cards, no matter how many you drop, you should count the DROPPED cards back to them and eventually the bottom card will be on top.

3. After they shuffle and give the cards back to you, throw the cards out in a pattern to confuse them, then show them their card.