Easy Tricks (A to C)

2 of a Kind

Effect: The magician picks out two cards. He has a spectator cut the deck. He flips over the cards that he picked, then he flips over two cards of the deck that was cut. The cards match.

1. Shuffle the deck so the specator doesn't think you've rigged it.

2.) Tell them you will pick two cards. Go through the deck making sure you look at the bottom and the top cards of the deck.

3.) Pick out a card that matches the bottom card. (If the bottom card is a Four of Hearts, you would pick out the Four of Diamonds to match it.) Then pick out a card that is the same as the top card.

4.) Ask the spectator to cut the deck.

5.) Take the first card, the one on top of the original top of the deck, and flip it over.

6.) Flip the bottom half of the deck over completely.

7.) Flip over the cards you picked. They all match!

4 Friendly Kings

Do the first 3 steps away from your audience or pre-prepared.

1) Take the four Kings out of the deck, and also two other cards.

2) Fan the four Kings out, and place the two other cards you selected behind the second King. Line them up so your audience cannot see the two other cards.

3) Show the Kings to the spectators.

4) Place the Kings (and the two secret cards) face down on the top of the deck.

5) Tell the audience that the four Kings are good friends, and they don't let anything get between them.

6) Place the top King on the bottom of the deck. You may show the audience this card.

7) Place the next card (not a King) into the center of the deck.

8) Repeat step 7.

9) Leave the fourth card on the top. You may show the audience that it is a King.

10) Explain that the Kings are real good friends and will soon be back together.

11) Cut the deck in the middle, and put the bottom half on the top.

12) Search the deck for the four Kings. They have been magically moved next to each other.
 

Effect: This trick is exactly like the 4 Friendly Kings above. However, this variation allows for less chance of making a mistake. The magician has three Kings in his hand, and tells the audience one of their friends is missing in the forest (represented by the deck.) Then he tells of how the three Kings decide to go looking for their friend. He then squares up the Kings and puts them on top of the deck. He says the first King decides to go to the back of the forest, in case their friend came out. Magician puts the first King on the bottom of the deck. Then he says that the second of the Kings will look for the missing King inside the forest, so then he puts the second card in the middle of the deck. Lastly, he tells the audience that the third King decides he will wait for the missing King at the entrance to the forest, so he leaves the King on top. He then tells the audience that the three King's decided before they started to meet in the forest if they could not find him, to discuss their next move. The magician cuts the deck, flips the cards face over and finds the Kings are all together!!

Card Trick

Before Hand:

1) Gather all four Kings.

2) Put one King on the top of the deck. Fan the other three out, and put one card (any card) behind the second King. (Make sure it is hidden.)

With the audience:

3) Tell the audience the story.

4) Square the cards and put them on top of the deck.

5) Put first King on the bottom.

6) Put second "King" (really not a King) somewhere in the center.

7) Leave the third King on top.

8) Cut the deck, putting the bottom half of the deck onto the top.

9) Find the Kings in the deck with their missing friend!!

This variation is a little easier because there is only one fake card to hide and to put into the deck.

After Drinks

This is a GREAT trick. And it's REALLY EASY. It is "detectable," but you get away with it most of the time. If people have had a drink or two, this is an incredible trick -- they'll think you're David Copperfield or something...

EFFECT: The audience is given two random cards. They look at them, but the magician doesn't see them. The audience inserts the cards into the deck, and without shuffling, the magician throws the deck into a chair, but somehow manages to pick up the two cards, holding them up in front of the gaping audience members.

HOW IT'S DONE: This is a trick of the mind.


- You prepare the deck this way: pick two cards of different suits, but the same color, such as the Eight of Spades, and the Three of Clubs. These are the cards you are going to give to the audience. Next, pick the "opposites" of the cards: the Eight of Clubs, and the Three of Spades. These are the cards you will fool your audience with. Put the opposite cards at the top and bottom of the deck - Eight of Clubs on top, Three of Spades on bottom. And the "real" cards both go on top.

- Without too much explanation, deal the two top cards out, face down, and let the audience look at them. Next, let them insert the cards back into the deck.

- Make sure they can see that you're not doing ANYTHING to the deck. Hold the deck between your thumb on top, and your fingers on the bottom. Swing the deck back and forth a few times (make SURE they can't see the bottom card, though!) Perhaps you count 1, 2, 3, and then throw the deck into a chair (or couch, or something, where it'll be easy to pick up.) As you throw the deck, hold onto the top and bottom card with your thumb and middle finger. IMMEDIATELY hold the cards up for all to see.

- It helps if you position yourself so that the audience doesn't turn their heads around to watch where you threw the cards. You should be close to the chair you throw the deck into, so you can draw their attention back to the two cards you held onto.

- They picked the Eight of Spades, Three of Clubs - but you are holding the Eight of Clubs, Three of Spades. It's VERY rare that anybody notices. And if the audience is drunk, you get a lot of "Ohmygaaawd, how'd he DO that?" and gaping mouths... Great trick!
 

All The Aces

Effect: The spectator cuts the deck into four piles. From each pile three random cards are dealt onto each of the other piles. The top card of each pile is turned over to reveal all four Aces.

Preparation: Put all four aces onto the top of the deck.

Procedure:

1) Tell the spectator to cut the deck into two piles. Once he has done that, have them divide the two piles into four.

2) We will call the piles numbers one to four; four being the top pile with the Aces. (Don't tell the spectator these numbers. They are just for us to keep track of things.)

3) Have the spectator pick up pile one, put the top three cards onto the bottom, and deal the (now) top three cards onto the other piles (two, three, and four. One card to each pile.)

4)The spectator continues, in order, to do the same with the other piles. (You just point to each pile, when you want them to use it.)

5)There IS no 5, you're done! Just turn over the top cards to reveal the Aces!


 

Appearing Card

Effect: A spectator picks a card out of a shuffled deck. You put it with three random cards, place the cards at the bottom of the deck, and shuffle. You take three cards from the bottom of the deck and ask the spectator if any of those are his. None are. These are laid on the table, one of the cards is flipped over, and the selection appears on the table.

How It's Done:


Ask a person to shuffle the cards and then choose one card. Have them give you the deck. Take three cards from the bottom. Tell the spectator to put their card on top of those three, then to place the four cards at the bottom of the deck.

Shuffle the deck, but be sure to keep the four bottom cards in the same spot. (Editor's note: See False Shuffles.) Shuffle the cards a couple of times. Now take the first bottom card and place it face down on the table. Take the new bottom card and put it at the top of the deck. Place the other two bottom cards face down on the table. The last card you put down is the spectator's card. Be sure you have that card at the top of the tabled pile. Set the rest of the deck aside.

Pick up the tabled cards. Square them up, and hold them so the spectator can see the face of just the bottom card. Ask if this is their card. They will say no. Lower the cards so they are in dealing position and quickly deal the top card (actually their card) onto the table. If you do this naturally, without comment, they will think you dealt the card you just showed them.

Show them the top card from those in your hand, and ask if it is theirs. Again they will say no. Lay this card on the table. Finally, show them the last card in your hand and ask if it's the selection. When they say no, put this card onto the other two. Ask them what their card was. When they tell you, use the other two cards (like a spatula) to flip their card face up on the table. You have made their card appear!



Back Flip
 

This is a very simple trick, and works best on kids, but it can be made to look pretty impressive.

EFFECT: Audience member picks a card, which the magician does not see. The audience member inserts the card back into the deck. Next the magician drops the card onto a table top, and the card jumps out of the deck, face up!

HOW IT'S DONE:

-Shuffle the deck so that everyone can see you are not preparing the deck in any way. (Don't comment on this, just do it.)
- Fan out the cards in your hand, and have someone pick a card.

- While they look at the card, you do two quick, easy maneuvers:

1) Quickly move the top card to the bottom, while flipping it face up. You're left with a deck with the bottom card upside down.

2) Turn the whole deck over. You're left with an upside down deck, but because the (now) top card is reversed, it looks like a regular deck.

- Now hold the deck out (make sure you don't fan the cards at all - you don't want to reveal that you're really holding onto an upside down deck.) Have them insert their card.
- Turn around (yeah, this part is kinda cheesy, but it works fine, especially on kids.) Turn the top card back over so it faces the same as the rest of the deck. Scan through the deck to find the upside down card that the audience member just inserted.

- Here's the BIG FINALE, that really makes this trick worth it: put the card on top of the deck, and hold onto the deck from above. You are about to drop it, flatly, onto a table top. BUT slide the top card back off the deck by a quarter-inch (this will be covered by your hand). Then, drop the deck from about two feet up. The deck will hit the table, and the top card (the selected card) will flip over. This is a real crowd-pleaser.

- An alternative ending is NOT to turn around, but just to move the deck back to right-side-up, while moving the inverted top/bottom card back to its former position. Now, you put the deck down, do some Hocus Pocus and tell them you just made their card flip over, inside the deck. Fan the deck out, and their card is the only one reversed (it's actually better if you put the deck upside down and fan it out, so the chosen card is the only one that's right side up) However, a smart audience member will quickly figure you out this way, just because you mentioned "reversed" - it kinda gives them a clue...


Ending Variation
Instead of the last three steps tell the person to imagine their card flipping over backwards, then go through the deck and show them the card. (But be careful not to show the bottom card!)

Bottom Card
 

Effect: You guess the bottom card without even looking at it (or so your audience thinks.)

Presentation:
1. Look at the bottom card of the deck.

2. Shuffle the cards but not the bottom one. Leave the bottom card on the bottom. You can tell everyone that you aren't a very good shuffler.

3. Place the deck face down on the table.

4. Name four numbers in the deck (making sure that the card on the bottom is amongst them.) Have a spectator choose two of the numbers.

5. Let's say your card is a Four and you named a Three, Five, Four, and Nine. They picked the Five and Nine. Say, OK pick out of the Three and Four. If they say three say okay then the bottom card is a Three.

6. Now tell them to pick two of the four suits. If your card is a Four of Spades and they pick Hearts and Diamonds, tell them to pick one out of Spades and Clubs. If they say Spades say OK the card should be a Three of Spades.

7. Now turn over the deck and your audience will be amazed.

8. Remember the object of the trick is to get the person to pick the card on the bottom of the deck, so make sure you lead them to the right numbers and suits.

Chased

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.

(I like to confuse them even more by throwing out about 10-20 more than the one they actually pick and then say "Is this your card?". Since they will say no... dig through the stack and get the real one.

Return to Main Menu