Easy Tricks (S to Z)
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.
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.
Editor's note: to add to the mystery, don't use cards all of the same suit. A
mixed group of suits makes it seem less like a "stacked" deck.
Think of a Card
Effect: The magician takes a packet of ten cards from the top of a shuffled
deck. A spectator thinks of one of those cards and memorizes it. The magician
tells the spectator to also memorize the position of the card from the top of
the (face-down) packet. That done, the magician squares the packet up.
Magician divides the packet in half. He takes the top five cards and places them
under the bottom five. He asks the spectator for the position of the remembered
card. Magician takes a card from the top of the packet and puts it on the
bottom. Do this the same number of times as the number the spectator gave you.
The magician finds the card, using the Elimination Shuffle.
The Elimination Shuffle: Take the top card off the packet and put on the bottom.
Take the new top card and put it on the table. Keep doing this, one card to the
bottom, next card to the table, until you hold only one card. It will be the
card the spectator chose.
Three Card Match
Effect: A person from the audience picks a card and sets it aside. After a little hocus-pocus, you flip over three cards of the same rank as the selected card.
Preparation:
1) Take all four cards of two suits from the deck (for this we will say Aces and Kings.)
2) Put all four Aces on top of the deck, and all the Kings on top of them. Now you are ready.
Card Trick:
1) Deal the cards into two face down rows of four: Ace, Ace, Ace, Ace; King, King, King, King.
2) Ask a spectator to point at one row of cards. Remove this row and place it on the bottom of the deck (It is no longer needed. For this, we will say that the Kings remain.)
3) Have the spectator touch, but not look at, a single card in the row.
4) Place this card aside, and put the remaining three cards on top of the deck. (That gives you one King on the table and the other three Kings on top of the deck.)
5) Deal the cards out into three piles (one King will be on the bottom of each.) Continue to deal out the cards until your spectator tells you to stop.
6) Now you can use any elimination process to bring each of the piles down to one card (which will be the King that was on the bottom.)
7) The only cards that should be left on the table are the one King that was set aside and the three Kings that were dealt into the piles. Flip the single card face up, reminding everyone that the spectator selected it. Now flip the other three cards face up, revealing that they all match
Turn Around Deck
Take an ordinary deck of cards and memorize the bottom card.
Before you start the trick turn the bottom card upside down and place it back on
the bottom of the deck. Give the top half of the deck to a spectator and keep
the bottom half for yourself. Tell them you will remove one card from the deck
you are holding and do so. Look at the card but do not memorize it, the card you
need to remember the bottom one. Place it on the table in front of you. Tell
them to remove one card from their deck but do not let you see. When they do
this put the hand with the deck in down to your side and when no one looking
just let flip the deck over. When the spectator has removed one card and looked
at it. Tell him to place it on the table face down next to yours. Now tell him
to put your card face down in his deck without looking, that way it is lost and
no one knows what it was. Now take his card and place it in your deck face down
so that it is the only card, except for your card, that is face down. Now take
half of his deck and turn it face up and lace it on the top of you deck. Take
the other half of his deck and place it face up on the bottom of your deck. Now
tell him that the deck should be face up, face down, face up. He will naturally
agree. Show him that all the cards are face up except two. Turn over your card
and ask him what he had. He will tell you and then turn over his card.
Vanishing Card
Performer shows a pack of cards in its case. He withdraws the
deck and announces he will magically make a card leave the deck invisibly. He
requests that five cards be drawn. These cards are placed face down on the table
so no one can see them. Performer now picks them up and asks someone in the
audience to write down their names as he calls them off. After the cards are
listed, he puts them back in the deck. Someone now looks through the deck trying
to find the five selections. Only four are found in the deck! The performer
opens the case the cards came in... the missing card is found to have left the
pack and gone back into the case.
Explanation: When performer withdrew pack from the case, all he did was to leave
one card in it, secretly learning its suit and number. When performer reads the
names of the five cards, he says the name of this card instead of one of the
drawn cards.
Where's the Card?
Effect: Spectator picks a card from deck and magician finds
it. Magician then lays out four cards which are different from the one the
spectator picked. Finally, magician causes selected card to reappear.
Card Trick:
1. Finding the card: tell spectator to pick a card and put it back on top of
deck. Then take deck and put it behind your back. Turn top card over.
2. Bring deck out and show the bottom card to spectator; ask if it's the same
suit as their chosen card (ask any question... it's just a decoy.) Since the
card chosen by the spectator is facing you, you now can glance at it and
memorize it.
3. Disappearing card: don't reveal the spectator's chosen card yet. Turn your
whole body so the spectator can't see what you're doing and take the chosen card
from the deck and place it at either the 2nd, 4th, 6th, or 8th position from the
bottom of the deck. (Let's say the 2nd.)
4. Turn around again and show the bottom card (which is not spectator's card,)
and ask if that's their card. They'll say no. Take that card and place it on top
Take their chosen card (which is the 2nd card,) and put it on the table. Do this
until you have 3 more cards laying on the table. Spectator will think their card
is not on the table.
5. After a big build-up, reveal that the spectator's card is now among those on
the table. They will be surprised!
Who's The Magician
Hand a full deck of cards to a volunteer to shuffle. (Make sure
it's a FULL deck.) Ask the volunteer to deal the deck into two piles. Have them
choose one of the piles and remember the bottom card. Tell the volunteer to show
the bottom card to the audience (anyone else who's there,) but not you. Ask them
to place the pile containing the bottom card on top of the other pile. Then ask
the volunteer to deal the deck into four piles from left to right.
Pick up each pile and ask the volunteer if their card is in that pile. As you
ask, reassemble the deck, making sure the pile with their card goes on the very
top. Give the deck to the volunteer and have them deal the cards, one at a time
face down on the table, spelling out the word "PRESTO". Have them turn the next
card over. This is their chosen card!