Discovering Every Magic Card in a Shuffled Pack

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Magic Trick Effect : When the audience have thoroughly shuffled the magic pack, the magician places it behind his back and begins to call out the name of a card. To convince his audience that he is right he skims the card toward them, so that they may see for themselves. Another card follows and another, and still another, until the audience are satisfied. Any pack may be used for the trick as there is absolutely no preparation of any kind.

Magic Trick Performance : Before beginning the trick the magician gets a sight of the top card of the pack. As soon as he places the cards behind his back he "palms" one card in his righthand—any one—and then taking the top magic card holds it lightly between the first and secondfingers of the righthand. Bringing thathand in front of him, half-closed, with the back toward the audience, magician moves thehand toward the shoulder and then with a short, quick jerk sends the magic card that is between hisfingers flying into the audience. This movement enables him to see the magical card that he has palmed, and that card is the next one to be called out. So he proceeds, as long as he pleases, palming the magical cards and throwing them to the audience.

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A Feat of Divination at the Magical HelpDesk

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A pack of cards that has been shuffled by the magician is handed to one of the audience with the request that he cut it several times. He is then asked to divide the magic pack into a number of piles or heaps, to place them near one another on the magic desk and cover them with a borrowed handkerchief. The heaps are laid face up. During these preparations the magician stands with his back to the magic desk. When everything is in readiness he turns and asks some one to touch one heap. Picking up this heap, still covered by the handkerchief, the magician holds it against his forehead, and immediately proceeds not only to call out the names of the cards in the heap, but also the order in which they follow. The heap, as yet uncovered, is handed to one of the audience, who examines the magic cards and verifies what the magician has told.

The prearranged magic pack is again brought into use. The magician gives the cards a false shuffle and then allows them to be cut, as often as desired, as that does not disarrange their order. After the heaps have been covered and one heap is selected, the magician picks this up with the handkerchief around it, and drawing the latter tightly over the top card is able to see the card through the meshes of the linen. The magician then proceeds to call off the cards in the order of the formula. A quick glance at the heap next to the one selected tells him the bottom card of those he is reading.

It may heighten the effect of the trick if, before calling out the names of the cards, the magician pretends to weigh the cards in the handkerchief and tell how many are in the heap. Of course, that is a simple matter with this pack.

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The Seven Heap at Magical Desk

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The four sevens are sorted out of a magic pack and placed in a heap on the magical desk. Then seven indifferent cards are placed in a second heap alongside the first, and some one is asked to come forward and assist the magician.

Looking the man earnestly in the eyes for a moment, the magician writes on a slip of paper: "You will select the seven heap." This is folded and handed to the assistant with the request that he puts it in his pocket. He is then asked to select one of the heaps of magic cards. When this is done he is requested to read what is written on the magical paper. When he has done so, he is told to turn over the heap. No matter which heap is selected the prediction is verified. Should it be the heap with the four sevens, the magician turns over the other heap with the remark, "You see these are all different cards." On the otherhand should the heap of seven cards be selected, the magican merely counts them out one by one, without showing the faces of the other heap, merely spreading the magic cards apart to prove that there are only four cards there.

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Magical Desk : Impromptu Card Trick

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Magic Trick Effect

A Magic Card is selected by a spectator and placed back on top of the magical pack. The pack of cards is then cut several times and handed back to the magician. A pile of magical cards suddenly fall off the pack leaving the magician holding the spectators card.

Magic Trick Method

When the card is selected the card on the bottom of the pack iscrimped by the magicians pinky.

The spectators card is then placed on the top of the magical pack and the pack is cut.

This now means that the spectators card is underneath the crimped card.

The pack of cards can be passed around the room to be cut several times and the spectators card will always be under the crimped card.

The magical pack is then handed back to the magician who quietly puts histhumb under the crimped card, appearing to be clumsy and allows the cards above histhumb to fall on the floor. The card under histhumb will be the spectators.

The magician can also allow the rest of the cards to fall leaving only the spectators card in his hand.

This card trick looks amazing because the audience has seen that the magician has not had a lot of contact with the pack and the whole routine has been totally impromptu.

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The Card in the Pocketbook at The Magical Desk

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A Magic card is freely selected from a thoroughly shuffled pack and marked. It is shuffled back into the pack around which is placed a rubber band. The magic pack is then returned to the person who drew the card, with the request that hehold it. The magician now takes from his breast pocket a large lettercase or pocketbook, which is securely tiedwith astring. He cuts the string and takes out a sealedenvelope from the book. Tearing off one end of the envelope he asks the one who drew the magical card to put hisfingers into it and take out the contents. When the request is complied with the marked card is brought out. On examining the magic pack it is found that the magic card has left it.


The successful performance of this trick depends, in part, on the skilful palming of the bottom card of the pack. The peculiar arrangement of the pocketbook and the envelope are also essential features of the magic trick. Any letter case or magic pocketbook may be used, provided it is the proper length, which is about four by six inches. In it is placed a sealed envelope, which has one end neatly slit with a sharp knife, at the part AA, shown in Fig. Magic 1. Into this open end is inserted two strips of rather stiff paper, each an inch and a halfwide and fourinches long; twoinches of each going inside and the other twoinches remaining outside. The outside ends are slightly curled outwardly or, better still, each is folded over the side of the book. The book is then securely, but not too tightly, tied around, twice each way, with a string. This cord must be separated at the open end far enough to admit of the card being slipped into the magical envelope. (See Fig. Magic 1.) The pocketbook is kept in the right breast pocket of the coat.

Fig. Magic 1.

Fig. Magic 2.

Fig. Magic 3.

When the drawn card is to be replaced in the magic pack, the magician has it put about the middle and making the "pass" brings it to the bottom. This move he follows with a false shuffle, which leaves the card undisturbed. Taking the magic pack in his lefthand, thethumb on top and the fingersbelow, the magician takes from his vest pocket with his righthand a rubberband, and stretching it over histhumb and the first twofingers, slips it over the magic pack. At the same moment the magical fingers of the lefthand close up and palm the bottomcard, as shown in Fig. Magic 3. The palming of the card and the affixing of the rubber band being made simultaneously, conceal the stealing of the card. The magician now takes the magic pack in his righthand, while his lefthand goes into the breast pocket, and slipping the card between the strips of paper, pushes it down into theenvelope. The strips of paper are then pulled out and left in the pocket, and the cord is properly adjusted. The pocketbook is now brought out; the magic pack is handed to the person who drew the card and he is told to find the card, but fails in his quest. The magician then removes the string from the pocketbook, tears off the open end of the envelope, and requests the one who drew the card to take it out of the envelope and identify it.

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Magic Trick: A Selected Magical Card Appears

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Magic 1

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A Magic card that has been drawn by one of the audience and replaced in the magical pack is brought by means of "the pass" next to the top card of the pack. The magician asks at what number, counting from the top, the audience would like the selected magic card to appear. Let us suppose that number eight is decided on. Holding the magical pack in his lefthand the magician shows that it is neither the bottom nor the top card. Taking the top card off the magic pack and holding it between thethumb andfingers of the righthand, face down, he counts "one." The second card (the selected one) follows immediately as "two," but instead of putting it on top of "one," which he holds in his righthand, he puts it under, his handsmoving together slightly and quickly up and down, prevent the audience from seeing just whether the card goes on the top or the bottom of "one," and as the third magic card and all the other magical cards that follow go on top of "one," any suspicion that may be aroused is set at rest. When the eighth card is reached the magician throws it, face down, on the magic desk. When the one who drew the card turns this up, he at once declares it is not the card he selected. While the attention of the audience is fixed on the card, the magician brings hishands together for a moment. The cards in the left hand lie flat, while the others are held lengthways above them between thethumb and the first and secondfingers at the ends, so that the magical pack assumes, somewhat, the position of a half-opened book, as shown in the illustration, Fig. Magic 1. With thefingers of his lefthand the magician slips the bottom card of the packet held by his righthand (the selected card) on top of the cards in the lefthand. By pressing lightly on this card while the righthand keeps the rest of the pile in the one position, the selected card will appear face upward on the lefthand heap. The magician immediately places the cards in his righthand on top of it, face down, of course. It is the work of a moment only, and the audience ought not to notice it. Picking up the magical card that is lying on this magic desk, the magician places it on the pack, which hehands to the person who selected the card, telling him that though in spite of the evidence of his senses, his card is not the eighth from the top, it will by the magic power of the magician be brought there. Taking the magical pack in hishands and ruffling it, he hands it back to the man with the request that he count off eight cards. The request is complied with, and much to the astonishment of the gentleman he will find, when he reaches the desired number, the selected card staring him in the face.

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Magic Trick: A Magical Greek Cross

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A number of magic cards is dealt out in four or more (not less than four) heaps, faces upward. Each heap contains four cards, and, for effect, they are arranged in the form of a Greek cross, as shown in Fig. Magic 1. The magician turns his back to the magic desk and requests some one to think of one of the cards. When this is done, the magician faces the magic desk once more, and asks in which heap the card is lying. When he learns this he again turns his back to the magic desk, and tells the one who thought of the card to mix up the cards indiscriminately. Then the magician rearranges them in cruciform heaps, and once more asks in which heap the card appears. Then he picks out the magical card at once.

Magic 1

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It is a very simple trick. The magician uses a prearranged pack and when the heap containing the thought-of card is pointed out, he has only to glance at the top card of the cross to know the other three cards. As he turns his back immediately no one will imagine that he can memorize all four cards in the heap. When he arranges the heaps a second time, he is careful to have each card of the designated heap in a different heap, that is, one only in a heap. As soon as the heap is pointed out the second time it is a simple matter to pick out the one card that was in the original heap.

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Magic Trick: The Transformation of the Jack of Clubs

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Three of the Jack of clubs are distributed as follows in the magic pack: One is laid on the top, a second is placed the third from the top, and the third next to the bottom. The magician makes the "pass" so as to bring the top Jack to the middle of the magical pack, and forces it on one of the audience, who is asked to look at it, so as to know it again, and then put it back in the same place in the magical pack. Again the magic pass is made and the card is brought back to its original position. The magical now ruffles the pack with his lefthand and, showing the bottom card to the one who drew the card, asks whether that is the card he selected. As the bottom card is, let us say, the seven of spades, the answer, necessarily, must be "No." "That's a bad beginning," says the magician, "and as that particular card is the most fractious one in the magic pack, always pushing itself in where it is not wanted, I'll get it out of the way and lay it on the magic desk." Lowering the pack, face downward, he slips back the seven of spades with the third fingerof the lefthand, which is at the bottom of the magical pack, and with the secondfinger andthumb of the righthand takes instead the card that follows, a Jack of clubs, and places it, face down, on the magic desk. Then putting his littlefinger between the two top cards and the rest of the magic pack he passes those two cards to the bottom. There will be now one Jack of clubs on top of the magic pack and another next to the bottom, while at the bottom is some indifferent card, say, the nine of diamonds.

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"As I was so unfortunate with the first card," continues the magician, "I hope to do better this time. I think you will find, sir, that the card now at the bottom is the one you selected."

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He shows the magical card and is again told he is wrong. "Dear me," he exclaims, "I don't know that I can do better than put it alongside of the other on the magic desk." He proceeds as with the seven of spades and lays the second Jack of clubs on the magic desk. "As many good things go in threes," he says, "let me try once more. As I have had no luck at the bottom of the pack, suppose I try the top for a change." He now, apparently, shows the top card, but, really, shows the two top cards as one, the second being, we will suppose, the ten of hearts. Keeping the two magic cards well together, histhumb at the top and firstfinger beneath, he slides them to the right. protruding about an inch. The thumbof the lefthand keeps them in position. Now thethumb and firstfinger of the righthand turn up the two cards just a trifle, so as to bring in sight the ten of hearts, as shown in Fig. Magic 1. The moment he is told that it is not the selected card the performer presses the magic cards down to their normal position, and with the rightthumb slides the Jack of clubs free of the ten of hearts, holding it between thethumb and firstfinger. At the same time the leftthumb draws the ten of hearts back on the pack. With a little care this change is imperceptible.

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Fig. Magic 1

The Jack of clubs is now placed on the magic desk, face downward, with the others.

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The seven of spades and the nine of diamonds are now brought from the bottom of the magic pack to the top, and they will be in the following order: First, the top card, which is the seven of spades; second, the nine of diamonds; and third and last, the ten of hearts.

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The three Jack of clubs are on the magic desk, faces down.

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"So far," says the magician, "my endeavors have come to naught." Then turning to one of the audience, he says, "Perhaps this gentleman may be more successful. Will you, sir, be good enough to select one of those magic cards that are on the magic desk?" The magician picks up the one that is pointed out, and shows it to be the Jack of clubs. As he is putting it back on the magic desk he exchanges it, by the bottom change for the top card, the seven of spades. Then a second card is selected and that proves to be a Jack of clubs. "That's very remarkable," he says, "the Jack of clubs has evidently come to life." While saying this he makes the exchange again, this time for the nine of diamonds, which he throws carelessly alongside the other card, face down. He then turns over the third card. "Jack of clubs again! Why, it seems to be nothing else," he says, and exchanging it this time by the top change for the ten of hearts, lays that on the magic desk. As there can not be more than one Jack of clubs in the pack, the magician declares there must be a mistake somewhere, and asks some one to turn the cards over, and they prove to be the magical cards that were first shown, which were declared to be wrong. In the meanwhile the magician gets rid of the two bottom Jacks, and throws down the pack so that it may be examined.

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Magic Trick:Shuffle the Magic Pack

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In order that the bottom card of the magical pack may be in the same position after the shuffle as it was before, the magic pack is held in the righthand as is usual when shuffling. Then the lefthand squeezes it between thethumb andfingers, thethumb on top and thefingers below. Now if the rest of the cards are lifted out from between the top and the bottom cards by thethumb and secondfinger of the righthand, as if to shuffle the magical pack, it will be found that the top and the bottom magic cards will be clipped together by the lefthand, and the pack may be shuffled over these two cards, leaving the bottom card in its original position.

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The same procedure will keep the top card in its place, but two shuffles will be necessary, for after the first shuffle the top card will be next to the bottom card of the pack. By repeating the same shuffle the top card will be brought to the bottom of the pack, and then by shuffling it may be brought to the top.

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As will be seen, this shuffle keeps both top and bottom cards in place.

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Magic Trick : The Rising Cards in a Case

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Several magical cards are drawn from the pack by the audience. They are returned, the magical pack is shuffled, and placed in an ordinary paper or pasteboard case, such as cards now usually come in. This the performer at the magical help desk then holds up, and as the cards are called for, they rise, one at a time.

Fig Magic 1

Fig Magic 2

Fig Magic 3

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Magic Trick Preparation

The case, which is the ordinary affair, has a slit cut in its face, lengthwise, as shown in Fig. Magic 1. This is imperceptible, for it is merely a slit made with a sharp knife, not a slot. At the lower end of it is a tiny hole. At Figs.Magic 2 and Magic 3 is shown a little concavedisc of metal; on the convexside of this is soldered a needlepoint, so that it somewhat resembles a small drawingpin. The concaveside is filled with adhesive wax, and the whole disc is painted a flesh color. This is stuck on the tip of theforefinger.
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When the drawn cards are replaced in the magic pack, they are brought to the top, by means of the "pass" and the pack is placed in the case with the top cards next to that part of the case in which is the slit. The flap of the case is turned back or upward, so that it will be out of the way.

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Holding the magic case with thethumb on one side, theforefinger at the back and the otherfingers at the other side, the magical cards are raised, as called for, by the pin point which enters the slit, the little hole at the end making the entrance easy.

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Magic Trick: The Disappearing Queen

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Magic Trick Preparation: A pack of magic cards is shuffled and afterwards all the spot cards are taken out and laid on the bottom of an inverted glass or tumbler, which is then covered with a handkerchief.


Magic Trick Performance: Picking up the court cards, the magician shows the bottom card to one of the audience, whom he asks to take the card and place it in an magical envelope, which the magician hands to him.

Then the bottom card is shown to a second person, who, in turn, is asked to take it from the magical card pack and place it in another envelope, as in the first case. And so the magician continues, showing the bottom card, and having it placed in an envelope, until all the court cards are disposed of.

Returning to his magical desk, the magician requests them to call out simultaneously, when he shall say, three, the name of the card placed in the envelope. "Now, then," he says, "one, two, three," and with one voice there is a cry, "The Queen of Hearts." "What, every one the Queen of Hearts? Impossible!" says the magician. "Why think for a moment. There's only one Queen of Hearts in the pack, and here it is," he says, and taking the handkerchief off the cards that are on the tumbler, he picks up the top card, and shows that it is the Queen of Hearts. The audience are now asked to open their envelopes, and, to their surprise, each one finds an entirely different court card.
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What is Needed For this Magic Trick
For this trick are needed a pack of cards, a tumbler, a handkerchief, a pack of envelopes, and a half Queen of Hearts of another pack, as shown in the illustration, Fig. Magic 1.

Fig Magic 1

Fig Magic 2

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When the cards have been shuffled and the spot cards are removed, including the Queen of Hearts, which the magician places on top of the others, he runs the cards over before the audience, so that they may see all are spot cards, taking care not to let the Queen of Hearts be seen. The packet of spot cards he lays on top of the tumbler, and covers it with a handkerchief. Picking up the court cards, the magician secretly places the half-Queen at the bottom of the pack. Taking the pack in his righthand, he covers the lower part of it, theforefinger covering the lower edge of the half-card, as shown in Fig. Magic 2. Then going to one of the audience, he asks him to remember the bottom card, and then to remove it and place it face down in an envelope. At this, the critical moment of the trick, the performer lowers the pack and places it, face downward, in his lefthand, thethumb near the top edge, thefingers beneath. With his magical righthand he grasps the pack, histhumb at the end toward the body, thefingers at the opposite end. Without changing the position of the lefthand, which grasps the half-card, the righthand moves the pack forward a trifle. The result will be that the top edge of the half-Queen will be about the middle of the bottom card and be covered by the leftforefinger. When the righthand is withdrawn the man who is assisting will take the bottom card, which he believes to be the Queen of Hearts, and place it in the envelope. Again the magician places his righthand on the magical pack, while the lefthand moves the half-card to the front once more. The same procedure is repeated until all the stock of court cards is exhausted. With the last card care must be taken to press the half-card well against it and to palm the half-card neatly.

The persons who assist in this trick should sit well apart, and the cards should be held close to their faces, so that they may not be seen by those who draw them or by others. Of course each one imagines he has the Queen of Hearts in his envelope, and there is no little surprise when that magical card is found on top of the inverted tumbler, and a different one in the envelope.

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Magical Strike Card Trick at the Desk

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Magical Trick Method: : Shuffle a pack of magic cards well. Holding the pack face down, turn over the top card and place it face up on the magical desk. Think of it as a pile. Starting with its face value, deal face up on top of it as many more cards as needed to reach 10.

For instance if it's a 3, deal seven cards on top of it; if it's a 5, deal five cards. Face magic cards count as 10, so no more cards are needed. An ace counts as 1 and needs nine more cards. Continue making piles as above, keeping them separate, until you have used up all the cards in the deck. If there are not enough cards to complete a final pile, keep that incomplete column in yourhand. Now choose at random, any three piles that contain at least four magic cards each and turn these piles face down. Gather all the remaining cards in any order and add them to the cards (if any) in yourhand.

Pick any two of the three face-down piles on the magical desk, and turn up the top card on each of those two piles. Add their values together. Remove this number of cards from those in yourhand, and then remove an additional 19 cards. Count the remaining cards in yourhand. Now turn up the top card of the third pile. Its value will equal the number of cards in yourhand.

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Salty Cards Prediction Trick at the Magical HelpDesk

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With nothing more than kicking a deck of magical cards you can tell which is the chosen card.

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Materials Needed for the Magic Trick :

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1 Magical Card Deck

A good pinch of salt secretly stored in your pocket.

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Magical Trick Method

Have a shuffled deck of magic cards placed on the magic desk. Have a person look through the deck and choose a magic card. Have him/her place his card on top of the deck. Now have them cut the deck into five piles. (Remember that their chosen card is on the top of the first pile.)

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Now, by pointing to the piles have them put the deck back together in a different order.

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The trick is that as you are pointing at the card piles, instructing the audience member to put them back together, you take a pinch of salt and drop it on top of the chosen card as you point to it)

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Then, lightly kick the deck of cards with your right foot, slide into the magic cards to make them glide to the left.

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Examine the deck. The place in the deck with the most distance between one card and the next is the chosen card.

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Notes: Practice this trick before performing to get a feel for how hard to kick the cards, and how to "see" the chosen magical card.

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Magical HelpDesk : Bottoms Up Card Trick

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Magic Trick Effect : A pack of magic cards is fanned out in front of a spectator. The magician runs hisfingers around the magical card fan and the spectator is asked to tell him when to stop hisfingers on a card. This card is shown to the audience, replaced in the magic pack and the pack handed back to the spectator to shuffle. The magician then reveals the magic card which was chosen.

Magic Trick Method : Ask a spectator to shuffle the magic cards. When he/she handsthem back to you note the bottom card . That is going to be their card.

Start by fanning the cards out. Run yourfinger across them and ask the spectator when to stop. When he/she says to stop, put yourthumb on that point of the deck.

While yourthumb is on that point, use your otherfingers to slowly work the bottom card under yourthumb. As you pull the magical cards off the top of the deck with yourthumb, slide the bottom card under the other cards and pull them off the deck and show the spectator his/ her magic card. This is where you take over. Since you already know the card you can have the spectator cut, shuffle, e.t.c.

Good routine to try out this trick:

Start flipping the cards from the top of the deck over onto the magic desk. When you flip their card over, continue flipping for another few cards, then say, "I'll bet you that the next card I flip over will be yours!" They'll think you messed up because their card is already flipped over on the magical desk. When they say, "you're on!", reach over and flip their card, which is already face down on the magic desk. They'll be amazed.

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