Cards in Magic & Mentalism

At the beginning of the experiment, a deck of cards is placed on the table in full view. The performer makes a clear statement: from that moment on, the deck will never be touched again.

A card is freely chosen. A number is freely determined. The performer does not approach the deck again. Instead, the deck is picked up and the cards are dealt one by one, counting aloud until the selected number is reached.

The card at that exact position is turned over. It is precisely the card that was previously chosen.

This routine is specifically designed for large audience settings and is not...

The spectator can create any card, yet the performer is still able to predict it.

A packet of thirteen playing cards, containing every value and every suit, is shown to the spectator. By combining the value of one card with the suit of another, any card can be created.

The spectator rolls two dice and obtains a total that serves as a starting number - for example, 9. The performer deals nine cards and arrives at a first card - for example, the 2 of Hearts - whose suit the spectator remembers. The performer then deals two cards (the value of the first card) and arrives at a second card...

A completely open prediction effect. The spectator freely selects a card from 12 cards, then moves the same number of spaces in any direction according to the card's value. The final card matches the value of the original prediction.

Next, the spectator again moves freely according to that value and selects another card with a completely different value - also matching the magician's original prediction.

1st edition 2026, video 9:54.

A new mentalism effect in which the spectator thinks of just one card, which will then be the only one not found in the deck, and the magician will prove to be the only one who knows its location, right from the start.

A.C.C.A.A.N." (Arbitrarily Chosen Card At No Number) is an amazing mentalism effect, in which the magician, after producing a deck of cards, asks a randomly selected spectator just to think of one card, creating it in his mind piece by piece: first he imagines its color, then its suit, and finally its value.

He will then invite the spectator, after revealing for the first...

A deck is freely displayed and shuffled, and a spectator then selects any card (no force). The helper then cuts a block of cards from the deck, and the cards are counted to determine a random number.

Reassembling the pack, the selected card is slipped into the deck at a position decided by the spectator, and the cards are then cut a couple of times to lose the card's position.

The performer then shakes the deck a little as he explains that the selected card and the randomly chosen number will come together. Handing the deck over to the helper, she counts down to the chosen number and...

The spectator shuffles the deck freely, with no stack involved. The spectator first names any card, then remembers a random card. The magician has no knowledge of the remembered card. In the end, dealing to the named number reveals the spectator's selection.

1st edition 2026, video 7:54.

Effect: The deck is shuffled in portions - genuinely - by the spectators themselves. One of them cuts off a portion of cards and takes that packet beneath the table. Another spectator takes the remainder of the deck and does the same, both packets now hidden from view. The magician was turned away the entire time - no glimpses.

Yet, in spite of these impossible conditions, the magician reveals exactly how many cards were cut by the first spectator and how many the second spectator has. In the advance version the magician reveals the very card secretly placed from one packet into the other...

A brand new self-working card magic effect in which the magician will manage twice to capture a card freely chosen and scattered in the deck,

Repetead Escape Attempt is a new automatic card magic effect where the magician will always manage to find a card freely chosen by a spectator, representing an elusive thief, and hidden in the middle of the deck, using only a few clues provided by the deck itself.

After showing a deck of cards to the audience, he shuffles, cuts, and completes. He slides the cards in front of a spectator who, saying "Stop" at his discretion, will choose the card...

"What a great idea. If you are one of the thousands of magicians who have done Cardiographic on stage then this should be in your pocket!" - Paul Gertner

You show an image of a deck, drawn on your business card. Slowly, and in full view, a drawing of a selected card rises from it. You then give it away as a souvenir. Business Card-iographic is a stunning promotional giveaway, that your customer will keep for years.

The instructional video download comes with Brian's routine, which incorporates ideas from Joel Givens, Bob Sheets, and David Oliver. Also Martin Lewis...

It contains two stacks, each made with 52 standard playing cards that contain bracelet sequences.

The Ruby Stack

The deck is cut and six cards are dealt out to six people. The people with cards that have a red suit stand up. The performer names all six cards.

The Ruby Stack is a full-deck stack where it's very easy to calculate the suit and value of the first card of six consecutive cards merely by knowing which of the six cards have a suit that is either a Heart or a Diamond. Alternatively, knowing which cards are a Club or a Diamond allows identifying the sixth card. The exact same...

This is my Ace Assembly sequence: four Aces vanish from three packets and assemble together. In the finale, the Aces are redistributed into four piles. But it doesn't end there - if the performer can truly transpose cards at will, the four Aces can even switch places with the four Aces from another deck.

1st edition 2026, video 11:27.

This is nothing short of extraordinary. Here is an impromptu card mystery that has it all - A startling transposition of two cards merely thought of!

Based on an original idea from George G. Kaplan, author of that wonderful text The Fine Art Of Magic, this 21st-century revision from Ian Baxter will stop audiences in their tracks. Kaplan's original necessitated a set of duplicate cards, but this new handling does not. No gimmicks, accessories, fake cards, strangers or extras of any kind. This baffling crowd pleaser is totally off the cuff and can be performed at a...

A highly visual coincidence effect with an unexpected, jaw-dropping finale!

The performer introduces a packet of eight half-jumbo playing cards and a small envelope to two spectators.

First, he shuffles the cards by dealing them into two piles and placing one pile on top of the other. He repeats the process as many times as spectator 1 wishes. He then forms two smaller piles and hands the remaining cards to spectator 1. Spectator 1 places this remainder on top of either pile, thereby eliminating it, and looks at the card on top of the other pile. The same procedure is repeated with spectator...

Imaginary Card At Number Not Only Thought

A brand new and incredible (automatic) mentalism effect where the illusionist will manage to get a spectator to find a card that he has only thought of at the same own number!

After showing a deck of cards to the audience, he shuffles and cuts and completes. He then hands it to a spectator, who sits on the opposite side of the table, asking him to take it under the table so that no one can see it, and to cut it again, at any point, and complete. After that, once he has the deck back from under the table, the magician does the same thing, without...

We feel this is the Holy Grail of gimmicked card effects. At a 1971 lecture in New Orleans, Bro. John Hamman exhibited this masterpiece to a small group of stunned magicians. To construct and perform it requires a glue stick, a pair of scissors, minimum DIY skills, and half a brain. The video demonstration below speaks for itself.

1st edition 2026, video 2:35

The story of Annie Oakley's legendary trick shooting in the Old West lays the foundation for a magical challenge with a selected card secured in the middle of a deck. With the audience providing the sound effects, the challenge is met when the helper's finger gun makes the chosen card fly out, complete with a burn hole from the imaginary bullet. Another legend is born!

Shooting Card was one of my pet routines and I loved every chance I had to perform it. I could create pure wonder by having a young volunteer 'shoot' their selected card out of the deck in my hand. The flying card is memorable...

The spectator freely rolls four dice. The performer deals the corresponding number of cards for each roll, forming four piles. The performer then explains that the top faces give one set of numbers and the bottom faces give another, and has the spectator turn the dice over 180 degrees. The dealing continues according to these new numbers. When all the cards are dealt, the face cards of the four piles are all Kings. The performer asks why we look at both the top and bottom of the dice - because the four piles must also be read both ways. The bottom cards are turned over to reveal four Aces. ...

Themed card mysteries are certainly not new. Many of them are tired, worn out, horribly dated, and probably best left forgotten. Even in their day, these forced presentations, spiked with corny patter, invariably put audiences to sleep. Who wants to be supposedly entertained by a magician who is a crashing bore?

Here is an up-to-the-minute card mystery from Ian Baxter that will leave them scratching their heads. This is top drawer material - easy to perform, within range of the most basic card handler, yet fast, mystifying and amusing.

The basic 'Cops and Robbers' theme evidenced here...

Effect: A letter card, which appears to be a mistake, is placed on the table without explanation. The spectator sees 32 different lettered cards. The cards are shuffled. The spectator freely selects four cards and arranges them to form a word. The mistake card is turned over - it matches the spectator's word!

A "mistake" that turns into a miracle!

Imagine placing a single card on the table - a card that appears to be nothing more than a scribbled mistake. You then introduce a deck of 32 lettered cards. Your spectator sees that the cards are all different and is even allowed to shuffle...

A fascinating automatic effect in which the illusionist manages to accurately predict the two cards on which the spectator will end his imaginary journey through time.

A brand new amazing (self-working) card magic effect where the mentalist will be able to predict the outcome of an imaginary journey through time, between the past and the future, which he will undertake with a spectator, using a simple deck of cards.

After showing it to the audience, he shuffles and has the deck cut, then extracts a first and a second prediction cards and, after cutting it himself, hands it to the spectator...

Pastiche II, loosely speaking, is more info. Its value depends on you - how your thinking is affected and, more importantly, if you can use anything in a meaningful way. Otherwise, it's glut soup, idle message units to fill the white space loathed by men who would be Erdnase.

I hope there are differences that make a difference.

• Hull-Scam
• Dry-Dock Divination
• Nominal Nexus
• Dunbury Lie Speller
• Eighteen-Card Version
• Guardian Angel
• How Big and Where?
• Blank-Wave II
• Hummer's Dream Scheme
• Lighter-Side
• Dueling Card Tricks
• Biddle Thought
• Initial Shock

1st edition 1993,...

An amazing routine of three linked effects with cards cut in half

Effect:

A deck of cards (giant or normal) cut in half is shuffled and divided into two piles. One of these is chosen by a spectator, who cuts it and sets it aside. From the other pile, a spectator touches any card, which is left face up in its original position among the others. The two piles are distributed by taking the respective cards from the top and distributing them simultaneously to the bottom. The card that corresponds to the one turned over in the other pile is set aside with it. No pair of cards forms a whole...

A genuinely freely selected card (which can be signed if desired) is shuffled back into a deck. The performer then mimes the removal of that card invisibly and hands it to the spectator to hold for a moment. The cards are then spread face up to show that the chosen card is no longer in the pack.

Squaring the deck, the spectator is invited to push the invisible card he holds face up into the now face down pack. Immediately, the cards are ribbon spread face down again across the table to reveal the selection face up in the centre! Just a regular deck required, straightforward handling,...

The spectator freely selects a card and returns it to the deck. The magician inserts two Jokers, and the spectator table-riffle shuffles and cuts the cards. The Jokers progressively close in and finally sandwich the selection. On top of that, during the shuffles the spectator also separates the deck into three piles and locates the other three cards of the same value!

1st edition 2026, video 9:15.

The spectator takes half the deck, shuffles it, and then slides the bottom card out from the packet. After they shuffle the other half of the deck, they place it on top of that card and look at it - all while the magician's back is turned. After shuffling the entire deck together, the magician identifies the spectator's chosen card without asking a single question.

The spectator chooses and shuffles their own packet, selects a card while your back is turned, and then shuffles the entire deck themselves. You never ask a single question.

Instead of a simple "this is your card" reveal,...

You've surely heard the old magician's adage: If you find just one trick in a book that you can use, then that trick alone is worth the price of the entire book. But what if that 'one great trick' remains elusive when you're on stage? With standard cards, your magic simply... vanishes for anyone beyond the front row. The solution is to use a tool built for the stage from the very start.

Here's a book of power-packed Jumbo Card Magic - where you won't find just one or two tricks, but seven powerful professional routines the author uses in his own shows. This is card magic designed for bigger...