Self-Working

This triple tabled false cut is a thing of simplistic beauty, developed by Jay Ose. Calling this a move is an overstatement.

runtime: 50s

NOTE: These are the instruction sheets that come with the trick. This PDF does not explain how to make up a deck.

The Jumbo Pop Eyed Popper Deck is one of the most used "trick decks" of professional magicians and mentalists from all over the world. This "secret weapon" is one of the cleanest ways to force a card without sleight of hand. This deck is drastically improved over older versions.

No more fumbling to separate paired cards. This has been a problem for many magicians. These cards have been especially prepared so you only have to place your thumb on any of the four corners and the...

The basic effect as seen by your spectators is that you can read minds and see through the cards as if you had X-ray eyes.

• The deck can be shuffled
• You never know the spectator's card
• You never look at the faces of the cards after the selection is made
• No multiple outs
• No special decks or props required

This is a pretty color change that is self-working. It can also be used for a change out. The underlying principle was first discovered by Alex Elmsley. Ed Marlo turned it into a self working color change.

runtime: 1min 11s

The third edition of Coffee Break Mental Magic is a Sherlock Holmes special to celebrate the launch on January 1st of the third series of BBC TV's wonderful Sherlock programme! This PDF features a self-working card routine (the only equipment you need is a normal deck of cards) that explores the eternal dance between the Great Detective and the King of Crime, Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty! What is the unbreakable bond that links these two men? Why is it that they battle to destroy each other and yet neither can exist without the other? Holmes & Moriarty - the Yin & Yang of crime and...

The Aeon Reading is a mysterious Tarot card reading/experiment that will leave your participant wondering about the mystical powers of the Tarot. It will also leave them with an important message. If you perform at all with Tarot cards, you’ll surely be using this routine which has been in Alexandre's repertoire for years.

Written for the Thoth tarot deck (where the Aeon card is the 20th card) it can be automatically adapted to any tarot deck you might already own. This is based on a self working principle - no sleight of hand required.

1st edition 2005; 3 pages.

A wonderful self-working rendition of the classic "Out Of This World" effect. This was the first real card trick I saw - and I was baffled.

A borrowed deck is shuffled. A red and a black card are placed face up on the table. The performer then removes cards, one at a time from the deck. Without the spectator seeing the faces of these cards, he indicates whether he thinks a card is a red or a black. If he thinks it is a red card, the performer places it, face down, on the face up red card. If the spectator thinks it is a black card, the performer places it face down on the face up black card....

Very easy to do, impromptu and with a big effect! What else would you ask? Count Down by Ken de Courcy is a card trick that you can present in several ways, all well explained in this little manuscript.

The basic effect is the following: A spectator shuffles his own pack (Yes! It can be his own pack of cards and he really shuffles it...), then counts ten cards in a reverse order. If a number of spots on a card happens to match the number he is counting aloud at the time, the card is thrown out face-up. If none match during the count, a card is dealt face down in front of the magician.

This...

Psychic Self is a three-phase card routine wherein you NEVER touch the deck. The deck is borrowed and shuffled multiple times. Yet, the routine is entirely self-working and will work the majority of the time. No risk; no reward. Yes, there is a chance of one of the phases not working; and even lower chance that none of the routine will work. There is a simple scripting for why one or all the phases did not work. The majority of time, you will have a three-phase miracle routine.

The scripting of the routine is what really sells each individual effect. The methods are essentially the effect...

The following is a complete card routine created by U.F. Grant a long, long time ago. You will find it mysterious, entertaining and practically unknown by modern generations.

EFFECT: A series of bewildering effects with a deck of cards shuffled by spectators.

1. A deck of cards is shuffled by spectators. A card is chosen and returned to the deck. Performer puts cards in trouser pocket and spells the name of the chosen card. The last card results to be the chosen one.

2. A spectator now chooses another card. The deck is cut. Tell the spectators that you have X-ray eyes and can see...

A card trick that is flashy and plays big, it is suitable for parlor or stage and requires no skill.

Four Queens are each seen in four glass tumblers facing outward. Each Queen is then turned back outward and returned to its glass. Three indifferent cards are placed in each glass with the first three Queens. The fourth Queen is left by herself in the fourth glass.

The performer waves his hands and the magic happens. The cards are removed from the first glass. There are only three cards, the Queen has vanished. This is repeated with the next two glasses. Finally, the card is removed from...

This is a woman empowered card trick. The spectator (preferably a woman) randomly selects a group of cards from the middle of the deck and deals them into four face-down piles. The top card of each pile is turned over to reveal the four Kings. Suddenly she finds the matching Queens. Sounds familiar, right? But this routine goes one further. When all the cards under the Queens are spread, they are of matching suits. This trick is free of any sleights.

1st edition 2021, PDF 7 pages.

This is an oldie but goodie, it helps solve a problem with certain church shows. Devin has often got phone calls from church groups asking for a magic show, but to not bring playing cards because the church frowns upon them as being sinful. Here is an effective and proven way to use playing cards in church groups that think cards are based on gambling and are of the devil. Yes, these people still exist today and this treatise gives an effective way to overcome this belief. Devin was raised in a household that forbid playing cards, but he used the technique in this e-book to change his family's...

Paul Curry invented this effect when he was just 25 years old. It is one of the most well known and probably most often performed card effects today. A classic through and through. An incredibly strong effect paired with a most simple method. You can't find much better card tricks.

The effect as Curry describes it:

This effect was created by Dai Vernon and was published in Rufus Steele's book The Last Word on Cards.

The deck is shuffled by a spectator. The magician removes a prediction card from the deck and places it face down on the table. The spectator creates two piles. The top card of one is turned face up. The value of that card is used to count to a card in the other pile. The card counted to is the mate of the prediction.

runtime 4min 29s

Personally I find any trick using a swastica not a particularly good idea today, because the swastica is loaded with meaning not necessarily appropriate for entertainment. But we should not forget that this manuscript was originally written in the 1940s.

The gem in my opinion is the last effect, "The All Clear Card Transformation."

Here are the effect descriptions as they were originally written by Stewart James.

This is a great opener for any routine or act, which uses the four aces. The inspiration for this came from David Regal's "Deep Guilt Aces".

Before you chalk this up to "another ace cutting trick", take a look at the features:

• No rough/smooth.
• No short cards. No long cards. No thick cards.
• No memorization.
• No sleight-of-hand.
• No "messing with the deck" after each cut. When the spectator cuts the cards, neatness doesn't count. You never miss.
• Totally self-working!

1st edition 2013, 9 pages.

Have you ever wanted to hypnotize someone to have a photographic memory? Now, you can create this illusion using a fantastic principle applied in an innovative way. This effect uses only a deck of playing cards (which can be borrowed, no set-up required at all...in fact, you don't even touch the cards). After the spectator randomly shuffles the deck, you ask her to quickly glance at each card. Under the premise of a hypnotic induction, you then cause her to remember the location of any cards. Let's assume she is "tested" to locate, for example, the 2 of hearts and the 7 of spades. If she says...

You ask the spectator to blindfold you, or you turn around so that you can't see anything that the spectator is doing. You really do not see anything! You ask the spectator to create 5 piles of 10 cards each, so that 50 cards are in play. You tell her to make sure that there are 5 cards face-up and 5 cards face-down in each of those 10 piles. They can be in ANY order, and she is to do all of this ordering in ANY way she wants, without telling you (and, of course, you can't see anything that she is doing).

You then let her know that you are going to separate each pile of 10 cards blindfolded...

[Eddie Joseph and George Armstrong both published this effect in 1949 under the same name: Premonition. The effects are identical and the methods are also pretty much identical except some minor details. Since George Armstrong describes his inspiration and when and where he developed it, while Eddie Joseph does not, I believe George Armstrong to be the inventor of this method. George Armstrong's inspiration was an effect from Greater Magic by Bill McCaffrey. But already Hofzinser has a similar routine Domination of Thought from his Card Conjuring.

A spectator names a card. He is asked to take a pack of cards from the table, remove them...

A spectator cuts the pack of cards and counts off 25 cards. Shuffle these cards and have five of them selected by members of the audience. The magician does not view this selection process as his back is turned away during all this. The cards are replaced and the pack shuffled. A spectator is asked to place the cards in five rows of five cards each on an unprepared stand or easel or display board. (When performing this close-up or at a party situation the cards may be placed on the table surface, rather than using an easel.) Note: The cards may be placed in any order, on any row, either face...

Effect: Using a full deck of playing cards, a spectator cuts to one card that the magician asks him to remember. He selects a second card by secretly spelling the name of his thought-of card, dealing one card for each letter, and pockets it. In the first climax, the magician is able to divine the card that the spectator is thinking of. In the second climax, the pocketed card and a prediction (tabled from the beginning) are revealed: They are identical!

No gaff. No sleight. Basically self-working. This routine uses a regular deck and an ordinary odd-backed card only. Everything can be examined. ...

No skill - no sleights - no moves

• Introduction
• The "Tobba" Mystery
• Who Knows the Card?
• Incredulously True
• Two Secret Thoughts
• Memory Phenomenal
• Over the Wire
• The Mystic Queen
• One-Eye Joe
• The Expert Cuts
• Can You See Your Card?

From the introduction:

This ebook is a beginner's guide to the famous Gilbreath Principle and its applications in card magic and mentalism. It includes two ESP-type routines:

Fingertip Sensation

The spectator shuffles the deck. The mentalist (who can be blindfold) then uses his fingertips to correctly identify the colour of cards.

Trinities Card Divination

The mentalist correctly divines attributes (colour, suit, value) of playing cards which the spectator has shuffled, dealt, and covered with his hands while the mentalist has turned away.

[Note: This ebook is a revised extract from Michael Daniels' ebook Trinities, plus an additional routine (Fingertip Sensation).

1st edition...

EFFECT: The performer shows five playing cards that are cut in half width-wise, making a total of ten half cards. He shows that there is a matching card half within the small packet of cards. The performer invites two spectators to help. We’ll refer to as Spectator A and Spectator B. He gives the packet to Spectator A and has him shuffle the cards thoroughly so no one knows the order of the cards.

The performer turns his back and says to Spectator A, “While my back is turned, please deal to the other person; face down, as many or as few cards as you wish. What cards you get is unimportant....

Based on a Bob Hummer and Karl Fulves principle. A spectator is handed seven playing-cards. He shuffles them, then places one of them aside face-down without looking at it. Now squares of cardboard are shown with cut-out windows. Spectator follows the magician's instructions and, at the end, looking through the cut-out windows in the cards, an index of a card appears. The chosen card is turned over and has been correctly revealed.

You will have to make up the squares of cardboard for this. The trick itself is self-working, the real work having been put into the evolution of the effect, but they are useful for...

A very easy to do prediction effect with a surprising ending.

The performer introduces ten cards and deals them into a face-down packet to prove it. He hands the packet to a spectator and asks him to think of any number between one and ten. The cards are then cut by the spectator and shuffled. Then they are laid out in a face-down line. The performer asks the spectator to, for the first time, announce the number he thought of, then counts along the line to that number and pushes out the card lying at that position. (Note that this is a real count that can be done from the spectator - absolutely...

An entertaining mental feat with a borrowed deck of cards.

From the brilliant mind of Bob Hummer comes a divination mystery that seems impossible, yet you do it every time. The performer takes the spectator on an adventure with a borrowed deck and a dead person's age (which is furnished by anyone in the room). In some uncanny manner, the "Whispering Spirit" aids the performer in solving the mystery. The performer does not need to touch the deck while they are in the spectator's hands.

There are no setups, stacks or cyclical rotations. The cards may be borrowed. The cards are not marked....

Find any card a spectator takes from a borrowed and shuffled pack.

EFFECT: The magician tells his audience he has trained his mind to work like a computer. To demonstrate its computer-like capabilities, he asks a spectator to shuffle a pack of cards then, without looking at it, remove one card and place it in his pocket. Taking back the pack, the performer runs through it quickly, then goes through it again even more quickly and pulls out one card which he places face down on the table. The spectator removes his card from his pocket and places it face-up alongside the magician's card, then...

Based on an idea by Nick Trost. You will be thrilled with the splendid effect which you achieve in such an easy manner.

You show a packet of five jumbo cards cut in half. Two spectators shuffle the cards and split the packet taking some cards each. For example, one spectator has 4 cards and one has six. You place an envelope on the table and then show the cards to each spectator in turn. They look and remember the one half-card (that corresponds to the number of cards they each had in hand). Then you ask them to remove from the packet the half-card they have seen. Incredibly they match! Not...

Three spectators choose a card each. The cards vanish from the deck to later reappear face-up in a face-down spread. As long as you can count and do a double undercut you can perform this effect. Since there is counting and displaying of cards involved this effect requires a captive and moderately intelligent audience to play well.

runtime 9min 40s

This incredible routine is pretty much a card act all by itself. There are several mind-blowing phases, and it is all done with a normal deck of cards. There are absolutely no gaffs whatsoever. The deck and the card box are the only "props" used, so you can have this on your person at all times, and be completely prepared to blow 'em away!

What began as a simple single-phase effect by Aldo Colombini, David expanded and added to it with inspirations from Aldo, Paul Harris, and Max Maven.

The aspect of this routine that David likes most is the "hands-off" nature of it. The spectator does pretty much all of the work....

An excellent collection of sleight-less card tricks. Some require a confederate but in all cases the author provides alternative methods and presentations to eliminate the need for a confederate. Each effect is taught with an effective presentation.

• I: The Four Burglars
• II: Divination
• III: An Exhibition Of Thought-Reading
• IV: The Disappearing Ace
• V: Another Thought-Reading Trick
• VI: Hypnotic Selection
• VII: The Four Burglars Again
• VIII: Another Method Of Divination
• IX: Bringing Back The Ashes
• X: Thought-Reading Extraordinary
• XI: Telepathy

1st edition 1914, PDF 32 pages

This is a great little booklet where U.F. Grant teaches three non-sleight replacement methods for

• Pass
• Force
• Palm
• Switch

1st edition 1943, 1st digital edition 2017, 4 pages.

Poker Deals includes two self-working card effects, ideally suited to performing for spectators who are familiar with the rules of poker. Both effects utilize the StayCard Principle and were first published in OCD and Other Effects: The StayCard Principle.

Ten Card Poker Deal Variation

A procedural variation on Arthur Buckley's celebrated Ten Card Poker Deal. The magician and a spectator are each dealt five cards (either person can deal). The spectator decides whether to keep his cards, or whether the cards should be mixed by dealing again. No matter how many times the dealing is repeated before the cards are examined, the magician's hand wins....

An automatic routine in six phases with many surprises. Absolutely no skill required!

A delightful sequence of clever-looking card magic performed without skill or sleights of any kind. Not one trick but a whole series of tricks blending one into the other and all depending upon one clever set-up. Work it at once! You have only to learn the routine to be able to present it. The working is completely automatic. You'll be amazed yourself as you do it. At the uncanny way everything has been thought so that the performance of one trick leaves you all ready to perform the next.

A pack of cards...

A self-working and examinable ACAAN effect with two decks.

EFFECT: The magician thoroughly shuffles a deck of cards. Then, the spectator cuts the deck to split it into two piles. Only now is he asked to create a random number in his mind. After a very quick and simple procedure, he writes his number down on a Post-it note - let's say, "13". He sticks it onto the card he cut to - let's say, the King of Diamonds. From a second deck - on the table from the start - he deals the cards one by one. Amazingly, the 13th card is the King of Diamonds!

Self-working. No gimmick. No extra card. Both...

Unfortunately, some of our magical effects have something of a "who cares?" stigma: pick a card, lose the card, find the card . . . and our audience is thinking, who cares? Couples gives spectators a "stake" on the effect, creating audience involvement and interest.

You're performing walk-around at a party and a couple, sitting at a small table, catches your attention. They ask to see some magic. You introduce yourself and they introduce themselves as Jim and Mary. They laugh and enjoy your magic, and are thrilled when you say, "I'm going to do something really special for you. This is a...

This trick was developed by Allan and Debbie Ackerman. Debbie is Allan's daughter.

A spectator chooses a card and the value of the card decides how many hands are dealt in this game. Let's say the spectator chooses the 3 of Hearts. A random number of cards is taken from the deck and then dealt into 3 hands. Then the performer announces that the spectator should pick one pile. If that pile does not have a 3 on its top the spectator wins, otherwise the magician wins. Of course, the odds are vastly in favor of the spectator. Nevertheless, the top cards on all three piles turn out to be 3s and as...

One spectator receives a prediction for safe keeping. Another spectator receives a portion of the deck, shuffles it thoroughly, deals cards one at a time on the table, and stops whenever he likes. He may stop at the first card, the last card, or anywhere in between. The value of the randomly chosen card is used to count to a card in the remaining portion of the deck. And that card matches the prediction.

runtime: 4min 34s

Jon Racherbaumer steps forward with a very keen Introduction to this Baxter treatment of the classic Three Jacks Deal. “…celebrate and perform Baxter’s latest, evolutionary entry.” It has been around since 1928, but this version guides it well into the 21st century.

Ian Baxter has accomplished something remarkable. He has taken a wonderful classic self-working effect, that has been described and worked on by such luminaries as Walter Gibson, John Scarne, Rufus Steele, Harry Lorayne, Ed Marlo and made it even better, more direct, less dealing procedures while preserving the effect, the sleight-less feature as well as adding an additional climax....

The Book of the Dead is often translated as the "Book of Emerging Forth Into the Light" which consists of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife ... so begins the Cards of the Dead - The Egyptian One-Card Reading.

You present the subject with a pack of cards, preferably one that looks special (there are a couple of options in the manuscript though any deck will do), the subject chooses ten random cards, you study these, pick up an impression (the kicker), note it down, and begin with the simple esoteric procedure...

Notes on the 18 Card Trick.

Nick Conticello starts a new series of ebooks on sleightless magic with a new take on the venerable 27 Card Trick. A card merely thought of by a volunteer is revealed at a position the volunteer requests at the start. This method uses just 18 cards and needs no complex formulas or tables, just a few simple rules. Besides the basic effect, Nick adds a presentation that elevates this item from a mere puzzle to a great card effect.

1st edition 2017, 11 pages.

Problem: To divine or locate two cards that are merely thought of by two persons.

This effect has intrigued me for many years. I've published several approaches in the past ("Think Stop" in Automatic Placements, "Talons of the Hawk" and "Talons of the Bat" in Potpourri 2, to cite a few) but these tricks smack openly of mathematics. They lack the directness of selection and revelation I would deem ideal.

Two classic but widely divergent approaches are Ed Marlo's "Double Thought, Single Deck" and Simon Aronson's "Simon-Eyes." Recently, I combined Marlo's basic premise with a concept of Aronson's and a hitherto unpublished key card...

Nick Conticello wraps up his latest series with an effect which will amaze laypeople and fracture magicians!

Working with a shuffled, borrowed deck, the performer looks through it to find a "lucky locator card." After some shuffling a volunteer cuts the pack, counts off ten cards and thinks of one, then buries the counted cards in the deck and cuts it. The performer runs through the deck and takes out the lucky locator. He begins describing the locator to the person who selected the card. Sometimes he's lucky and the locator card is the selection. Sometimes he's not, so he spells out a phrase...

A billion-to-1 psychic miracle using a regular deck of cards. A reputation maker, yet easy to perform.

A deck of cards is legitimately riffle shuffled and cut. A spectator selects any two suits, say Spades and Diamonds. These two suits are removed from the pack and given to the spectator. The performer takes the other two suits not chosen. The spectator deals a card face down. The performer places a card face up on this card. This is repeated. Variety is added by the performer dealing a card face down and spectator covers this card with one of his cards face-up. When all cards are dealt...

Challenge repeat lie detector test

This is one of the most amazing self-working tricks you will ever see. It is so ingenious that you will fool yourself when you first perform it. Many magicians say that they can't fool their wives. Rest assured, this effect is so amazing that it will blow your wife away with no feasible solution; not only her, but most of your magic buddies as well. Read every word carefully and then ponder how such a thing is possible. This is done with a borrowed deck under challenge conditions.

Borrow a deck or use your own. Have a spectator shuffle the deck and then...