Self-Working or Sleightless in Cards: page 4

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...

50 simple card tricks that anyone can do with any deck of playing cards, without sleight-of-hand.

From the Introduction:

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 reproduction of Dumbfounders with Cards and More Dumbfounders with Cards two often overlooked booklets by Eddie Joseph on math based card effects. Some principles predate ideas rediscovered by Edward Marlo and Stewart James. (The ebook has been prepared by Paul Gordon.)

The writing of Joseph is somewhat terse and hard to read, but the effects and principles are great. This ebook includes some comments by Peter Duffie and Roger Crosthwaite.

• Dumbfounders with Cards
  • 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...

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:

From the introduction:

Now, one of the mentalism's greatest "self-working" effects has been simplified to the point where it really is self-working! One early reviewer referred to Mirabill as "Miraskill minus the skill."

Take a bit of “Miraskill,” a twist each of Mirabill and “A View To A Skill” and mix with “Minimal Miraskill.” Between Stewart James, Herb Zarrow, John Bannon and Dr. Bill, you will have one of the strongest effects possible to perform over the telephone.

The good doctor had been seeking a way to perform Mirabill over the phone ever since its release but it seemed impossible. Until now.

Telephone Bill looks and sounds different than any of the above but utilizes James’s original brilliant principle and is every bit as squeaky-clean as Mirabill. Live and in person it is mind bending. But over the phone? Your audience...

Using your own deck or a borrowed deck, you turn your back to the spectator. The spectator can shuffle the deck while your back is turned. The spectator removes the top 15 cards from the pack just as they come. From those 15 cards he is to remove all the black cards and put them in his front left pants pocket. The remaining red cards, he counts and then places them in his right front pants pocket.

Next, he takes a few more cards from the remaining deck, the number to correspond the number of red cards in his right pants pocket. If he placed 7 cards there, he would remove from the deck face...

A spectator freely selects a card (no force) the card is pushed into the center of the deck. The magician gives the deck one cut and immediately spells to the card. A No Memory Self-Working Miracle.

Effect: The performer shows a deck of cards to be well mixed and hands the deck to a participant to cut as many times as he likes. The performer tells the participant to stop cutting whenever he wants and that the top card of the deck will be his selected card. The performer asks the participant to look at the top card of the deck while he looks away. The participant is then instructed to take...

Note: These are PDF instructions to make your own deck. You will NOT get a deck mailed.

#1 In The Super Deck Series

"I can say that it is absolutely brilliant!" - Cody S. Fisher

This is the invisible deck on steroids and many magicians are saying this will make the old invisible deck obsolete and everyone will want this new and improved version. It allows you do things not possible with the standard invisible deck such as showing the deck on BOTH SIDES - showing both faces and backs. Now that we have your attention, read on.

There is only ONE DECK used and it is in full view...

Note: These are PDF instructions to make your own deck. You will NOT get a deck mailed.

Deck #2 in the Super Deck Series

EFFECT: This is one of the most baffling decks yet created! This makes the old brainwave deck obsolete. It combines the Invisible Deck with the Brainwave Deck. Two of the most popular trick decks in the world. Tell your spectators that you reversed a card in the deck on the table. The deck is in full view from the start and there is ONLY ONE Deck used. It is not switched. Any one calls out any card. There are no restrictions. Any one of the 52 cards can be named. Both...

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...

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...

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...

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....

This is an impressive prediction. It has fried the minds of lay people and fooled almost every magician or mentalist, I have shown this to. Many magician's say they can't fool their wives. I guarantee this is one effect she will be totally baffled by. This effect is so amazing, that you will fool yourself each time you do it wondering how such a thing is possible. Yet the effect is completely self-working with no skill or sleights.

EFFECT: Using a borrowed deck (if desired) the mentalist instructs a spectator to deal a poker hand consisting of a straight hand in a horizontal row. For example;...

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...

A card merely thought of from the spectators own hands is eerily revealed by the magician. A foolproof method utilizing clever wording and suggestion allows this incredibly solid effect to manifest.

No Sleights, The spectator has a free choice of any of the cards in their own hands, the magician doesn't even touch the cards once they've been handed over and the card is never spoken until it finds it's way out of the magician's lips.

1st edition 2007; 10 pages.

I started from Karl Fulves' idea called "Voodoo Cards", published on pp. 588-589 of The Pallbearers Review, Vol. 5-8 (November 1969 - October 1973), where a series of five effects proposed as bets are described, with the use of only three cards or tickets written on the spot. Always winning bets and of immediate revelation at first glance, also considering the fact that there are very few elements at stake and the (perceived) probability of success is 50%.

I propose an evolution of Fulves' work with three effects based on the same kind of principle, characterized by an apparent increasing difficulty,...

"This is my favorite effect of the year." - Rob Jacks

"David Jonathan is one of my favorite creators... and this is one of the very BEST effects I've reviewed in a long time, and the BEST effect for the money. It's an absolute steal." - Rick Carruth (The Magic Roadshow)

"This effect is an almost perfect example of a great self-working trick. It gets my highest recommendation for anyone who loves impactful magic with a theme that suits both adult and children audiences. 10/10!" - Alex Hui (Alex Magic Review)

This is David Gemmell's solution to the classic Paul Curry/Stewart James card problem "51 Faces North".

History of the card problem:

• Paul Curry conceived the idea for this effect sometime in the 1940's. At the time he had no workable method for achieving the effect.
• Ed Marlo got wind of this sometime in 1949 and published a method in the Cardician 1953.
• Stewart James and Howard Lyons corresponded on this subject in 1953.
• Stewart James contributed several methods to Ibidem in the early years of its run. This is where Stewart James first laid down the (almost) impossible conditions for the effect dubbing his idea as "51 Faces North".
• Jon Racherbaumer launched the Hierophant...

Three boxed decks of cards are displayed to three spectators. It is explained that in the first two decks, two specific cards have been placed in two psychologically strategic spots. In the third deck, is proof that the psychological experiment is successful. This third deck is kept by the performer, but is always in full view.

The two spectators take their decks out of the boxes, and use business cards to randomly arrive at two different playing cards. The two cards from the first spectator’s deck are used to create a card. Let’s say that the two cards are the Two of Diamonds and the...

Here is the effect: a spectator has a packet of 5 cards. For argument's sake, let's assume the five cards used are simply numbered 1-5 (the actual make up of the cards is up to your imagination). The spectator goes through a procedure in which cards are turned face up, face down, left as they are, the packet is cut, some-times the spectator decides whether the cards are turned over or not, sometimes the performer decides. But in the end, no matter who made the decisions, or which decisions were made, only the center card is face up and it is the 4. Not only that, but no matter what decisions...