Self-Working or Sleightless in Cards: page 6

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...

"Henry Sugar is an incredibly clever effect and one that I will actually perform. I don't say that for many effects. As far as I'm concerned, Liam Montier is one of the most original magicians I've ever met and he is my main inspiration to create new magic. Pretty much everything he touches has a big hint of creativity and an even bigger hint of "I'll kick you where it hurts!" - Andi Gladwin

Liam Montier presents a stunning easy to do mentalist card trick based on a well-known short story by Roald Dahl, called "The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar".

The basic plot of the story is that...

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

Who can predict where in the deck someone will shuffle their card, to the specifics, e.g. a certain number of cards down into the deck? Even creepier would be if it relates to something you uttered beforehand as if it made it happen.

Imagine this. You mention a scenario where they are 2 or 3 off guessing the amount of candies in a jar. Then the spectator thinks of any card, shuffles the deck they're holding, then finds that card 2 or 3 off from your written prediction just like the candy scenario. The only other outcomes would be if it's just 1 off or dead-on, but you're covered there too...

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...

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...

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...

The Ace to Six of each suit are placed on the table, and the two players turn cards face down alternately and a running total of the pips is maintained. The winner is the one who takes the total to no more than 31. Even after the spectator is told the secret to winning, the magician still wins. Ends with an extra kicker.

PDF 10 pages

This is an effect that Joseph is very proud of. When this was released it fooled top card magicians because of its diabolical method. There really seems to be no explanation. The magician is able to find the card chosen by the spectator under extremely tight conditions. The performer always looks away and the deck will be completely shuffled by the spectator. All this with a normal deck of cards. Joseph has cleverly combined two known methods to create a strong routine.

• A normal deck
• No gimmick
• No marked cards
• No peek

video 23:43 s

A new strategy to perform the legendary ACAAN effect. A fascinating principle that will allow you to perform a surprising effect without sleight of hand, completely self-working. A deck of cards with some numbers written on the back. One spectator chooses any card, another spectator chooses any number! Joseph B has received excellent feedback from the magic community for this effect.

• You have all the material at home to construct the deck
• Easy to reset (5 seconds reset)
• No gimmick
• No memory work (no memorized deck)
• No rough and smooth
• No sticky stuff

1st edition 2021, video...

The method for this miracle is a miracle. So sneaky and ingenious and in many ways better than other gimmicks that have been used for this type of method. The gimmick is something that opens the door to new ideas because this technique is a very powerful weapon.

The title says it all. This effect will fool anyone. Even the most experienced magicians. A revolutionary and incredibly surprising technique. You will be able to find the card the spectator cuts to in a shuffled and borrowed deck, under incredibly impossible conditions. Really easy to do, no sleight of hand.

• No marked cards ...

Uncutted is a three-phase routine with a totally unexpected ending. The spectator can make free choices but many coincidences will happen. A deck cut in half literally. The spectator will always magically find the corresponding card in the other half. A long series of unexpected coincidences. A very fun routine.

• You have all the material at home to construct your deck
• You will use a normal deck
• No force
• No sleight of hand
• Detailed instructions

1st edition 2022, video 27:25.

Esoteric ACAAN is an effect with two completely normal decks of cards. No gimmick. An original method to perform the famous Any Card At Any Number effect. The spectator will be able to name any card. Instant reset. It's really easy to do. No sleight of hand.

1st edition 2022, video 18:21

These are all self-working or very easy to perform effects.

One item that I would like to highlight is the Klutz Force, because it is on the same skill level as the popular Criss-Cross force, which is frequently used in self-working effects. With the Klutz Force you have an alternative that has a different feel and procedure.

• Simplex Physical & Mental
• Telephenomenal
• 21 And Then Some
• Guesstimation City
• Marked Calculation
• What Is the Question?
• Easy Prefiguration
• Klutzy Forces
• Hobson Chooses Again
• Punch-Line Division
• Simple Sync
• Is Your Pants On Fire?
• Made In the Shade
• No-Clue ...

This is an interesting study of the X-Force and variations thereof only the way Jon Racherbaumer can do it. The X-Force is the simplest force that every magician has learned to do at one point in their life. Jon dissects the X-Force or Criss-Cross Force and then puts it back together in different and new ways. This is fodder for those that want to go into the fine and nuanced details of performing this force.

• Introduction
• Drilling Down
• A Little History of the X-Force
• Layered-Cross-Cut Force
• First Method
• Second Method – Layered Double-Cross
• Two Cuts Are Better Than One
• Three Free...

Polishing and old principle of mooted origin ...

Jon Racherbaumer explores an old but fascinating self-working trick which can be performed with any set of counters, be they cards, sticks, stones, coins, matches, business cards, bottle caps, gummi bears, ...

• Prelude
• Introduction
• My Introduction To The Version With Playing Cards
• The Quickie Card Trick
• Beginnings
  • A Novel Card Trick (Howard L. Grant)
  • Toothpick Magic (U. F. Grant)
  • Counting Trick (Rufus Steele)
  • A Matter Of Debit And Credit (John Northern Hilliard)
• Spin-Offs
  • Balancing Debit And Credit (Ian Baxter)
  • The Trick That Fooled Einstein (Harry Franke) ...

Henry Hardin's plot has been around for 107 years and his initial three methods are explained in The Art of Magic (1909). Card tricks of this kind were atypical when Hardin devised his trick. During his time, spectators physically picked cards. They seldom, if ever, mentally selected them. Because only five cards are used in "The Princess Card Trick," Hardin strengthened the challenge by finding the mental selection by tactile means while the five "possibilities" were in his pocket.

This is how the his trick appeared to audiences: Five cards are shown to a spectator who is asked to think of one of them....

This compilation, like my others, my goal is to discover the "bits and pieces" and in this particular case, to partially answer how and why The Lazy Man's Card Trick came into being?

• A Few Words Before You Begin
• Introduction
  • An Inauspicious Beginning
  • Origin Story: The Seed
  • The Row of Ten Cards (S. W. Erdnase)
  • About the Supposed Operative Principle
  • Ziska's Incomprehensible Card Effect
  • Incomprehensible Divination (Hilliard)
  • Who Was Ziska?
• A Morphing Begins
  • That Number Down (Doc Miller)
  • The Traveling Card (Jack Miller)
  • A Lazy Man Does a Card Trick (Al Koran)
  • Lazy Man's Card Trick (Harry Lorayne)
• The Plot Resurfaces...

A retrospective look at Dai Vernon's Five-Card Mental Force.

• Introduction
• The Prototypal Version From Early Vernon
• A Woolgather's Aside
• My Skirmish with the Five-Card Mental Force
• 30 Years Passed
• Five Card Mental Farce / David Acer
• Max on Five-Card Mental Force / Max Maven
• Outtings
• Rescuing the Five-Card Mental Force / Allan Slaight
• The Ultra Effect / Paul Rylander
• Dai-Cipher / Phil Goldstein
• I Have It / Edward Marlo
• Psyboards / Tom Frame
• Indisputably Predictable / Jon Racherbaumer
• Post Mortem

"One of the greatest card tricks ever invented." - George Anderson

"It fooled the hell out of me!" - Ted Annemann

"Without any possible doubt, Stewart James' 'Miraskill' is one of the greatest self-working card effects to have appeared in print. Apart from its own value, it is the ideal prelude to 'Out of this World'." - Peter Warlock

Scarne describes 155 easy to do tricks with cards. No sleight of hand skill whatsoever is required in these tricks. But don't assume that this makes them weak effects.

For this book Scarne obtained from Dunninger, Cardini, Dai Vernon, Francis Carlyle, Cliff Green, Russel Swan, Nate Leipzig, Thurston, Houdini and other famous magicians and card experts the secrets of some of their most notable tricks and effects. Together with these he has included many entirely new creations of his own. The demonstrations and explanations of the tricks are accompanied by illustrations. In addition, Scarne has included full instructions on...

It's a devilishly clever method with four different presentations. You'll likely think of several more. There's a You-Do-As-I-Do effect, a Card Climax, a Phone Miracle, and Scarne's Best Prediction. No sleights. Simple, sure, and direct. Can be worked surrounded by spectators and dead easy to perform. All you require is the instructions, as no gimmicks are used. Use anyone's cards.

If you think that the pandemic is limiting your performance opportunities, you'll especially like Scarne's Phone Miracle. All you need is a spectator with a smartphone or landline. And, unlike virtually every...

An exceedingly clever location of two cards using the Free Cut Principle by the inventor of this beautiful principle.

Effect: The performer hands a deck of cards to one of two spectators with the request that he shuffle it, and then divide it equally with a second spectator. While this is being done, the performer turns his back.

Now each spectator is instructed to select a card from his respective half. Next they each exchange a number of cards so that the performer doesn't know how many cards each man holds, or which cards were selected (and he doesn't). Now the performer tells them...

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