Cards

Four excellent ESP effects with cards - and they're easy to do.

The introduction provides a wealth of information about performance, spectator control...and even jokes. These four effects will fool magicians...just wait until your next club meeting...especially the title effect, UNSEEN!

1) UNSEEN is a devilishly clever effect that will fool anyone. Shuffle a deck of cards (it really is an ordinary deck) and display it, faces outward, for all to see - then shuffle it again. The performer never once looks at the faces of the cards. The spectator makes a free selection and then shuffles the...

A play-by-play exposé of the tricks of the card sharp's trade.

Moss gives general advice on how to avoid becoming a sucker or losing more money than luck alone would explain. The most interesting part is where he describes several sleights and strategies cardsharps use to cheat at the card table. Many of the sleights are illustrated with photos.

• Introduction 5
• Meet the Enemy 7
  • Who Are the Victims?
  • Suckers
  • Addicts
  • Defeating the Enemy
  • Luck
  • Greed
  • Amateurs
  • Advice
• Modern Cheating
  • False Cut Number One
  • False Cut Number Two
  • False Cut Number Three
  • False Cut Number Four
  • A Reverse...

Paul Curry is a name that captures the attention of magicians everywhere, thanks to his famous card trick Out Of This World. Invented by Curry back in 1942, it remains an absolute staple for the self-working card enthusiast.

Not to be overlooked, however, was Curry's initial blast onto the magic scene five years earlier. Launched in 1937, Touch was (and still is) by any measure, a superlative card mystery. Over the years, variations from the experts have appeared in print. Some of these have been downright disappointing because they have been far too complicated, or like Curry's original, the burden...

THE ABBOTT'S TEN PRINCIPLE: The principle, generally called Abbott's Ten by the Americans, actually dates back to an Italian manuscript about five hundred years ago (Mariano Tomatis - Messmer in pills - La Lollins and the magic of the sixteenth century - Episode 206).

This publication first describes the standard 10-card routine; I then analyzed the possibility of doing it with a different number of cards, even with tarot cards, and I studied the possibility of doing it in all conditions: in close up, on stage (two versions, one with billets and the other with the Tarot) and even on the...

A remarkable transition effect using unprepared objects and little sleight of hand.

Four Queens from any pack are placed on the four corners of a square cloth. Two of the Queens are covered with squares of paper. One at a time, the Queens are put beneath the cloth thru which they penetrate and come up under the square of paper. It is amazing to see the identical card make the passage and appear under the paper along with the others, until all four are assembled under one paper.

Vernon's original methods and several puzzling variations - different from anything ever offered, no extra...

Two card frames, made from one card, visually link and unlink. You will also learn how to make a permanently linked version which you can hand out as a souvenir. Ideal for your social media feed or wherever you need a first-class visual miracle.

1st edition 2022, video 31:15

The Sympathetic Split is a fun yet powerful effect to present. Visually it captures the audience's attention throughout, and an explanation seems impossible in the audience's mind.

You show the audience a deck of cards that is literally cut in half. Next, you and the spectator count off the top ten cards, the Ace through Ten of Spades. Then, you ask the spectator to mix their ten cards while you do the same with your cards. You and the spectator choose one card from the ten Spade cards and place it in the deck. Next, you and the spectator pick a random card from the deck and mix that card...

An incredible coincidence plus an incredible prediction that looks completely impossible. You present two decks to a spectator. They have a free choice (no force). The spectator takes one deck, and you take the other. Both of you shuffle your deck. Then the decks are exchanged. Each one gives their deck a final cut. Then each one puts their deck into their pocket. Then cards are withdrawn from the top of the deck and put face up on the table until a match of the face appears. Once a match appears the magician presents a prediction that was on the table the whole time in which he predicted...

Here is a new, mind-boggling effect, raised up from the depths of the Bammo cerebral cortex - an effect that will defy all attempts at revealing its secret because the interlaced deceptive mechanisms - to quote Winston Churchill - create, "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

It uses something we call here at the Bammo offices, the TCF Principle. A principle that others, notably Henry Christ, John Scarne, Martin Gardner, Nick Trost, and Terry Lagerould have toyed with but, until now, its true potential has not been achieved.

The spectator shuffles the deck (52 cards, all different). The magician, without looking at any...

12 card tricks based on the same principle.

Sneak is a collection of tricks based on an overlooked principle that allows you to find a selected card under impossible conditions. Thanks to the use of one readily available fake card, every trick in the book is technically effortless. This means most of them are self-working while a couple of them require the ability to hold a break or execute a double undercut. Also included for the sake of completeness are impromptu versions (except for New Deck Joker), based on a variation of a well-known card force.

1) GOOD LUCK: A spectator cuts the...

Convert a card box into a peek device. You can carry all the cards (52+2) inside. You can also casually show the card box front and back. It is easy enough that even a 10-year-old can make it in under 10 minutes. Activation takes less than a second and deactivation is just as quick. Welcome...to...Eye Spy.

• Making time: under 10 minutes
• Repair time (if ever needed): under 10 seconds.
• Peek size: Almost 90% of the size of a playing card.

1st edition 2022; PDF 7 pages; video 15 min.

J. Stewart Smith continues with his professionally-praised run of card magic routines, this one containing seven appealing card mysteries. Like his previous releases, all the work is accomplished without knuckle-busting sleight of hand. Only a few simple moves are necessary, easily within the grasp of the average magician. Smith strives to strip down his creations so every move is logical, from an audience's perspective. There is no confusion as to what happens. It looks like pure magic.

PARTIAL CONTENTS:

• A Transformation
• The Nostalgic Trio
• The Unseen Passage
• Two Faces Up
• Pure and...

This intro price will go up to $12 from October 3, 2022.

X Deck is a cyclical stack. Given any card in the stack, you can almost instantly know the next card. It is based on a couple of simple algorithms. The stack looks quite random both value-wise as well as suit-wise. An equally easy variation X Deck 2 is also included. Easy to learn and simple to use, you should be able to get this down in a few minutes.

1st edition 2022, PDF 9 pages.

The performer shows the face of a 5-of-Diamonds playing card. A quick shake and the pips have changed their color from red to black. Another shake and it changes to the 5-of-Clubs.

Requires some arts and crafts to construct the gimmicked card.

1st edition 2022, video 37:11.

ABOUT RUB-A-DUB: The rhyme is of a type calling out otherwise respectable people for disrespectable actions, in this case, ogling naked ladies - the maids. The nonsense "Rub-a-dub-dub" develops a phonetic association of social disapprobation, analogous to "tsk-tsk," albeit of a more lascivious variety.

The Rub-a-Dub Move's inauspicious beginning began in 1909 at a time when, relatively speaking, magicians had a limited number of utilitarian sleights and techniques at their disposal. Besides, the Rub-a-Dub Move happened in the blink of an eye and was only an offbeat way to make a card disappear. ...

More than the fourteen major Marlo items Ed contributed to New Tops Magazine between 1984-1985 - not to mention new sleights, finesses, and subtleties - these items have been largely unavailable since their publication, almost 40 years ago. Wesley James has added these final two years of material, completing the full run of Marlo's New Tops articles, fulfilling Ed's expressed wishes, keeping his material available "for the guys."

As with Wesley's previous releases, M.I.N.T. III - M.I.N.T. V, these long-unavailable Marlo articles could have been all Wesley compiled. Such a volume would have been an important...

Performer shows the red back of a playing card. One can see a heart and an arrow is drawn on the back. Suddenly the arrow slowly flies towards the heart until it penetrates it. In the final climax the color of the red card changes to blue. Making the gimmicked card requires arts and crafts.

Special thanks to Patricio Teran for helping to release this effect.

1st edition 2022, video 36:59.

The Dead Man's Hand is a famous hand of poker that Wild Bill Hickock held when Jack McCall gunned him down in Deadwood, SD. Hickok was playing five-card stud when McCall shot and killed him. He was holding two pairs: black aces and black eights. Lost to history is the suit and value of that 5th card, but that mystery works to your benefit for an entertaining card effect.

The primary effect is you show the Dead Man's Hand, the Aces, and 8s facing up. One card is facing down. The spectator guesses what the 5th card is. The manuscript describes three different methods for revealing the 5th...

I saw the first spelling effects a long time ago, studying Aldo Colombini's DVDs; they were in English and I gave up almost immediately, due to the great difference in seed letters and numbers: from diamonds to diamonds there was an ocean. I saw, I appreciated them ... and then I gave up. Some time later, trying and trying again, a light bulb came on: I thought I had invented my spelling in Italian; beautiful exceptional. Later I discovered that I had not really invented anything, there were dozens and hundreds of similar and ... almost the same. Then, continuing to study the great masters, I began to collect...

A magician holds a card and then changes it to a poker chip, paper money, a coin, or any small flat object. The method is based on a black-art principle and thus best suited for a stage or video performance where lighting and angles can be controlled well. Making the gimmick involves arts and crafts.

1st edition 2022, video 23:04.

Water and oil is an effect that has always fascinated me, but the principle is so simple that I think it is impossible to invent something more effective; moreover, the effect requires a secret manipulation that is impossible to replicate, if everything is expected to be done in the hands of the spectator, "on the other end of the line" (of the telephone).

I, therefore, followed a different path: to try to replicate, in the spectator, the amazement of finding the separated cards, when they were arranged alternately by his hands, in front of his eyes.

Also in this publication I propose,...

ARCAAN is an ACAAN with two decks of cards that is not only very easy to do but a complete miracle. It works every single time and always with a different card. For fans of the theme, it is certainly a gem to try.

Two decks: one blue and the other red. The spectator chooses one. Let's say the red deck. The spectator cuts from the deck a completely random number of cards and then he counts them. Then he shuffles the deck and puts a Joker into the middle of the deck. The card on the right of the joker will be the suit and the card on the left will be the value. Now we have a random number...

Learn six different marking systems for a Bicycle Rider Back design. There are both reader back and coder back marking systems shared here. Each marking system is unique and is suited for varying performing scenarios.

This is a compilation of all three volumes of Pigment and Pixel for the price of two individual ones.

[Reader Backs are marking systems where the value and suit are explicitly written on the back of the card (often hidden within the design). Coder Backs are marking systems where the back patterns/design is used to tell the value and suit of the card.]

There are no tricks with a marked deck taught in this ebook.

1st edition 2022, originally titled "Pigment & Pixel 1, 2, 3", PDF 35 pages....

The effects of "remote" mentalism (with the performer blindfolded, in another room, or, even, on the phone, with only the audio connection) generally use mathematical principles. Often, with a little pack of cards (or billets) real miracles can be performed: if the cards are to be shuffled by the spectator, it is necessary that the shuffle appears as random as possible, even if it must necessarily be a mathematical one.

With this publication I have addressed some well-known moves, used in different ways, alone or in conjunction with other shuffles or other principles; once the principle...

A spectator card is floating over the deck instantly. This effect was inspired by several classic versions from different magicians but this one uses a different gimmick. Easy to create. Easy to perform. Requires some arts and crafts to construct the gimmick.

1st edition 2022, video 23:45.

The All Backs Motif is odd. For one thing, it casts a revealing light on we magician's claim (when it suits our purpose) that we use ordinary cards. That is our decks, which we prefer to borrow, consist of cards that have faces and backs on both sides. Therefore, if we show a deck that consists of all backs and faces we are admitting that such anomalies exist and the cards being used are probably gimmicked in some way. Why do this?

A better question may be - What motivated someone to create such an effect using this kind of deck? That "someone" was Dai Vernon and my guess is that he wanted to...

A combination of "Disposable Color" and "B'Wave", both classics by Max Maven, makes each trick stronger and more fool-proof with just the addition of some scripting ideas and a few simple handling changes.

1st edition 2022, PDF 25 pages.

Here is a small collection of automatic and semi-automatic out-of-hand card effects, empowered by the "chaos" philosophy brought forward by Lennart Green and Dani DaOrtiz.

The effects are easy to do and they don't require you to be another "David Wiliamson" or "Dani DaOrtiz" in order to perform them. Just a regular, normal magician. More important than the routines you will see and learn how the chaos handling is applied to this type of effects - you will be able to apply those ideas later in many of your effects to make them more fooling and fun.

The effects included are:

Mr. Green Goes Red:...

An unexplored "classic": this has been for me, for many years, the "Australian shuffle". I learned it as a young man from Aldo Colombini, who often included it in his impromptu effects; later I studied John Scarne (and his wonderful idea in Phone Miracle, which we will comment on together later) and Max Maven.

Then I read Nick Conticello, and a new world opened up: I discovered that all the greats of card magic have tried their hand at the Australian deal; Nick, however, made me wonder a bit more: today I don't think there is more space to invent, but a lot to develop new routines, putting together various principles.

In my...

Update on the 'Azlan' Card At Any Number.

"F**k me!!! This is ridiculous! Mate it's so, so, so fooling! Even after knowing the original method and watching it play out countless times." - Nathan Chandler

"Just watched the demo you sent for the Card At Any Number and I have no idea how it works." - Dreygon Hibbler

"I can't wait to learn it. Owning your previous work on this, I feel like I should be able to work it out but can't get my head around it LOL." - Matt Overd

This is not the same update for 'Azlan' which was taught in God Mode Sui Generis 2.

A prediction envelope...

The contents of this series, for the most part, emphasize the history of effects and ideas. There are effects and methods in some of them, though.

• Proem
• About this Issue
• Excerpts Taken from a Photocopy of a Letter Written from Ed Whitford to Edward Marlo
• A Marlo Letter to Persi Diaconis
• Racherbaumer Letter to Charlie Miller
• Shall We Ask All The King's Horses and Men?
• Correspondence Between Jon Racherbaumer and Stephen Minch Regarding the So-Called Hide-Out Move
• Appendix: Paul Curry's "Out of this World"; a new version / Ed Whitford

1st edition 2014, PDF 30 pages....

The contents of this series, for the most part, emphasize the history of effects and ideas. There are effects and methods in some of them, though.

From the introduction:

This can be done with a borrowed shuffled deck that does not have to be complete. (The only requirement is that the deck is in decent condition, but it does not have to be a new deck.) There is no stack or prior arrangement necessary. Somebody hands you a deck and you go right into the routine. You ask the spectator to take about a third from the deck, shuffle it at heart's content, then remember the bottom card and burry that pack somewhere in the middle of the remaining portion on the table. This all happens while you look away. You then take the deck behind your back and find the spectator...

Ask the spectator to take any deck of cards, and to shuffle it well (it is useless, but it is very "magician"). Get a few cards, as many as the spectator wants, and then make another packet of the same size next to this one. You will ask the spectator to move, as desired, cards from one pile to the other, to divide one pile into two unequal packets, to look at a card of a certain number down the middle pack, and then collect the packets one on top of the other. Before concluding, remind the spectator that he made all the choices independently, he chose the number of cards to move from one...

"It's not easy to improve on a trick by Dai Vernon, but Ian Baxter has managed to do just that!"

A timely observation from reviewer David Jones, who has hit the nail right on the head. Here is an easy, clever new treatment of a respected Vernon classic. Don't be surprised if you find yourself performing Refining Vernon's 1-2-3 over and over again.

Jones continues: "This streamlined handling of Vernon's 1-2-3 is so much cleaner than the original, more magical in effect and far easier to perform. It's a winner!"

This familiar, fast-moving card mystery has been 'doing the rounds' for decades:...

J. Stewart Smith's third book on card magic, containing six more card masterpieces. Like his previous releases, all the work is accomplished without knuckle-busting sleight of hand. Only a few simple moves are necessary, easily within the grasp of the average magician.

PARTIAL CONTENTS:

• Our Cards
• False Cut
• Ascent of the Black Fours
• A Restoration
• Triple Alliance
• The Four Aces
• Double Cut
• A Prediction

Card workers the world over praise his beautiful effects and their methods. See below for a few brief quotes from experts in the field.

"The author has attempted to approach as...

Unpacking the Smith Myth and the Rashomon Concept.

This collection of tricks focuses on a similar motif because they fit the precise definition of that word and, in each case, the goal is to show what unifies and specifically defines each one. I'm also using the term "curate," because I sifted through lots of material so readers can compare and analyze everything. I consider this to be a contextualizing exercise that reveals the motif's history and pinpoints its rightful place in the Creative Continuum.

The two motifs compiled here are the Smith Myth and what's popularly known as the Rashomon...

This collection of math-based tricks includes two effects suitable for virtual shows. One is a Triumph effect the other a spelling trick that works both in English and French. Again, Miller includes some nicely designed print templates which you can print out directly from the PDF to perform the tricks with appropriately themed cards.

• Star Day
• Doppio
• Left or Right?
• Talmi 1
• Talmi 2
• Separo 1
• Separo 2
• Gigl-Gogl 1
• Gigl-Gogl 2
• Verifying an Oddity
• Sweet and Luxurious
• Hands-off Triumph
• Buoyancy
• Boarding
• Chef’s Special
• Chiamato
• With Comp7ements I
• With Comp7ements II
• 25 cm
• Magic...

This effect is undoubtedly a fooler. The magician will be able to cut to three cards that reveal the exact position of the spectator's card. Conditions are really impossible. A true miracle with a normal deck. Always great reactions from both magicians and laypeople. Always a different number.

After the magician gives the deck a shuffle, the spectator is asked to cut the deck about in half and to take from the lower portion some cards, shuffle them, remember the top card, and put them back on top of the lower portion of the deck. Then the spectator shuffles the top portion of the deck and...

More than the twenty major Marlo items Ed contributed to New Tops Magazine in 1982-1983 - not to mention new sleights, finesses, and subtleties - these items have been largely unavailable since their publication, almost 40 years ago. Wesley James has added another two years of material toward fulfilling Ed Marlo's expressed wishes, keeping his material available "for the guys."

As with Wesley's two previous releases, M.I.N.T. III and M.I.N.T. IV, these long-unavailable Marlo items could have been all Wesley compiled. Such a volume would have been a huge contribution to the literature of card magic. As a tribute...

Available again after a long absence is this fine work by J. Stewart Smith, presenting eleven more of his mystifying card effects, each of which is accomplished without knuckle-busting sleight of hand. This is the book that had card workers talking all over the country. It had to be good to receive praise from such internationally known close-up workers. See below for a few brief quotes from some of the very best.

PARTIAL CONTENTS:

• Ascending Treys
• Pop Over Treys
• The Four Aces
• The Four Queens
• Follow The Leader
• Sevens and Jacks
• The Inseparable Sevens
• Peek-A-Boo Discovery
• Horse...

Learn some of the most deceptive magic ever created, by a modest man, Elmer Biddle ... 5 impromptu effects plus a bonus trick!

Included with this e-book are 3 videos and 10 pictures. This e-book is a deep dive into the famous "Biddle Move", which is composed of The Biddle Steal and the much less known, The Biddle Switch - and all 5 tricks are impromptu. The videos teach the proper way to perform both Biddle Moves with in-depth instruction - plus the 4 as 5 Count.

Bonus effect: A 6th trick taught here is topological and can be used as a fun ESP effect or a straight-up prediction. A written...

Out of Control is a surprising, impossible location effect. The magician never touches the deck or even looks at it because the spectator will do everything under the table including two riffle shuffles and several cuts. Yet despite these stringent premises, the magician will be able to find the spectator's card face down in the spread of the deck. Great reactions especially from fellow magicians.

1st edition 2022, video 13:51

Jam Session is a mentalism effect that can be achieved (in every situation and even on the phone, with only the audio connection) with playing cards, with ESP cards, or with tickets: this last version also allows you to develop the final revelation in cold-reading.

The secret used in this routine is a combination of unique methods, blended for an amazing finish. It can be performed remotely, with cards borrowed from the spectator, or with tickets written "on the spot"; the mentalist does not need to see the cards in any way. While using various methods, it is easy to memorize, as it is...

Some aficionados consider Dai Vernon's "Out of Sight-Out of Mind" from More Inner Secrets of Card Magic the best mindreading trick with an ordinary deck of cards. They may be right. Since the spectator does not remove a card from the deck but only thinks of a card, it makes a terrific mindreading trick. Erdnase explores the principle in "A Mindreading Trick" in Expert at the Card Table. Vernon used the principle to construct his trick.

Gerald keeps the exact effect of Vernon's original trick. In "Only in Your Mind", he uses adaptations of the Overhand Lift Shuffle and constructs a completely different handling of the trick. In keeping with the...