Gaffed in Cards

You take a playing card and with one finger slowly and visually evaporate the back of the card, leaving the frame of the card, and develop it back. Easy to make from any white-framed playing card. No black art. No CGI.

1st edition 2021, video 13:38.

Find their card with an inferno on your palm.

A card is selected, signed, and returned to the deck. And then ... you take a burning match and shove it into the deck, burning one card at a time going deeper and deeper and eventually the match extinguishes itself. You spread the cards and find that the match burnt through each and every card but it couldn't go beyond one particular card, their signed card.

• Quick Reset: Instantly repeatable up to 15 times.
• Easy Build: Only takes the skills of a 10-year-old.
• Quick Setup: Under 5 minutes to build from scratch to performance ready.
• Economical:...

Ronald Haines, through his business Haines House of Cards, sold a deck of gaffed cards called 'Fa-Ko' cards. This deck is not anymore available but perhaps you can find it second-hand. However, now that it is very easy to make your own playing cards (see DIY Playing Cards) this collection has gained in value.

From the foreword

Look carefully because this effect is a real fooler. I have shown it to many magicians and no one of them had a clue. This is the perfect end to your sandwich card routine. It looks like real magic. The two queens inexplicably approach each other inside the card case to capture the card signed by the spectator. It looks amazing! Really easy to do. You have all the materials at home to build the gimmick. I am really proud of this routine. I show you how you can end clean.

• No glue
• No wax
• No force
• No double-sided tape
• No double face card
• No double back card
• Easy to do

1st edition...

An extraordinary magic trick in which the spectators will see four jacks turn face down one by one. For the final climax, the magician explains that sometimes, if poker cards are used for magic, very strange things can happen: That's when the four jacks suddenly turn into a Royal Flush. A trick with which I bluffed the audience and magicians. All you need is a special card, which is very easy to find. But this little effort is really worth it.

An impromptu version of the effect is also described, in which the cards from Ace to Four, one at a time, turn face down and then magically transform...

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.

Throw a playing card into the air and have it vanish.

The method is based on the black art principle and thus requires a black background such as a black T-shirt. The gimmick requires several supplies you may need to purchase and arts and crafts to construct it.

1st edition 2022, video 15:43

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.

A very visual and sudden spectator card rising to the top effect.

Spectator chooses a card (no force). The card can optionally be signed. It is inserted face-up in the middle of the deck. The performer places the top card by 90 degrees rotated on the top of the deck. He then removes that top card and suddenly the spectator's card rises to the top and is seen face-up on the top of the deck.

The gimmick is easy to make. It requires arts and crafts and some of the usual supplies for card gaffing.

1st edition 2022, video 13:30.

Show an individual play card, wave your hand in front of it, and have it vanish. Then in the same fashion, it reappears. The gimmick is super easy to make. Watch your angles.

1st edition 2023, video 5:57.

This is a routine for those who want to elicit screams from their female spectators at the final revelation. They are thinking of a card, the only card in the deck with a secret message, a message so profound and emotionally connecting that a scream of disbelief is the only reaction possible. At least that's what road tests of the routine have shown.

Also included, is a bonus routine with magic eyeglasses, invisible writing made visible, and a kicker ending that will baffle all.

1st edition 2023, PDF 7 pages.

The spectator names a Poker hand. He can change his mind. The deck is spread face down and the five cards for the named hand are the only face-up cards. The deck is squared and spread again: the face-up cards have vanished. For the kicker, the deck is spread face up and all the cards are blank. It was all an illusion.

Uses a special gaffed deck you can easily make at home. No sleights. No memorization. Idiot proof. Automatic reset. No angles. Killer kicker.

1st edition 2023, PDF 12 pages.

A magician shows a card with cut-out pips and puts it into a playing card box. The spectator selects a card. When the magician takes out the cut-out pips card from the case and shows it one more time, it suddenly changes to a card without cut-out pips, and when turned face-up it has changed into the spectator's card.

Requires arts and crafts to construct the gimmick.

1st edition 2022, video 38:01.

The Spectator chooses any card from the deck. The magician rips off the corner of that card. One hand wave, and the corner changes color. The magician throws the corner on to the card, the card is restored and the whole card changes color. And that’s not the end. The magician places the card on the deck and the entire deck changes color. Four effects in one trick. (Supplies may have to be purchased in order to perform this effect.)

1st edition 2020, video 17 min.

A great ebook for those interested in creating their own mechanical (rough and smooth) trick decks or restoring old ones.

The mechanical decks described in the first part of this ebook were brand new when first published, and represented a value - in today's dollars - of nearly $195 if purchased from a dealer. But that's not all. In this revised and expanded edition, you also get complete instructions for making your own Brainwave and Pop-Eyed Popper decks. While you can buy them ready-made from a dealer, making them yourself allows you to create custom decks, such as with airline or other...

Card tricks requiring one or more double-facers.

The 18 tricks were supplied by U. F. Grant. Burling Hull writes:

Visual and practical effects are rarely combined into one trick. Hallucination is a very practical and visual trick. Imagine you draw 4 points on a playing card, after which you shake the deck and they line up, and that’s not all, you shake the deck again and the points completely disappear.

1st edition 2020, length 6:27.

A visual partial vanish of a playing card.

Performer holds a playing card in front of his body. Suddenly most of the card vanishes leaving only the border behind.

This requires the usual supplies and arts and crafts for gaffing cards, plus a black background like a black T-shirt.

1st edition 2022, video 27:24

The most successful effect of this kind was Dan Harlan's CardToon where a deck of cards doubled as a flip book. Riffling through the cards one would see a cartoon magician drawn on the backs find and reveal a chosen card. This effect was a huge success, potentially it was the most successful magic trick of all times (my guess, I don't really know).

Toony Angel builds on the basic idea to use a deck of cards as a flip book, but rather than animate a cartoon character on the back, the angel on the bicycle, from the Bicycle back design, starts to cycle towards you, zips around on the back of the card and...

Visual movement of holes on a playing card.

Show a playing card which has random holes in it. This is best done by putting it in front of a light source, such as your phone's screen. In an instant the holes rearrange to something meaningful. It could be a simple image, the name of a card, a spectator name, a date, anything you can think of. It is a great way to reveal a prediction.

1st edition 2020, video length 17 min.

A visual vanish of a playing card which looks like real magic. The gimmick can be made in a few minutes.

1st edition 2021, video 7 min.

A visual penetration like no other. The preparation of the gimmicked card requires some arts and crafts but is not difficult. You will need a blank face card among other easily obtainable items. (No threads are required.)

1st edition 2021, video 18 min.

This is a system that you can use with different card values, for example AS and 8D. Instant disappearance and appearance of suits on the card, but it can also be a change of color of suits or transformation. Easy to do, easy to perform. No reset. The tutorial demonstrates two methods of how you can make this gimmick.

1st edition 2021, video 32:28

Bird One - Kingside Castling

Simply put, a spectator's signed king from a packet of four kings vanishes from underneath her hand. As a kicker, the other 3 kings in the packet become blank even though she just saw all four of the kings. There are no switches.

Bird Two - Brainwave: Card 8

This is a variation of Nick Trost's 8 Card Brainwave that does the effect in reverse.

From a packet of 8 cards with 8 different colored backs, the spectator freely (no force) chooses one of them without knowing the values of any of the cards. Yet, the one she freely chose is found to be the only...

A super visual vanish. A clean and most visual disappearance. A new method that will show a card with a hole on both sides.

Note: TV rights not included with purchase. Please contact Sultan Orazaly for TV rights.

1st edition 2023, video 22:52.

Created by Zaw Shinn and taught by Mario Tarasini. This visual ink moving effect is easy to do and it looks just like CGI. No fancy or fragile set up is required and the material to make the gimmick can easily be found. Zaw likes to thank Martin Lewis, Alan Rorrison, Rizki Nanda, and many more for inspiring him to create Triangle Theory.

1st edition 2020, video 24 min 12s.

Effect: Show to spectator 4 blank cards. Suddenly the blank cards change into four normal face cards. Additional supplies may need to be purchased to perform this effect.

length 3min 29s.

A Card Warp effect that ends with an 'impossible' signed card with half turned face-out and the other half back-out.

Effect: A playing card is folded and then signed by a spectator. This folded and signed card is inserted between another folded card, just like in the classic Card Warp effect. Then the inside card is pushed from left to right and from right to left. First the direction of the white border of the card's back switches position. Then one half of the card turns face outward. At this point the folded and signed card can be handed out as souvenir to the spectator. It will have one...

Make a mini-sized playing card instantly change into a regular-sized one

No flaps or creases on the card that changes. A great way to show perspective illusion both live and in your Zoom shows. Simple to build. Easy to perform.

1st edition 2021, video 28 min.

1st edition 2011, video 6:34

1st edition 2021, video 4 min 25 s.

Show the backs of four cards. Let's say they are all blue backs. Then turn them face up and show that the cards also have all the same faces. But when you turn them face down again, all their backs have changed into a random assortment of back designs.

1st edition 2021, video 3:19.

You show four red-backed aces clearly and individually from both sides. A turn of the packet and suddenly you hold the four kings with blue backs.

1st edition 2021, video 3:12.

This card trick has a very unique and interesting plot. The topic is Mondriaan, the famous Dutch painter. You show cards and they change colors, the ones Mondriaan needs for his painting. Eventually you end with a replica of the painting itself.

1st edition 2022, video 4:26.

You show seven Jacks of Hearts and one Ten of Spades. By putting the Ten of Spades face-down on the face-up Jacks, all cards turn magically face-down. But the climax is still coming. Once the cards are turned face up they are now all Ten of Spades except one Jack of Hearts.

1st edition 2022, video 3:11.

Have three cards selected (they can be signed), return them individually into the deck, shuffle, and miraculously the four kings turn face up, and between the kings the three selected and signed cards are found.

This effect is possible due to a simple gimmick you can quickly make at home. (No gimmick is included with this download.) There are many more ways to use this gimmick. Peter explains a variety of effects and ways to use it.

1st edition 2022, video 28:21.

A spectator signs a freely selected card (no force). The card is replaced into the deck which is shuffled and thrown loose into a McDonald's paper bag (or any other bag, or container, which can be borrowed and is completely ungimmicked). The bag is shaken by various spectators - the cards are genuinely mixed-up. The magician then reaches into the bag whilst looking away - and brings out a single card. It is the signed card! This is so easy, self-working, and perfect for close-up or on stage.

You can find the only blue card in a red deck - whilst properly blindfolded. Includes a fantastic,...

You clearly show four red cards and four black cards from both sides. Then you interleave them one red, one black, one red, one black, a.s.o. and they magically separate into red and black cards. (You will need four double-faced cards to perform this routine.)

1st edition 2022, video 3:29

Two cards (2 x Queen of Spades) are shown to a spectator, who is then handed an "invisible card" the 9 of Hearts. The spectator throws the invisible card towards the magician who is going to catch it between the two queens. The spectator does this and the 9 of hearts instantly appears between them! Then, whenever the magician wants, the 9 of hearts vanishes - only to turn up in another location. This is a great self-working effect that gets great reactions.

You'll need to make the gimmick with a couple of things most magicians will already possess. It'll take you just five minutes and...

Most tricks explained require a double backer, sometimes the same back double-backer, sometimes a different back double-backer.

• Introductory
• The Two Fold Miracle
• Insto-Transpo!
• The Startling Stop!
• The Double Force
• Double Comedy Relief
• "Satan Behind You"
• Chameleon Backs
• Remote Control
• False Faces

1st edition 1933, 8 pages; PDF 14 pages.