Gaffed in Cards: page 1

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...

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 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:

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 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.

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

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...

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

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:...

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.