Stacks in Cards

Frac Stack is a groundbreaking tetradistic stack, with fractal and mirror properties that make it easy to learn and hard to forget. Imagine amazing your audience with a regular deck of cards that appears well-mixed, while they never suspect the unbelievable truth. You know the sequence of the cards forwards and backwards. You know the position of every card from the top of the deck, and even the position of every card from the face. You can quickly determine the sum of the values of any group of cards. On top of all this, imagine being able to secretly rearrange the cards mid-performance so...

You, a spectator, a deck of cards, a miracle!

A spectator shuffles a deck of cards, you instruct them to hold the cards face up, under the table, so that only they can see them. Despite these test conditions, you apparently display a genuine feat of 'remote viewing' by attempting to name each card in turn, as if you are somehow able to 'see through the table'. With an accuracy way beyond the odds you are able to prove to your audience that they are witnessing a real demonstration of 'psychic' ability and what you claim to be true, must be possible.

This effect will completely 'blow away'...

The Noon Stack is the only stack in the world with three official names. It is also called the Midnight Deck or the Moon Stack. You can either start learning this stack exactly at 12 noon or exactly at 12 midnight, any day.

Okay, on a more serious note, Noon Stack is a simple algorithmic stack that forms a nice memorized deck. Given a card, you can know its position and given a position, you can know the card at that position. And literally speaking, if you start learning this stack at 12 noon (or 12 midnight), you can completely get this down in less than an hour by about 1 pm (or 1 am)....

Array is Fraser's take on the algorithmic stack. He has been working on this problem 'on and off' for the past six or seven years and was only recently able to find the ideal solution he was looking for. His idea was to create a stack that was not only incredibly easy to learn but could also be applied effortlessly, in performance. He imagined a system that could be learned simply by reading through the rules once.

Fraser is pleased to say, all of the pieces of the jigsaw finally fell into place to allow him to create what he considers a close-to-perfect arrangement for this type of method....

Easy miracles using a new stack of cards.

This eBook collects a series of no less than seven tricks that are very simple to perform in front of one's audience, but all very impressive. All this is only possible thanks to a particular pre-arrangement of the pack of cards, derived from Si Stebbins but which, unlike it, will not be recognizable even to the majority of magicians, appearing on first examination to be entirely similar to a real shuffled deck. I have called this pre-order: VR Stack Pro and I will describe it extensively on the following pages.

Below you will find the effects...

The "ultimate" fishing stack!

Using an ungimmicked deck of cards you can have a participant select, think, deal down to or look at one or two cards in the deck. You instantly start to describe aspects of the cards until you reveal both.

I truly believe this to be the ultimate fishing deck ever devised using a normal deck. No markings, no rough and smooth, no short cards, no misprints. Use a 100% normal deck.

Comes with two routines to get you started and some tips on how to present fishing questions.

1st edition 2023, PDF 7 pages.

This is a new self-working card trick: the viewer will choose two cards, to represent the law and by means of which he will get two more cards, lost in the deck, which he will then divide into four bundles. Over the course of two separate stages, the spectator himself will insert the "sheriffs" within the deck, as arbitrarily as possible. The decks will be shuffled, cut and completed but, despite a thousand adversities, the two "sheriff" cards will succeed in tracking down and capturing the two "outlaws," generated by the combination of the first two cards, chosen at random.

The legend...

The deck is shuffled by the performer and then cut several times by the spectator. After, the spectator cuts the deck into four packets totally at random. No force. The magician will be able to divine not only the cards above but also the cards at the bottom of each packet. All this with a normal deck of cards. No marked cards. Instant reset.

1st edition 2022, video 18:54

Excerpt from the introduction:

• Progressive Poker Hands
• Poker Memory
• The Ten Game Challenge
• The Seven Game Stack ...

Best of the Best is an effect that makes most of the potential of the pre-ordered deck. But don't worry because to perform it you will not need memory work and no complicated mathematical operations. Everything is super impossible but really simple to do. Three divinations plus a prediction, a surprising climax. The method behind this effect is truly amazing and fascinating.

• A normal deck
• No memory work
• No complicated mathematical operations
• No gimmick

1st edition 2022, video 17:34.

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 Mark Twain stack is a Si Stebbins stack with a four-apart sequence in SHoCkeD order. It was first published in the February 1935 issue of Modern Mechanix and Inventions magazine. This is a reproduction of this article.

The Mark Twain stack, also called the Riverboat stack (see for example Magic Card System), due to the abundant gambling on Mississippi riverboats, gets its name from the practice on these riverboats to frequently having to measure the water depth. If it was two marks, pronounced 'mark twain', it was ok.

1st edition 1935; PDF 4 pages.

This is the first known publication of the Si Stebbins stack and several tricks that go along with it. It is a reproduction from the Sunday 18th December 1898 issue of the St. Louis Post Dispatch newspaper.

1st edition, 1898; PDF 5 pages.

There are so many possibilities with a stacked deck, or better yet, "Impossibilities." That's because these decks look regular but what you can do with them quite casually can appear incredible. It's an old stack that's still worth its salt is, "The Si Stebbins Stack." It's sorta the granddaddy of this kind of amazing card magic. And it has a mathematical build to it that allows for a variety of other approaches as to magically finding a selected card and or knowing where or what a card is as to its position. This effect is a refreshing and fun way I found to make a bit more magic happen...

A comprehensive treatise devoted to a brilliant cyclical stack system for professional magicians and mentalists.

This ebook covers the topic in great detail, including ten lessons for learning the system, plus how to use the Magi System to its utmost, including clever false cuts and shuffles that'll hide the fact that a setup is used at all. Also included are mechanical methods that can optionally be combined with the Magi System to make it even better.

The ebook contains a mix of effects that are easy to do and ones that take some skill. All are explained in an easy-to-follow manner,...

An easy-to-calculate version of the Si Stebbins stack.

The name 'Snibbets' (Stebbins reversed) was coined by Rusduck. It denotes a reversed Si Stebbins stack where instead of adding 3 to get to the next card's value one substracts 3. The first to publish a negative step version was Ernest Hammond in The Magic of Tomorrow. While this may seem a rather inconsequential change, it has some advantages over the classic Si Stebbins stack. In this ebook, Dr. Solka takes you through the details of this lesser-known version of Si Stebbins.

1st edition 2022, PDF 19 pages.

A minimalist storytelling mentalism card routine.

"This is a truly thoughtful and beautiful presentation - the sort of thing that really warms my heart. The presentation here is the thing. And what's really nice about it, is that it is easily adaptable to other effects if one so desires. I love it!" - Sudo Nimh

A special competition was underway at a famous monastery and all the monks were quite eager to do well. The Master had pointed out a very special tree that lived in the woods surrounding the monastery grounds and the monks had been asked to write a story about this tree. The winner...

Two mentalism card routines.

Cut It Out

The spectator is asked to cut a regular packet of cards and to complete the cut by placing the bottom half on top. The performer ribbon spreads the cards face-down onto the table, inviting the spectator to slide any card from within the spread. The selection is at this stage kept face-down with its identity remaining unknown.

The packet is once again gathered up before the spectator is asked to again cut the deck into two piles. The position cut to is marked by placing the lower half of the deck onto the upper at a right angle. The selected card...

Her Majesty Deck is named thus because in this stack the Queen is called Her Majesty for an innovative reason. This is a memorized deck that is easier to learn, remember and use than Mnemonica or Aronson stacks. Most probably, you will be able to learn this stack on the same day that you read this manuscript.

The first few cards of Her Majesty Deck are as follows: AC 3D 2D 9H 7H JS 5H KS 4H QD 6S

You can perform almost all the stack-independent memdeck material out there with this deck too.

BONUS

As a bonus, the Dictum Deck is also included. This is a cyclical stack that...

What is S.E.M.P.E.R.? (Special Esp Memory Powers Enhanced Radically)

A special trick with a flexible method that offers wide-ranging presentational possibilities. It uses an ordinary deck of 52 poker cards and the trick will be deceptive even for many illusionists, but above all its impact on the audience is devastating.

Two spectators are asked to take a card and put them unseen in their pockets. The magician explains that, under these conditions, it is obviously extremely difficult to be able to identify the cards. Nevertheless, and in order to demonstrate to the public the uncommon...

An incredible stack that was worked out by hand at a time when computers were not available. The experts were impressed:

"In actual play, that would get the money." - Dai Vernon

"... the best stack since Rusduck's. - Ross Bertram

"... interesting and has possibilities at the gaming table." - Faucett Ross

"... Ned, you've come across a real gem, don't tip it." - Orville Meyer

"Vernon should see this." - Francis Carlyle

The spectator takes a shuffled deck. The spectator makes a choice of the type of poker to be played:

• Straight Poker
• Stud Poker ( 5 – 6 – or 7 card)
• Blackjack
• Draw Poker

"Your Know Stack is a gem!!" - Dr. Hans Christian Solka

1. Know Stack is a cyclical stack. Given any card, you can know the next card immediately.
2. For some perhaps easier than 8 Kings stack or even Si Stebbins Stack.
3. More random looking than Si Stebbins stack.
4. No math (but some memorization) needed to know the next card.
5. Option to have either random suits or rotating suits.
6. Can be learnt in under 100 seconds.
7. Very easy to learn. Very difficult to forget.
8. Bonuses included.
9. Most cyclical stack routines/effects can be performed with this.

1. Dates Deck
2. Cue Stacks

Kalendeck is a calendar deck. If at all it is possible to "Pre-Know" any stack, it is this. In other words, you probably already know this stack but you are simply not aware of it. If you know the basics of a calendar, then you already know most of this deck. Or you can easily pick this up in just a few minutes. It is that easy and that simple.

Kalendeck is a memorized deck which looks very random and well shuffled - both values and suits. Given any position, you know the card instantly and vice versa. It may take all of about ten minutes for you to learn this stack. Of course, practice...

A new method to quickly and secretly arrange cards from a small pack all the way to a full deck. No math needed unless you want to understand why it works.

Within magic, no mind approaches Bob Farmer's. Outside magic, Machiavelli came close. The evidence is presented in "The Bammo Tarodiction Toolbox." - Stephen Minch

Bob Farmer's Bammo Tarodiction Toolbox is both a great trick and a genuinely new method for secretly arranging cards quickly, accurately, and right in front of the spectators' noses. - Matthew Field

About what you'd expect from the guy who invented that stupid little hand trick. -...

The Spell Deck is an easy-to-learn and easy-to-use memorized deck. Just a couple of very simple rules and you instantly know the value of any given position and vice versa. The Spell Deck is also flexible in that the same rules can be used to generate 4 different memorized decks. All that is explained clearly.

S.O.S Vol3 is included in this ebook. It contains 3 cool ideas for ordering suits, not just for the Spell Deck, but can be used for other stacks as well. When you combine the 4 variants of Spell Deck with these 3 Suit Ordering Systems and their built-in variants, you can create a whopping...

Effect: Two people each select a card. The performer then shuffles the deck by giving it a riffle shuffle. The spectators take the deck and returned the cards with the deck in their own hands in such a manner that there can be no suspicion of trickery. The two cards are not forced.

The performer now spreads the deck face up on the table so all the faces are in full view. The first card is found by contact mindreading (apparently). The first spectator holds the performer's wrist while he moves his fingers over the face up cards. Suddenly, the performer's finger drops down on a card and it...

You will learn stacks for 2 - 10 players which allow you to do the following:

Presentation: Bring out the card case and remove the cards. Briefly show the cards and hand the deck to one of the players. Have them cut the deck. And cut again. State that you think he (or she) is lucky and let them deal. He deals and he wins! They have no explanation. He cut the cards and dealt and you did not touch the deck after he cut the cards.

1st edition 2019, 16 pages.

The King Stack is a cyclical stack. Probably the world's easiest cyclical stack to date. As easy as the Si Stebbins stack. But much more random looking for both values and suits. If you can add 1 and 2 then you can instantly learn the King Stack, it is that simple and easy. It should not take more than 3 minutes to actually fully learn it. The real core principle of this stack can be explained in just 2-3 sentences. It is that simple and yet looks fairly random.

The King Stack is so named because the Kings have a special place in this stack and play a key role. A hidden beauty of the ...

An apparent demonstration of total card mastery, this series of card effects entertains and baffles a lay audience. The magician names missing cards by glancing at a riffling pack, listens to the riffling cards to count packets or locate any card, and detects truth from lies by spelling with the cards.

1st edition 1988, 5 pages; PDF 6 pages.

A series of letters, between an unidentified friend and his correspondent (William Frederick Pinchbeck) comprising of how to train a pig, invisible lady and acoustic temple, philosophical swan, penetrating spy glasses, several magic tricks, such as how to catch a bullet, and reflections on ventriloquism.

This book includes the first known description of the "Eight Kings" card stack.

1. Method of teach the Pig – from Letter I. to IX. See also Letter V. Appendix
2. Principles of the Acoustic Temple – from Letter IX. To XIV. See also Letter II. Appendix.
3. A Demonstration of the philosophical...

Easy to learn, hard to detect. A booklet of routines that use the Si Stebbins stack.

This is an early publication by Hugh Johnston predating his larger Modern Card Miracles by several years. Includes research on its likely publication date by Chris Wasshuber.

• The Secret
• Rapid Counting
• Weighing the Cards
• To Tell the Center Card of Pack
• To Locate Any Card Called For
• To Have the Joker Tell You What Card is Drawn
• To Tell the Number and Suit Of As Many Cards As Are Drawn
• To Tell Card That Is Drawn While Blindfolded
• To Cut the Cards in Three Heaps and Tell Bottom Card of Each Heap
• Reading the Cards
• To Have Pack Cut and Name Bottom...

Optic Deck is an optical/visual memorized deck. You 'see' a number 1-52 in your mind's eye and you 'optically' or visually know what card is at that number. Similarly you 'see' any card in your mind's eye and you again 'optically' know what position the card is at.

The stack looks very random, the suits look random, there is no red/black alternating pattern and even after reasonable scrutiny it would be almost impossible to spot a sequence because there is none. Even magicians after being told that there is a stack involved will find it extremely difficult to spot the stack.

This is a...

A complete card-act with patter.

This ebook describes moves and routines for a stacked deck. The authors are using the Si Stebbins stack, but most of what is taught applies to other stacks, memorized or algorithmic. At the very end a simply two person code is taught.

Dornfield, President of the Chicago Society of Magicians writes in The Sphinx magazine, November 1919 page 209:

Mnemonica for Everybody is a streamlined, graphical method for easily and quickly learning the Tamariz stack.

It's the same Peg Memory System (PMS) I developed that I used to learn the Aronson Stack in an hour while driving. BTW, this same technique works great for every memorized stack out there including the Aronson Stack, The Six-Hour Memorized Deck by Martin Joyal, the Nikola stack and others.

Even though there are no actual tricks taught in this manuscript, it does contain links to several free memorized deck tricks and other resources (including a free e-book from Simon Aronson).

Please refer to the writings...

This is a combo of 2 ebooks. Lucky Deck and Suit Order Systems Vol. 5.

Lucky Deck is a very special stack. Because this arrangement of the deck can be used both as a memorized deck and/or as a cyclical stack. Both the values and suits look fairly random. Just by learning 3 simple and easy rules, you will be able to pick up the entire stack within no time. Probably by the time you finish reading this manuscript, you should be able to pick up this stack.

Given any position, you will be able to name the card and vice versa. Also given any card, you will be able to get the next card as well....