Some of the most astonishing effects in card magic are those which utilize the principle of secret prearrangement of the cards. Here are several that can make your reputation as a magician.

1. the four aces

A spectator deals himself a number of cards as directed by the audience and gets the four Aces.

The advance secret preparation consists in placing the four Aces on top of the deck and then putting eight other cards above them, so that the Aces are the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth cards down from the top of the facedown deck.

Begin by giving the deck a false riffle shuffle as follows.

Cut off somewhat more than half the cards with your right hand, and riffle shuffle these into the remaining cards held in your left hand. Let the cards fall from the left hand faster than from the right, so that the left-hand packet is exhausted before the top thirteen cards in the right-hand group are reached. Square the deck and repeat the shuffle. If you do this casually and without comment, no one will suspect that the shuffle is not as thorough as it might be.

Ask a spectator to assist you, and tell him that you are going to teach him a new game. "Most people, for some reason, never trust a magician in a card game so I'll let you do the dealing."

Give him the deck. "The deoling rules are unusual. You always let the other players tell you how many cards to deal.

Will someone please call a number between ten and twenty?"

Suppose sixteen is called. Instruct the dealer to deal sixteen cards one at a time, face down, into your hand.

"Another dealing rule states that the digits of the called number must be added together, and that many cards dealt back onto the deck. This makes it impossible for the dealer to cheat. Six and one are seven so I'll deal seven cards back on to the deck." You also deal the cards one at a time.

Take the top card from those in your left hand and lay it out face down. Finally, place the dealt-off pile of cards back on the deck.

Ask someone else to call another number between ten and twenty, and go through the same procedure. Do this four times in all, so that you end with four cards laid out face down.

"Each player," you explain, "deals four cards in this way and the one who gets the most high cards wins. If we were playing for money you would win ten dollars for each King, Queen, or Jack, and twenty-fwe dollars for each Ace. Let's see if you were lucky enough to win anything."

Turn the four face-down cards up slowly, one at a time, disclosing a hundred dollars worth of Aces!

Look at the dealer suspiciously. "I wonder where a boy (or girl) of your age learned to do that? You go right back and sit down. I am not going to play cards with you. I'd lose my shirt."

2. prize contest

The performer announces a prize contest. Three spectators compete and although the odds are greatly against anyone's winning, everybody wins.

Your advance preparations consist in placing four Kings together on top of the face-down deck, and then four indifferent cards on top of the Kings. Also bend the inner right corner of the bottom card slightly for a locator.

Announce that you are going to hold a prize contest, and select three contestants.

Riffle shuffle the deck, allowing the bottom card to fall first and the top cards last, so that the eight top cards are not disturbed.

Deal four cards in a row, face up. Then say, "Sorry, that's not right. I should have dealt those cards face down." Gather the cards and put them on the bottom of the deck. Deal four more cards, face down this time. These are all Kings but the spectators will assume that they are all different because the four cards you dealt face up, apparently by mistake, were different.

Ask someone to choose one of the four cards and place it in his pocket, without looking at it or letting anyone else see it. "That card will determine the winner of the contest."

Put the remaining three cards back on the deck, and cut the deck. Then cut again, this time just below the bent card.


This brings the three Kings back to the top, with four indifferent cards above them.

Now deal four hands of cards, just as you would in dealing four hands of bridge, but deal only six cards to each hand. The first three hands each have a King as the second card from the bottom.

Give one of these hands to each contestant. Take the fourth hand for yourself. "Now, each of you do just what do." Take your top card and put it on the bottom of your packet. Deal off the next card, and discard it. Continue this operation, dealing one card under and discarding the next— until only one card remains. See that the three spectators all do the same.

Then say, "This is probably the toughest prize contest in the world. I've been doing this for years and nobody has won anything yet." Ask the person who has the chosen card in his pocket to bring it out and show it. Turn to the contestants. "If any of you has a King, he wins the Grand Prize!"

All three contestants have Kings! "That's impossible!" Pretend not to believe it. You are, of course, prepared for this, and you pay off with three prizes, lollipops, perhaps.

3. double discovery

Two cards are chosen by two spectators who shuffle them back into the deck themselves. There seems to be no possible way in which the performer could know either the identity or location of the cards, and yet he finds both simultaneously.

Your advance preparation consists in dealing the deck into two piles, placing all the odd cards in one pile, and all the even cards in another. (The Jacks and Kings, having values of eleven and thirteen, are odd, the Queens are even. )

Take either pile, hold it face down, and bend the ends upward so that the whole packet is slightly concave. Place the other pile on top of it. The bend in the lower packet leaves a break in the side edge of the deck which marks the center of the pack (fig. 41).

You cannot shuffle this stacked deck as the trick begins, and yet your audience must believe that the cards are well mixed. You convince them of that this way. Place a rubber band around one end of the stacked deck, half an inch from the end, and put it in your coat pocket. Do a trick or two, using another deck (having the same back design) in the course of which the cards are legitimately shuffled. Then pretend you have finished with card tricks and put this deck in the same pocket that holds the stacked deck. Do a trick of a different sort —a coin or rope trick perhaps. Then remember another card trick. Reach into your pocket, push the rubber band off with your thumb and bring out the stacked deck. The exchange is so simple and direct that it is never suspected.

Look for the break in the side of the deck, and cut off all the cards above it. Hold half the deck on the palm of each hand, and ask two spectators to select cards simultaneously, one from each half. "Cut off any number of cards, take one from the center, and replace the others, but don't look at

figure 41


your chosen cards until I have turned my back. We want to be absolutely sure that I don't see either of them."

When you have turned away, bring your hands together, place the right packet in the left hand and vice versa. Face the audience again, and give the right-hand packet to the spectator on your right, the other to the spectator on your left. Tell them to push their chosen cards back in among the others they hold, and then shuffle the cards thoroughly.

Because of your hand-to-hand exchange of packets one person shuffles his odd card among the even ones; the other, his even card among the odd ones. When the shuffling is ; done, take both packets and place them together.

"Two cards have been chosen while my back was turned. Both have been thoroughly shuffled into the deck. There is no possible way I can find either card — unless you help me by broadcasting thought waves. Please concentrate on your cards."

Turn the deck to face yourself and run through the cards.

Look for an even card among odd ones, or the reverse. When you find the first card take it and all the cards above it into your right hand for a moment. Point with this hand toward the first spectator. If it is a boy, say, "You have girls on your_ mind. Please, try to forget them for just a moment and think_ of your card." If it is a girl, of course, you say she is thinking about boys. Then replace the cards in your right hand under those in your left. This puts the first chosen card on top of tthe deck.

Turn to the second spectator. "While he's trying to do that, let's see how you are doing." Continue to run through the cards until you find the second out-of-place card. Shift it to the face of the deck. Scowl at it dubiously, then shake your head. "No, that's not it. Most of the thought waves coming from your direction are filled with static. I think you need a new vacuum tube."


Turn the deck face down and riffle shuffle without disturbing the top or bottom cards. Look back at the first spectator.

"He's got it bad. Girls. Girls. Girls. This puts me in a very embarrassing position. I shall have to use real magic."

Put the deck in your pocket, go to the first spectator and touch his forehead with one finger. "That's better — not much— but it helps." Do the same to the second spectator. "What a horrible noise! I think you need a complete tune-up job."

Raise your right hand and pull your sleeve back a bit.

"Well, I'll take a chance." Go into your pocket, grasp the deck on opposite sides, pull up the top and bottom cards and bring them out together. Ask that the chosen cards be named, then show that you have found them both.

4. everyone takes a card

Several spectators select cards while the deck is spread face down on the table and the magician is at some distance from it. They replace the cards under the same conditions, anywhere in the deck. Nothing could be fairer. It seems impossible that the magician could find even one card — but he finds them all!

The method is simplicity itself. The whole deck is stacked.

All the cards of each suit are together and in numerical order. Do another trick or two first with another deck, and then switch it in your pocket for the stacked deck, as explained on page 130.

You may cut the stacked deck one or more times without disturbing the arrangement of the cards. Do it this way.

Hold the deck in your right hand as though you were about to give it an overhand shuffle. Pull about half the cards down into the left hand, then throw the remaining cards on top.

This merely cuts the deck. If you do this casually three or four times, the spectators will mistake it for a shuffle.

Spread the cards in a line across the table or on the floor.

Step away from them and ask several people to take one card each from anywhere in the spread.

When this has been done, scoop up the cards, square the_ deck, and spread it out again. Don't forget to do this; it prevents anyone from replacing his card in the same position from which he drew it.

Ask that all the cards be returned "Anywhere at all." Then gather the cards again and give them another cut or two. All you have to do now is to look through the cards and find those that are not in their proper sequence. But don't make it look that easy.

Ask the spectators who drew the cards to concentrate on them, pretend to do some heavy concentrating yourself, and accuse one or two people of not thinking hard enough. This is pure, unadulterated misdirection but it dramatizes what you are doing, and makes it appear difficult, and gets more applause at the finish.

Take out each misplaced card as you find it and put it aside, face down. After you have found the last card, shuffle the deck, destroying the arrangement. Then ask that the chosen cards be named, and show each one as it is called.

5. Mental spell

The discovery by the performer of a card which has been mentally selected by a spectator is one of the most mystifying of all card feats. Here the performer accomplishes this miracle twice. You will find that the effect is well worth the small amount of preparation required.

Remove the following cards from the deck, and arrange them in two groups as listed below. The order given is from top to bottom with the cards face down.

1                                                     2

Jack of Clubs             Two of Spades

Four of Hearts           Queen of Clubs

Queen of Spades      Ten of Diamonds

Five of Diamonds      King of Diamonds

Eight of Diamonds    Seven of Diamonds

Put either group on the other and place them both on top of the deck. Bend the inner right corner of the bottom card of the deck downward, put ten other cards below it, and the Two of Hearts below those.

It is best not to perform this trick as the first of a series of card tricks for two reasons. The deck cannot be shuffled as you begin because your arrangement would be destroyed, and the effect produced by the trick is so strong that it should be done as a finale. Put a rubber band around the stacked deck, and carry it in your pocket until needed. Do a few other tricks with another deck having the same back design, then switch decks as described under Double Discovery on
page 129.

Announce that you are going to perform an extremely difficult trick which requires complete silence. Stress this so that the spectators will know they are about to see something extraordinary and will pay close attention. The closer they watch the more impossible it seems.

Take the top five cards off the deck, spread them in a fan, and hold it before a spectator. Turn your head away so that you can't see his face and tell him, "I want you to select any one of these cards. Don't touch it or take it out. Just mentally choose one and make sure you remember it."

After he has done this, drop these cards on the table, take the next five cards, and have a second person mentally choose one in the same way. Then put these five cards back on the deck, and replace the first group on them.

Give the deck a complete cut. Then cut again, this time just below the bent card. This puts the Two of Hearts and ten other cards above the two arranged groups.

"One way to find a card that has been lost in the deck is to name it, snap your fingers above the deck, spell the card's name, and then deal one card for each letter. Like this. Suppose I'm hunting for the Two of Hearts..."

Spell out T-W-O O-F H-E-A-R-T-S, and deal one card face down for each letter. Turn up the card that appears on the letter S and show the Two of Hearts. Get this card out of the way by pushing it into the center of the deck. Pick up the other ten cards and replace them on top of the deck.

Turn to the first person who mentally selected a card. "Of course, I can't do that with your card because I haven't the vaguest notion what it is. Only you know. So yow'll have to perform the magic. Hold your hand above the deck and snap your fingers. That's fine! It wasn't hard, was itP Now begin spelling your card one letter at a time." As he does this, deal one card for each letter. Make sure he spells out the "of."

It doesn't matter which of the five cards he mentally selected. Each card in the first group, reading from the top down, spells out with one more letter than the preceding one. Whatever card he spells must turn up on the final letter.

As you deal, count the first five cards into a neat pile, and then deal the sixth card a bit off center so that it projects beyond the others. Deal the remaining cards so that they line up with the first five.

When the spelling is completed, show that the last card is the one that was mentally selected. Congratulate the spectator. "You did that very well!"

Place this selected card on those that were dealt off, and then pick up the projecting sixth card, together. with all the cards above it. Put them back on top of the deck. Place the remaining five cards on the bottom of the deck. This sets things so that the second chosen card will spell out.

Ask the second spectator to snap his fingers and spell out his mentally-selected card as you deal. He also succeeds.

Congratulate him and ask both spectators to stand and take a bow.

6. The great jail escape

Most people believe that the hand is quicker than the eye and are, therefore, suspicious of any quick movement on the magician's part. This trick is a real baffler because it is all done in slow motion. It will give you a reputation as a sleightof-hand expert, in spite of the fact that no sleight of hand at all is used. Also, its entertainment value for children is firstrate because of the story that goes with it.

You need two Jacks of Spades. Place one in your outer breast pocket. Cut a diagonal section from the other Jack of Spades and place it on the Nine of Diamonds as shown on the right in fig. 42A. Mark the position of the Jack by drawing a light pencil line on the nine along the Jack's left edge.

Turn the Jack over to the left, face down, keeping its edge lined up with the pencil line. This position is shown on the left in fig. 42A. Apply a strip of Scotch tape along the edge to serve as a hinge.

Use rubber cement to attach a plain white three-by-five index card onto any other playing card, covering its face. Trim away the excess, and letter the words ouT TO LUNCH on the card with a Magic Marker (fig. 42B). (The Joker may also be used instead of this card.) Put this our To LUNCH card face up on the nine, put the three on both, and carry them in your pocket.

As you begin the trick, bring out these three cards, and hold them with their backs toward the spectators. Spread them in a fan, and slip the OUT LUNCH card under the hinged flap. Make sure that the top edges of this card and the Jack line up (fig. 42B). Place the three on both these cards as shown in fig. 42C.

"I' d like to tell you a story about the old West. I was the sheriff of Deadwood Gulch in those days, and one morning the Jack of Spades robbed the stage coach." Show the fan of three cards to your audience.

"I sent two of my deputies after him — the Three of Hearts and the Nine of Diamonds — and they caught him." Grasp the upper right corner of the Jack between thumb and forefinger (fig. 42C) and turn the backs of the cards toward the spectators.

"They brought him into town and put him in the jail." Lift the center card up slowly, and lay it out face down. As you do this, your left thumb slides the three to the left so that it covers the Jack (fig. 42D).

Show the faces of the remaining two cards to the spectators, turn them backs out again, and place the Nine of Diamonds face down to the right of the first card. "The Nine of Diamonds knew that Jack was a slippery character so he stood guard at the front door." Show the face of the third card. "And the Three of Hearts guarded the back door." Place it face down on the left.

"Now I'm going to swear you all in as deputies. Have you all been watching? Do you all know where Jack is?" Everything has been done so slowly and convincingly that the spectators have to agree that Jack is safely in the jail — the card in the middle.

"Good," you say, "but keep your eyes on him. He wasn't in that jail five minutes before he managed to get out of his cell, slip around to the back door and knock the Three of

Hearts on the head." Lift the center card and tap it against the back of the card on the left. "Then he sneaked up on the guard at the front door and knocked him out, too." Tap the other card in the same way and then replace the card you hold in the center.

"When I got down to the jail —I was late for work that morning —I found both guards sound asleep." Pick up the two red cards, one in each hand put the three on the nine and show them (fig. 42E).

"And when I looked in Jack's cell — I found this." Show the face of the remaining card. The Jack has vanished and you hold a sign that reads: ouT TO LUNCH.

"Of course, if all you deputies were watching, you saw where he went. No? Well, we found him a few days later hiding out up in the hills." Reach into your outer breast pocket and bring out the Jack.

We repeat: fast movements are both suspicious and confusing, and, in this trick, quite unnecessary. Do everything slowly and deliberately. This makes all your actions appear to be so fair and above suspicion that the sudden transformation of the Jack and its final reappearance come as real surprises.

One other thing: when you ask if everyone knows where the Jack is, a spectator will sometimes try to cross you up by pretending he believes it to be one of the end cards.

When this happens, simply pick up both of the end cards, put the three on the nine so that it hides the flap, show both, and ask, "Have you been sound asleep?" Then replace both cards as they were and continue.