Let Them Find Thier Card

This is a really simple magic trick.  It is simple to perform, but what makes it so effective is that the volunteer does the trick for you!

The key to really making this trick work well is the performance, as is often the case.  The trick itself is dead simple to do.

To perform this simple card trick, first hand a normal deck to a volunteer and ask them to shuffle the deck.  Then simply follow these steps:

1. Ask them to cut the deck roughly in half and put both halves on the table
2. Have them choose one half and pick it up.  You take the other half
3. Turn around so your back is to the audience, and ask them volunteer to go through his or her deck and choose a card, show it to the audience, then place it back face up on the top of the deck
4. While they are choosing a card, secretly set up your half of the deck by turning the bottom card face up, and the 2nd card from the top face up
5. When the volunteer is done, turn around.  Ask them to hold out their half of the deck, and place your cards on top of theirs
6. Inform them that they will perform the trick for you by finding their own card.  Have them place the deck behind their back
7. “Now take the top card..no wait let’s not use that one..i’d hate for you to think I set it up.  Put that on the bottom of the deck and take the next card.  Flip it face up, then insert it somewhere in the middle of the deck.”
8. Once they have done this, ask them to bring the deck back out in front of them
9. “Now if you did this trick properly, and I have faith that you did, you will have found your own chosen card.  Fan through the cards please until you find the face up one you stuck in the middle of the deck
10. When they come to the face up card, ask them what their card was.  Then have them turn over the card following the face up card.  It will usually be their card

NOTE: Occosinoally through some stroke of amazing luck, they will actually place the ‘false’ face up card between the real face up card and the chosen card.  In this case, simply go to the next card and say “Well you did pretty well, you were only off by one.”

This simple magic trick is a great one to do on a whim as it requires no prep.  The key here however is to make sure the audience can’t see you setup your half of the deck, and that when the volunteer does the trick behind their back they can’t see what they are doing, and neither can the audience.

Magic Tricks in Youth Programs

This is just so awesome. I wish they’d done things like this when I was a kid!

A local youth program in Washington state is teaching kids how to perform magic tricks.

Ten-year-old Jared Winders’s favorite magic trick involves two cards. “But I can’t tell you how to do it,” said Jared, who lives in Tenino, “Magicians don’t tell secrets.”

A Lacey Parks and Recreation program, the six week course is taught to kids by magician Tod Alan. The class meets once a week and the kids are taught everything from simple magic tricks to more complex illusions and escapes.

I think this is a very cool thing to do, and not only because i’m such a magic freak. Everyone knows kids love magic tricks, so a program like this really gets thier attention and helps to keep them out of trouble elsewhere

You can view the full article, from The Olympian, right here.

Simple Magic Trick – Transporting Coin

I love this magic trick because it is so simple to do.  I mean, seriously, anyone could perform this simple magic trick, and the really ironic thing is the source of the instruction..its from a commercial for a telecom company!

Simple Card Trick – Red or Black?

This is a really simple magic trick. While it isn’t the most advanced trick in the book, in fact its pretty elemental, it still works great for small parties and what not.

The Preparation:

Take a deck cards and split it into two piles. One pile of reds, and one pile of blacks. Take the red pile and bend it backwards along the middle, just very slightly. Next do the same with the red cards, only bend them forwards slightly. The important thing here is to make the bend as slight as you possibly can, but still visible to you.

The Setup:

Inform the audience that you work with playing cards so much that you can actually tell whether a card is black or red, just by looking at the back of it. Shuffle the deck, then fan out the cards challenging an audience member to choose a card. Ask them to lay their card on the table, face down. Concentrate on the card, and then declare if it is black or red.

The Trick:

Thanks to your preparation, you know whether a card is black or red based on the way it bends. Practice, practice, practice, and then practice some more, so that you can tell this easily with only the slightest bend.

Looking for even more simple magic tricks? I find that the best way to learn is through video instruction, and I highly recommended this video series that teaches you how to do 15 simple magic tricks.