Card Effects for Large Audiences

Nov 8, 2007
1,238
3
What comes to mind when you think of card effects (standard deck size, not jumbo cards) that would play well for a large audience?

I saw Mac King in Vegas last summer and one of the things I really loved about his show was how he took close-up magic effects and found ways to make them play for large audiences. I remember he did Card to Pocket and Cards Across and both went over great. It was really cool--just Mac King and a deck of cards on stage before so many people. So simple and yet the effects were so entertaining and strong for the audience.

What effects can you think of using a standard deck of cards that would play well for a large audience of 30-300 people? I can think of a few but I want to see what card effects pop into your heads first.
 
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Oct 14, 2009
127
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Gliding Home by Nicholas Einhorn.......it plays big for a large group because they all think you messed up. Before you show that you were holding their card the whole but after they realize it is no longer on the table, they all discuss among themselves as to whether or not the card was on the table in the first place. When you reveal the card, they all go "whaaat!!!!!!?".
 
Mar 6, 2008
1,483
3
A Land Down Under
With or without a camera that would change a lot of things.

I would use something, like out of this world or HCE and TOD.

Most other effects would be too small for the 200-300 range.
 
Nov 8, 2007
1,238
3
I'm not looking for plots or books to research. I'm just curious if anyone has any specific favorites that come to mind when they think of a performer on stage with nothing in their hands but a standard sized deck of cards. No close-up video cameras and screens, no tables (as the audience wouldn't be able to see what's happening from a distance), no jumbo decks--just the performer and a standard size deck with a stage and an audience.

So imagine you're performing in a small theatre in the 19th century and you have a spot in your show that calls for you to walk out on stage with a standard size deck of cards and create some real magic for your audience. What effect(s) would you do?

Invisible Deck is probably top of the list for a card trick with a standard size deck that can play huge. Classic. Clutch could also work well for a large audience. Never seen it but from everything I've read and heard on it HCE would fit this setting perfectly.

Some others that come to my mind are Paperclipped (Sankey), Radar Deck (Osterlind), Tossed Out Deck (Hoy), 51 Card to Pocket (Williamson), Card Calling, Rising Card, Omni Deck (Andrus/Korem).
 
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Feb 16, 2009
217
0
South Bend, IN
I'm not looking for plots or books to research. I'm just curious if anyone has any specific favorites that come to mind when they think of a performer on stage with nothing in their hands but a standard sized deck of cards. No close-up video cameras and screens, no tables (as the audience wouldn't be able to see what's happening from a distance), no jumbo decks--just the performer and a standard size deck with a stage and an audience.

So imagine you're performing in a small theatre in the 19th century and you have a spot in your show that calls for you to walk out on stage with a standard size deck of cards and create some real magic for your audience. What effect(s) would you do?

Invisible Deck is probably top of the list for a card trick with a standard size deck that can play huge. Classic. Clutch could also work well for a large audience. Never seen it but from everything I've read and heard on it HCE would fit this setting perfectly.

Some others that come to my mind are Paperclipped (Sankey), Radar Deck (Osterlind), Tossed Out Deck (Hoy), 51 Card to Pocket (Williamson), Card Calling, Rising Card, Omni Deck (Andrus/Korem).

If you check out Ricky Jay and his 52 assistants, he does this effect where there are a number of cards selected by different people in the audience and he reveals each one successively. That would work very well in a small theater.

How about the haunted deck? That could work in a small theater with some good presentation.

You could also perform everywhere and nowhere (usually requires a table and some glasses). Ricky Jay does this in 52 assistants.

I think it should be possible to make a list of walkaround type card tricks and modify some of them to work on stage.
 
Sep 3, 2007
2,562
0
Europe
Obviously the Invisible Deck would play well; a Jumbo Invisible Deck might play even better. But the stage card effect that I enjoy watching the most is by far Michael Finney's Card on Forehead; it gets me to laugh everytime, and keeps me entertained the whole way through no matter how many times I see it. I would be honored to see it in person.

//Michael Finney - Card on Forehead//
 
Jan 26, 2008
71
0
Fort Worth, TX
A stabbed card routine works very well, I do one regularly in my small stage show. In my adaption, a card is chosen, signed, and returned to the deck. The deck is then wrapped in paper, and stabbed through with a long dagger. The paper is lite on fire, vanishing in a large flash; all the cards fall to the floor, except for the chosen card, which is impaled on the dagger.

Also, a collectors routine can work very well, the one by Eric Jones keeps everything at chest hight, and works for a decently large group (once we got to closer to the hundreds, I might choose something else.
 
Mar 27, 2010
136
0
Obviously the Invisible Deck would play well; a Jumbo Invisible Deck might play even better. But the stage card effect that I enjoy watching the most is by far Michael Finney's Card on Forehead; it gets me to laugh everytime, and keeps me entertained the whole way through no matter how many times I see it. I would be honored to see it in person.

//Michael Finney - Card on Forehead//

He is my favorite person now
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,944
Everything I'd suggest has already come up. TOD, Fuselade (the multiple-selection then reveal thing), cards accross.

Oh, you could do a card-to-window on a stage as well. I saw a video of Josh Jay doing it with a poster that had been hanging to the side the whole time. A nice effect.
 
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