Apr 12, 2014
17
8
Hey guys! Just wanted to start a thread where we can recommend board games or card games (you know, outside of the standard 52 card deck) where the skills of a magician would come in handy. Within the rules, though; no cheating! Just great persuasion, sleight-of-hand skills, bluffing, reading the other person, winning presentation, etc.

To start off, here's my personal recommendation:
"Cheating Moth" (for misdirection and sleight-of-hand), where cheating is actually part of the game! (Does this conflict with the previous paragraph?! Hmmmm.......) It's a game where you have to ditch cards from your hand one at a time under the watch of a designated "guard bug", all while playing the "real" game. If the guard bug calls you out, you become the next "guard bug"; if he's late by a turn or wrong, he draws an extra card; no snitching allowed. While cheating is the name of the game, no lying is allowed either; you have to admit that you've been caught. Think UNO in an underground gambling ring played by card sharks! I can't think of a better board game for misdirection and sleight-of-hand artists!

I highly recommend the use of house rules; it's not stated, but I suspect the developers knew that different groups would prefer certain methods. My house rules are hands above the table, no "fake ditching", and no "excessive" motion.

"Yomi" (for mentalists and bluffing): Imagine a fighting game like Street Fighter or Tekken slowed down to become turn-by-turn. That's what the creator thought of with this complexified game of rock-paper-scissors (Blocks/Dodges > Attacks > Throws > Blocks/Dodges). It comes with special moves, power-ups, and HP counters. Aside from the nuances of the cost-benefits of each move, what does this have to do with being a magician? Bluffing and reading! In fact, "yomi" means "to read (a person)" in Japanese. According to the way the game is going, it might be more beneficial to block, but will they play into your expectations? This is where being "one-ahead" in the mind really helps, and you can try reading the poker faces of your opponent too.

These are my submissions. Any other recommendations? Happy playing for 2018!
 
Aug 15, 2017
651
413
Hey guys! Just wanted to start a thread where we can recommend board games or card games (you know, outside of the standard 52 card deck) where the skills of a magician would come in handy. Within the rules, though; no cheating! Just great persuasion, sleight-of-hand skills, bluffing, reading the other person, winning presentation, etc.

To start off, here's my personal recommendation:
"Cheating Moth" (for misdirection and sleight-of-hand), where cheating is actually part of the game! (Does this conflict with the previous paragraph?! Hmmmm.......) It's a game where you have to ditch cards from your hand one at a time under the watch of a designated "guard bug", all while playing the "real" game. If the guard bug calls you out, you become the next "guard bug"; if he's late by a turn or wrong, he draws an extra card; no snitching allowed. While cheating is the name of the game, no lying is allowed either; you have to admit that you've been caught. Think UNO in an underground gambling ring played by card sharks! I can't think of a better board game for misdirection and sleight-of-hand artists!

I highly recommend the use of house rules; it's not stated, but I suspect the developers knew that different groups would prefer certain methods. My house rules are hands above the table, no "fake ditching", and no "excessive" motion.

"Yomi" (for mentalists and bluffing): Imagine a fighting game like Street Fighter or Tekken slowed down to become turn-by-turn. That's what the creator thought of with this complexified game of rock-paper-scissors (Blocks/Dodges > Attacks > Throws > Blocks/Dodges). It comes with special moves, power-ups, and HP counters. Aside from the nuances of the cost-benefits of each move, what does this have to do with being a magician? Bluffing and reading! In fact, "yomi" means "to read (a person)" in Japanese. According to the way the game is going, it might be more beneficial to block, but will they play into your expectations? This is where being "one-ahead" in the mind really helps, and you can try reading the poker faces of your opponent too.

These are my submissions. Any other recommendations? Happy playing for 2018!
I honestly think ANY board-game is great for magicians if it uses counters. Why? Because it facilitates something spelled C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G with sleight of hand.


JOKES apart, I think as such, chess would be pretty good. But I don't think I have heard any MAGICIAN-SPECIFIC games.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Fun fact - when I was a kid I learned how to riffle stack a deck of Uno cards so I'd get all the "Draw 4" cards. I used to love just shuffling cards so I got pretty good at controlling the fall of the cards and could put the right number between the cards I wanted as long as I was the last one to put my cards on top.

Which is pretty much the extent of my genuine card cheating experience.

I think all games are generally good for magicians. To be good at any game is to be able to plan things out, but also think on your feet, and know your opponent.
 
Jan 2, 2016
1,092
881
24
California
Fun fact - when I was a kid I learned how to riffle stack a deck of Uno cards so I'd get all the "Draw 4" cards. I used to love just shuffling cards so I got pretty good at controlling the fall of the cards and could put the right number between the cards I wanted as long as I was the last one to put my cards on top.

Which is pretty much the extent of my genuine card cheating experience.

I think all games are generally good for magicians. To be good at any game is to be able to plan things out, but also think on your feet, and know your opponent.
That's honestly great.

I personally have only ever cheated at CandyLand once when I palmed the Ice Queen card and put it on top once it was my turn(it's near the end of the board) to get myself way ahead at the beginning.

This is kinda off topic but I often get the question "do/can you cheat at poker?" and I usually just laugh and then say "yes" in a serious voice. Also, when people jokingly say I need to go to Vegas and use my "card skills" there. I always say "I'm actually banned from gambling in Vegas casinos". Then they go "wait really?" and I go "Yeah because I'm not 21." I still have a few more years out of that joke. lol
 
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Apr 12, 2014
17
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I honestly think ANY board-game is great for magicians if it uses counters. Why? Because it facilitates something spelled C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G with sleight of hand.


JOKES apart, I think as such, chess would be pretty good. But I don't think I have heard any MAGICIAN-SPECIFIC games.

True, there are some games that rely on card counting like "Coup" or "Love Letter", where the discard pile and number of each card in the game are open information. Also, chess seems to be a favorite among quite a few magicians! Not entirely sure why :)

Mostly, I just wanted to recommend "Cheating Moth" to all you guys because I wanted to hear some outrageous stories of a group of magicians playing it. I actually practiced and came up with a whole bunch of different ways to misdirect the others and use lapping.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
This is kinda off topic but I often get the question "do/can you cheat at poker?" and I usually just laugh and then say "yes" in a serious voice. Also, when people jokingly say I need to go to Vegas and use my "card skills" there. I always say "I'm actually banned from gambling in Vegas casinos". Then they go "wait really?" and I go "Yeah because I'm not 21." I still have a few more years out of that joke. lol

That's good. I like that.

People used to ask me those kinds of questions and I'd answer honestly - that I really enjoy building these skills but I don't even know how to play most card games well enough to be an effective cheat.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
I still don't really know how to play poker. I'm decent with Blackjack, that's about it. Honestly card games just don't interest me that much, I'm a lot more interested in the fine motor skills involved in manipulating cards themselves, than the games played with them.
 
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Jan 26, 2017
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There was a kickstarter for a game a while back. I have no idea if it's still available, but here's a link to the kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1827708455/broker-a-game-about-cheating/posts/1748326

The whole game revolves around you cheating. I started looking into it after I got tired of cheating in card games at school (I only did it when it was still fun for everyone. I would get people to ask me to slide them a card once in a while. Created a whole web of cheating, and obviously we weren't betting real money, or anything for that matter. It was pretty fun. Also helped me get really good at my Cops and Palms).
 
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Apr 12, 2014
17
8
There was a kickstarter for a game a while back. I have no idea if it's still available, but here's a link to the kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1827708455/broker-a-game-about-cheating/posts/1748326

The whole game revolves around you cheating. I started looking into it after I got tired of cheating in card games at school (I only did it when it was still fun for everyone. I would get people to ask me to slide them a card once in a while. Created a whole web of cheating, and obviously we weren't betting real money, or anything for that matter. It was pretty fun. Also helped me get really good at my Cops and Palms).

That's awesome! I found the link where you can buy it here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/broker:-break-all-the-rules. Looks really fun!
 
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