Card tricks that don't involve picking a card

Sep 13, 2009
90
0
29
Brooklyn, NY
I was having a conversation with a certain magician who will remain nameless. This magician was of the opinion that card tricks are extremely overused by most members of the magic society, and that all card tricks have the same basic structure and plot: Pick a card, lose it in the deck and find it (which is true to a certain extent).

I want to refute his claim because I love card magic and I think that done properly, card magic can be absolutely beautiful. I'm looking for a solid list of tricks that are done with cards, but do not have the "pick a card and find it" factor. Please help me compile such a list?

I'm not looking for variations on old tricks, I'm looking for concepts. For example, Daniel Garcia's Torn and Mathieu Bich's TnR would not be counted as two different effects, but rather as the same effect with different methods. I think you guys can figure out what I mean.
 
Feb 10, 2013
185
0
There are tricks where you move the ink either on the face of the card or drawn on the back such as smiley by laurent mikelfield. Also, holely by will stain is a moving hole. I think those might be the kind of things you are looking for to add to your list. Also, aura by jay crowe might count. There are plenty of packet tricks such as royal scam by John bannon. I don't know if these are all what you mean, but they might be.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
There's a difference between card magic, and magic with cards. There's Red/Black Separations, there's TnRs, inversion plots, gambling demos .. that's just what I can think of right now.
 
Mar 22, 2013
342
2
Munich / Germany
What about a three card monte?
Stand up Monte by Gareth Thomas is an awesome effect, for example.
I highly recommend this trick!
It gets huge reactions and it happens all inside the spectator's own hands.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Oh yeah. Chris Mayhew has a good Three Card Monte style effect, all in the hands. Fade.

You can do Triumph without a selection, but I guess that falls under inversion plots.
 
Feb 10, 2013
185
0
You might count productions such as ace productions. They are kind of like flourishes but I have seen them done as a trick type thing.
 
Oct 5, 2012
97
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The Restless Lady by Ascanio, Travelers-Countless Variations- Basically any Packet Tricks

Even if you have a spectator pick a card, there are all sorts of different ways to use that. Card to pocket, Card to Mouth, Voodoo card effects, divination of the selected card, spelling tricks, etc.

I would suggest spending some time watching quality performances in parlor and close-up situations. Check out EMC collections like Woodyland, Maestro, Utopia, Masterfile, look for performances by Darwin Ortiz, Ricky Jay, Tommy Wonder etc. on DVD or Youtube. Street Magic with cards tends to fall into that simple pick-lose-find scenario, but that doesn't fly (on its own) in more formal performance.

I would also recommend reading Strong Magic by Darwin Ortiz. Scripting Magic by Pete McCabe is another source to inspire your presentations.
 

RealityOne

Elite Member
Nov 1, 2009
3,744
4,076
New Jersey
Check out Roberto Giobbi's Genii Session columns in Genii Magazine:

List of card methods published January 2006,
List of basic card effects/phenomena published in July 2006.
List of 104 different card plots published in September and November 2006

If you friend thinks that all card magic is pick a card / find a card... they don't know much about card magic.
 
Apr 20, 2013
71
0
I like Wayne Houchin's Invisible Palm. And if you wanted something like that with a more extreme effect but harder to practice, it would be Invisible Hand by Patrick Kun. Card trick is not always about finding the spectator's selected card. Its about the beauty of the process and the presentation.
 
T

TheCardEater

Guest
Time machine
It is my opener and it always gets greeaat reactions
 
Sep 8, 2012
86
1
Jumping gemini by darwin ortiz. I do it whenever I can. Then: intuition speller, 4 ace assembly's, dr daley's ace trick, tivo 2.0, election by chris kenner, vegas shuffle by ortiz...
 
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