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Scripting Your Magic: Introduction

Welcome to magic scripts document. Within this booklet you are going to find lots
pre-written scripts that you can use in tandem with the card magic course found on
LearnMagic.com.

Scripting magic is incredibly important, and I must regretfully add that this is something
that I learnt the hard way when I first started out. I used to arrive at a gig, start
performing a routine with no script, and more often than not I’d find myself stumbling
over my words to produce a sub-par performance. This all changed when I started to
script my magic tricks.

Scripts eliminate the ‘ums’ and ‘ers’ in your trick, whilst also making it more concise and
to the point. Not only will your spectators find scripted patter more interesting to listen
to, it also helps build your confidence as a performer since you know you’re going to
hit all the right points in the correct order. Don’t get me wrong, you can ad-lib your
routine, but you run a much greater risk of saying the wrong thing. Therefore, if you
want to consistently nail your presentation then learning a script should be a no brainer

The good news is that I’ve done most of the hard work for you. On the pages that
follow, I’ve laid out ten presentational ideas and scripts for you to use. I would
encourage you to read the script, add your own patter, and then practise reciting it
whilst you perform the trick to yourself.

I hope that this document helps elevate your magic to new levels, and makes you a
more confident showman.

Stay magical,

Oscar Owen

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Table Of Contents:
Table Of Contents: 3
Out Of This World 4
Do As I Do 7
Shuffleboard 9
Always Win At Poker 13
Triumph 16
Card Corner 18
Pickpocket Routine 20
Colours Prediction 22
Two Card Transpo 25
Card To Pocket 27
Overkill 29
Invisible Palm 32
Unbelievable Card Prediction 34
Simple Yet Deceptive Card Trick 36
Mind Blowing Prediction Trick 37
The Card Trick That FOOLS Magicians 39
8 Card Brainwave - Don’t Pick The Odd Card! 41
Vanish Any Playing Card 42
The Trick That Fooled Elon Musk 43
The Teleporting Card Trick 45
Invisible Deck Presentation #1 47
Invisible Deck Presentation #2 49
Think Of A Card 51
Pulse 54
Cloth Cut 57
Card To Arm 59
The Trick That Fooled Albert Einstein 61
The Impossible Prediction Trick 63
Read Five Minds At Once 66

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Out Of This World
[Magician sits down with the spectator at the table]

Magician: Did you know that everytime you shuffle a deck of cards, you put them in an
order that has never been seen in the history of the universe? I mean… it's crazy when
you do the maths - if every single person on earth (all 7 billion of us) had a deck of
cards, and we shuffled them 100 times a day, it would still take over 100 trillion years
for two people to shuffle the cards up in the same order.

So before we start, [magician hands the card to the spectator] please shuffle the cards
and make sure that they are all mixed up. And look through them too and confirm that
it is just an ordinary deck.

[Spectator shuffles the deck and looks through them to confirm that it is a normal
deck.]

Magician: That's an excellent shuffle! In fact, no deck of cards has ever been ordered in
the same way as the one you are holding in your hand, and when you think about it,
that is really something quite special isnt it?

[Spectators agree]

Magician: However, I want to take things to the next level, and mix the cards in
different directions.

[The magician takes the cards, and turns some cards face up and some cards face
down in a ‘sloppy shuffle’ as explained in the video].

You see, what this does, is it not only changes the order of the cards, it also changes
their orientation too. So some cards are going in one direction, and other cards are
going in another direction and it really just makes the deck a complete mess. So when
you finish, all the cards are in random directions.

[Magician finishes shuffling]

So as you can see, some cards are back to front. Some cards are front to back. And
some cards face to face.

[Spectator agrees]

Magician: But if you take the deck, and wave your hand over it just like this… do you
know what that little wave does?

Spectators: No

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Magician: Well the wave does absolutely nothing…

[Spectators laugh]

But my sleight of hand means that all the cards go back in one direction! They are all
face down as you can see.

[Spectators react]

Magician: Now what is your favourite card in the deck?

Spectator: The Ace of Spades

Magician: Excellent. I’m going to pull out all the Aces and these are going to be
marker cards.

[The magician pulls out the aces, and splits the deck as explained in the video]

Magician: Now, I want you to guess if this is a red card or a black card?

Spectator: Umm. A red card?

[If they get it correct] [If they get it wrong]

Magician: How did you know? Magician: Ah, it was black card. Lets
try again

[The magician goes through a few cards and explains that the spectator needs to guess
if the top card is red or black].

Magician: Okay, so now you understand how this works, I don’t even want to touch the
cards. This is your chance to become a magician. Here, take the cards and keep
dealing them down. If you think the card is red, put it here, and if you think the card is
black, put it here. Keep dealing down until you get to the middle two face up cards.

[The spectator keeps dealing, and when they reach the middle two cards, the magician
inverts the piles as explained in the video. The spectator then keeps dealing the cards
down.]

Magician: Keep dealing. Remember don’t think about it too much - it's a 50/50 chance
each time you deal. You are doing really well so far. Just keep dealing until you reach
the end of the deck.

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[If the spectator starts dealing loads of cards in one pile and not many in another pile,
casually remind them that, because half the cards are red and half of them are black,
they should try and split the deck evenly]

[The spectator reaches the end of the deck]

Magician: Now you must admit, that could not have been any more fair? [This builds
anticipation] I mean, you could have literally put the cards in whatever piles you wanted
to. [At this point I usually point to one card and say] I mean, you could have put this
card here [point to the other pile] if you wanted to. You shuffled the cards before we
began, and you held the cards the entire time - I didn’t even touch them. Would you
say that that was completely fair?

Spectator: I agree

Magician: Well… if you’ve done this correctly, then all of these cards here, they are all
black… these cards here they are all red… these cards here are all black, and these
cards here are all red!

Spectator: [Reacts amazed] How did you do that!

Magician: I didn’t - you did it! I didn’t even touch the cards. So congratulations - you
are now a proper magician… [winking at the spectator] use your powers wisely.

[Spectators laugh]

Performance notes:

Here is a strong performance of this trick - https://youtu.be/TNQrz08OTuA

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Do As I Do
[Magician sits down with the spectator at the table]

Magician: Do you know what a miracle really is? Sometimes the simplest of things can
become miracles if the situation is right. Let me show you my favourite example of that.

[The magician spreads out both decks of cards on the table]

Magician: For this, I need you to choose a deck.

[The spectator chooses a deck]

Magician: Now, I want you to copy my moves exactly. And if you do, we might be able
to create something amazing. I’m going to try and cut the cards exactly in half and then
complete the cut. Can you also do that please?

[The spectator then copies the magician].

Magician: Excellent. Now I’m going to shuffle my cards.

[The magician mixes up his pile]

Magician: Please shuffle your cards like a magician

Spectator: [They will usually say] but I can’t shuffle like a magician.

Magician: Okay, shuffle them like a bad magician!

[Spectators laugh and the volunteer shuffles their cards]

Magician: Now you must agree that both decks are mixed. We are now going to switch
piles.

[The spectator and magician switch piles]

Magician: Now copy me exactly. Hold the shuffled deck in your right hand. Cut half of
them off and place this half onto the table.

[Both the spectator and magician do this]

Magician: Now turn over the next card from the pile in your hand, and remember it.
Got it? Brilliant – I’ve done the same. Now place this card on the pile on the table.

[Wait for the spectator to do this]

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Magician: Finally, place the rest of the deck on top of the pile. Give the cards two cuts
and then switch the piles back.

[Wait for this to be done before you continue]

Magician: So just to recap. We both shuffled the cards, we then switched decks and
randomly selected one card each. We then lost that card back into the deck but cutting
it several times. What would be the chances that we both cut to exactly the same card?

Spectator: That would be impossible

Magician: Yes. If you do the maths, the chances of us selecting the same card are
nearly 1 in 3000. In other words, if we had chosen the same card, it would be a true
miracle… Please go through the deck and find the card you selected. I’ll do the same.
Put the card in the middle of the table face down.

[To build excitement, make sure both cards are face down next to each other on the
table. The spectator knows what’s about to come, but won’t be able to believe it until
they see it.]

Magician: For the first time, please can you turn over the card you selected.

[The spectator turns over their card, let’s just say it is the Jack of Diamonds]

Magician: Interesting. I don’t want to go near my card. Please, can you turn over the
card that I cut to?

[The spectator turns over the magicians card, which is a matching Jack of Diamonds]

Magician: A perfect match and a true miracle. How did you know I was going to cut to
the Jack of Diamonds?!

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Shuffleboard
[If possible, I like to perform this trick in a darkish room. I light a small candle and place
it in the middle of the table.]

Magician: I’m sure you have all heard of the word ‘fate’. Believing in fate is the idea
that there is a higher force that pre-determines everything we do. It could be a God,
some cosmic entity that we are yet to meet, or the consciousness of the universe itself.
My question to you is, do you believe in fate?

Spectator: Yes Spectator: No

Magician: Brilliant – I think you will be Magician: Well perhaps what I’m
the perfect spectator for this trick. about to show you might just change
that.

Magician: I’m going to show you something quite unusual. Here you can see I have a
prediction. This is going to remain within your sight the entire time. [Magician turns to
another audience member – we will call them Spectator 2] It is your job to make sure
that I don’t touch this prediction until the very end. Is that okay?

Spectator 2: Yes.

[The magician places the prediction next to the candle in the middle of the table so
that it can clearly be seen].

Magician: Before we begin, I’m going to remove the jokers and I want you to take this
pile here and copy my moves exactly.

[Spectator 1 agrees].

Magician: So watch here as I shuffle up the cards. This is known as a riffle shuffle. Please
can you also riffle shuffle the cards together or mix them up in any way you can?

[Spectator 1 mixes up their cards like the magician]

Magician: Now, just to be certain that all the cards are mixed, and there is no way
anyone could know the order of the deck, please shuffle up the cards again.

[The magician and spectator do another riffle shuffle]

Magician: Now I want to do something that no magician ever does. I’m going to pick
up half of my shuffled cards, flip them over and give them to you. Please can you do
the same?

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[The spectator flips over half their cards and gives them to the magician]

Magician: Let's mix the cards together face up into face down. As you can see, this
creates a complete mess where we not only don’t know the order of the deck, we also
don’t know what cards are face up and face down.

[The spectator and magician flip their cards over and shuffle them up as much as they
like (as explained in the video)]

Magician: Of course, you must agree that this is completely random. Noone could
possibly know which cards we flipped over, how many cards we flipped over or what
order the cards are in! Would you agree?

Spectator: Yes!

Magician: Finally, let's mix both piles together to create a complete mess. As you can
see, there are face up cards, face down cards and everything is totally random.

[The magician mixes both piles together]

Magician: However, fate is very interesting. You mixed up the deck, and
shuffled/flipped the cards in any way you wanted. Had you shuffled the deck
differently, there would be a different number of flipped over cards in front of us right
now… Yet your actions led us to this.

[Magician points at the pile].

Magician: I don’t want to touch the cards. So, please can you count out how many face
down cards there are in the deck.

[Spectator counts out the face down cards - there are 25 in total].

Magician: And that was totally random?

Spectator: Yes.

Magician: But was it? You see whilst you think everything was fair and free, all of our
outcomes are actually written in stone. [Magician turns to Spectator 2], Can you
confirm that I never went near the prediction?

[Spectator 2 agrees]

Magician: Please turn over my prediction and read aloud what it says…

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[The spectator reads the prediction and reacts because it says ‘there are 25 face down
cards!’]

Magician: So, does fate really exist? I’ll let you decide.

[At this point, the spectators are amazed and think this is the end of the trick! Little do
they know this is just the start…]

Spectator: That's amazing! How did you do that?!

Magician: Well I would be out of a job if you knew how! But wait, there is more… you
see, if we open the prediction one more time, it says 10 of these cards will be black.

Spectator: [Already shocked, count out the 10 black cards and react again!] No way!

Magician: But you see, it doesn’t stop there, because if we open the prediction a final
time, it says ‘All of the cards are clubs!’

Spectator: [The spectator will be shocked and amazed. They will say how on earth did
you do that… but will then notice that there is one card which is a spade not a club and
will point it out.] Ah but you got it wrong - the ace of spades is there!

Magician: Oh right! [Jokingly} Oops looks like YOU turned over the wrong card when
shuffling earlier! But anyway, that was still a pretty powerful effect right? We magicians
do make mistakes from time to time.

[Spectator laughs and agrees, thinking the trick is over]

Magician: But wait. Even though magicians make mistakes, as I said earlier, fait is
written in stone and so you were meant to turn over that ace of spades.

[The spectator looks slightly confused]

Magician: [continues] because look at this. If we open the prediction one final time it
says… ‘Except for the Ace of Spades’.

[Spector freaks out]

Why this presentation works: Using the concept of fate to underpin this effect causes
the spectators to question the implication of their own actions. It leaves them with
something philosophical to think over once the performance is over; turning this into a
strong and powerful magic trick that they will remember for weeks/months to come.
Since this effect is basically self-working, it is perfect to do as an opener

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Here is a strong presentation of this trick - https://youtu.be/rL2QaTqU5BA

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Always Win At Poker
Magician: I’m going to show you why you should never play poker against a magician.
Is anyone here a good poker player?

[Use a spectator who claims they are good at poker or knows the rules]

Magician: Thank you. So what I’m about to do is play a really fair game of poker with
[spectators name] and I’m going to win every single time.

However, for this game of poker we are only going to use 10 cards, and there are two
reasons for this. Firstly, it means we can play poker much faster and you guys aren't
sitting around for an hour watching me and [spectators name] play. Secondly, it makes
it much harder for me to cheat. You see, when there are only 10 cards in the deck, it
means that I cannot secretly add any extra cards into the deck or you would notice. Nor
can I surreptitiously remove a card because you would know that we are one card short.
So by only playing with 10 cards, it makes it much harder to cheat.

So let's try this. As you can see here, I have 10 cards, and what we are going to do is
play head to head poker. The idea is to see if you can beat me. Does that make sense?

Spectator: Yes.

Magician: Please take these cards and shuffle them up as much as you like.

[Magician takes the cards back, and casually cuts the king to the top]

Magician: Okay, so lets play some simple head to head poker. I’ll deal out the cards
that you shuffled. Because we have 10 cards, I’ll deal myself 5 cards and you 5 cards.

[The magician deals out the shuffled cards]

Magician: Now that is as fair as it gets. You mixed the cards. We dealt them straight in
the order you mixed them, and all I want you to do in a second is look through your
cards and find any winning hands. However, before you do that, I’m so confident that
I’ve won this round of poker, I’ll give you £10 if I lose.

[Spectator excitedly agrees. Both the magician and spectator look through their cards,
and reveal their winning hands. Of course, the magician has a stronger hand and wins -
keeping his £10]

Magician: That was just the first round. Maybe I just got lucky, but I want you to try and
win. And to help you out, instead of me handling the cards, I want you to take them,
and mix them face down on the table. This way, it is impossible for me to do any
sleight of hand.

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[The spectator mixes up the cards face down]

Magician: Now spread the cards out face down on the table.

[The spectator does as instructed]

Magician: Wonderful, so all that's going to happen is you are going to take a card, and
pull it towards yourself like this. We will do this one at a time until we each have five
cards.

[The magician and spectator both choose their cards. Of course, the spectator ends up
with the King, meaning they will have the losing hand]

Magician: So that could not have been any more fair. You shuffled the cards, and then
spread them out face down. We then each took a card yet I’m so confident that I’ve
won, I would like to bet £20 this time. Please reach into your pile and see if you have a
winning hand.

[The magician and spectator both find their winning hand and the magician of course
wins again]

Magician: Okay for this final round I’m going to take it to the next level and influence
you to pick the losing hand yet again. I’ll shuffle up the cards again, and show you
every card and you decide if you want to take the card or give it to me. So you are
building my hand and your hand. So do you want this card?

[Show the King]

Spectator: Yes

[The magician keeps showing the cards, but because the spectator has the King, they
will always lose]

Magician: So I showed you every card face up and let you build my hand and your
hand - something no poker player would ever do. Yet I’m so confident that I’ve won
this round of poker, that if I lose I’ll give you £100, but if I win, you have to buy me a
drink.

Spectator: Yes okay!

[The spectator and magician reveal their cards and the magician of course wins!]

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Magician: And that ladies and gentlemen is why you never play poker with magicians.
I’ll have a coke please with a slice of lemon on top!

Performance Note: Sometimes I don’t bet money and instead I bet funny objects when
doing this trick. So I say something like ‘I’m so confident that I’ve won, I’ll give you my
left shoe if I lose’. This gets a laugh, and you can even take off your shoe and place it
on the table. I then do the same with my tie, my hat etc. This is a fun alternative to
betting money.

Here is a good performance of this trick by Derren Brown -

https://youtu.be/k1Sy3TUsx8I

Here is another performance by Harry Lorayne - https://youtu.be/EPhspnS0h_U

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Triumph
Magician: Magic is something that has captured the imagination of audiences since the
history of mankind. From the first magician ever recorded back in Ancient Egypt in
2000 BC, to the modern day wizardry David Copperfield, magic is something that has
been around for 1000s of years. Yet, in all that time, one magician known as Dai
Vernon, has stood out above the rest. He was called ‘the professor of card magic’, and
is regarded to be the greatest sleight of hand magician ever lived. Can I show you one
of the tricks that he created?

[This builds anticipation and suspense]

Spectator: Yes!

Magician: [After shuffling the cards] Here we have 52 different cards, meaning there are
52 different possibilities. Please reach in and choose any card that you like, but don’t
let me see it.

[The spectator takes a card, looks at it, and then returns it to the deck. The magician
then controls that card to the bottom of the pile.]

Magician: Now what a normal magician would do at this point is go through the cards,
and try and find your selection. But Dai Veronon was not a normal magician. So what
he would do, was shuffle up the cards like this…

[The magician picks up the cards and starts doing a ‘sloppy shuffle’]

Magician: [Whilst doing the shuffle] As you can see I’m turning some cards face up, and
some cards face down. This is what Dai Vernon called a ‘sloppy shuffle’, because this
means not only do I not know the position of your card, I also don’t know the
orientation of the card. It might be face up. Face down. Near the top of the deck, or
near the bottom. I really don't know! But as you can see here, [the magician shows the
piles of cards on the table as explained in the video] the deck is a complete mess.
There are some cards face up, and some cards face down and I don't know if your card
is face to back, back to face or face to face.

[The magician then puts the cards on the table]

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Magician: But here is the crazy part [pause]. Dai Vernon invented a secret move that
would put all the cards back in a normal order. All of them except your card. Wanna see
this move?

Spectators: [Excitedly] Yes!

Magician: [Pause for a couple of seconds to build suspense… then snap your fingers]

Did you see it?

Spectators: No?

Magician: That's because it’s already happened. Look - if we spread through the cards,
every card is face down apart from one… your selection!

[Spectators react]

Spectator: How did you do that!

Magician: I don’t even know how I do it! If you find out please can you let me know?

[Spectators laugh]

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Card Corner
[For this trick, you need to place the card corner in an impossible location in advance.
Get creative with this! You can put it in your shoe, in the spectators pocket, under a
cup. It really doesn’t matter. For this example, we are going to pretend that I have
placed the card corner inside the card box which is on the table.]

Magician: Have you ever seen the magic trick where the magician disappears and then
reappears somewhere else?

[Spectator will say yes or no]

Magician: Well I’m going to attempt something similar right now with this deck of
cards. Please say stop whenever you like.

Spectator: Stop

Magician: Nice - we will use this card here. Make sure you get a good look at it… got
it?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Good, because now I’m going to destroy your card by ripping off the corner.

[The magician starts to rip the card, and then holds the card to the spectators ear]

Magician: Can you hear it ripping?

Spectator: Yes

[The magician completely removes the corner and places it in his closed hand. He
places the rest of the card on the table,]

Magician: Now here is the interesting part. You see, if we squeeze the card corner, we
can actually make it… [pause] disappear [the magician opens his hand to reveal the
card corner has gone].

[The spectators react and will say something like where has it gone?]

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Magician: Oh I didn't send it far. Would it be amazing if the corner was under the card
box?

Spectator: [Excitedly] That would be impossible…

Magician: Go on, look under the card box!

[The spectator picks up the card box, but the corner is not in there]

Magician: [Laughing] I’m not that good! But that would have been a great trick
wouldn’t it!

Spectator: [Laughing] Yes that would have been amazing.

Magician: Actually I can do even better… please open the card box and check to see
what is inside.

Spectator: No way…

[The spectator opens the card box and freaks out!]

Magician: Now please take it out and make sure it perfectly matches the corner we just
ripped.

Performance notes: The reason this effect is so powerful is because you end 100%
clean. The joke at the end (pretending that their card is under the box, getting it
wrong, and then revealing that it is actually inside the box really elevates this trick to
the next level.)

Performance of David Blaine doing this trick - https://youtu.be/ZbXXm_3bGn0

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Pickpocket Routine
Magician: I’ve spent the last few years studying how the very best pickpockets in the
world steal money.

Magician: [Points to the spectators watch/ring/phone etc and says] Wow that looks
nice! I wonder how much that would sell for on eBay?

[This always gets a nervous laugh from the crowd]

Magician: I’m joking! Anyway I want to show you exactly how pickpockets take money –
but so you don’t feel like I’m about to rob you, let’s use some cards instead [magician
removes a box of cards]. Please reach in a choose any card.

[The spectator chooses a card]

Magician: Remember your card and return it into the deck.

[The spectator returns their card and the magician controls it to the top as explained in
the book]

Magician: Now, the best pickpockets in the world, don’t simply go into someone’s
wallet and take all their money. No that would be too obvious. Instead, they are able to
feel the difference between a $1 bill and a $100 bill. They then only take the $100 bill,
leaving the lower value notes in the wallet. This is ingenious because when the victim
checks their wallet later; they assume that the $100 bill must have dropped out of their
wallet, since all the $1 bills are still there.

[The spectators nod since they are learning something new]

Magician: I want you to imagine that the card you selected is worth $100, whilst all the
other cards in this deck are only worth $1. In a second, I’m going to go through all the
cards, feel for your card, and pull it out the deck. Would that be impressive?

[The spectator nods]

Magician: Hmm.. but if I were a pickpocket, all the money wouldn’t just be out in the
open. No it would be inside a wallet. Therefore, this card box is going to represent the
wallet. [The magician places all the cards into the card box and says] so I’m going to
open the card box, go through all the cards, feel for your card, pull it out the deck and
close the box. Now that would be amazing, wouldn’t it?

[The spectator says yes]

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Magician: I can do better! Because if I were a pickpocket, the wallet would be in a
pocket. Therefore, I’m going to place this box of cards inside my pocket. Once it’s in
there, I’ll reach inside my pocket, open the card box, go through all the cards, feel for
your card, pull it out the deck and place your card on the table.

[The spectator says that that is impossible]

Magician: The magician then says okay I’m ready. One final thing however, is that
pickpockets have to do all of this in less than 5 seconds or they will get caught. So
please count down from five when I say go.

Spectator: Okay!

Magician: GO.

Spectator: 5, 4, 3, 2…

[The magician places the spectator’s card onto the table]

Magician: Done.

[Spectators react]

Magician: It might be worth all of you checking your pockets before you leave here
tonight!

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Colours Prediction
Magician: Do you believe in coincidence?

Spectator: Yes Spectator: No

Magician: I do too… What a Magician: Neither do I… What a

coincidence! coincidence!

Magician: Jokes aside - do you have a lucky card or a favourite card?

Spectator: Yes - the 9 of clubs.

[The magician goes through the deck and pulls out the 9 of clubs.]

Magician: I also have a lucky card - the six of hearts. Let me find it now.

[The magician finds the six of hearts and places them onto the table next to the
spectators selection.]

Magician: The reason why this is my lucky card, is because it doesn’t matter how much
we shuffle up the cards, my six hearts will always find your card. Let me show you. I’ll
take the six and place it face up about half way in the middle of the deck. That way, we
can easily find it later; and I’ll place your card on the top of the deck. Is that fair?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Now, we need to lose your card into the deck. So please, cut the cards in
half and then complete the cut.

[The spectator cuts the cards]

Magician: Everytime you cut the cards, it breaks the order of the pack and reorders the
cards. That is why they always cut cards in casinos in Las Vegas. So please, keep cutting
the cards like before and stop when you are certain that your card has been lost.

[The spectator keeps cutting the cards, losing their selection in the deck, and then
stops when they are content that it has been lost].

22
Magician: Brilliant. You see, at this point I haven't touched the cards. You cut as many
times as you like meaning your card could be near the top, near the bottom or maybe
in the middle.

[The spectator agrees]

Magician: Now, I need half of the pack. So do you know how many cards are in a full
deck?

Spectator: 52

Magician: So half of that would be…

Spectator: Umm…

Magician: [Coughing] 26

[The spectators laugh]

Magician: [Jokingly] Thank you for that! So I’m going to split the deck exactly in half
like so. Count aloud with me to make sure we get it right!

[The magician counts off exactly 26 cards, splitting the deck into two piles]

Magician: Now I’m going to start dealing cards down like this until we get to my face
up lucky card.

[The magician deals the cards together until he reaches the face up six of hearts]

Magician: Okay there we are! So remember at the beginning when I asked if you
believe in coincidence? Well would it be a coincidence if, even after all the cutting and
shuffling that you have done, your lucky card was in the exact position as my lucky
card?

[Spectators respond and the magician turns over the card to reveal the spectators lucky
card! The spectators react]

Magician: Now… this is your lucky card and this is my lucky card. And do you know
what happens when you put them together?

23
Spectator: No…

Magician: You find the four aces!

[Spectators freak out!]

Magician: But this is what I don’t understand! Do you know what happens when you
take coincidence and luck and you put them together?

Spectator: What?

Magician: You get a miracle. Because all of these cards are red. All of these cards are
black. All of these cards are red. And all of these cards are black.

[Spectators react]

Magician: [Jokingly] If only I was this lucky when entering the lottery!

24
Two Card Transpo
Magician: Okay this is just a quick test to see how lucky you are. We are going to play a
game where I riffle down the cards like this, you call out stop on a random card, and
then you have to guess if that card is red or black. Does that make sense?

Spectator: Okay

[The magician riffles down the cards and the spectator says stop]

Magician: And do you think this card is red or black?

[Spectator says red or black]

[If the spectator is correct] [If the spectator is incorrect]

Magician: Congratulations! So the Magician: Ah hard luck. Let's give it

50/50 chance favoured you. Let's give another go and see if you are correct
it another go. the second time.

Magician: However, we don’t want to use the queen again, so can you put your hand
on top of it?

[The spectator places their hand on the card. The magician riffles down the cards again,
and instructs the spectator to say stop.]

Magician: And do you think this card is red or black?

[Spectator says red or black. Turn over the card (in this case it is the 5 of diamonds),
and like before congratulate them for being correct, or point out that they were wrong
and it was just a 50/50 chance. If they are wrong twice, make a joke about not going to
the casino with them, and if they are correct twice say that you and the spectator
should go to the casino and play poker together!].

Magician: Now my reason for playing this game is that people often ask me ‘are
magicians really good at sleight of hand, or are they just lucky?’ And as you have just
seen, it is very risky to rely on luck and chance when performing magic. Sometimes you
get things right, and other times you get things wrong. That is why I prefer to use
sleight of hand instead of luck. Let me show you what I mean.

25
Remember earlier we put the queen under your hand?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Well if we take the five, and tap the queen… now I have the queen and you
have the five.

[The spectator reacts]

Magician: And that is why sleight of hand is always superior to being lucky!

Performance Notes: This is a fun quick trick that is perfect to use as an opener. You
don’t need to draw it out into a long presentation - personally I use this to establish
myself as a credible magician, before moving on an performing more magic.

26
Card To Pocket
Magician: Why is it that we like magic, even when we know that it is a trick? We know
that magic isn’t ‘real’ yet for some reason people seem to enjoy being deceived. This is
a question that I’ve thought long and hard about - and I’ve come to the conclusion that
the reason people like magic is because we enjoy that feeling of wonder and
astonishment. Well, tonight ladies and gentlemen I’d love to give you that experience,
and show you something that will hopefully respark that sense of wonder.

Please reach into the deck and remove any card that you like - but it's very important
you don’t look at it.

[This builds a sense of mystery. The spectator removes a card but doesn’t look at it]

Magician: Thank you. Now, face down I’m going to place this card into my pocket so
we can come back to it later.

Magician: I want you to choose a card again. But this time in a slightly different way.
Instead of reaching in and pulling out a card, I want you to just think of a card, and then
remember the position that that card is in.

[As shown in the video, the magician demonstrate this so that the spectator
understands what he means]

Magician: So please remember a card and its number as I go through the deck. One.
Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Do you have one yet?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Good, really burn that card and number into your mind so you don’t forget
it. And, just to recap. The deck was shuffled up. You then thought of any card and the
position that card is in the deck. Could that be any more fair?

Spectator: No

Magician: Now it is time to show you something impossible. I’m going to make your
card disappear from the deck. What number was your card at?

Spectator: It was the sixth card.

27
Magician: Okay. Make sure I do no funny moves. We are going to cleanly count off six
cards, and you’ll notice that your card has gone. [The magician counts off six cards face
down]. One. Two. Three. Four. Five… What was the sixth card?

Spectator: The seven of clubs

[The magician slowly turns over the sixth card card to reveal that it is not the spectators
card. The spectators react.]

Magician: And look it is none of these cards here - turn them over! [the spectator turns
the face down cards, giving the magician lots of time and misdirection to palm the
selected card.]

Remember I put a card in my pocket earlier? [The magician reaches into his pocket and
pulls out one card] wouldn’t it be impossible if that just so happened to be your seven
of clubs?

[The spectators react]

Spectator: Do it again please!

Magician: Well, once is a trick. Twice is a lesson and it gets rid of that sense of wonder!
But let me show you something else that you are going to love…

28
Overkill
One of the things I love most about magic is that it can make the impossible seem
possible, and this trick is a perfect example of that. So, here I have a deck of cards, and
all I want you to do is pick a card in the fairest way possible.

So, whilst I look away please cut off a small packet of cards from the top of the deck. It
really doesn’t matter how many, but to keep things simple try and keep it, you know,
less than 20. [Say this casually as if it doesn’t matter]

[The magician turns his back and the spectator cuts a small packet of cards. With his
back still turned he then instructs the spectator to do the following.]

Magician: Now please count the cards one by one onto the table so you know how
many there are. Of course, this is a random number and had you cut more or less cards
from the deck, the number would be different. So if you cut off 20 cards, your number
would be 20! Does that make sense?

Spectator: Yes

[The spectator counts out their cards and there are 12]

Magician: Now please hide the cards in the box, and once you are done i’ll turn back
around.

[The magician turns around].

Magician: Okay so, your random number is less than 20 right?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Nice. So I’m going to deal out about 20 cards onto the table. [The magician
deals out the cards and keeps talking]. Now just think of your number and remember
the card that corresponds to it. So if you were thinking of the number 3 then think of
the King of Clubs. Does that make sense?

Spectator: Yes

[The spectator looks at the 12th card, in this case the 7 of Diamonds]

29
Magician: Now think about what has just happened. You have chosen a card in the
fairest way possible, because if you had a higher or lower number from the cards that
you cut off earlier, then you would have a completely different card. You have not
written anything down, you never took out the card - so there is no way I could know
what it is right?

Spectator: Right

[The magician then waves his hand over the deck]

Magician: Really think about your card. I haven’t known you for that long, but I’m
starting to get the impression that your card is… [pause] it's near the middle. Yes. It’s
not near the edge. It's a red card right?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: And it’s a diamond?

Spectator: Yes!

Magician: Yes - it's the seven of diamonds!

[The spectator reacts]

Magician: But maybe you think I cheated? I didn’t, but maybe you think I did. And so
just to prove it, you can see that all these cards have blue backs - but yours has a red
back!

[The spectator reacts again]

Magician: But here is the thing, I am a magician and I know you don’t trust me. So
perhaps I secretly switched out the seven of diamonds for a red one when you weren't
looking. So just to prove that I didn’t do that, please pick up the box take out the
cards, and take a look at the bottom one.

[The spectator opens the box to find another 7 of diamonds on the bottom of the pile.
They react again.]

30
Magician: But here's the thing. Maybe I was somehow able to secretly open the box,
and slide in the seven. [The spectators laugh knowing this is impossible]. But please,
pick up the box and look at the barcode carefully.

[The barcode reads ‘7 of Diamonds’ - the spectators react again]

31
Invisible Palm
Magician: Does anyone here know how poker players cheat?

[Acknowledge their responses]

Magician: Well, most of the time, poker players do card palming. Would you like me to
show you how they palm cards to win thousands of pounds? [This builds excitement].

Spectator: Yes please!

Magician: Well, they started off by using classic palm which looks like this. [The
magician does a classic palm]. But as you can see it is a slightly awkward position for
your hand to be in as you cannot open up your fingers.

[Spectator agrees]

Magician: So to overcome this, magicians invented the Tenkai palm, which is where you
clip the card between your thumb and hand. So when you move your hand this way,
you can show your fingers free and it just looks that much more natural. The main issue
is that it is angle sensitive, so anyone looking from the wrong side can see the card
quite easily.

[Spectator agrees]

Magician: So to overcome this, magicians invented the back palm. This is where you
clip the card between these two fingers, and when you show the front of your hand it
creates this really convincing illusion that your hand is empty. However, as you can see
it is still pretty angle sensitive.

[Spectator agrees]

Magician: So the palm that poker players now use is called the invisible palm. Which is
where you take a card, rub it into the table to make it… vanish

[The spectators react]

Spectator: Where did it go!

32
Magician: Well, let me show you! I’ll teach you how this palm works. Please take out
any card, and I’ll do the invisible palm on it.

[The spectator chooses a card and it is returned face up to the top of the deck]

Magician: So you have chosen the four of hearts. We place the four on top, and palm it
off in classic palm like this. Then, in slow motion, you have to bend the card because
this looks really obvious that there is a card in my hand right?

[You to try and get the spectator to say ‘yes’ as it further convinces them that there is
actually a card in your hand]

Spectator: Oh yes I can see that.

Magician: So when we fold the card up, we can now put it into the Tenkai palm that I
showed you earlier. I can now open my fingers and wiggle them. But of course, this still
looks pretty unnatural, so if you fold the card up one more time, you can clip it
between your thumb and first finger to get your hand pretty much flat and now the
invisible palm starts to look really good right?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: But when it becomes amazing is when you fold up the card a final time, and
you can actually open up your hand… and the card vanishes…

[Spectator reacts!]

Spectator: How did you do that!

Magician: Very well thank you! And that is why you don’t play poker with magicians.

33
Unbelievable Card Prediction
Magician: What does it take to make a miracle?

[Acknowledge the spectators answer]

Magician: Well, sometimes the simplest things can become a miracle if the situation is
right. Please allow me to show you what I mean. Take this deck of cards and shuffle
them up as much as you like.

[The spectator shuffles the cards, and gives them back to the magician]

Magician: You shuffled, which means there is no pattern in this pack, it’s truly random.

[As the magician says this, he flips the cards over and shows that they are all mixed.
Here, he secretly glimpses the top and bottom card as explained in the video].

[The spectator agrees that all the cards are mixed]

Magician: Now. I want to make a prediction. [The magician runs through the cards and
pulls out two cards, placing them on the table.] These are two very special cards, and
you are going to see why in just a moment.

Take the deck and deal the cards down one by one onto the table like this. You can
deal as many cards as you like - it really is a free choice. But at some point, something
inside you will tell you to stop dealing. So please do that now - deal the cards down
and stop whenever it feels right.

[The spectator deals the cards down and then suddenly stops]

Magician: Interesting. [Pause]. And why did you stop there? Did it just feel like the right
place to stop?

[Acknowledge the spectators answer]

Now just to confirm, that is a free choice. If you want to keep dealing then please do,
or if you are happy stopping here then that's fine too. I just don’t want you to think that
I influenced you to stop at this point in the deck.

34
[The spectator will either keep dealing or will be happy with where they have stopped]

Magician: Fantastic. So we are going to place the first special card face up at the point
where you stopped.

[The magician places the first face up card onto the deck. Squares everything up as
explained in the video, then hands the cards back to the spectator.]

Magician: Just like before, please keep dealing the cards down and stop whenever it
feels right.

[Like before, the spectator stops and the magician places the second prediction into
the pack]

Magician: Now, what's happened is pretty simple. You shuffled the cards. You then
dealt the cards onto the table, and stopped whenever you liked. We then placed the
first card in that exact spot. Remember I allowed you to change your mind? We then
did this again with the second card.

[The spectator agrees]

Magician: How can that be a miracle? [Pause] Well, let me show you…

[The magician spreads the cards out on the table and pushes out the cards next to the
predictions]

Had you said stop earlier or later, the face up cards would have been in completely
different parts of the deck. Please turn over the cards next to the face up ones.

[The spectator turns over the cards to find out that they are the matching pairs!]

Magician: Is that magic? Or is that a miracle?

35
Simple Yet Deceptive Card Trick
Magician: Sometimes things that seem simple are not so simple after all.

[The magician spreads out the cards]

Please choose one and make sure I don’t see it, and then put it face down on the table.

[The spectator does as instructed]

Magician: Now, I’m going to put that card back into the deck, and notice that your card
goes into the deck face down. That seems simple right?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: For the first time, what was the name of your card?

Spectator: The Jack Of Clubs

Magician: Now if I wanted to turn your card face up. I could just spread through the
deck, find your card and turn it face up. [As instructed in the video, the magician turns
over the top card of the deck to demonstrate this.]

Spectator: I agree

Magician: But that would be far too simple. So instead, I’m going to snap my fingers,
and turn over every card in the deck except for one which is your Jack of Clubs.

Spectator: How did you do that?

Magician: I practice a lot!

36
Mind Blowing Prediction Trick
Magician: Have you ever seen something in your imagination before it actually
happened?

[Acknowledge spectators response]

Magician: Well, when this happens - what you are experiencing is not your
‘imagination’, you are experiencing the future. For example, a couple of years ago I
was at a restaurant and I imagined the waiter tripping over and spilling the food
everywhere. 20 minutes later, the waiter comes out with my order, trips over and spills
the food everywhere. So as you can see - that wasn’t my imagination, I was actually
seeing into the future.

[The magician removes the cards from the box]

Magician: Last night I had a dream about this exact moment. I dreamt that I would be
sitting here with you, and that you would choose a particular card.

[The magician runs through the cards and places his prediction face down on the table]

Magician: I’m going to leave this here. Please don’t turn it over or it might ruin the
experiment. All I can tell you is that I saw this card in my dream, and it might mean
something later on. Now, I’m going to deal the cards face up onto the table like this…
whenever you feel like it, please stop.

[The magician keeps dealing and at some point the spectator says stop]

Magician: I don’t want you to think that I’ve influenced you to stop here. So please let
me know if you would like me to keep dealing, or if you are happy stopping here.

[The spectator will either continue or be happy with their selection]

Magician: [Flips the decks over] You must agree that there is no way that I could have
known how many cards you would have dealt down onto the table?

Spectator: Of course not

37
Magician: Please point to a pile [you want the spectator to point to the pile on their left
as it has an eight on the top of it. To make this happen, you exercise magicians choice
as explained below:]

[If the spectator points to the pile on [If the spectator points to the pile on
their left (as was done in the video) their right you say:]
you say:]
Magician: Good. We will use this pile
Magician: Brilliant - we will use this in just a second. Let's turn over the
pile then. As you can see, there is an 8 top card on the other pile, which is an
on top. We will therefore count down 8, and we will now count off 8 cards
8 cards from this other pile. from your chosen pile.

[This is known as magicians choice - as you can see, it doesn’t matter which pile the
spectator chooses, you still end up turning over the top card on the pile with the 8, to
count off 8 cards from the other pile]

[The magician counts off 8 cards]

Magician: Now, just to recap. You made every decision. You decided where to stop
dealing. You decided how many cards to deal - I gave you a choice to change your
mind. You even decided what pile to use yet… the next card here is an 8. As is this
third card. And remember the card that I imagined in my dream last night?

Spectator: Yes!

Magician: Well that was also an 8.

[Spectators react]

Magician: Except, it wasn’t in my imagination, what I actually saw was the future…

38
The Card Trick That FOOLS Magicians
Magician: Would you like to see the best card trick of the 20th century?

Spectator: Yes - but isn’t it the 21st century?

Magician: Exactly. We are only 22 years into the 21st century, and so showing you the
best trick from a hundred years before is far more impressive. [This builds excitement].
For this I need a card to be selected. Please do try and remember it.

[The magician cuts the cards as instructed in the video and then the spectator chooses
one]

Magician: This is one of my favourite tricks to do because it involves lots of shuffling.

[The magician starts to split the deck into four separate piles].

Magician: But I’m not going to shuffle them normally… Instead, we are going to create
a complete mess by turning these two packets face up [the magician turns two packets
face up].

Now only three types of people shuffle cards like this - children, the insane and
magicians.

[The magician shuffles together the first two piles face up into face down]

Magician: I’m not really sure which one I am!

[The magician shuffles the second pile into the mixed stack]

Magician: You see, children do it because they don’t know any better. The insane do it
because if they did things the way we did, then they wouldn’t be insane.

[The magician shuffles the final two packets together]

Magician: Magicians do it because we like a challenge. If we take a look at the cards,

you know that it would be impossible to find your selection in this mixed up jumbled
mess

39
[The magician shows the spectator the cards, and they are all mixed face up into face
down]

Magician: Do you know why it would be impossible to find your card in this mixed up
mess? [Pause for their response] Because you never put your card in the deck - it's still
in your hand.

[Spectators laugh]

Magician: But here is the magical part. What suit is your card?

Spectator: Hearts

Magician: Hmmm [pause] this is going to be tricky because the cards are so jumbled
up. Did you say hearts?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: [Snaps his finger over the deck] Did you see that?

Spectator: No

Magician: [Spreads through all the cards] As you can see, now all the hearts are face up
in the deck and are in order all the way from the Ace to the King.

[Spectators react]

Magician: But wait, there is a card missing between the 6 and the 8. Did you pick the 7
of hearts?

[Spectator says yes and reacts]

40
8 Card Brainwave - Don’t Pick The Odd Card!
Magician: It has long been believed that magic has only ever existed in fairy tales. But
if you understand the meaning of the word ‘magic’, then you come to the realisation
that everyone has a little bit of magic inside them. For example, the imagination is a
truly magical place in which anything becomes possible. For this trick, I want a
volunteer who has a particularly vivid and strong imagination.

[A volunteer is chosen]

Magician: Now as you can see here, we have eight cards.

[The magician fairly counts out all eight cards face up]

Magician: What I want you to do, is imagine that one of these cards has a different
colour back from the rest. Close your eyes, and just picture one card with a different
colour back.

[The spectator closes their eyes and follows the magicians instructions]

Magician: You can open your eyes. Now, for the first time, please can you tell me which
of these cards you imagined having a different colour back?

Spectator: The nine of hearts

[The magician places the nine of hearts to the side saying…]

Magician: How interesting. The mind is truly a magical place – if [the spectator] sees
the nine of hearts as having a different colour back then it does! But what if we could
turn this thought into reality? [Pause] You see, all of these cards here have red backs.

[The magician turns over each card to show it has a red back {or blue back depending
on the spectators selection}]

Magician: However, your nine of hearts, that you imagined being different, has a blue
back.

Why this presentation works: This presentation merges a card trick with some mental
magic. It showcases a connection between thought and reality; which acts as a perfect
transition into mentalism routines.

41
Vanish Any Playing Card

[This trick is a quick opener. It is not meant to be a long, drawn out trick. Rather, it is a
fast fire effect that grabs the spectators attention before they move into something
new.]

Magician: Can I show you how to vanish a card?

Spectator: Sure

Magician: Well, what you do is take a card like this, and then rub it into the table… and
when you lift your hand up it should be gone… oh right looks like this hasn’t worked!
Let me try again.

[The magician resets the card]

Magician: You just rub it into the table like this… and it vanishes… [the magician raises
his hand, but keeps it in a very obvious palm position. Wait here for 3 seconds and the
spectators will say - well it's obviously in your hand].

Magician: [Opens up his palmed hand and says] No it really has gone!

42
The Trick That Fooled Elon Musk
Magician: Who here wants to see the magic trick that fooled Elon Musk?

Spectators: Yes!

Magician: Now, I must admit that Elon isn’t a magician - but some reports say that he
has an IQ of 155 - [jokingly] so if you figure out how this trick works then maybe you're
smarter than him! Anyway - please take these cards and shuffle them up until you are
happy.

[The spectator mixes up the cards]

Magician: Now do you know why people shuffle cards?

[Acknowledge their response]

Magician: It is to break patterns. You see, everytime you open a new deck of cards -
they are always in the same order - ace through to king. [The magician flips the cards
over and spreads them out face up] so the more you shuffle it, the more you break up
this pattern as you can see here.

[Magician points to the face up deck and secretly remembers the fourth card from the
top.]

Magician: Let's give them one final shuffle like this. [Magician shuffles the cards and
then places them onto the table]. Now the magician who showed this trick to Elon
Musk has developed a theory that it doesn’t matter how many times you cut and
shuffle the deck, if you split the cards in two, the fourth card down in one pile will
always tell you what the fourth card down in the other pile is. So let me put this to the
test. Who here wants to pretend to be Elon Musk?

Spectator: Me!

Magician: Excellent - [jokingly] you look just like him. Elon… I mean [spectators name]
please cut the cards in half for me.

[The spectator cuts the cards]

Magician: You see, even though you shuffled and then randomly cut the cards, the
fourth card down from where you cut, will tell me what the fourth card down in the
other half of the deck is.

[The magician picks up the pile, counts off four cards and then says…]

43
Magician: Clearly the fourth card down in this other pile is the 9 of Spades.

[The magician then counts off four cards to reveal the 9 of spades and the spectators
react]

Magician: And it's strange, because Elon had no idea how this worked either. And he
asked to see it again. So let me show you. We can shuffle the cards like this [the
magician does a riffle shuffle] and please cut the cards randomly wherever you like -
and the fourth card from where you randomly cut to will tell me what the fourth card
down in the other pile is.

[The spectator cuts the cards]

Magician: And that was random right?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Well let me take a look… [the magician looks at the card and then instantly
says] yes, the fourth card own in this other pile is the Ace of Diamonds.

[The magician counts off four cards to reveal the Ace of Diamonds]

[You can repeat this move as many times as you like - I usually do it three times. At the
end they usually ask you the same question…]

Spectator: Can you teach me how to do that!

Magician: But I’m a magician, it goes against the rules of my trade…

Spectator: Please can you teach me?

Magician: Well… [pause] can you keep a secret?

Spectator: Yes!

Magician: [Smiles] So can I

44
The Teleporting Card Trick

Magician: I want to show you something really interesting with a pack of cards. But first
please take them and shuffle them up. That way, they are in no particular order.

[The spectator mixes up the cards and hands them back to the magician]

Magician: Now reach in and choose one.

[The spectator chooses their card, and as explained in the video, it is returned and
controlled to the top of the pack]

Magician: Card magic is all about control. Even though I’m shuffling the cards up, I’m
still trying to control its position. Right now, I’m not 100% sure where it is… but I think
it is in the top half of the deck.

[The magician splits the cards in half, gives the bottom half to the spectator and keeps
the top half for himself]

Magician: But it’s no good knowing that your card is in the top half of the deck,
because it could literally be anywhere in these 25 or so cards. [The magician keeps
shuffling the deck]

Therefore, I’m going to try and control your card into the top five cards [the magician
stops shuffling and says] hmm.. Yes I think I’ve done it. So here are the top five cards
[the magician counts them off]. Now, hopefully one of them is yours, but if it is, don’t
give anything away just keep a poker face.

[The magician turns over the five cards and counts them off. The spectator keeps a
poker face]

Magician: Did you see your card?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Excellent! Looks like all those years studying card control havent gone to
waste. Please can you hold onto the rest of the deck [the magician hands the spectator
the rest of the cards].

So here we have five cards [the magician counts out five cards in his hand when in fact
there are only four]

So you shuffled the cards, and then we managed to control it into these final five. That
is known as card manipulation. But can I show you some magic?

45
Spectator: Yes!

Magician: I think [pause] this one is yours. But if we just palm it off… it vanishes. [The
magician does a retention palm as explained in the video and vanishes the card]

Spectator: Wow where did it go!

Magician: Don’t worry I haven't sent it far. But look in my hand, I now only have one,
two, three, four cards. And none of them are yours?

Spectator: No!

Magician: Take a look at the cards in your hand. Your card should have jumped into the
middle of the deck.

[The spectator goes through the cards to find that their selection has teleported to
being face up in the middle of the deck]

46
Invisible Deck Presentation #1
[There are so many ways to present this incredible magic trick. I’m showing you two
ways here. The first presentation is much faster. The second presentation is longer.
Both are incredible]

Magician: I’ve got £100 here up for grabs. Do you play cards? [Bringing out money
builds instant interest and excitement]

Spectator: Yes/No

Magician: Well, we are not going to have a game of poker because that would take
way too long. But inside this pack there is one playing card facing the wrong way. In
other words, before you came here, I removed one card from the deck, turned it face
down and then put it back into the pack.

Spectator: Okay

Magician: To win the £100 you might be thinking that you need to guess what card I’ve
turned over in the deck. The odds of you doing that are, of course, 1 in 52 right?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: But I’m much nicer than that. Here are the rules. As long as you do not name
that face down card, I’ll give you the £100.

Spectator: [Smiles] Okay!

Magician: That couldn’t really be better odds! It means you have a 51 out of 52
chances to win the money! You can’t really lose!

Spectator: Alright!

Magician: The only request is that you don’t name the Queen of Hearts because
everyone names that one and don’t name the Ace of Spades because it is on the front
of the box here, and I don’t want you thinking I somehow influenced you to pick that
card.
Spectator: Sure

47
Magician: So… what are you going to go for?

Spectator: The Eight of Spades…

Magician: And is there any reason why you chose the Eight of Spades?

[Whilst they respond, you work out where their card is - in this case it is next to the five
of clubs. Remember some invisible decks have different methods of locating cards.]

Magician: Okay, so as long as the card flipped over in the deck is not the Eight of
Spades, then you are going to be £100 richer.

Spectator: Let's do it!

Magician: And just so you know I’m not cheating, the card I flipped over is next to the
Eight of Spades - reason I tell you this is so you know i'm not moving lots of cards
around.

[Magician opens the deck and runs through them]

Magician: There is only one card face down here - please take it out and have a look…

[The spectator turns over the Eight of Spades and freaks out!]

48
Invisible Deck Presentation #2
Watch this performance first to get an understanding of how this presentation works -
https://youtu.be/Mu4HCZyQXdQ This script has built on that presentation and made it
more humorous.

[Before the trick begins, hand the real invisible deck to the spectator and tell them to
put it in their pocket for later]

Magician: Can anyone tell me what this is?

[The magician opens his hands, and there is nothing inside]

Spectators: There is nothing there!

Magician: Yes there is! It's an invisible pack of playing cards. Please take these cards
and shuffle them up.

[The magician hands the invisible cards to the spectator and they start to shuffle them]

Magician: You need to take them out of the box first!

[Spectator laughs and they pretend to take the cards out the box, and then fake shuffle
them up in their hand]

Magician: Excellent! You are great at shuffling. Please hand them back to me [the
magician takes the invisible cards and then says] oops it looks like you dropped one!
Please can you pick it up and give it to me.

[The spectator laughs and pretends to pick up a card and give it to the magician.]

Magician: Now, I’m going to spread all the cards out on the table like this - what is this
card here? [The magician points to the invisible deck spread out on the table]

49
Spectator: Um… the King of Hearts? Spectator: I don’t know!

Magician: No! There is no way you can Magician: Correct! Because all the cards
know what the card is because all the are face down. We need to flip them
cards are face down. I need to flip them over. [The magician flips over the
over. [The magician flips over the invisible cards]. Now you can see them
invisible cards] right?

[Spectator laughs and says yes]

Magician: Please reach in and pull out any card that you like. Take it out and tell
everyone what card you have selected

Spectator: [Pretends to pull out a card] It is the Four of Hearts.

Magician: Excellent. Now flip the Four of Hearts so that it is face down and then return
it to the deck.

[The spectator does as instructed]

Magician: So now we have a deck of shuffled cards with one card, your four of hearts,
flipped the other way around.

[Spectator agrees]

Magician: Remember that deck of cards I gave you earlier?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Please can I have it?

[The spectator gives the cards to the magician]

Magician: You see, sometimes the things we imagine can actually become real if you
believe strongly enough. If I open up the cards, you see there is one card that is face
down in this face up pack. [The magician runs through the cards and shows the face
down card]. Please reach in and pull it out.

[The spectator pulls out their Four of Hearts and reacts!

50
Think Of A Card

[Magician sits down with the spectator at the table]

Magician: Before we begin, I want to ask you a simple question, are you good at
keeping a poker face?

Spectator: Yes Spectator: No

Magician: Well, this trick is going to test Magician: Good – that makes my job
that. much easier!

[Magician takes out the deck and instructs the spectator to shuffle them. He then takes
the deck back, turns it over to confirm that all the cards are mixed - and secretly gets a
peek at the top card.]

Magician: Now as you can see, all the cards are different and mixed. I want you to
choose any card that you like by saying stop.

[The magician does a slip cut force to make force the spectator the top card - in this
example they have chosen the Ace of Hearts]

Magician: Wonderful. It is very important that you are certain that your selection is
random and freely chosen. If you don’t think it was, you can take the cards back, shuffle
them again and choose a new card.

[The spectator either keeps their card or chooses a new one. Either way, it becomes
clear to them that their selection is genuinely a free choice. If they choose a new card,
you just repeat the process above. You shuffle the cards → get a peek → and force
them the top card.]

Magician: I want you to point at another audience member and show them the card.
They will be your witness, so only you two will know the card’s identity. This is just so
that later it won’t be your word against mine.

[The spectator points to another audience member, and allows them to peak at the
card]

Magician: Place the card back into the deck wherever you like.

51
[The magician allows the spectator to freely return their card and then allows them to
shuffle the deck to lose it].

Magician: Now, just to recap. You chose a random card from a shuffled deck, I never
saw the card, you then placed it back into the deck wherever you wanted and then
mixed up the cards. Are you certain that everything has been fair? If not, we can start
again.

Spectator: I’m certain.

Magician: Brilliant. What I’m about to show you isn’t a magic ‘trick’, rather it’s a
demonstration of something I like to call body language reading. This is a skill that has
taken me over five years to master... [pause] so if it doesn’t work then I guess I’ve
wasted half a decade...

[Spectators laugh]

Magician: No pressure then! [This builds excitement]. Here is what’s going to happen.
I’m going to ask you a series of questions, and you can either lie or tell the truth. But if
you lie, you are going to do something to give it away. Make sure you lie at some point
though because it makes it fun! Is that clear?

Spectator: Yes.

Magician: Was your card a number card or picture card?

[Remember you already know their card is the Ace of Hearts, these questions are all
about showmanship]

Spectator: A number card Spectator: A picture card

Magician: You see, that was the truth. Magician: You see that was a lie.
Because I just tempted you to lie by Because I just tempted you to lie by
saying ‘make sure you lie at some saying ‘make sure you lie at some
point’, you do the opposite to try and point’, so you do it immediately.
confuse me and tell the truth.

[At this point the spectator usually smiles because you got it right]

Magician: And that smile confirms it! So we know it is a number card. Now you know
about this strategy, I’m going to have to use something else. So, I want you to count
from ace to 10 out loud for me very slowly. And when you say your number, you will do
something to give it away.

[Spectator counts from ace to ten]

52
[Look at the spectator and point out anything they do differently around their card
number. So you can say something like:]

Magician: So you slowed down at the beginning, indicating that your card is between
Ace and four… I’m going to take a wild guess and say that it was an Ace

OR

Magician: You sped up at the beginning, indicating that your card is between Ace and
four… I’m going to take a wild guess and say that it was an Ace

OR

Magician: You see, when you said Ace, your hands tensed up slightly and you raised
your eyebrows indicating that it was your card.

Spectator: [Excitedly] Yes it is an ace!

Magician: Now think of the colour of your card. Say it over and over again in your head.
I’m getting the sense that it is vibrant. Yes.. it’s the Ace of Hearts.

Spectator: [Amazed] Yes!

Magician: Ah amazing! You had me worried there for a second, because you’re actually
really hard to read. [Turns to audience] anyway it goes to show how we all give things
away subconsciously without even knowing it. Even though [the spectator] was able to
keep a poker face, there were little inconsistencies in her facial expressions and eye
movements that indicated this was her card. Anyway, does anyone fancy a game of
poker?

[Spectators laugh]

Why this presentation works: This presentation takes a very simple magic trick, and
draws it out into a longer, more dramatic effect. By presenting it as a ‘demonstration of
skill’ rather than a ‘trick’, the audience will genuinely believe you can read people
making the overall performance that much more impressive. The beginning of the
script emphasises how fair everything is – this is important since when they think over
everything, they will remember how they had the option to shuffle the deck, change
cards etc. The end of the effect requires the magician to slow down, think and even
struggle on some cards. Not only does this build up suspense and excitement, but it
also again sells the idea that this is a skill-based effect, not merely a trick.

53
Pulse
Magician: When doing magic, it is your job to pick a card and remember it, and it is my
job, as a magician, to use my magical powers to find it. So please choose a card by
saying stop.

[The magician riffles down the side of the deck, the spectator says stop and chooses a
forced card. Use any card force that you like - it doesn’t matter].

Magician: Remember your card. Really burn it into your mind so you don’t forget it,
and then return it somewhere into the pack.

[The spectator returns the card wherever they like]

Magician: In fact, I don’t want to even handle these cards - please can you shuffle them
for me.

[The spectator starts to mix up the cards, as they do that, the magician say the
following]

Magician: We all know that magic isn’t real. I don’t really have ‘super powers’, and so to
find your card, I’m actually limited to the same five senses that we all have. Would you
agree?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Although when you think about it, it might occur to you that I can’t really use
all five senses to find your card.

[The magician takes the deck back]

Magician: So you have mixed up the cards. If I used the first sense, which is sight, I
would simply turn the deck over and look for your card.

[The magician demonstrates this by turning over the cards so they are face up, and the
spreads through a few of them]

Magician: But that isn’t very impressive is it?

54
[Spectators agree]

Magician: The next sense I could use is…

[The magician sniffs the deck]

… a sense of smell. But this is just… well it's really weird isn’t it.

[Spectators laugh]

Magician: That leaves me with just three senses. Maybe I could try and hear your card

[The magician placed the deck to his ear and riffles them down]

Is it the… two of spades? No? Hmm. Looks like that sense doesn’t work either

Magician: What about taste? The magician licks the top card [this always gets a laugh]
hmmm, tastes a bit… inky. But no, I’ve no idea what your card is.

[The spectators laugh again]

Magician: That just leaves us with a sense of touch. If I spread out the cards that you
mixed up like this, I of course, have no idea where your card is. But can you see it?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: Please hold out your arm. I’m going to use my sense of touch to feel your
pulse and from that, find out what your card is.

[The magician holds onto the spectators arm, and ‘feels their pulse’. He then waves his
other hand over the deck of cards]

Magician: Please really focus on your card. Say it to yourself (in your head) again and
again and [pause] your pulse is quickening over this side, so I’m going to assume that
it's over here somewhere.

[Spectators react - at this point make up as much patter as you like about their pulse
and guessing what their card is]

55
Magician: Now don’t lose focus - say your card again and again and… yes, good. I feel
something. Hmm. I think your card is over here… it's the 9 of clubs?

[Spectators react]

56
Cloth Cut
Magician: Do you have any super powers?

Spectator: No

Magician: Well do you know anyone who does?

Spectator: Superman!

Magician: Yes! Superman, and Spider-Man too. But I think you have super powers as
well - you just don’t know it yet. I think you can magically cut to any card you like. Do
you want to try?

Spectator: Yes

[The magician takes out the cards from the box]

Magician: Here I have a deck of cards. Please mix them up for me.

[The spectator shuffles the cards]

Magician: [Takes the cards back, and spreads them out - secretly glancing at the top
card] As you can see, all the cards here are different. So the first thing I need to do is
find a card that I want you to cut to.

[The magician writes down his prediction]

Magician: Now, if I asked you to simply cut the cards like this and choose one - then
maybe I could influence you to pick a particular card. Therefore, I’m going to hold
these cards under the cloth, and wherever you cut them, that will be your selected
card.

[The magician demonstrates this so the spectator understands]

Magician: This is even more fair because not even you will know where you cut the
cards making this truly random. Does that make sense?

Spectator: Yes

Magician: However, if you somehow cut to the card that I have written down on the
paper, then that can really only mean one thing can’t it?

Spectator: What?

57
Magician: That you have superpowers of course! Let's give this a go.

[The magician places the cards under the cloth, and then the spectator randomly cuts
some cards from the top of the deck]

Magician: Excellent. Let’s get rid of the cloth and take a look at the card you selected.

[The spectator looks at their card - the Two of Hearts]

Magician: Now, please show everyone what you chose

[Everyone looks at the two of hearts]

Magician: And that was random right - you shuffled the cards, and you cut them
wherever you wanted; and we even placed it under the cloth to make sure I couldn't
influence you to pick off a certain number of cards.

Spectator: Correct

Magician: Can you open the prediction and read what it says?

[The spectator opens the prediction and it perfectly matches.]

Magician: It looks like superman is super strong. Spiderman can shoot web from his
hands, and [spectators name] can, well… cut to any card he likes in the deck!

58
Card To Arm
Magician: Is anyone here squeamish?

Spectator: Yes/No

Magician: [Laughing] Perfect, let's use you! What is your name?

Spectator: Sarah

Magician: Okay Sarah, please say stop whenever you like and choose a card. However,
it is very important that I don’t see your card, so I’ll turn my back when we do this. Fair?

Spectator: Yes

[The magician turns around and the spectator says stop, and chooses the forced seven]

Magician: [With their back still turned, the magician says] Now I don’t want to see what
card you have chosen, so please show everyone the card. [As the magician says this he
draws a seven onto his arm]

Got it? Good. Now place the card back into the deck and wherever you want.

[Magician turns back around]

Magician: Most magicians would try and go through that deck of cards and find the
one you selected… but i’m not most magicians. In fact, I want to try something you’ve
probably never seen before. I want you to just focus on the number of your card.

Spectator: Okay

Magician: Picture it clearly in your head. Good.

[Magician holds out his arm] Now, I want you to hold onto my arm like this [the
magician demonstrates on himself] and squeeze onto my wrist. Can you see how these
red markings appear on my wrist when you do that?

Spectator: Yes [The spectator squeezes the magicians arm]

Magician: Say that number to yourself over and over again in your head. Really focus
on it.

[Most of the time the spectators will not squeeze the arm very hard so say]

59
Magician: Hmmm… now squeeze my arm much harder than that, it's the only way this
will work.

[The spectator squeezes even hard, and the magician opens and closes his hands - the
spectator will feel the slight movement in the wrist and it adds to the drama]

Magician: What was your number?

Spectator: It was a seven

Magician: Please remove your hand. As you can see, it is very red from where you have
been squeezing it. [The red starts to fade leaving the seven you drew earlier] But as the
markings fade away, you’ll notice that they have left something on my arm… the
number seven

[The spectators react]

60
The Trick That Fooled Albert Einstein

Magician: This next trick is really special since it fooled one of the smartest men ever.
Can you guess who? [Pause] No no not me! It fooled Albert Einstein.

[The magician brings out the deck of cards]

Magician: As you can see here, we have a deck of cards. Please just cut off a small
number of cards from the top of the deck.

[The spectator cuts off some cards]

Magician: Perfect, now I’ll do the same.

[The magician cuts cards from the bottom of the deck as explained in the tutorial].

Magician: Now please hold the cards in your right hand.

[The magician touches the spectator’s hand which holds the cards. Then he picks up his
own pile and weighs it in his hand].

Magician: In just a moment, I am going to tell you three things. Two of these things will
mean nothing, but the third statement is impossible. First, I have as many cards as you
have. Second, I have two extra cards. Finally, I have as many cards as you, plus two
extra cards, and my leftover cards combined with your random number of cards will
make exactly…

[The magician touches the underside of the spectator’s hand again, as if he is weighing
the cards]

Magician: …twenty cards.

[The magician spreads his cards out on the table.]

Magician: Ok how many cards do you have

Spectator: 9 cards

Magician: Well, let me repeat my prediction. I have as many cards as you have

[And the magician counts out 9 of his cards]

Magician: ‘Plus two extra cards’

61
[The magician adds two extra cards to his pile]

Magician: And my left over cards, plus your random number of cards will add up to
twenty.

[And the magician counts out the final 11 cards in his hand to bring the spectators total
up to twenty]

[Spectator reacts]

Magician: This trick did fool Einstein, so don’t feel too bad if it fooled you too!

62
The Impossible Prediction Trick
[Before this trick begins, place four black cards on top of the deck, and then put all the
cards in the box. You can also just start with a deck of cards that has four less black
cards in it.]

The magician sits down at the table and pulls out a box of cards. He then asks the
spectator a question.

Magician: Do you think it is possible for me to control your actions and make you do
what you want without you even being aware of it?

Spectator: Yes Spectator: No

Magician: Good—that makes my job Magician: Hmmm well let's put that to
easier! the test.

[The magician removes the cards from the box. He leaves the four black cards in the
box as he does this. This is explained in the latter half of the tutorial (by squeezing onto
the box edge). Don’t overthink this move as the trick hasn’t even started yet! So just
casually pull out the cards, leaving four black ones in the box.]

Magician: [Hands the cards to the spectator] I would like you to take these and shuffle
them up. It is very important that you know that these are just ordinary cards.

[The spectator mixes and shuffles the cards]

Magician: [Takes the cards back and runs through them]. Did you know that everytime
you shuffle a deck of cards, you put them in an order that has never been seen in the
history of the universe? I mean… it's crazy when you do the maths - if every single
person on earth (all 7 billion of us) had a deck of cards, and we shuffled them 100 times
a day, it would still take over 100 trillion years for two people to shuffle the cards up in
the same order.

However… I’m going to write down a prediction based on how you have shuffled this
deck.

[The magician takes a pen and paper, and writes down “there will be 4 more red
cards”]

Magician: [Turn to spectator 1] Please place your hand on this prediction, and make
sure that I don’t go near it at any point during this trick.

63
Spectator 1: Okay

Magician: Perfect. [Turns to spectator 2]. You shuffled these cards up as much as you
liked. Are you satisfied that they are mixed? If not you can shuffle them again.

Spectator 2: I’m happy!

Magician: Great. What I want you to do is take the deck in your hand and turn the
cards over two at a time. If both cards are black, place them in a black pile. If both
cards are red, place them in the red pile and if both cards are mixed colours, place
them in the mixed pile. Does that make sense?

Spectator 2: Yes

[The spectator starts dealing the cards out two at a time. They will deal the cards from
the top of the deck to begin. Whilst they do this, the magician talks].

Magician: So if you had shuffled the cards differently, we would of course have a
different number of cards in each pile. In fact, [the magician turns to the spectator
dealing the cards down two at a time], feel free to take cards from wherever you want
in the deck. Take two cards from the top, middle or bottom. It really doesn't matter.

[The spectator keeps dealing out cards two at a time until they reach the end of the
deck].

Magician: Now that was random right? You shuffled, you dealt and I haven’t even
touched the deck.

[The spectator agrees]

Magician: But what if I knew exactly what you were going to do, before this trick even
began? What if, I was able to control your actions without you even being aware of it?
Let’s removed the mix pile and count out how many red cards there are and black cards
there are.

[The spectator counts out the number of black and red cards - mathematically there will
always be 4 more red cards].

Magician: So as you can see, there are four more red cards. [Turning to spectator 1 who
has been looking after the magicians prediction]. Please lift up your hand and and read
what the prediction says.

Spectator 1: “There will be 4 more red cards”

64
[The spectators react, and the magician starts to put the cards away in the box. If you
then want to repeat this trick, ask the spectator if they would like to see it again. Then
leave 6 black cards in the box by squeezing the edge of the box as explained in the
video. Then just change your prediction from four to six and repeat the trick again!]

65
Read Five Minds At Once

[This is a great trick to do if you want to amaze five spectators at once, as each of them
becomes involved.]

Magician: Who here has seen mind-reading on television or in real life?

[Spectators respond]

Magician: Well, I’m not going to claim that I can actually read your minds. Rather, I’m going to
get you all to choose a playing card, and judging by your body language, I’ll try and determine
what that card is.

[The magician does a riffle shuffle whilst speaking, keeping the stack of cards on the top as
explained in the tutorial].

Magician: Now. As I mentioned, this is not a ‘trick’ and so it can go wrong [saying this builds up
suspense, and makes the audience trust that there is no ‘setup’ in the deck], but let's give it a
go.

Spectators: Sure

Magician: Since there are five of us, let's deal out five piles of five cards. [The magician deals
out the first five cards, placing the key cards onto the table].

But these cards can come from anywhere in the deck - the top, middle or bottom - it really
doesn’t matter.

[All five piles are dealt, and each spectator picks up one pile].

Magician: Before you look at your cards, please keep them face down and mix them up even
more. This just makes everything even more random and ensures there is no order.

[The spectators mix up the cards]

Magician: Now here is where things get interesting. I would like each of you to look at your
cards and, without letting me see, just mentally select whichever card you want. It is very
important you remember the number and the suit. So please do that now.

[The spectators remember their card]

66
Magician: [Starts picking back up each pile from the spectators]. Now this couldn't be any more
fair right? We mixed up the cards multiple times, and then you just looked down and thought of
a card. There is no way that I could know what you are thinking - right?

[The spectators agree]

Magician: But I’m a magician, so there is always a way… You see, if I deal out the cards again
like this [the magician starts to deal out five piles of cards], just from asking you a few simple
questions and watching how your body reacts, I’ll be able to work out which card you each
thought of.

[The magician finishes dealing]

Magician: You can all see your cards correct?

Spectators: Yes

Magician: [Turns to spectator 1] So which pile is your card in.

[The spectator points to their pile and the magician picks it up]

Magician: So we have five different cards here and… I don’t know. You are a tough read. But I’m
going to say that you seem like the type of person to go for this card here. Am I right?

[The spectator reacts!]

Magician: But maybe I just got lucky. So let's do this again. [Turning to spectator 2]. Make sure
you give nothing away. Which pile is your card in?

[The spectator points to their pile]

Magician: Okay, please read out the name of all five cards in this pile. When you say your card,
you will do something to give it away.

[The spectator names all five cards in the pile]

Magician: [Turning to the audience] Did anyone here see what I saw? He sped up/slowed
down/hesitated/got quieter/got louder on X card, which means you must have selected the
[spectators card is named].

[Spectators react]

Magician: [Turns to spectator 3] Which pile is your card in?

67
[The spectator points to their pile]

Magician: [Laughing] This is an easy one - you must have chosen the [spectators card is
named]. [Joking] Your body language gave that one away! Please don’t play poker any time
soon!

Magician: [Turns to spectator 4 and 5] I’m going to try and do your cards at the same time.
Which hand are your cards in?

[The spectator points to their respective piles]

Magician: Hmmm [Spectator 4] you chose the [names their card] and [Spectator 5] you look like
the type of person who would select the [names their card].

[Spectators react!]

Spectators: Are they magic cards or something?!

Magician: Only when they are in my hands!

68