Trick No. 41.—BLIND MAN'S BLUFF

(1) Take twenty-one cards, and lay them down in threerows, with their faces upward.

(2) When you have laid outthree rows, begin again at the left hand, and lay one cardupon the first, and so on to the right.

(3) Then begin on theleft again, and go imtil you have laid out the twenty-one cardsin three heaps, at the same time asking someone to think ofa card.

(4) When you have laid them out, ask him which heap his card is in.

(5) Then lay that heap in the middle between the other two.

(6) This done, lay them out again inthree heaps as before, and agam ask him to notice where hiscard goes.

(7) Put that heap in the middle, as before.

(8) Then taking up the cards with their backs toward you, take off the uppermost card, and call it one; take off another, andcall it two; and thus proceed until you come to the eleventh, which will almost always be the card thought of.

Never layout your cards less than three times, but as often above that number as you please. This trick may be done without your seeing the cards at all, if you handle and count them carefully.

To change the trick a little you may use a different number of cards, but the number chosen must be divisible bythree, and the middle card, after they have been three times dealt as directed, will always be the one thought of.

Forinstance, if done with fifteen cards, it must be the eighth, and soon. When the number is even, it must be the exact half; thatis, if it is twenty-four, the card thought of will be the twelfth, etc.

Trick No. 42.—TO DISCOVER ANY CARD IN A PACKBY ITS WEIGHT OR SMELL

(1) Ask someone to draw a card from the pack. Whenhehas looked at it, tell him to return it with its face downwards.

(2) Then, pretending to weigh it nicely, look for someparticular mark on the back of the card.

(3) Having donethisput it among the rest of the cards, and ask the person to shuffle the deck as much as he wants.

(4) Then takingthepack, you pretend to weight each card as before, and continueuntil you have discovered the card he had by looking for theidentifying marks.

Trick No. 43.—THE RIGHT HAND DOES KNOW WHAT THE LEFT IS DOING

(1) Take two aces, one of spades and the other of hearts.

(2) Then put on the spade ace the mark of hearts, andonthe heart ace the mark of spades. You can do this by splitting a card of each color and cutting out the mark neatly andcleanly.

(4) Then rub a little soap lightly on the backofthe spade and heart that you have cut. Put the markofhearts on the ace of spades, and the mark of spades ontheace of hearts, making sure that they cover the- other completely. All this is done, of course, before you do the trick.

(5) Then divide your pack of cards in two parcels, andimder each parcel put one of your two prepared aces.

(6) Afterwards with your right hand take the parcel under whichis the ace of hearts, and with your left hand the parcel underwhich the ace of spades is.

(7) Then show to the audience that the ace of hearts is on the right hand and the ace of spades is on the left. And when everybody is convinced, say, "Ladies and gentlemen, I command the ace of hearts, which is in my right hand, to pass to my left, and the ace of spades to take its place." Youcan suggest that your hands be tied so that there is no chanceto switch. The secret is simply to make a quick movement when yougive your command.

(8) During this movement you quickly slip your little finger over each of the marks and rub them crff so that the marks of spades and hearts that had been stuckto the two cards before will be rubbed off.

(9) Then showto the company that the cards have obeyed your command,by passing them from the right to the left, and from the leftto the right. It is suggested that rubber cement be used tostick the marks to the cards because it is eaiy to peel themarks off and to rub the tell-tale signs of the cement from thecard without leaving a sign of cement.

Trick No. 44.—THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS

This is more a joke than a feat of magic, but it will createsome fun, and may be kept up for some time, without being discovered.

(1) Take up your position on one side of theroom, facing a good-sized mirror. Make your audience standor sit; facing you, when they will, of course, have their backs to the glass. Offer the cards to be shuffled and cut. Take the top card and hold it up, with its back to you and its face to the audience. As it will be reflected in the mirror oppositeyou, you will have no difficulty in naming it, or any other cardin like manner, until your audience either finds you out, or hashad enough of the trick.

Trick No. 45.—THE SIAMESE TWINS

Another trick performed with "twin," or duplicate cards, is to show the same card apparently on the bottom and at thetop of the pack. One of these duplicate cards may be easilyobtained. In fact, the joker or advertising card which goeswith every deck may be used for that purpose. Let us supnpose, then, that you have a duplicate of the queen of clubs.

(1) Place both of them at the bottom of the pack, and pretend to shuffle them, taking care, however, that they keeptheir places.

(2) Then lay the pack upon the table, drawoutthe bottom card, show it, and place it on the top.

(3) Thencommand the top card to pass to the bottom, and whenthepack is turned up the audience will see with surprise that thecard which they had just seen placed upon the top is nowatthe bottom.

Trick No. 46.—SMELLING OUT ROYALTY

A very clever trick, and one which never fails to exciteastonishment at an evening party, is to select all the picturecards when blindfolded. Butbefore starting it you must take oneof the audience into your confidence and get him to stooge foryou. When everything is fixed, talk about the strong sense of smell and touch which blind people are said to have, and say thatyou could, when blindfolded, distinguish the picture cards fromtherest. The trick is this:

(1) After you have satisfied the people thatyour eyes are tightly bound, take the pack in your hands, and holding up one of the cards in view of them all, feel the face of it with your fingers. If it is a picture card,your stooge, who should be seated near to you, must tread on your toe or scrape his foot or givesome prearranged signal.

By a Prearranged Signal, You Know Which Cards Are Picture Cards

(2) You then say that it is a picturecard, and proceed to the next. Should you then turn up a common card your stooge takes no notice of it, and you say thatitis not a picture card. Keep this up until you have convinced the company that you really possess the power of smelling picture cards.

Trick No. 47.—THE MAGICAL TRIO

(1) As already shown, you force someone to draw a certaincard, and let him put it back into the pack, and shuffle thecards well together.

(2) Now take the pack, find the drawn card, and, without showing it, place Jt next to the bottom card.


(3) Then hold up the pack in the right hand, and show thebottom card while you ask: "Is this the drawn card?" To which the answer is, of course, "No"!

(4) You then suddenly drop the right hand, in which you hold the cards, and withthe fingers of the left hand slip the bottom card back, anddraw out instead of it the card that had been chosen.

(5) Throw it on the table face downwards, the company, of course, supposing it to be the card last seen on the bottom.

(6) Then shuffle the cards thoroughly, show the undermostcard again and ask if it is the card drawn. On receiving anegative reply, place it also, face downwards, on the table onthe first card.

(8) Now shuffle the pack well, show the undermost card, repeating the question as before.

(9) On receiving a reply in the negative, look surprised.

(10) However, place the card just shown on the two that were drawn before from the pack. Approach the audience with these three cards, and ask them to examine them carefully, and see whether: they are not mistaken, because the drawn card must certainlybe one of the three. To their astonishment they will find thisto be the case. This trick can also be done by making the pass,and slipping the card by wetting the fingers, as before ex- plained.

Trick No. 48.—STUCK WITH A CARD

(1) Take a flat-headed nail, and file it down until its pointis as sharp as a needle, and the head quite flat. The nail shouldbe about half an inch long, or even shorter if possible.

(2)Pass the nail through the center of any card—say the ace ofspades—and conceal it in your left hand.

(3) Take another pack of cards, get the ace of spades tothe bottom, and perform the following trick.

(4) When thecards are returned, shuffle them about, and exchange thepierced card for the other.

(5) Put the pierced card at thebottom of the pack, and throw the cards violently against thedoor. The nail will be driven in by the pressure of the othercards against its head, and the chosen card will be seen nailedto the door. The nail should be put through the face of thecard, so that when the others fall on the floor, it remains, facing the spectators.

Trick No. 49 -MENTAL TELEPATHY WITH CARDS

(1) Place the first ten cards of any suit in a circular form,as in the picture. The ace is counted as one. Ask a personto think of a number or card, and to touch also any othernumber or card.

(2) Ask him to add to the humber of thecard he touched the number of the cards laid out, that is, ten.

(3) Then tell him to count that sum backward, beginning at the card he touched, and reckoning that card at the number he thought of, when he will thus end it at the card or number he first thought of, and so help you to figure out what that was.

For example, supposehe thought of the number three, and touched the suth card; if ten is added to six it will, tfcourse, make sixteen. And if he counts that number from the sixth card, the one touched, in backward order, reckoning threeon the sixth, four on the fifth, five on the fourtli, six on the third cards, and so on, it will be found to end on the thirdcard, which will, therefore, show you the number the persont hought of. When the person is counting the numbers,he should not, of course, call them aloud.

Trick No 50.—TO MAKE A CARD JUMP OUT OFTHEPACK AND RUN ON THE TABLE

(1) Take a pack of cards, and allow someone to drawacard.

(2) Put it into the pack, so that you may know whereto find it.


(3) Put a small piece of wax under your thumbaail, and fasten one end of a hair to it. The other end of the hair fasten to the card.

(4) Spread the cards open onthetable, and ask the card chosen to jump out.

(5) Pull at thehair and cause the card to jump out as you direct it acrossthe table.

Trick No. 51.—POCKETING A CARD

This is another good trick performed with the aid ofastooge.

(1) Agree upon a certain card—say, the ace of hearts—which is withdrawn from the pack and placed in your pocket.

(2) At the proper time, hand the pack to your helper, andaskhim to look at a card and place the pack upon the table.

(3) Make a few passes over the cards with your hand, and ask,"What was the card selected?'' "The ace of hearts," he replies. "Show me the card."

(4) The stooge takes the pack,and deals the cards, face upwards, on the table, and everyonesees that the ace of hearts is not there.

(5) Repeating thedeal for further satisfaction, he tells you that the card is notthere. "Hearts always beat together," you say, and you takethe missing card from your breast-pocket.

Trick No. 52.—TO MAKE FOUR EIGHTS CHANGE INTOFOUR TWOS, AND FROM BLACK TO RED

This trick is one which prepared cards are used, and, although there are only five cards employed, great care is necessary, as the manipulations are several, and haste would either embarrass you or spoil the trick.

(1) Get three cards of the pattern shown in Figure 1, from any magic or novelty store, or paint four plain cards yourself,

(2) Start the trick by palming the three prepared cards, and passing the pack tothe company.

(3) Ask them to inspect it carefully, and to pick out for you the four eights, which are given to you.

(4)You again tell them you need the two of diamonds.

(5) While they are looking for that card, you apparently examine the four eights, and fix them so that the eight of clubs is uppermost.

(6) Now take the pack, and carelessly placing it onthe table, say that you will place the eights on top, at the sametime place the three palmed cards above them.

(7) Also ask for the two of diamonds, which you put on top of them all The cards are now placed—two of diamonds, three prepared cards, and the eight of clubs the top five cards of the pack.

(8) Now tell the audience you are about to make some remarkable changes in the cards selected, by making theeights into twos, twos into eights, black into red, etc., andthat they must see that you have only the five cards whichthey themselves had picked out.

(9) Taking up the two ofdiamonds, you show them that card: "Here is the two ofdiamonds." Take in the left hand. "And here are the foureights." Taking up the next four cards, you show them theeight of clubs.

The audience thinks that the other three cardsare also eights. To convince them, you place them also in theleft hand, fanwise, withdraw the two of diamonds, and show the faces of the other cards (Fig. 2), which the audience believes are all eights—the eight of clubs alone being genuine, and in view.

(10) Now putback the two of diamonds instead of the eight of clubs—which in its turn is with drawn—close the cards, and take hold of them from the top, left-hand end(shown in Fig. 1), spreading them fan wise as before, so that the four twosare in view (Fig. 3).

(11) Discard the two of diamonds,and again take the eight of clubs, andturn round No. 2 (in Fig. 3), which is apparently the two of hearts, and spread them out again in the same manner, and the four cards are all black(Fig. 4).

(12) Reject again the eightof clubs, introduce the two of diamonds, and, taking hold of the opposite end, spread the cards as before and you haveall four red cards (Fig. 5).

(13) To finish the trick place the five cards together—the eight of clubs and two of diamonds underneath—and place themupon the pack so that the preparedcards are uppermost.

Palm them andthen offer the pack for inspection. The two of diamonds and four eights are ontop, and your manipulation will not bediscovered.

You must, of course, do alittle talking, especially when turning round the supposed two of hearts. The following will do very well: "I again take upthe eight and throw out the twos"--discard two (the two ofdiamonds and two of hearts); and remembering yourself youcontinue: "But we must have four-cards, so I will take back one"— and you take up again the upper card, but by the opposite end to which you took it out, and replace the card. By this move no one will see that you have reversed the cardAnother warning—don't spread out the cards too much.

Trick No. 53.—HOW TO NAME ONE OF TWENTYFIVE CARDS

To perform this trick you need a helper. The latter sits near the table, has both his hands closed, and points out thecard chosen by the finger which he leaves extended. Thefingers of the right hand indicate the cross rows counted fromabove downwards; the fingers of the left hand point out thenumber of the card in the cross row, counting from left toright.If, for example, the third card from the left in the secondcross row is the one touched, your stooge leaves the secondfinger of the right hand, and the third finger of the left handunbent, closing all the others.

Trick No. 54.—HOW TO TELL THE TOP CARDS OFFOUR PARTS OF A DECK

This is a pretty little trick, but you should not take toomuch time in doing it.

(1) You start by noting the bottomcard, which we will suppose to be the three of clubs.

(2)Pass it to the top, and palm it.

(3) Then offer the pack tothe company to shuffle.

(4) When the deck is returned, place the three of clubs on the top and the pack upon the table, and say that you do not intend to monkey with the cards in anyway, but that, when the cards are cut into four parts, you will name the top carfl of each part.

(5) Ask someone to cut, and watch where the top portion is placed—for the three of clubs is your key card.

(6) The cards being divided, place your hand on the topcard of the heap farthest from the three of clubs.

(7) Think for a second, then say, ''This must be the three of clubs."

(8) Take it up, and notice what it is without allowing the audience to see it. We will suppose the card you have just taken up is the four of spades.

(9) Place it in your left hand, and, putting your right hand, as before, upon the second heap, say, "This must be the four of spades,"

(10) Take it up, as before, find out what it is—perhaps the king of hearts — and placeitwith the first; and again think over the third, saying, "This must be the king of hearts."

(11) Take it, as before, andfinding it the six, of diamonds, take up the last of the fourwhich is the three of clubs — and say, "This is the sixofdiamonds." You don't have to look at this one, for thereareno more cards to take. Exhibiting Ihe four cards, you showthem to be those you have just named.

Trick No. 55.—THE STUBBORN CARD

(1) Having found a card chosen which you have previously forced, or any card that has been drawn, which you have discovered by the means before described, in order to do the feat cleverly, get the card to the top of the pack.

(2) Gettherest of the cards even with each other, making the edge of the top card stick out a little over the others.

(3) Then holding them between your finger and thumb, about two feet from the table, let them drop, and the top card, which, as has been said, must be the one drawn, will fall face uppermost, and all the others with their faces towards the table.

Trick No. 56.—COME SEVEN!

(1) Take a number of cards, and make two piles, takingcare that one contains two or three sevens, and thattheother will be composed of seven cards, all face cards—thatis, kings, queens, jacks, or aces.

(2) Then ask for penandink, and write on a piece of paper the names of the seven.

(3) Turn this paper over so that what you have written can-not be seen.

(4) Now you can ask a person to make his choice so that if he chooses your number it will be good, because if he selects the large rpackage, you will show him the paperon which is written the names of the face cards.

(5) Then tell him to count the number of cards in the package hehaschosen. He will find seven, corresponding to the name son your list. If he selects the smaller package, you still havean advantage because you know it to contain two or threesevens, and nothing else.

Trick No. 57.—ODD AND EVEN

(1) For this trick, you take a complete pack which has been divided into two heaps in which all the Aces, Nines, Sevens, Fives, Threes are in one heap, and all the Kings, Queens,Jacks, Tens, Eights, Sixes, Fours, and Twos are in the other heap.

(2) Let several people draw cards out of either of the heaps.

(3) Change the heaps secretly and let the person place theodd cards—as Ace, Nine, etc.—into the heap of even cards,and vice versa. On running over the cards, you can easily discover the drawn cards, the even cards being in the heap of odd cards, and the odd cards in the heap of even cards.

Trick No. 58.—THE MAGIC TWELVE

(1) Let any one take the pack of cards, shuffle, take off theupper card. Having noticed it, tell him to lay it on the table,with its face downward, and add as many cards on it as willmake up twelve with the number of spots on the noted card.For instance, if the card which the person drew was a king,queen, jack or ten, tell him to lay that card with its facedownward, calling it ten. On that card let him lay another,calling it eleven, and on that another, calling it twelve.

(2)Then tell him to take off the next uppermost card. Supposeit's a Nine. Let him lay it down upon another part of thetable, calling it nine. On it let him lay another, calling it ten.On the latter another, calling it eleven. And on that another, calling it twelve.

(3) Then let him go to the next uppermostcard, and so proceed to lay out in heaps, as before, until hehas gone through the whole pack.

(4) If there are any cards left — that is, if there are not enough to make up with the lastnoted card the number twelve, tell him to give them to you. Then, in order to tell him the number of all the spots containedin all the bottom cards of the heaps, do this.

(5) From the number of heaps subtract four, multiply the remainder by fifteen, and to the product add the number of remaining cardswhich were left over. But if there were only four heaps, then those remaining cards alone will show the number of spots onthe four bottom cards. You need not see the cards laid out, orknow the number of cards in each heap. All you have to knowis the number of heaps, and the number of remaining cards, if there are any. Therefore you can perform this feat justaswell standing in another room.

Trick No. 59.—TO PRODUCE INSTANTLY A CARD CALLED FOR

(1) Tell your helper before hand what card he must callfor—say, the nine of spades,

(2) Take the pack of cards and shuffle them well, bringing the nine of spades to the toporbottom.

(3) Put the cards in your pocket, and ask someoneto tall for a card,

(4) "Nine of spades!" your stooge hollers out.

(5) You produce the card from your pocket, but hurry right into your next trick before another card is called.

Trick No. 60.—TOO TELL A CARD THOUGHT OF, AND NAME ITS POSITION IN THE PACK

(1) Take a pack of cards and ask someone to shuffle andcut them, to prove that they were not fixed.,

(2) Now invite someone to choose a card, and to remember its position in the pack, counting from the bottom.


(3) While this is being done offer to leave the room, assuring them that if they wantyouwill name at once where the card will be found.

(4) Now when you return take the cards, and ask the person the position in which he wishes the card now to be found, taking care that the number is greater than the previous one. Supposehe names 17.

(5) Place your hands with the cards behind you, and coimt off from the bottom 17 cards, and put them on top.

(6) Now ask where the card was, which, by instructions, must be less than 17. We will suppose it to have been8. Deal the cards from the top, counting the first as 8, the next 9, and so on, until you come to 17.

(7) When you come to it,ask the person to name it;

(8) When he does turn it up,and say, "This is the seventeenth card, and ought to bethe card mentioned." These figures are easily worked out. Therefore it is unnecessary to explain such a simple calculation. We may say, though, that when the larger number mentioned is greater than half the number of the pack, it will save time to take the difference between that number and the number contained in the pack from the top, and place to the bottom. That is, suppose the person says the card must be found at 39. 52 — 39 = 13. It will save time to count 13 from the top and place it underneath, which is practically the same as counting 39 from the bottom and placing it on top.