21 Card Tricks - By Peter Duffie

21 Card Tricks using your own deck of playing cards 

BETWEEN THE ACES: Clearly and fairly, you deal out playing cards onto the table and a spectator stops you anywhere. He notes the playing card you stopped at - it is placed on top of the deck and the dealt playing cards dropped on top with absolutely no moves. Despite the fairness of the procedure, the selected card is now revealed to be in the middle of the four Aces.One of Peter Duffies most performed card tricks.

HEAVYWEIGHT: You give a spectator seven playing cards and state that one of the seven cards is heavier than all the others. For example, black ink is heavier than red ink, and court cards are heavier than spot cards, Spades are the heaviest of all. Not a lot of people know that! Despite constant mixing of the cards by a spectator, he ends up, undoubtedly, with the heaviest playing card in the deck.

THE INTEGRITY TEST: This is one of the best simple card tricks you can do. It combines the Lie Detector with a colour separation, ending with the revelation of two selected playing cards. It works itself, so you only need to create a suitable presentation. Self working card tricks, mean you are ready to go anywhere and anytime.

FOUND OUT!: A spectator cuts the deck and looks at a playing card. He then cuts his selection back into the deck. The selection is now found along with the other three mates.

TOHU BOHU: Using a packet of playing cards, a spectator finds his card using an elimination process. You state that the process can find any card at any position. You now prove this to be true.

CRAFTMASTER: A playing card is selected and lost back into the deck. You remove the four Kings and give the deck to a spectator, who shuffles then cuts it into two piles. You clearly show that you have the four Kings then you deal two on top of each half deck. A snap of the fingers, and all four Kings are found together on top of the one pile. When the spectator turns over the top playing card of the other pile, he is surprised to finds his card!This will get you regarded as a master to card tricks, even though it's so simple to do.

PREDICTUM: A spectator cuts the deck into two halves. He cuts off a portion from one of the halves, notes the playing card cut to, then drops the packet on top of the other half. You remove two playing cards from your pocket, stating that you placed them there earlier. The values of these two cards are totalled. They might total sixteen. The spectator counts down to the sixteenth playing card in the main deck and finds his selection!

DIVINOTION: A spectator cuts off a section of playing cards and secretly counts them. Meanwhile a second spectator takes the playing card that was left from the cut and retains it. The first spectator replaces his portion of cards into the deck, then the other spectator replaces his card. You spread the deck revealing two playing cards face up - perhaps a 6 and a 7 = 13. This is exactly the number of cards cut by the first spectator. And what about the selected card? Well, it makes a sudden appearance between the two indicator cards! Mental magi and card tricks fused together in one awesome card trick.

PRELIMINATION: A spectator selects two playing cards from a packet as a prediction. At this point you state that, later, the value of the first playing card will be used and the suit of the second. The spectator then eliminates all but one of the remaining cards. He turns over the two prediction cards - one might be a Seven and the other a Heart. The card he is left holding is the Seven of Hearts.

UNWONTED: You lay the Ace, Two, and Three of Spades in a face up row on the table. Next you remove the two black Jacks, which you claim have incredible powers! You now cause the Ace, Two and Three to travel upwards through the Jacks. Finally you place the two Jacks between a spectators palms. You gather up the three tabled playing cards and snap them, whereupon they transform into the two black Jacks. The Ace, Two, and Three are now between the spectator’s palms!

QUAD CUT COUNT: A spectator cuts the deck into four piles in an attempt to cut to the Aces. He fails. However, using the four random playing cards he did cut to he ends up with all four Aces.

DYING TIME: You use six playing cards which represent the six sides of a magic electronic die. Adding the Joker which represents the battery, a mystery occurs. For previous related concepts see Roy Walton’s "Eliminator in Disguise," (Magic Circular, Aug.96) and Alex Elmsley's "Eliminator" (Magic Circular, Mar.96).

THE ASSOCIATE: Here we revisit a packet elevator plot that has been visited previously by several, including Vernon, Cervon, Jennings and Dingle. In this version there are no False Counts or secret displacements. Yes, this works almost automatically.

RESTRICTLESS: One of those tricks where one spectator helps to find another spectator’s card and neither knows how.

GENERAL BUNGLE: After a playing card has been noted, you remove four cards from the deck. You show them one by one and they are all duplicates of the selection. At least that’s what you think! As it turns out, the selection was a totally different card. No problem. You turn over the last card shown and it is seen to have transformed into the selection. The other three playing cards prove to be the mates of the selection, making four-of-a-kind card trick!

ELEVUTION: A simple Elevator trick goes drastically wrong (this is becoming a habit!). Not to worry, an unexpected playing card saves the day.

37 YEARS LATER: A spectator shuffles a packet of 10 playing cards. He then chooses one and buries it back into the packet. He now spells the suit of his card, dealing a playing card for each latter. That’s all he does. Now he eliminates all but one card - this final card is his selection.

SPELLFIRE II: This is a variation of Martin Gale’s "Spellfire"card trick that appeared in the January 1999 issue of Abacus. There are shades of the Chicago Opener here too. One of the classic card tricks in magic.

MATCH OF THE DAY: A spectator cuts a packet of 12 playing cards then removes four cards at random. Three of the cards help find the mate of the fourth, rather a small packet version of Roy Walton’s "Almost Impromptu." card trick. There is an additional kicker for Palmists!

SPECIAL ENVOY: A playing card is chosen and lost back into the deck.. The four Aces are dropped face up on top of the deck. The spectator names only the suit of his card. Immediately the Aces are dealt off and that Ace is missing. You spread the deck and the missing Ace is seen in the middle. The card immediately above it proves to be the selected card.

WED: The Hofzinser "Royal Marriages" card tricks plot rides again in this self-working version, of one of Hofzinser's greatest card tricks.